As we all know, Cheng Wei came from Alibaba. He was Ali's youngest regional manager. In 2011, he was promoted to deputy general manager of Alipay’s B2C business unit. Moved from salesperson to product manager. Therefore, he accumulated a lot of experience and resigned to found Didi in 2012.
Cheng Wei invested 100,000 yuan when he founded Didi, and Wang Gang, who also came from Alibaba, invested 700,000 yuan to establish the company together. The two worked together at Alibaba for many years and resigned one after another in 2012. Therefore, you can call Wang Gang an investor or a co-founder of Didi.
Why did Didi start in Beijing? Rather than Hangzhou or Magic City?
Just because Wang Gang once was in charge of the B2B Beijing Region. His nickname within Alibaba is "Lao Dan". Very investment vision. Before Alibaba went public, he purchased Alibaba's original shares and made a lot of money. This matter was later stopped by Ma Yun.
In 2013, Didi engaged in Series B financing. Cheng Wei and Wang Gang met Pony Ma together. The two agreed that this round of financing would not take Tencent’s money, at least not let Tencent lead the investment. Because they both consider themselves to be Ali's people.
In fact, Alibaba had already invested in Didi’s competitor Kuaidi at that time.
As a result, the conditions given by Brother Ma were too generous, and the two of them agreed. Didi’s Series B financing, Tencent exclusively invested US$15 million. When he returned to Hangzhou, Wang Gang wanted to go to Jack Ma to play cards with him again, but Jack Ma had disappeared and didn't want to play with him anymore.
Time has come to 2016. Just in June this year, Alibaba won the financing from Didi. Tencent was squeezed out and became Didi’s largest external shareholder. And Alibaba replaced Didi with an Amap map. As for Tencent Maps, where can I play it?
When Wang Gang returned to Hangzhou, he could play cards with Jack Ma and Xie Shihuang again.
Therefore, despite Liu Qing’s high-profile claim later that Didi was the only company to receive investment from BAT, in fact there are still differences between internal and external.
At this moment, Wang Gang was in Hangzhou and called his old friend Cheng Wei directly, "Old Cheng, Uber burned 100 million in Hangzhou yesterday. Damn it!"
Cheng Wei squinted his eyes and said calmly: "Just like Yidao, you can get as much as you charge?"
Wang Gang said: "That's not like Yidao did. Their activity in Hangzhou is to recharge 100 and get 20, and users can enjoy 40% off every 3 times. The commission rate for the driver is reduced to 8%. Lao Cheng, You should quickly find out what’s going on. Their APP is a nationwide unified event.”
Don't doubt Ali's strength in Hangzhou. Wang Gang wanted to know about Uber’s specific preferential plans in Hangzhou. This was not a problem at all.
Although Wang Gang was the co-founder, he didn’t care about Didi’s daily affairs from the beginning. His position is to make investors. Therefore, he only understands the situation he comes into contact with. He doesn't know where Didi's internal processes go.
Cheng Wei took a breath and said, "This subsidy is cruel enough. I will understand the situation now. I will die first, Lao Wang."
Didi has been engaged in a long-term subsidy war with Uber since 2015, so as the head of Didi, Cheng Wei is very clear about Uber’s shortcomings.
First, Uber has fewer team members than Didi. This is true even with interns. Therefore, there will be flaws in many things done.
Second, Uber’s software code modification authority is in Silicon Valley in the United States. Therefore, Uber’s user experience is not as good as Didi’s. This is an old problem of foreign investment. Back then, Microsoft's msn was beating QQ in various ways, but the user experience was not as good as QQ's, and it was eventually killed.
Third, Uber’s tactics are a bit like wolf pack tactics. One city, one team. Flexible and very responsive. However, it is difficult for Uber to coordinate regionally and nationally and carry out preferential activities in a unified manner.
Therefore, when his old friend Wang Gang called him, what he valued most was the words "national unification activities." It doesn't matter how many discounts there are. It's nothing more than wooing the passengers with one hand and the driver with the other.
Who is afraid of a price war?
Cheng Wei picked up the phone on his desk, dialed, and said in a deep voice: "Liu, sort out the information about Uber's nationwide promotions and bring it to me this afternoon."
"Okay, Mr. Cheng"
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Deep city. The rising sun shines over the tall Nanyou Building, casting large shadows. But in August in Shenzhen, don’t think about catching a cold. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the sun was already shining brightly and it was extremely cool.
Leng Qing walked out of the peasant village quickly with his handbag in hand and followed the flow of people to the bus stop. She works at Vanke's headquarters and is responsible for drawing design.
Work time is usually tight in the morning. It just so happened that she left home five minutes late today, and it would be too late to take the subway to the company. Turn on your phone and call for a ride. She usually takes Uber. For longer distances, Uber is more cost-effective than Didi.
As soon as I opened Uber's software, a prompt box popped up: "Thank you for choosing Uber. New and old users have three opportunities to enjoy 40% off during this promotion period. Hurry up and use it."
real or fake? Leng Qing adjusted his glasses and used the software to place an order. The map was still as difficult to use as ever.
Within ten seconds, it showed that a driver was taking the order. It was less than 1,000 meters away from the bus stop where she was.
"Hi, beauty, are you using Uber too? Do you want to share a car together? I'm going to Nanshan Science and Technology Park."
Leng Qing was waiting anxiously, calculating the time to go to the company, when the map showed that the car was blocked at the traffic light. A boy next to him came to strike up a conversation and gave him a "three-hit combo": "No, thank you. I have something to do."
As a beautiful woman, you will be approached by all kinds of people at the bus stop with all kinds of excuses. The most exaggerated time she encountered was when an uncle got out of his Mercedes-Benz and asked her for directions.
The boy took two steps back angrily. Many white-collar workers at work looked over at the platform. This guy probably read too many soft articles on the Internet. Is it so easy for you to strike up a conversation with such an exquisite beauty?
After a while, a white Honda arrived. Leng Qing skillfully checked the license plate and sat in the back row.
After dealing with the driver's chatter, we arrived at the downstairs of Vanke's headquarters twenty minutes later. She contacted her via WeChat directly, "Oh..."
It only costs 16 yuan in total, which is really a 40% discount!
He walked into the building quickly and found a colleague in the elevator discussing Uber's huge discounts. He smiled knowingly. She just used it. It's good for these taxi-hailing companies to fight each other and benefit their consumers.
This scene keeps happening in major cities. This time Uber has launched a major discount event, and the first people to feel the discount in mid-week are white-collar workers at work.
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On August 15, Uber took the lead in launching a subsidy war across the country, and its posture was even more fierce than during the fierce battle in March. Didi responded quickly and began to follow up with subsidies in major cities.
Major media outlets quickly followed up. Commentary articles have been posted on official accounts and headlines online. Big V followed and participated.
The news that Uber received a US$450 million bank investment quickly broke out.
Of course, Uber and Didi’s news only ranked third on the search results. The first place is still the case of Wang Baobao and Ma Jinlian who top the list. In short, Ma Jinlian’s various tricks and tricks have left people across the country dumbfounded.
It is simply refreshing the moral bottom line! What Ma Jinlian did would have been like soaking a pig cage in ancient times. Wang Baobao was caught on the spot, but this evidence could not be used legally. This feeling of powerlessness makes people angry.
The second-ranked search was related to the Olympic Games. Olympic athletes frequently report good news.
I really don’t understand. China is still second in the number of gold medals and has not yet surpassed the United States. Why do some people start talking about the failure of the national system? Now that we are number one in the world, can’t we just keep pretending and talking nonsense?
On Thursday morning, Uber's regional managers and headquarters executives held a video conference together to share their results and summarize the experience of these three years.
Qiao Shuang, the chairman of Uber, was sitting in the main seat in the conference room. Next to her was Liu Zhen, who had received stock incentives worth US$25 million. Her title remains the same, but a new term is added: chief operating officer.
The career plan is clear: As long as she does well, the next step is to be promoted to president of Uber. Exactly the same as Liu Qing in Didi. As for whether she can become CEO, it depends on the outcome of her competition with several regional managers.
Then, the executives in the conference room also included the technical director, financial director, and human resources director of Uber headquarters.
Outside the Magic City, the regional managers who came in via video link were West District Manager Zhang Yanqi, North District Manager Kang Xi, Central District General Manager Wang Ying, and South District General Manager Luo Gang.
Among them, North District Manager Kang Xi was promoted from the front line. The remaining three were Uber executives and regional managers who reported directly to Kalanick. The general manager positions they held in Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenzhen were all dismissed.
Recommend your respective talents.
These three people plus Liu Zhen have many conflicts with each other. The difficulty in choosing Uber’s CEO is related to this.
This led to Kalanick personally serving as CEO of China. His management method is very simple. He will favor this person for a while and that person for a while, maintaining a balance among several people.
Qiao Shuang looked at the picture in the video conference. Including herself, there were 9 people in total. This is the entire executive team at Uber. The name of the internal document is the "Strategy Executive Committee."
Of course this was not her idea, but Mr. Jing's.
"Let's start the meeting. First, Mr. Liu will introduce the situation of the three subsidy wars."
Liu Zhen opened the folder, "Thank you, Mr. Qiao. Colleagues, let me first introduce our situation. Since August 15, we have started subsidy activities in 18 medium and large cities across the country. Core cities such as Chengdu, Jinling, Hangcheng, Shencheng, Jingcheng, Magic City, and Jiaozhou all burned down 100 million.
I have sent the data to the Strategy Executive Committee group, and everyone can view it on their mobile phones now.
Although it costs money, the results are obvious. Uber’s market share in major cities has skyrocketed. The basic judgment is: China UCAR and Yidao will both die. There will be only us and Didi left in the market. "
"Didi has already reacted before and is also increasing investment. In the current situation, they have an overall advantage, but we are overtaking them in some cities. For example: Chengdu, Jinling, and Hangzhou. Next, it is a tough battle. .”
Zhang Yanqi asked: "Mr. Qiao, including the consumption of about 20 million yuan per medium-sized city. A rough calculation shows that we will burn nearly 920 million yuan. The money on our books is only enough to burn four to five yuan. Mr. Jing's financing talks How is it?"
Qiao Shuang smiled slightly and maintained her demeanor: "It's not a big problem. Mr. Jing emphasized to me that he guaranteed that there will be no problems with the funds."
Zhang Yanqi said: "Then I have no problem. I don't dare to fight this battle in other regions. I guarantee that the Western District will be centered on Rongcheng and radiate to all the remaining medium-sized cities with a population of one million in the entire southwest region."
Wang Ying put down her pen and said fiercely: "What does Mr. Zhang mean by this? Yes, Rongcheng is currently our benchmark city for Uber, but our newly expanded Jinling in the Central District is not bad either. On the first anniversary of entering Jinling, we will Didi gave it a try.
Mr. Qiao, as long as there are sufficient funds, I guarantee that the medium-sized cities under my jurisdiction will share the market equally with Didi. If I can’t do it, I’ll resign! "
Luo Gang then spoke, "Mr. Qiao, the central district that Mr. Wang is responsible for is in the hinterland of Didi shareholder Alibaba, and our southern district is also in the hinterland of Tencent. I request financial reinforcements. As long as you spend money, what market share can't be gained?"
This is a bit of a fire-fighting statement.
Liu Zhen frowned, "Everyone, this is not the first time we have experienced the subsidy war. There are stages of burning money, and it is not sustainable. The most important task now is not to capture how much market share, but to strengthen team building and fight a protracted war.
The human resources side requires recruiting enough interns to cope with the impact of Didi. The structure at the headquarters will also be adjusted gradually to further refine responsibilities and leave room for promotion. "
The four of them started to argue about the difference between radical expansion and steady advancement.
The finance, human resources, and technical directors who had just been promoted and appointed by Qiao Shuang, as well as Kang Xi, who was less qualified, could not get in the conversation.
Qiao Shuang sighed inwardly, it was hard for her to be the chairman, and said: "Let's vote! If you support the current steady advancement strategy, please raise your hands." She raised her hands.
Following Qiao Shuang were four votes.
Liu Zhen also raised his hand. This is what she stands for. Before the meeting, she communicated with Qiao Shuang. In terms of cash burn, Yidao burned US$1.5 billion in the first half of the year. How is the situation now? Half dead!
Zhang Yanqi, Wang Ying, and Luo Gang were all dumbfounded.
It was obvious that Liu Zhen, who had met and communicated directly with Mr. Jing and Mr. Qiao in Shanghai, had the upper hand in the competition with them.
They were all blocked. Liu Zhen rushed to the front, and Mr. Qiao was behind to make the final decision!
Under the current decision-making mechanism, even if they are dissatisfied with the "newbie" Qiao Shuang, they will have to admit it unless they dissatisfy the charter of the "Strategic Executive Committee".
After the video conference ended, the Strategy Executive Committee sent an email to all employees in the office system.
In price competition with Didi, Uber has an advantage in some cities. But the overall strategy is still to steadily promote market encroachment, team building, and user experience. Be prepared for a protracted battle with Didi.
The final victory belongs to us!
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Uber’s internal email appeared on Didi’s supervisor’s phone that night.
This internal email was copied to all staff. With Uber’s 1,800 employees, it’s easy for information to leak. Didi can find out the content directly by asking the people working with the third party.
Otherwise, every time Didi launches a taxi subsidy plan, how does Uber follow up?
Beijing
Cheng Wei was chatting with Liu Qing in a pub among high-rise buildings in the central business district. The night breeze is gentle.
News was reported layer by layer, and they had just held a meeting. Didi is of course up for the challenge! Industry bosses have no way out if they want to retreat. As for the second child fighting with the boss, and the third or fourth child in the industry being killed, who is to blame?
From the seats outside the pub on the fifth floor, you can see the flow of people in the shopping mall and the bright night view of the city from the railing.
Cheng Wei shook his glass, drank the cocktail, and said, "Jean, I have to trouble you running around again."
Compared with Liu Zhen, who works in public relations, interviews, and firefighting at Uber, Liu Qing's main responsibility in Didi is financing. Liu Qing, who came from the world-renowned investment bank Goldman Sachs, has a good capital background.
According to Didi’s shareholders, they can’t type it on a piece of A4 paper. core shareholders. Therefore, as Liu Zhen brings in more and more funds, her power in Didi grows.
Nowadays, when Didi publishes internal and external documents, they are usually co-signed by Cheng Wei and Liu Qing. Act like co-CEOs and two giants.
Liu Qing smiled and shook her head, took a sip of beer, and said calmly: "This is my responsibility." She had no fear of the war that had already begun. Then he said: "Lao Cheng, how about we get in touch with the Phoenix Fund?"
Cheng Wei said reservedly: "Will it be of no use? Although Mr. Jing and the Phoenix Fund are both in the capital. We haven't met him yet."
Liu Qingdao: "I have a Harvard-educated junior sister at Goldman Sachs, the daughter of the Guo family in Malaysia. Jing Gao currently lives in the Shangri-La Hotel in Shenzhen. It's very appropriate for her to come forward to chat with Jing Gao. It's just that we raise the offer price for the merger." Click. If money continues to be burned like this, neither Didi nor Uber’s sponsors can stand it.”
Cheng Wei nodded and said: "Then it would be best if the school can negotiate a merger and acquisition of them."
