How much has the change of tens of billions of funds into the shared bicycle war in less than 2 years?

Lead: The most intuitive result of sharing bicycles on the streets is that bicycles have returned to the lives of urban residents, which is like a “revolution” in travel and urban landscapes.

At 21 o'clock - Xiao Lan bicycle operation manager Shi Hanzhong decided to put the bicycle in advance. Before, the small blue bicycles and other shared bicycle companies had the same time to put their bicycles, which were before 6 o'clock in the morning, but the competition has become more and more fierce recently. The incident of occupying the site has occurred from time to time before the Bawangfen Bus Terminal. After such an example: because it is a hot area, Shi Hanzhong requires front-line squatters to put the car in place, but Mobai and ofo are the first to go, and Xiao Lan’s squad no matter who is forced to put it on the ground, All.

The local street office asked Xiaolan to talk and asked them to clear the vehicle immediately.

It is necessary to prepare for the morning peak, and to avoid conflicts with its peers and cause dissatisfaction with the government. As a result, the timing of the launch is inevitable. The alarm clock in Shi Yu has been dialing back counterclockwise. On this day, he decided to launch after the evening peak. He informed the outsourced logistics company that the delivery time was advanced to 9 pm.

In the night, 150 electric tricycles quickly started, loaded with thousands of small blue bicycles on them, and were sent to the streets of Beijing within a few hours. Soon after, competitors such as Moby and ofo will keep up with the pace and put the vehicle in place. Hundreds of thousands of shared bicycles (the number given by Little Blue is 150,000, and the industry leaders Mobai and ofo will only be more) are hidden in the night, most of which will be hurryed when the morning peak arrives. The office worker opens the mobile phone app to unlock the ride. Wan Yao, general manager of Xiaolan Bicycle Beijing, said, “A hot spot like Guomao has an average car every 10 seconds during the morning rush.” Hundreds of colorful bicycles parked at the subway station in half an hour. It will be robbed and empty.

Since the second half of 2016, the previously unknown shared bicycle industry has rapidly warmed up and become a hot and popular “window”, with capital and players rushing in. By the beginning of this year, this track has been crowded with 30 to 40 companies and accumulated 10 billion yuan. Under the impetus of capital, various companies have expanded rapidly. According to statistics, the two leaders of Mobai and ofo are expected to launch more than 10 million bicycles in 2017, while the self-proclaimed market share ranked third in the small blue bicycle (another The shared bicycle company Ubay bicycles also claimed to be the third in the industry. It is expected to launch 6 million to 8 million bicycles, and the entire shared bicycle industry will add up to more than 30 million units.

The most intuitive result of sharing bicycles on the streets is that bicycles have returned to the lives of urban residents, which is like a “revolution” in travel and urban landscapes. The scope of this "revolution" is not limited to this, the entire traditional bicycle industry and everyone in this industry chain, whether they are willing or not, are tied to the wheel of shared bicycles. Wherever the wheel goes, it will inevitably change. There are many years of short-distance traffic in the fields of motorcycles, black cars, three-wheeled vehicles, and electric bicycles. Under the pressure of sharing the thin wheels of bicycles, the prospects have become less certain. Since the business model is largely based on mutual trust, coupled with the need to improve the technology, shared bicycles are also regarded as the demon mirror of the national quality. Some people maliciously damage the sharing of bicycles and trigger the whole society to condemn and Reflection. "We have always disagreed that putting a bicycle with an ordinary mechanical lock outside can not be traced back. This is actually a test of human nature." Yu Bai, founder of Yuba Bicycle, said.

However, the biggest problem facing shared bicycles is that the color is not enough - it is a network segment.

To some extent, the redemption of shared bicycles is the result of the extension of the business logic of the network car and the “continuation of the revolution” of the participants. Both the network car and the shared bike are labeled with the sharing economy - although some people think that sharing a bicycle is not in the scope of the sharing economy, in the eyes of the tiger sniffing net author Li Wei, the industry should be called "time-rent bicycle". . Both belong to the field of travel, but the network car solves the problem of long-distance traffic, while the shared bicycle focuses on short-distance traffic within 5 kilometers. Many investment institutions that share bicycles to the vents have invested in the network car company, and the investors of theo have assembled the “Drip System”, and many investors in Moby have also wet their feet in the network car market. The success of Didi and Uber made investors eager for Moby and ofo, and they advocated so hard that they caused the question that “shared bicycles are the guise of capital manufacturing” and “investors let the founders become jealous”. Sharing bicycles to replace the network has become a slogan, and many questions about the previous car around the network, such as the establishment of business models and government regulatory risks, are now used to torture shared bicycles.

The origin of the network car and the shared bicycle is also reflected in the flow of personnel. Mobye CEO Wang Xiaofeng used to be the general manager of Uber Shanghai. Many of the executives of theo also had experience in working with the car. At the beginning of this article, the last company in charge was a network car company. He was dissatisfied with the lazy atmosphere of his old club and switched to a small blue bicycle. In the more than one month of Xiaolan, the first half of the month was a solitary battle. One person handled the entire Beijing area and then had a small three-person team. He was so busy that he was about to fly.

Wang Xiaofeng said: "We have to ponder a profit model that we have never thought of in the past."

The strategy of Shihaozhong to 21:00 received the effect, the blue bicycle occupied a favorable position, but the conflict did not disappear. Not long ago, Xiao Gang, the founder of the small blue bicycle, sent a video in the circle of friends. The content was that a front-line operator of a friend had thrown a small blue bicycle to the side of the road.

Competition never stops.

Road of dreams

The wind of sharing bicycles started from Hu Wei.

At 9:30 in the evening, the Mobie Bicycle Office in the West Street of Maidian is still full of people. Although it has been moving for more than two months, the traces of the last company have not been able to be eliminated, because the Mobai can't be renovated. In the rapidly expanding industry of shared bicycles, in addition to development, it seems that the time is spent on other aspects. There is a waste of suspicion. “Nothing is more precious than time,” Hu said. He wants to use the year for ten years.

When accepting an exclusive interview with "Chinese Entrepreneur", Hu Wei looks a little tired, she is in the face of time - precious time, used to make up too luxurious. She has been in anxious since the founding of Moby in October 2015. Before the public relations, Hu Wei sometimes mentioned that the meeting was held until 5 am, and she clarified that it was not often, "not so abnormal." Turning her circle of friends, many of the states are issued after 1 am. There was a state of distribution at 2:15 in the morning of November last year. She said that "every time xx teacher came to visit, I always didn't wash my face and didn't wash my hair." She "self-black" said that she has become a stalk of Mobai. In March of this year, she went to CCTV's "Lang Reader" program and went without washing her head. But when the photojournalist suggested that she could give her a picture, Hu Wei said very strongly, "Don't!"

Facing the camera, Hu Hao leaned against the wall, one arm leaned against the bookshelf, and stood with his feet crossed. One foot tipped to the ground and looked like a slightly unruly female Wen Qing. Smoke), not in line with people's stereotypes about entrepreneurs - even she herself thinks, "I don't think I am an entrepreneur now." This post-80s claimed that all the outsiders gave her the label, she did not like it. She felt that she was not a public figure and obviously refused to answer the question "what do you like the most among domestic and foreign entrepreneurs?" “Why must we follow others?” she asked. “One of the characteristics of the 80s is to think independently.” In the repeated insistence of “Chinese Entrepreneur”, she said several names, Jobs, Musk and Li Shufu, as well as famous battlefields. Reporter Farage, "I really appreciate Li Shufu. I think he still has a naive person until now."

The appreciation of Li Shufu stems from the journalist era of Hu Wei. Hu Wei was born in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province in 1982. After graduating from university in 2004, he entered the media and worked as a car reporter and technology journalist for nearly 10 years in the Daily Economic News, Beijing News, and Geek Park. Until now, Hu Wei talked about the topic related to reporters. It seems that I like to interview others. It is not interesting to be interviewed. In Hu Wei’s view, from journalists to entrepreneurs, there is no need to change. “Reporters are entrepreneurs”. Journalists writing articles are like entrepreneurs making products. What is most needed for a good journalist is common sense, logic and breakthrough power, and this is also what entrepreneurs should have. In addition, "Proposing a question is actually more important than the answer."

Asking questions means discovering that discovering user needs is really critical for entrepreneurs in the mobile Internet era. Mobai’s idea was born in 2014 when Hu Wei and Mobai’s angel investor, Wei Lai’s founder Li Bin and others chatted together. At that time, she had resigned from Geek Park and made a self-media called geek car. The subject of their discussion is the future travel. Hu Wei believes that personal travel in the future will definitely rise, but at that time people envisioned products that are more cool and more fashionable and more technological. On the same day, Li Bin mentioned an object that the Chinese are very familiar with. “Why don’t you design a bicycle that can be stolen by scanning the code anytime and anywhere?”

"This idea hit me." Hu Wei's reporter quality played a role, she seized the inspiration, "I decided to do this at that moment (create Mobai), that is a particularly important moment."

Like many products that change people's lifestyles, Moby is not optimistic at the thought stage. Zhang Peng, the former boss of Hu Wei and the founder of Geek Park, is one of them. A scene that was frequently mentioned by the outside world is that Hu Wei described his thoughts to Zhang Peng. Zhang looked at her and said, "It’s crazy, this pit is too big. Hu Wei asked: "Don't you teach me to believe in the power of 'believe'?" Zhang replied: "Girl, I actually have one sentence without telling you, in addition to believing in the power of 'believe', you still have to Learning to calculate the power, the bikes of the Moby bikes will all be stolen."

Hu Wei was not hit by the former boss. Her belief in Mobai is based on three judgments:

From a technical point of view, China’s mobile payment is very developed, and 60-year-old grandmothers do not need education to use the Mobai APP;

China has the most complete bicycle industry chain in the world. Last year, more than 80 million bicycles were produced worldwide, and China accounted for a quarter of them. For Mobai, relying on Chinese manufacturing, this is a unique advantage.

Hu Wei feels that from the perspective of values, the birth of Mobai also has its inevitability. “For many middle classes in China today, the marathon has become a new “religion.” We started to walk away in the circle of friends and go hiking, but no one will be because you are wearing a very expensive car. Or buy a very expensive bag to give you a compliment, so this is actually a trend that is increasingly attributed to simplicity. And now China's smog is also very serious, many people will complain in words, But there are also many people who will act, such as choosing to travel by bike."

From the perspective of the post-mortem, Moby and shared bicycles came into being. In the 1980s, bicycle travel accounted for more than 60% of the entire transportation ecology. With the re-planning and development of the city, China has added 200 million vehicles to date, and long-distance traffic of more than 10 kilometers has become a city resident. The main way, and the share of bicycles has dropped to 10%.

But the decline in the share of bicycles does not mean that it is not needed. The megacity of north, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is expanding, and the speed of public transportation is fast enough to meet people's needs, especially the “last mile”, which is a pain point for travel. According to China Business Weekly, in 2014, Shanghai residents took an average of 62 minutes of rail transit, of which 27 minutes were spent outside the subway. The shared bicycle is free to park, easy to use, and low in cost. Its appearance has undoubtedly provided a solution to solve the short-distance travel problem. At the same time, bicycles are clearly much more environmentally friendly than cars, which is equally beneficial for improving the urban environment.

Li Bin, the founder of Wei Lai Automobile, supported Hu’s judgment. Li Bin invested 5 million yuan in the angel round, and Hu Wei’s dream road set sail.

"Silicon Valley" reappears

In the early exploration of Moby, the most difficult thing is the product, and the second is to find money.

The first problem to be solved is "what is the sharing of bicycles", because there has never been such a product before, and everyone does not know what the shared bicycle looks like. Mobye needs to create 1 from 0. Hu Wei and her colleagues later came to the conclusion that each car has GPS positioning, and there is a networked smart lock. When the phone is turned on, you can find the car closest to you, scan the code to unlock, and ride with you.

In July 2015, Moby made the product for the first time and turned the idea into a real thing. But Hu Wei found that this bicycle is far from his own vision. “This car is relatively traditional. It may be very young and sporty, but the process is relatively complicated, the features are not clear enough, the maintenance-free is not enough, and the stability of the lock is not enough.” Hu Wei feels that the car is a climax. It is also a low tide. "The climax is that we finally realized it," the low tide is that they overthrew the car. However, this car is not completely useless. The idea of ​​the solar basket was later used in the lite version, as well as the pneumatic tires, and it will be used in the future.

Moby built a model and found that making a car that can be used for at least 50 months is most beneficial to the company. Hu Wei realized that the idea of ​​only platforming and outsourcing hardware manufacturing was not practical. All suppliers are reluctant to take orders, even too lazy to quote, because they need to re-adjust the production line, rebuild the market supply chain, the investment is too big, the risk is too high. Hu Wei had to set up a smart lock team and a bicycle team to build bicycles by the strength of his team.

After a period of hard work, by the beginning of 2016, Mobye finally produced the first generation of products: five rims, all-aluminum body, shaft drive, smart lock, and pneumatic tires, which are stylish and eye-catching. This process from 0 to 1 is very difficult, just a smart lock, and Moby has been eight generations. Hu Wei recalled, "The first locks were assembled by ourselves in the office. After assembly, we conducted small batch tests on the streets." Hu Wei did not want to disclose the cost of the bicycles. "China's manufacturing industry is very powerful, with the big The scale of industrialized mass production, the cost has long been drastically reduced." According to outside estimates, the cost of the first generation of the classic version of Moby may exceed 3,000 yuan. In April 2016, the Mobike bicycle was officially launched and put into operation in Shanghai. Since then, it has been racing all the way.

The hard part of making a product is to find money – if not more difficult. The angel investor Li Bin’s $5 million is not a one-time investment, but a sum of money. After the Mobai team has achieved the staged goal, it will make a sum of money. Because there is always a delay in doing hardware, Hu Wei borrowed twice from his friends when he was not picking up. At that time, she once said internally, "If the failure of Mobai fails, it will be regarded as a public good. Because at least a group of sturdy and useful cars are left for everyone to ride." However, Hu Wei did not give up, "Make Mobai If it grows bigger, it is the real public good."

The difficulty of the next two rounds of financing in A and B is also unexpected. A round of financing. A large domestic investment institution intends to invest. But at that time, Mobai was building a factory. Because the funds were stretched, the cheapest factory was found, and the rent was tens of thousands of yuan per month. The investment institution eventually gave up its investment intentions.

The A round of Mobai was finally given by the joyful capital. Li Bin and Yue Yue Capital are very familiar. Hu Wei originally thought that they would definitely vote, but since there was no precedent for the Mobai model, after the pleasure capital was seen, Hu Wei found that there was no following. "How come there is no sound?" After a hard saw, the financing was finally finalized.

The B round is also not easy. Panda Capital is one of Mob's B-round investors. Partner Li said, "We voted for it, many people have seen it, no one has voted." Li said that he started to contact Mobye through Wang Xiaofeng at the end of 2015. Before the official launch, the prospect of Mobai was not clear. The decision to make a car was very stressful. "There is a big difference with the early investors, and the financing is not very smooth. Everyone is questioning the mode is so heavy." Hu Wei left a deep impression on Li. "She is very specific. The whole model wants to understand, regardless of the economic model, or from the entire user experience, it is to build a car."

With Mobike on the line at the end of April 2016 and starting operations in Shanghai, Li said that the project was “very bullish”. “At the time they said that it would be good to be a company worth 1.5 billion dollars. I said that if it succeeds, it must be 200. I am a billion-dollar company. I vote because this company can reach 20 billion US dollars."

Even so, it is not easy to pay for it. Li and Moby are very fit in values. "Li said that she loves us very much," Hu said. "But it is a long way to love you and finally to get the money out."

“Have you seen the American TV series “Silicon Valley”?” Hu said, the financing experience of Mobai is simply the reappearance of the “Silicon Valley” plot.

The Mobike B round of financing was officially announced in August last year. In addition to Panda Capital and Pleasant Capital, the investor also included Kai-Fu Lee’s innovative workshop. Kai-fu Lee not only brought millions of dollars, but also brought resources. Under his cooperation, at the end of January 2017, Foxconn and Mobike reached a strategic cooperation. Mobike bicycle officially announced that dozens of factories at and outside Foxconn will provide a special production line for Mobike bicycles. The annual production capacity is expected to reach 5.6 million units. The production capacity of Mobike will double on the basis of its original production capacity. The total output will exceed 10 million vehicles per year.

Prior to this, Mobai had already entered the fast lane. In August 2016, Mobai entered Beijing, and in May, Mobai carried out the C round of financing. The two giants of Sequoia and Gaochun entered the market with 100 million US dollars. Hu Wei said, "Many things are visible, tangible, and verified by the market." Li said that the C round "a bunch of people chasing the cast, taking the money to get soft." The relationship between supply and demand between Mobai and capital reversed, and the right to choose was in the hands of Moby.

A month later, Mobai refinanced, and Huaping, Tencent, Qiming Ventures, and Bertelsmann grabbed tickets. Hu Zhengwei, executive director of Warburg Pincus in the United States, told China Entrepreneur that Mobai is the fastest-paced project in which Huaping entered China in the past two decades. Huaping generally decided to invest in a project that requires at least four weeks of adjustment. It also needs to set aside the internal document preparation and decision-making time. However, in the Mobai project, due to the understanding and confidence of the industry, it is time-consuming and has many opponents. Hua Ping made an exception in two weeks to make a decision to invest in Mobai.

Although time is limited, as Wang Lixing, managing director of Huaxing Capital, said, investors are not stupid. In two weeks, Huaping made a model to study the scale of the shared bicycle market. They found that although sharing bicycles is a new thing, there is a parameter that can be used for reference, that is, China's public bicycle market. Huaping analyzed the public bicycle market in nearly 200 cities across the country and selected 15 cities as sample surveys. Hu Zhengwei said that according to the number of public bicycle trips announced by these cities, the number of bottom lines for the shared bicycle market can be estimated. “Because public bicycles are piled, it is not convenient, and the second public bicycles have limited delivery and supply is less. Demand." According to the number of bottom lines, and then the Gini coefficient, the number of urban population, etc., Hu Zhengwei calculated that the number of trips in China's shared bicycles is between 30 and 78 million times a day - which is obviously extremely large. High frequency market. Huaping, which has long been concerned about the travel market, invested in Shenzhou special cars, Weilai Automobile, and e-driver, has not missed the opportunity of Mobai.

After the C round, Mobai introduced Huaxing as the exclusive FA. The latter will only serve Mobai, a shared bicycle company within two years. This is the first time for the old FA Huaxing. Last year, Mr. Wang Xiaofeng accepted the "Chinese Entrepreneur" interview and still felt that he was not fast enough. "It is best to melt six rounds." For the choice of investors, Wang Xiaofeng also gave the standard: "First, we are looking for gas, not everyone's money. Second, rich and powerful."

Zhou Liang’s opinion of Huaxing’s director can be used as a footnote for Wang Xiaofeng’s “rich and powerful”: “The first money is a necessary condition, including valuation, and commercial terms. On the other hand, we still hope to choose valuable (investment). Institutions), this value can be a lot of aspects, for example, it can help us build better government communication channels, better connect with upstream suppliers, and help Mobai better expand overseas business. Some like the banking department can better help Mobai to fund the hosting and arrangement."

In 2017, more and more shared bicycles have made the city more colorful, capital blowers have become more powerful, and sharing bicycles has become a hot topic in financial and even social news. After the Spring Festival, in the APP store free download list, Mobai and ofo are in the top three. In early March, Moby completed the D+ round of financing, with a valuation of more than $1 billion, and officially entered the ranks of unicorns.

Route dispute

Like the previous network car market, the market pattern of shared bicycles is also two-wheeled, but the difference between Moby and ofo is much larger than that of drip and fast, or drip and Uber.

The difference between Mobai and ofo mainly includes these aspects:

First, the cost: Hu Wei is not willing to disclose the cost of the bicycle. According to outside estimates, the price of the classic version of the Mobai is as high as 3,000 yuan per car. The lite version has been reduced, but it is also more than 1,000 yuan. The cost of ofo is only 200~300 yuan per vehicle.

Second, the lock: Mobai is a smart lock, and ofo is a mechanical lock (now ofo is also trying to release a bicycle with a smart lock).

Third, GPS: Mobai has and ofo no.

Fourth, the deposit: Mobai is 299 yuan, and ofo is 99 yuan.

"Chinese Entrepreneur" interviewed several investors from Moby and ofo and found that they had the opportunity to invest in another before investing in Mobai or ofo. After weighing the calculations, they chose one of them. Follow the ofo or Moby? This can also be regarded as a small route dispute in the investment community.

Jinshajiang Venture Capital became the A round investor of ofo after the Spring Festival of 2016. One or two months before the Spring Festival, Zhu Xiaohu, a partner of Jinshajiang Venture Capital, once received a business plan for Mobike cycling, but Zhu Xiaohu finally decided to vote for theo.

Zhu Xiaohu said to the "Chinese Entrepreneur" that in the Chinese market, cost, speed and reproducibility are very important, and this is the advantage of the cost of about 300 yuan compared to competitors, "Mobai cloth, Theo can be clothed for 10 cars." In Zhu Xiaohu's vision, ofo will take the advantage of cost advantage, occupy as much market share as possible, and then carry out product iteration.

A Mobai investor who asked not to be named said that he had contact with both of them before investing. Because of his personal contact, he and theo were more closely connected. The reason for giving up is because Moby’s sense of technology is even more Strong. The electronic lock with GPS is obviously superior to the mechanical lock. More importantly, the big data capability obtained through the electronic lock provides a broad imagination for the evolution of the future.

The fundamental difference may come from looking back on itself from the future.

Panda Capital Partner Li said that when investing in Mobai, Panda Capital believes that “Mobai is a basic Internet of Things (enterprise), and there are many commercial models and imaginations that can be derived.” Zhou Liang’s evaluation of Mobye is higher: “Sharing Cycling is the first area in the entire Internet of Things application to achieve breakthroughs. In the future, companies such as Mobai will have a relatively large imagination in the IoT industry. Therefore, Mobye is not only sharing bicycles. Entrepreneur said that Moby was an IoT company since its inception.

After theo went out of the campus and entered the city, the smell of gunpowder between the two companies became more and more concentrated. At the time, Zhu Xiaohu tried to keep the campus and then left. Now he feels a bit conservative. If ofo entered the city one quarter earlier, it would be two months earlier than Mobai’s entry into the city, making it easier to gain an advantage. Hu Wei, Wang Xiaofeng and Dai Wei and other corporate management have not had much confrontation, but investors have frequently stepped onto the front desk and their words are in dispute. In October last year, Zhu Xiaohu shouted "90 days to solve the battle". On the other hand, Li said immediately, "You will not catch up with my data within 3 months."

As of now, the total financing of ofo and Moby has combined to reach $1.2 billion. With sufficient financial support, the two shared bicycle companies have rapidly expanded their production capacity. Mobye is expected to have a production volume of 15 million units, and the ofo is even higher, reaching 20 million units.

In addition to making and commissioning a part of Emma's foundry, Mobai also reached a cooperation with Foxconn this year. The two sides announced cooperation news in January. But in fact, in early October last year, CEO Wang Xiaofeng and investor Hu Zhengwei rushed to Foxconn and met with Guo Taiming. They spent a lot of time and Foxconn finalized the production details. For Foxconn's production capacity, Hu Zhengwei is confident: "The 5 million figures are very reliable, and Foxconn's production of 10 million is not a problem."

Ofo is mainly commissioned bicycle manufacturers. Zhu Xiaohu told China Entrepreneur that ofo and most bicycle manufacturers in China have reached a cooperation.

While madly producing bicycles, shared bicycle companies are also increasing their marketing efforts for users. From the two sessions, the free rides that Moby and ofo have launched have become the norm. The rebate and red envelope of “100 yuan back to 110 yuan” and “100 yuan back to 200 yuan” are reminiscent of the tragic battle of the 30 million yuan subsidy in the online car market. Even Ma Huateng could not help but express concern: Now that users have been riding for free, will it be possible to post the money to let the user ride a bicycle?"

Regarding Ma Huateng’s worries, neither Mobai nor ofo’s investors disagree. Zhu Xiaohu’s remarks can basically represent the views of the two: “Some people say that ofo and Mobai’s price war warfare warfare, comparing the two with the original, fast, this is actually a fundamental difference. Didi needs to pour money, Each 50 yuan is worth 10 yuan. The free ride is only for users to use our products for free. And ofo and Mobai fight for operational efficiency, which is the product itself. This is not the same as pure Internet, sharing The bicycle sector does not require significant subsidies to consume a lot of costs."

As for the red-packed car launched by Mobai, Hu Wei believes that it is not a subsidy. “Use red envelopes and games to encourage users to ride non-hot spot cars back to hot spots, let the car operate where it is needed, and leave the city black hole faster. Without this product, we need to let the operators go and look for abandoned cars.” This is essentially a means of improving operational efficiency. In terms of efficiency, the shared cycle logic, the red car is actually saving money.

The profit model is another issue that is often used to question the prospects of shared bicycles. In the view of Dai Wei and Zhu Xiaohu, this is an arithmetic problem that primary school students can understand: throwing away operating costs, riding a bicycle for one dollar, using 5 times a day, earning five yuan, 60 days can recover the cost.

Mobye CEO Wang Xiaofeng is not so entangled in the profit problem. He said in an interview in December last year, “If I have a profit margin of 30%, why are you looking for investors? Why let them come and share money with us? So I am still looking for investors, because there is no clear profit model, I hope others will give me money, let me live, let us continue to develop, let us run faster than others, and then look for a profit model together. So say It’s too early to talk about profitability when it comes to entrepreneurial projects."

As long as the profit model is mentioned, Wang Xiaofeng will always have a golden sentence. When interviewed by "Chinese Entrepreneur", he said, "The people outside are often not taking the time to think about it. It is not so simple. For us, this model is not available in the world. We cannot expect to have business. The pattern comes set."

He told a story about Google. In 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, all websites wanted users to stay longer as possible, because they could sell display ads, but Google’s two founders wanted users to come to Google. Just find something and go, stay as short as possible. Before Google, people knew that the longer a user stayed, the better the display ad would be sold. But Larry’s ideas run counter to display ads. He came up with a new way to make money by clicking.

"We have to find a way to ponder a profit model that we didn't think about in the past. Why do you want to bind me?" Wang Xiaofeng put on a philosophical stance, "Let the bullets fly for a while."

In the profit model, it is generally considered that theo has the upper hand, for obvious reasons: low cost and easy return. And the cost of Moby is higher, and the profit is more difficult. However, Hu Zhengwei believes that because of the low cost and no electronic lock, the ofo bicycles have high damage rate and loss rate. "The loss part can not produce income", and the operating cost is much higher than that of Moby. Wang Xiaofeng’s statement is more modest. Whether it is a lease or a non-lease business, Moby’s profit prospects are very broad, but it’s not yet time to pursue profitability.

As the competition deepens, ofo and Mobai are also quietly adjusting products and styles. Foro and the 呗 推出 have launched a bicycle with a smart lock. Before that, ofo has cooperated with brands such as 700bike and light passengers to launch customized products of different grades. In order to make up for its shortcomings in smart locks, ofo cooperated with China Telecom and Huawei to jointly develop "the world's first NB-loT IoT shared bicycle". And Mobye has introduced a lighter and easier to ride lite version than the classic version, which will reduce the cost. The two original bifurcated paths are slowly approaching, and may meet in the near future.

Time friend

Behind the two males is not an ambitious chaser. There is a view that shared bicycles will form a regional market, and some of the later shared bicycle companies will target the cities that the two giants have not yet entered. “We have done a good job in many small cities. The daily usage rate of some cities in South China can reach 10 times.” Yu Bai, founder of Youbai Bicycle, told China Entrepreneur. Ubay bicycles were established in 2016, but the test was launched only in January 2017. At present, there are about 20 cities in the city, and the number of cities to be built in 2017 is expected to reach 50. In an interview with China Entrepreneur on April 7, Yubai has not yet entered the Beijing market. Yu Yu said that "it should be very fast." "Northern Guangzhou-Shenzhen has paved a lot of cars, but there are still many opportunities in the second and third-tier cities." Yu Yu said.

Bicycle entrepreneurship

However, the 29-year-old Li Gang did the opposite. The small blue bicycle he founded was first established in Shenzhen. He entered Beijing in February this year, and launched 150,000 vehicles a month. He also launched a new model with a transmission. Trying to give the duo a little color in the battleground of the military in Beijing. At a meeting held by the Beijing News, a co-founder of Xiaolan publicly criticized Hu Wei: "First win is not a win!" Forced Hu Hu responded: "Only fast!"

In the view of Yu Yu, there are many regional and policy-oriented factors in bicycles, and there are also several time points with variables. "For example, a brand has paved a large number of cars at a certain time. At a certain point in time, the brand's car will reach its life, and then its market share is guaranteed? This is very important." Taking Shanghai as an example, there is public information showing that the drafts of the two groups of “Shared Bicycles” and “Shared Bicycle Services” have been released and publicly collected opinions from the society.

The opinion draft specifies the age, size, weight, service operation, user height and age of the shared bicycle. One of them is that the shared bicycle is forcibly scrapped for three years.

However, most investors interviewed by China Entrepreneur believe that it is difficult for the shared bicycle market to emerge from Mobai and ofo, and then there will be another giant. “Few users will install 3 shared bicycle apps. The more ones must be supplements, not the main scenes.” Hu Zhengwei said that there is a strong head effect in the shared bicycle field, and there is basically no possibility of subverting the head sheep.

For other shared bicycles, there is another situation that is not good for themselves. That is, the big dollar funds have already stood up, which means that their financing space is getting smaller and smaller. "There are not many options (US dollar funds)." Yu Yu said. However, he believes that the structure of Ubay is not the same. "We take more RMB, and they take more dollars. Now the RMB is quite rich. So we think that the previous ones have taken the bulk, but the social capital is definitely more than these. There are still some industrial capitals that have not come in. Therefore, Ubay will have different financing strategies."

For shared cycling players, the biggest and most uncertain risk may come from government regulation.深圳、南京、北京、上海、成都等地，都在制订关于共享单车的规范或出台征求意见稿。但除了上海市的征求意见稿中要求共享单车公司必须安装GPS、三年报废、有将ofo排除出上海市场的危险、令共享单车行业一阵战栗外，另一只靴子并未落下。

各地偶有城管收车事件发生，但这些事件都很快得到解决。也许是没有触动任何既得利益的原因，政府监管对待共享单车并未像对待网约车那样雷霆一击，共享单车公司和政府的沟通相当和谐。小蓝单车进军旧金山被当地政府狠狠修理一通，李刚对记者说：“再没有比中国更好的政府了！”

胡玮炜还获得一项殊荣：受邀到国务院和总理座谈。1月10日，胡玮炜接到总理办公室电话，通知她13日到国务院开会。胡玮炜看到邀请函上写着着便装，当天穿着毛衣和大棉鞋就去了。没想到当天的场合相当正式，除了她之外，与会者都是各个部委领导，还有诸如李东生这样的著名企业家，西装革履，说话慢慢的，沉稳有加。作为会场唯一的“80后”企业家，胡玮炜和总理谈笑风生。

“我讲了很多制造业升级这块，总理也讲创新和创业，我本来就是创新和创业的领域，所以当时整个场面就比较热烈了，我们对话也比较多。”胡玮炜记得总理和她握了两次手，跟她说：“谢谢你，给我们带来了一股春风。”

现在差不多可以肯定，胡玮炜带来的不止是“一股春风”，更是吸金能力超强的创新风口。那么，站在风口上到底是什么感受？

“你见过很多人站在高山之巅，最后消失无踪；你也见过很多人登上巅峰后被成就限制，变成井底之蛙。”对于当过多年记者的胡玮炜来说，风口并不是什么新鲜事，“当记者最大的好处，是你见过世面。你见过好多牛人，听过他们的故事。我见过这些东西，（风口）对我们来说没什么，我还是挺清醒的。”

我问她，“有没有想过摩拜有可能会失败？”

胡玮炜说，“当然，所有的公司都有失败的可能，摩拜当然也有了。”

朱啸虎曾经说过，ofo有一个兜底的方案，如果做得不好了，就卖给滴滴。摩拜有没有？

“我没有退路，只能往前冲。”胡玮炜相信，“摩拜是时间的朋友。”

拍照时，胡玮炜又想起了企业家的话题。她问《中国企业家》，“怎样才算是企业家？生意人算企业家吗？”在得到“企业家不仅创造价值，也必须具有社会责任感，输出价值观”的回答后，胡玮炜脸一扬：“那我觉得自己也应该是企业家了。”