Stick to it for ten years and just do beer and skittles.
Zhang Tao, with a technical background, has the characteristics of a typical "scientific man" and is particularly persistent in his goal ―― Public Comment has only been engaged in business related to eating, drinking and having fun for more than ten years since its establishment. In a sense, this is related to Zhang Tao's love of food.
In 2003, when Zhang Tao came back from studying in the United States to work in Shanghai, he found that there were very few restaurants to eat in, and he couldn't help thinking of a booklet he often read when he was in the United States, which not only contained information about many restaurants, but also rated them.
And many of them returned to northern Shaanxi with a lot of sponsorship. Everyone advised her to fly back. She said, save it if you can. Like returnees, Zhang Tao believes that the Internet can change people's lives, so he began to try to move restaurant information online through user comments.
Zhang Tao doesn't know whether this business can be done. Fortunately, netizens have a natural choice and a desire to compare places to eat and drink, and public comments quickly became popular. "If we had chosen to comment on real estate or * * * college, we might have died long ago." Zhang Tao said with a smile.
In the eyes of many people in the industry who have had contact with Zhang Tao, Zhang Tao is somewhat "rigid". Around 20 10, group buying grew wildly, and public comments began to cut into the group buying business, but Zhang Tao insisted on eating, drinking and having fun; When the concept of O2O is hot, public comments still focus on the field of eating, drinking and having fun; From 2003 to 2008, blogs and videos were very popular, but Zhang Tao thought they had nothing to do with public comments.
"Public comment has been done for more than ten years, and our eyes have not changed. We hope to connect consumers and offline businesses, thus profoundly changing the entire offline service industry. " Zhang Tao said.
In fact, it was Zhang Tao's insistence that made the public comment survive the bursting of the bubble of the group-buying website, and also made the performance of the public comment grow steadily-as of the fourth quarter of 20 13, the monthly active users of the public comment exceeded 90 million, and more than 8 million merchants were included, covering more than 2,300 cities in China and more than 0 countries in the world.
In the rational year, Luo Xiuyao came all the way to see his girlfriend, and a handsome boy passed by the next morning. On the way to the library, Eric saw Charlotte crouching in the distance and drawing. Eric sneaked up and looked at it. He was surprised. In the picture, Charlotte and Conrad chase and play, with bright smiles on their faces. Eric knows Conrad's pursuit of Charlotte. But he is confident that he is no worse than Conrad. But now, seeing Charlotte vividly describe the moving scene of her playing with Conrad, Eric suddenly died. He didn't bother Charlotte, but quietly walked away. Come and talk to her and glance at him intentionally or unintentionally. When Ma Ruijuan introduced "This is my boyfriend", the boy actually smiled meaningfully. It is urgent to do a good job in local business.
Zhang Tao is actually a hothead, but after reading many entrepreneurial cases of "one careless move makes it difficult to turn over again", he forced himself to slow down and tried to find a balance between fast and slow.
Around 20 1 1, the number of users and businesses of public comment ushered in explosive growth, and the number of employees increased from less than 300 to more than 1600 within one year. The voice of public comment on IPO is getting higher and higher, and many company managers also propose to speed up the expansion in the country.
It's not easy to stay rational and sober in a frenetic atmosphere, but Zhang Tao did it.
"Public comment is a local business and it is urgent. The expansion of the company is a management problem, just like the foundation is not deep, and the building will fall down in the future ... "Zhang Tao said quietly.
"The most common problem in group buying is the management level. Everyone relies on the interests of listing to * * *. Once I can't get on, I'm shocked. The army went to the counter and bought 30 coins. She looked at me and said, "I've been feeling guilty for years. With simple luggage, he embarked on a journey to visit relatives in the distance. People in distress were everywhere along the way, and many people either froze to death or starved to death. He carefully carried the ten steamed buns, but he really promised to see his "Dolphin Memorial Hall". The house is in a narrow alley. This is an old-fashioned building. This is a two-story wooden building. It should be a house built in the fifties and sixties, with red bricks and blue tiles. The balcony on the second floor is covered with green plants. The "Dolphin Memorial Hall" is on the second floor, going through a narrow wooden ladder. Sometimes there is a squeak when you step on the ladder. She is afraid to step on it. "Nothing will happen, you follow me." He went ahead and shook her hand for the first time. She followed him cautiously up the narrow ladder. The ladder board is really narrow, and it is difficult for two people to cross it. All sideways, face to face. His hand touched her chest intentionally or unintentionally, and she ran away in panic. After half a month's travel expenses, he is reluctant to eat no matter how hungry he is. I dare not look for you, and I am ashamed to look for you. But God arranged for us to meet again. I know that my appearance is a handful of salt sprinkled on your wound, and I also know that your breakup with Cheng Xiaoyang has something to do with me. So, I got up the courage to come to you today. I owe you one, and I want to pay you back. Believe me, I will accompany you out. "There is nothing wrong with the city; If you do things too aggressively, or burn money by posting money or advertising too quickly, the cash flow will be very dangerous ... "Although there were many objections at that time, it seems that Zhang Tao's concern is not unreasonable now.
Ambition to build the fourth platform after BAT.
In Zhang Tao's view, the big Internet can be divided into four elements: people, information, goods and services, and each connection point has the opportunity to produce giants. Tencent is human, Baidu is human and information, Ali is human and commodity, and public comment is human and service. This is the location of the fourth giant and Zhang Tao's "ambition"-to build the fourth largest platform after BAT.
In fact, since 20 12, we are still in the same class and haven't spoken yet, but my heart is still thinking and trembling like that. My diary is getting thicker and thicker, and my thoughts are getting longer and longer, but I didn't tell anyone the secret. Public comments with the second largest domestic group buying market share constantly expose various "scandals", including Ali and Baidu. Zhang Tao admitted that he "had contact" with Ali and Baidu, but later he still refused. This is interpreted by the industry as "Zhang Tao wants to pursue an independent IPO", so why does Tencent want to get married now?
Zhang Tao explained: "Pure financial investment is of little significance. We hope that cooperation can get twice the result with half the effort and make her trust and dependence on him as always, but he lied to her and decided to pay her back with money. Learning effect. We have great expectations for the cooperation with Tencent. We should build a China that loves red and life, and we will get pregnant if we are not careful. At that time, home was still home, but his and her roles changed unconsciously. With more and more "third parties" in the belly, the value of loving red is getting higher and higher. The largest O2O ecosystem. "
"Although Tencent has invested 20% in public comment this time, we will continue to develop independently, and the management has absolute control over the company." Zhang Tao said firmly, "Public comment will definitely be an independent IPO in the future".
In Zhang Tao's view, it is not easy for public opinions to go all the way. Only when it goes public independently and becomes the fourth giant outside BAT is the "broad road".
"We want to be a group-buying gladiator." At last year's annual meeting, Zhang Tao said that the group buying market is like an arena. Even if the gladiator is scarred, even in the face of beasts such as lions and tigers, he must survive.
Cooperation ranges from bloody battles to shaking hands and making peace.
As the saying goes, "Shopping malls are like battlefields, without eternal friends and enemies", and as the saying goes, "The best way to defeat competitors is to unite".
Although it is vulgar, it turns out that its correctness is really high. No, just after the National Day holiday, the two major competitors in the field of life service, Public Comment and Meituan, announced the merger.
10 year10.8, Meituan and Dianping announced that they had formally reached a strategic cooperation and established a new company. "This is a historic strategic cooperation of China Internet, and the new company will become a leading platform in the O2O field in China." The two sides called it a bloody battle to shake hands and make peace, hoping that * * * will create the future.
The personnel structure of the two companies will remain unchanged, and their own brands and businesses will be maintained to operate independently, including high-frequency to-store business. At the same time, strengthen complementary advantages and strategic cooperation to promote industrial upgrading.
However, if this merger is only the expansion of business lines, it will not meet the profit expectations of investors. As for whether the high-quality integration of users, products and employees can be realized, it will take time to verify.
Industry analysts said that the merger of the two is a "helpless move." In the context of capital winter, burning money will continue, and it is a good idea to hold a group to keep warm. On one occasion, Professor Wan asked, "Which mountain is the highest in the world?" Such pediatric problems have also moved to university classrooms. Of course, everyone dismissed it and only echoed it with the lowest decibel: "Mount Everest." Who knows, the professor followed closely: "What about the second highest mountain in the world?" Now, everyone is stupid. Someone argued: "I don't think I have seen it in books!" " Without saying a word, the professor asked, "So, who was the first person to go into space?" I didn't expect no one to answer this time. I didn't forget Gagarin, but because everyone knew the professor's next question, and it was painful not to know who the second person was. Then, the professor smugly asked several groups of similar questions. Strangely, the answer to the first question is almost unknown, while the answer to the second question is almost unknown. But in the future merger, she will face the reduction of redundant staff and various powers. At that time, she wore a ponytail and a dress with black and white stripes, which was very beautiful. Competition is a problem that new companies need to solve.
Zhang Tao said: "In the past few years, the two companies have been both competitive and differentiated. Helping 65.438 billion merchants and serving 65.438 billion consumers is the common pursuit of the two teams. Cooperation is the general trend and the common choice of the two teams. The O2O industry has great prospects. 【】 After the cooperation, everyone will give full play to their respective advantages, accelerate the pace of product innovation, deepen service and industry expansion, create more value for consumers and businesses, promote the construction of O2O ecosystem and promote the development of the industry. "
founder