Chapter 81: Occasional "Happiness"
Murong Feng attended "[The Investment, Project Financing and Capital Matchmaking Conference]" on the forum's second day. While he wanted to scout for noteworthy projects, his main aim was to observe other PE and VC firms' reactions to the project roadshows and glean insights from their investment philosophies and approaches—a rare opportunity indeed.
He took his seat at the table marked "Chang'an Capital" alongside Guo Yong and two investment managers. To his surprise, besides the standard mineral water and project materials provided by the organizers, there was an orange-covered project plan book neatly placed on the table. It bore a yellow five-pointed star logo with a smiley face, beneath which were three playful characters spelling "Kaixin Network". The branding was simple yet elegant, fresh and appealing.
Murong Feng casually picked up the project plan book and flipped through a few pages. Glancing around, he noticed that almost every table in the conference hall had this eye-catching orange-covered book. At the back of the venue, a slender figure was meticulously placing these plan books on each seat, one by one, carefully straightening each after placing it down.
Turning to the investment manager on his left, Murong Feng inquired, "Liu Hui, have you seen this project before?" He held up the plan book. Liu Hui skimmed through it and shook his head with a smile, "No, this 'Kaixin Network' project isn't one of the official participants in this matchmaking conference. It's not in the organizers' introduction materials."
He glanced through the contents again and added with a disdainful tone, "Another online community? The whole Web 2.0 concept is well past its hype period. Social networking sites are a dime a dozen now, with no investment potential!" He casually tossed the plan book aside.
Liu Hui's words held some truth. After the investment boom in Web 2.0 concepts during 2006-2007, by 2009, investment in Internet projects had significantly declined. Community-type websites, in particular, were oversaturated and lacked uniqueness, becoming a project category that investors were reluctant to touch. Murong Feng nodded slightly, then turned his head to look at that diligent, busy figure again. Suddenly, he felt a touch of emotion—at least the person behind this project had a persistent and serious attitude!
Murong Feng sometimes strongly believed in intuition. He revisited the "Kaixin Network" project. It was an SNS (Social Network Site) type website. The two lines on the title page were intriguing: Company Philosophy: Life is good when you're happy; Company Vision: Help more people be a little happier. The company aimed to create China's largest online community service platform, providing the best solutions for Internet users' communication and various needs.
The project book dedicated a large portion to detailing the products and services the company would offer Internet users: photo storage and sharing, diary sharing, communication methods like SMS messages and online chat, casual games, online music sharing and playback, and more. The most appealing components were buying and selling items between friends, parking space reservations, arranging house-warming & wedding gifts, and numerous interesting mini-games, as well as interactive content like compatibility tests, voting, and movie reviews. The plan book was richly illustrated, introducing everything comprehensively. Murong Feng found these products and services quite attractive.
The matchmaking conference began. Registered companies took turns presenting their projects through PowerPoint presentations, receiving feedback from invited investment guests. Some excellent projects emerged, and Murong Feng's two investment managers listened attentively.
While Murong Feng appeared to be listening carefully, his mind kept revolving around the contents of the "Kaixin Network" project plan book. Admittedly, the products and services were simple, and many were already available on other websites. Some were even applications directly copied from foreign sites like Facebook. For Murong Feng, who had seen thousands of Internet startup project proposals, these contents were fairly typical.
But this project had its own characteristics!
Murong Feng's investment philosophy prioritized people. Only if a company's management team was trustworthy and had the passion and ability to do business would he consider investing. In this case, he had to admit that the diligent figure had touched something in his heart.
Additionally, he saw value in the plan book: for instance, the product design was simple, directly pointing out that passing time was the biggest use value for users on Kaixin Network. This point stood out as one of its selling points. Secondly, the project's envisioned viral marketing method, targeting young white-collar MSN users and expanding through invitations, had a high advertising conversion rate. The product function design was also reasonable, ensuring user retention.
It seemed worth discussing further!
With this thought, Murong Feng flipped to the contacts section of the project plan book: Qin Lan, Co-founder of the company, President of Administration and Marketing. Her contact information followed. Murong Feng smiled wryly, thinking that this kind of title was typical of a newly established company. He instructed his investment managers to continue focusing on the matchmaking conference while he slowly walked out of the venue with the "Kaixin Network" project plan book.
When Qin Lan received Murong Feng's call, she had just returned to her hotel room to rest.
Carrying a large stack of plan books and distributing them seat by seat had been a physically demanding task. With the limited marketing funds left in the company's startup capital, apart from allowing Qin Lan to come to Sanya, stay in a hotel, and print and bind these hundreds of plan books, there wasn't enough money for the project matchmaking fees. It's worth noting that each project able to present on stage had to pay a 50,000 yuan promotional fee. So she could only do it herself, placing these plan books on the tables of investment institutions before the matchmaking conference began, hoping to attract interest from some firms. Of course, she had no confidence in the effectiveness of this effort.
The air in Sanya was humid and hot. Qin Lan returned to her room covered in sweat and rushed into the bathroom to shower. Just as water touched her body, she faintly heard her phone ringing on the table.
"Hello, this is Murong Feng from Chang'an Capital. Is this Ms. Qin Lan? I'm interested in your project. When would it be convenient for us to talk?" Murong Feng's voice was calm and clear, but to Qin Lan, it sounded like heavenly music.
"Hello! Thank you very much! I'm available anytime, please arrange according to your schedule," Qin Lan replied excitedly, her body still wet, hastily grabbing a towel to cover herself.
"How about we meet at the hotel's Sunset Bar in half an hour?" Murong Feng suggested after a moment's thought.
After hanging up, Qin Lan jubilantly jumped up, punching the air and shouting "Yes!" Only then did she feel the chill on her skin. Looking down, she let out a surprised yelp and hurried back to the bathroom.
The Sunset Bar was the hotel's rooftop bar, boasting the best sea view. The spacious area was open to breezes from all sides, and the terrace facing the sea revealed the broad, emerald leaves of tropical trees. Murong Feng sat by the railing, leisurely observing people surfing and frolicking in the distant waters. This was truly a comfortable vacation spot. He made a mental note to bring Ye Zi here when she had free time.
As he wondered how Ye Zi was faring in Sichuan, a gentle female voice sounded beside him: "Excuse me, are you Mr. Murong?" Murong Feng quickly stood up with a smile, shaking hands with Qin Lan and saying, "Ms. Qin, hello, I'm Murong Feng. Please, have a seat." He gestured for her to sit down.
Once seated, Murong Feng took a closer look at this co-founder of the "Kaixin Network" project. The slender figure he had seen in the conference hall had given him a sense of her tenacity, seriousness, and hard work. Now, face to face, he realized she was not only a diligent entrepreneur but also a very beautiful and intellectual woman.
Although excited about attracting an investment institution's attention, Qin Lan maintained a reserved and controlled demeanor, behaving with grace and propriety. She meticulously introduced the industry background of the "Kaixin Network" project's entrepreneurial management team. The three co-founders - Fang Shaohui, Qin Lan, and Zhou Tiejun - were all former project managers at Microsoft. They were colleagues who, seeing great potential in this new type of social network, resigned to start their own business. Fang Shaohui was responsible for business development and cooperation, Qin Lan for company management and marketing, and Zhou Tiejun for technical development. From a management background perspective, they were highly educated and skilled, with especially strong teamwork.
Murong Feng asked pointed questions about the company's profit model, current market share, competitiveness and marketing strategy, product advantages compared to other similar websites, current financial status, sales forecasts for the next two years, financing plans including capital requirements, specific financing proposals, equity ratios, and other needs.
Qin Lan was clearly well-prepared and answered Murong Feng's questions one by one with reason and evidence, leaving him with an impression of confidence and mature calmness.
They talked for over an hour, and Murong Feng had become quite familiar with her style. She was a rigorous entrepreneur who didn't lack passion and dreams. She was fully prepared for what she was going to do and the difficulties she might encounter, demonstrating the ability to solve problems. If the other two co-founders were of the same quality as her - which was likely, given that they could work together, indicating mutual recognition - then Murong Feng had basically determined that he would invest.
He also briefly introduced Chang'an Capital's investment style and some specifics.
Finally, Murong Feng smiled and said, "Thank you very much, Ms. Qin Lan. I'm very glad to have talked with you today. I personally have a positive outlook on the 'Kaixin Network' project. How about this: after the forum ends tomorrow, I'll return to Beijing. If it's convenient for you, can you come to Chang'an Capital's office to discuss specific investment plans with my colleagues."
Although Qin Lan felt she had done well during the conversation, she had communicated with many investment institutions before. They all seemed very enthusiastic and polite, but in the end, they always regretfully told her that due to the impact of the current financial crisis, their investment plans were very cautious, so they needed to consider further, and then there was no more news. So even though she had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with Murong Feng today, she didn't dare to have too high hopes. Unexpectedly, she heard a positive response from Murong Feng.
Qin Lan excitedly grasped Murong Feng's hand, saying with slight excitement, "That's great! Thank you, Mr. Murong. We will prepare the relevant material for a detailed introduction. We believe your company's investment in us would be valuable!"
Murong Feng stood up with a smile and said, "I believe so too!"
When the two investment managers returned to report to Murong Feng after the matchmaking conference, they were somewhat depressed. Although they felt that two projects in the matchmaking conference weren't bad, they encountered a situation where several investment institutions were in contact with the companies. Because Chang'an Capital's reputation was not as renowned as old-established investment funds like IDG and KPCB, the feedback they received after contacting the companies wasn't very enthusiastic. But they still suggested continuing communications, striving to join the other investment companies in co-investing.
Murong Feng smiled and handed them the "Kaixin Network" project booklet, asking them to thoroughly research the current domestic SNS website market and the company's fundamentals. He had decided to invest. This left the two investment managers dumbfounded. But with the boss's orders, they had no choice but to comply.
After a night of working until dawn, by the time Murong Feng boarded the plane back to Beijing, the two investment managers had already sent him an analysis report. The report used data to analyze in detail the current status of domestic SNS websites and Kaixin Network's competitive advantages and disadvantages. It also proposed investment-related strategies such as improving management, expanding publicity, and extending product portfolio depth. Murong Feng couldn't help but praise these investment managers recruited by Zhou Haitao, who were indeed extremely capable financial investment experts!
Upon arriving at Capital Airport, Murong Feng had just turned on his phone when he received a text message from Ye Zi: "Taking CA4105, arriving in Beijing at 18:20." Murong Feng looked at his watch; it was already 6 PM. He told the two investment managers to go home and rest first, while he and Guo Yong waited for Ye Zi to arrive before going home together.
Since Ye Zi had gone to Sichuan to follow up on a project, the two hadn't seen each other for almost a month. Murong Feng couldn't help feeling excited. He really missed her!
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