How did Yao Jinbo spend the hardest time in starting a business?

He became famous at a young age. At the age of 23, he made his fortune by fiddling with domain names and made his first 1 10,000. 10 years later, he is CEO, chairman and investor. 14 years later, he led the company to enter the New York Stock Exchange, creating a large company of 70 billion in one fell swoop. He is the founder of Yao Jinbo 58 City.

However, you only saw the success, but didn't see his frustration. Since its establishment eight years ago, 58 Tongcheng has been lying quietly in a forgotten corner, unremarkable. In the most difficult time of the company, Yao Jinbo paid everyone by selling domain names. When the employees left, he cried alone. Only in recent years can you see Yao Jinbo's smile.

Heroes come out of youth since ancient times

Yao Jinbo was born with a keen sense of business. As early as1June, 1999, shortly after graduating from the Computer Department of China Ocean University, Yao Jinbo began to dump domain names. He is one of the first four or five people to do domain names in China, and founded the website "Easy Domain Name Network" which specializes in domain name transactions.

Unlike Cai Wensheng's strategy of focusing on pinyin domain names, Yao Jinbo focuses on numbers. At that time, he claimed to be two digital domain financiers, with more than 5,000 digital domain names in his hands, and successfully sold domain names such as 28.com and 30.com at high prices until Yi Bei was acquired by Wang Wan in September 2000.

The 23-year-old earned the first bucket of gold in his life through domain name reselling, and therefore made friends with a large number of grassroots experts engaged in Internet business, such as Wu. He founded 58 cities in the future, and Cai Wensheng invested millions.

During this period, I also voted for Jin Xin, rubin li and others to resign and go it alone. 10 years later, 20 10 years later, 1 1.2, Xueda Education went public in the United States, and Yao Jinbo made billions of dollars in that transaction alone.

Love is deep and people are lonely.

However, Yao Jinbo's goal is to be the boss. So, on June 5438+February 65438+February 2005, he decided to copy the American classified information website Craigslist.org and set up 58 cities in Beijing, focusing on life services.

And the goal is to achieve listing within three years!

However, the cost of obtaining customers is too high. For a second-and third-tier actress, the endorsement fee is 5 million, and with subway, bus and elevator advertisements, more than 6,543.8+million principal is burned in minutes, plus millions of angel investments from Cai Wensheng. A year later, Softbank Safran's $65,438 +0 1 10,000 also bottomed out.

I want to raise money, but there is no venture capital in the market in the wake of the old American subprime mortgage crisis in 2007.

Yao Jinbo was suddenly cornered. At the worst time, he only had more than half a million cash in his account. After paying more than 500 employees, there is only 8,000 yuan left, which is not enough to pay the water and electricity bills for one month. There is no way, Yao Jinbo had to sell several domain names cheaply to make a living with hundreds of thousands.

During that time, the outside world questioned constantly. Just open a newspaper or a website and you will see the eye-catching title "How long can 58 cities last?" Also, it is desperate enough to want products without products and business models without business models.

Later, the employees couldn't hold on. On Christmas Eve in 2009, some company backbones will resign anyway. Yao Jinbo couldn't stop them. He rushed into the coffee shop next to the company and cried all afternoon.

On June 5438+February 3 1 day, 2009, there was a light snow in Beijing. There is only one desk left in the office of 58, and even the computer has been sold. The three founders looked at each other. Is it withdrawal? Or continue to do it? Yao Jinbo also make up our minds.

At this time, the outlet of group buying suddenly came.

In the spring of 20 10, more than 2,000 group buying websites headed by Meituan and Handan rushed into the market with lightning speed, which not only ignited group buying, but also ignited the life service Internet market.

During that half year, Yao Jinbo did nothing, but daily active users increased. By the end of 20 10, the cumulative registered users of 58 exceeded 4 million, and the number of users, traffic and information release were far ahead in the field of classified information.

When I love you, I accept suffering

In today's Internet Jianghu, A Xiang Army is active. They are very aggressive, bitter and annoying, such as Zhang Xiaolong from WeChat, Tang Yan from Momo, Feng Yousheng from Yingke, Su Hua from Aauto and so on. Yao Jinbo, a young man from Yiyang, took the "annoying" spirit of Hunan people to the extreme.

The first time was because of money. 20 10, Yao Jinbo decided to abandon the offline strategy, go online and return to the internet completely. But with the new plan, he found twenty or thirty investment institutions, but none of them dared to vote.

Without quitting, Yao Jinbo finally stubbornly found Yang Dong, a partner of Softbank Safran. Fortunately, Yang Dong has the courage. "Anyway, it has entered tens of millions, and the last one is not bad." Therefore, in April of 20 10, Yang Dong withdrew from DCM and reinvested150,000 USD in Yao Jinbo.

The second time was because of people. 20 1 1 in the early spring, the market sprang up suddenly, especially after obtaining the C-round investment of today's capital and Sequoia's $70 million, Yang Haoyong was even more prosperous.

Since the Lunar New Year's Eve, advertisements targeting the market have been broadcast at a high density of more than 60 times a day, whether by subway, bus or one, three or six sets of central government. "There are all kinds of markets!"

There is no way, Yao Jinbo had to bite the bullet. Market investment 1 100 million, he invested 200 million, the market invested 200 million and he invested 400 million. "I would rather miss an era than let my opponent surpass it."

At that time, Chen Xiaohua in the market claimed to be the best in the world, so Yao Jinbo wanted to poach him. Since then, he first invited dinner in the name of fellow villagers, and then invited K songs in the name of his birthday.

When Chen Xiaohua was angry, he knocked him out, but Yao Jinbo was not angry. But rushed to the market headquarters three times in a row. "I have come to the downstairs of your company. If you don't come down, I will go up. "

"I'm sorry, others are not that important. The most important thing is to be worthy of yourself. Who do you think is most likely to succeed? " A heartfelt word touched Chen Xiaohua.

And this has become a very important winner in the history of 58 and Jiji.com! Eight months later, the traffic in 58 cities soared by 80%, exceeding the market.

The third time was because of the product. 20 1 1 year, Yao Jinbo wants to pre-install 58 products on mobile phones, and Xiaomi is the best choice. However, Lei Jun is very strict about the pre-installation of Xiaomi mobile phone. Without his nod, no one has the right to pre-install.

So, Yao Jinbo began to practice morning running from autumn to winter. Even in the freezing weather, he will appear downstairs in Lei Jun Community on time, which is called "Meeting Lei Jun".

Then, they run and chat together. After a winter, the two became familiar, and the pre-installation of Xiaomi's mobile phone was naturally solved.

The fourth time was because of the merger. 2065438+In July 2004, there was a fierce battle between 58 and Jiji.com, and both sides spent a lot of money. Yao Jinbo is worried about money and wants to send a short message to Yang Haoyang. "Life is short, let's talk?" However, the situation in Yang Haoyong is not optimistic. "Don't dig my people yet, and then we'll talk." .

But Yao Jinbo won't give up.

In 2005, after listing in the same city on 2065438+58, he found Yang Haoyong again. "Is there any way to make you and me pay less for advertising? Change the strands? " At this time, Yang Haoyong's market expense budget has soared from 300 million to1500 million, and the profit is far away!

In this way, on April 3, 2005, 2065438+2005, 65438+2005, they began to settle their feud for ten years in a presidential suite of the Westin Sanlitun Hotel. At noon that day 12, Yao Jinbo walked into the room. I didn't expect to talk for 22 hours.

The sun goes down and the moon rises, but the room is brightly lit.

Yao Jinbo has the top ten. I just finished talking with Yang Haoyong here, and I'm still talking with eight or nine shareholders in Jiji.com.

Almost every hour, the conversation came to a dead end, and then we drank beer and smashed bottles, and the share swap ratio changed from 7: 3 and 6: 4 to 5: 5. By 6 o'clock the next morning, lawyers, accountants and investment banks all collapsed.

But at ten o'clock in the morning, a miracle appeared! With the sound of champagne being opened, 58 and Jiji.com announced the merger. Yao Jinbo's persistence in the last two hours has changed the whole life service format in China!

Everybody's good is really good.

As a rural child in Oujiangcha Town, Yiyang, Yao Jinbo felt the bitterness of the people at the bottom.

58 in the same city and 58 in the same village, especially when they arrived home at 58, they hired a large number of grassroots employees from rural areas. They have no skills, but they are rooted in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with a pair of hard-working hands and humble services such as moving, washing cars, digging holes and cleaning.

An ordinary salesman in Beijing Branch of 58 Car Wash can earn 800-65438+ 10,000 yuan a year.

20 13 10 3 1 58 was listed on the NYSE, with the highest market value of 70 billion, and the value of Yao Jinbo soared to 10 billion.

On the day of listing, he specially took 58 employees to new york. "These old employees survived the most difficult period of the company, so they should witness the important moment when 58 cities landed on the NYSE."

On the night of ringing the bell, Yao Jinbo rented a boat and everyone circled the Manhattan Islands. Yao Jinbo didn't cry, but all the other 57 people shed tears. "It's not easy for Yao Jingli to come all the way!"

At the 20 17 annual meeting, Yao Jinbo announced that all colleagues who have worked for more than 8 years can get 80,000 yuan of stock. "At the same time, they can also get an extra week of paid vacation." In the future, this has become a system. "Any 58 employees can cash out 80,000 yuan of stocks as long as they have worked for 8 years."