During his visit to the United States, Han Hao was amazed by the well-developed second-hand car and car rental markets, which were closely integrated with auto financial services to create a prosperous and developed industrial chain extension services.

However, what interests Han Hao more is the product of an innovative travel company, which makes him feel very interesting and promising.

In addition to visiting the second-hand car and car rental markets, Han Hao will also inspect the progress of Zhonghua Group's new factory in the United States and Tesla's joint venture factory.

During a meeting with Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, the technology innovation maniac introduced a new Internet-based travel method to Han Hao in Silicon Valley.

I saw him click a few times on his Iphone, and in less than 5 minutes, an extended Cadillac came to the two and asked if they had called a car service through an Internet platform.

"You no longer need to call to request a taxi, just do it on your mobile phone and you can have a courtesy car come to service immediately.

Metered by distance, while supplies last. ”

Musk pulled the car door, let Han Hao sit on it, and told the driver to go around the streets around the company.

"There are several young people who have difficulty getting a taxi abroad, which has led to the need to use the Internet to solve this problem. They set up a company called UberCab and are looking for at least $5 million in angel round investment.

You know, I'm one of the biggest investors in Silicon Valley, and this project is on my desk right now. If you're interested, you might as well call. ”

As the richest man in China and the largest venture capital fund owner in China, Han Hao has used his wealth to invest in many science and technology companies over the years.

Therefore, Musk specially promoted his favorite project to partners from China.

"How is this different from a phone ride?"

If you want to get your own investment, you must understand whether the other party's operating model is groundbreaking or not.

If you simply change the phone to call a car and replace it with mobile phone information, it is not innovative enough to arouse Han Hao's interest for the time being.

"Stop!"

instructed the driver to stop, and then Musk asked Han Hao to watch him operate on his mobile phone.

I saw that the taxi software calculated the road fare in real time through map positioning, and at the same time, it only needed to click lightly, and the bound credit card could be successfully deducted immediately through the mobile phone.

"With just one tap, you can save a lot of trouble. Telephone taxi calls usually do not find the location of the ride, while mobile phones can accurately locate the location of both parties through electronic maps. If you pay, you don't need to pay in cash, you only need to pay by phone.

Think about it, if taxis were all on this software, it would save people a lot of time to show up. ”

UberCab is now focused on courtesy car services, which are the high-end mobility market. However, Musk believes that he will have a great future in the taxi market through personal operation.

"Taxis are a heavily regulated area of the government, so it should be hard for you to move this piece of cake, right?"

As a giant crocodile who has been in the business world for a long time, Han Hao saw the key at a glance.

"The Internet will always be at the forefront of government regulation!

If you're worried about regulation, Silicon Valley is long gone. As long as you can help users solve problems, you can take money out of their pockets. ”

With a disapproving attitude, Musk doesn't care about this issue.

"If you want to know more, why don't you talk to our driver in detail!"

Musk patted the driver's shoulder and said to Han Hao with a smile.

At this time, Han Hao realized that the identity of the driver in front of him should be unusual.

"Hello Han, I have admired the name for a long time. I'm Kalanick, the founder and CEO of UberCab, and if I don't mind, I'd like to take 5 minutes to explain our philosophy to you. ”

With a suit that is obviously one size bigger and a young face, it's obvious that this Kalanick must have come to be a driver on the spot.

"I've heard Musk say that you're a great investor and don't interfere with the company's management, which is very much in line with our values. What's more, you are all pioneers in the automotive field, and you are at the forefront of new energy vehicles, which is very cool. ”

Silicon Valley has a very strong entrepreneurial atmosphere, and Kalanick began to talk about his business philosophy and how to expand the influence of online ride-hailing in the future.

Today's taxi experience, it is obvious that Musk and Kalanick colluded to make a good game, of course, this is a well-intentioned move.

……

10 minutes later, Han Hao nodded and said a word.

"This game, I joined. ”

For the richest man, the investment of $1 million will not cause much of a stir, but online taxis should seem to attract the attention of the majority of young people.

"Also, I'd like to ask you if you're planning to expand into the Chinese market? I think I can bring this idea back to China. ”

It can be said that the Internet innovation is still strong in the United States, and many large Chinese Internet companies have actually copied the footprints of American pioneers.

Han Hao plans to copy the idea of UberCab back to China to test the waters, so as to solve the problem of value-added services in the future industrial chain.

"No, we're only in California at the moment, actually in the Silicon Valley area. As for China, it is too far away, and occupying the American market is our main concern. ”

Kalanick categorically rejected Han Hao's proposal, and they are now in the exploration stage, and they will not rush and have no ability to start internationalization.

"I appreciate your candour. That being the case, I'm going to start the same service in China. But in order to ensure fairness and respect for your creativity, you can take a stake in UberCab in China, or I can buy out your license for an additional $1 million.

Of course, you also understand that this is the Internet era, and soon your business model will spread to China, which is not something you can control.

We don't have much time left for either of us, and there are a lot of smart people in the world, and it's not just this car. ”

Since he was in business, Han Hao was also very honest, he didn't want to cross the river and tear down the bridge, but gave the other party enough choices.

"I need half a day to consult with the team and think about it. Han, you do have a good reputation. ”

Kalanick didn't say yes directly, and he needed time to weigh the pros and cons.

After sending Han Hao and Musk back to Tesla, Kalanick hurried back to his company and convened a meeting of the founders to discuss the suggestions put forward by the Chinese.

"The Chinese are so rich that when he says the figure of $1 million, it's like pulling $1 out of his pocket.

Damn, when can I reach this level, it will not be in vain that I am now working 20 hours a day!"

Before starting, Kalanick told the details of his meeting with Han Hao.

"Han, but the richest man in Chinese, is said to have exceeded $40 billion now. If we get his angel investment, it will be very helpful for future financing and listing. ”

The other founder replied that he had worked hard to investigate Han Hao.

"$1 million is a lot of money, but I would suggest a stake in a Chinese company. No – we should have both, $1 million would solve the immediate dilemma, but so should shares that could be worth a lot of money in the future. ”

……

After a lot of conflict, the UberCab team reached an initial agreement to keep the Chinese company as much as possible, while prioritizing more cash and empowering Kalanick to make a decision on the spot.

After two negotiations, the two sides finally reached a cooperation agreement before Han Hao left the United States.

1. Han Hao invested $2 million in UberCab as an angel investor, occupying 15% of the shares, and enjoying the right of follow-up priority investment.

2. UberCab licenses the operating model to Han Hao, charges a buyout fee of $500,000, and owns 15% of the shares in the new company in China.

An idea used up Han Hao's $2.5 million, which is really worth a thousand dollars.

By chance, Han Hao has become the biggest behind-the-scenes player in China's Internet.

He controls Sina.com, and is also a major shareholder of Alibaba Group and Tencent Group, and has also invested in many leading Internet companies in vertical fields, which can be described as a potential predator in the Internet industry.

However, if you want to build China's UberCab, how to start, Han Hao thought for a long time on the return plane.

Although he was reluctant from the bottom of his heart, Han Hao had to admit that compared with Internet companies, Zhonghua Group is still not qualified to play the new economy.

In order to establish the Chinese version of UberCab, he had to find new partners to join and have sufficient operational capabilities.

To say that China's Internet business operation capacity is the first one, the current leader of e-commerce Ali Group, especially Alipay, which has solved the trust concerns of many netizens.

Han Hao directly used a satellite phone on the plane to call Ali boss Jack Maek, hoping that the two sides could cooperate to establish a new Internet travel company.

The richest man provides funds and vehicles, while Ali provides talent, and the two sides jointly try to create a new model for Chinese people to travel.

"Let there be no difficult travel in the world!"

Jack Ma quickly understood Han Hao's idea, if China's huge taxi resources can be utilized, how big a market will it be for Alipay.

In particular, mobile payment has become a new outlet, and Ali Group is in urgent need of such supporting resources.

The two parties hit it off and joined forces to form a new company to replicate UberCab in China.

The joint venture company is named "Kuaidi Taxi" with a registered capital of 10 million yuan, of which Han Hao occupies 45% of the shares, Alibaba accounts for 40%, and the remaining 15% belongs to UberCab USA.

Ali has transferred a young team from within the group to manage it, and the leader is called Cheng Lei, who will be responsible for the development of the Chinese market.

In order to cooperate with UberCab's rapid market seizure, Han Hao will set up a car rental company to ensure that no less than 4,000 car rentals will be in line with the company's development.

In Cheng Lei's vision, "Kuaidi Taxi" will first seize the business car rental market in first-tier cities to expand its influence in China.

"Kuaidi Taxi" has a strength that no other competitor can match, one is that China Group provides a steady stream of new cars at cost price, the second is that it has Alipay guaranteed payment instead of cumbersome credit card payment, and the third is that it has unrivaled Internet diversion resources.

Unlike UberCab, "Fast Taxi" has full-level equipment as soon as it enters, and it directly recruits and buys troops with great fanfare, and develops rapidly.