Sharing the bike storm eye: after the third place, the survival of the gap

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Shared bicycles go out to sea and close down, and Moby, ofo carry huge amounts of capital to chase and intercept, and the players after the third place survive, which may be more relevant for most entrepreneurs.

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Author | Guan Yiwen

The public space of domestic cities is becoming less and less used. Moby and ofo are striding towards a new overseas city. The goal of ofo before the end of 2017 is to enter 20 countries; the overseas head of Moby, Chris Martin, talks about Mobye's enthusiasm for entering overseas is from January of this year. Only mainland China has more than 150 nationalities registered for Mobai. At present, in Manchester, the number of times each Mobai is opened up to 10 times.

After sharing a bicycle for a year, people have become accustomed to equating Moby, ofo and shared bicycles. After all, in the speech of ofo executive president Fu Qiang, the user's cumulative riding distance can already circle 30,000 circles around the earth; The fact that three shared bicycles closed down within 50 days, linking the "shared bicycle small players" and "closing down" seems to have become the most logical closed loop.

But this does not mean that the shared bikers after the third place can't play.

In October last year, the team almost did not hesitate and unanimously decided to give up the first line, focusing on the second and third tier cities. This strategy is still the most correct decision in the whole process of entrepreneurship in the view of Hello cycling co-founder Li Kaiqiu. “First-tier cities are a must for head companies, and positive competition will quickly wipe out our limited resources.”

Zhixiang bicycles also avoided the edge of Mobai and ofo, and chose to seek new cakes in the tourism industry. At present, they have obtained the scenic franchise rights of the third- and fourth-tier cities. Pony's pony bike is used as a platform pilot to provide more solutions to the demand side.

The small blue bicycle is still chasing in front of the Mobai and ofo in the first-tier cities, and the pace is consistently active. The founder Li Gang is a confident person. He feels that a normal business society should have three major enterprises in one field. Everyone has their own advantages.

When Mobai and ofo carry billions of capital elephants to dance, compared with the followers who have closed down, other players after the third place have their own way of survival, how to survive in the cracks, for most entrepreneurs. In fact, it may be more informative.

Small blue bicycle: front chasing Mobai, ofo

From the very beginning, the small blue bicycle chose to compete with Mobai and ofo in the first-tier cities. According to official data, as of now, Xiaolan bicycles have more than 2000 users in 6 cities in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing and Foshan. Ten thousand, the daily order volume is nearly 7 million.

Hello cycling co-founder Li Kaiqian feels that this kind of short-term warfare in the first-tier cities is both good and bad - the benefits are obvious, and now people mention that Moby, ofo, will also mention the small blue bicycle. It’s easy to attract focus; on the other hand, Li Kaizhuo made an analogy. “When your resources are less than others, you bet on resources on a big hand, you are likely to be very soon. Was drowned."

In the previous interview with Netease Technology's founder Li Gang of Li Lan bicycle, Li Gang and his team discussed how to make the small blue bicycle better at the product level every day. On March 22, the small blue bicycle launched three. The shifting bluegogo pro, in Li Gang’s vision, will be a shared bicycle that can ride around Hainan Island and Taiwan Island.

On August 15th, Xiaolan Bicycle claimed that it will start to launch this “best ride” three-speed shifting bicycle bluegogo pro on a large scale in the nationwide operating city. In the future, the proportion of the small blue bicycle pro version will gradually reach 50% of the total number of small blue bicycles.

"From the generation of ideas to the final decision-making, a total of one month, the final decision is a one-time decision." In the impression of Hu Lanbo, vice president of Xiaolan Bicycle, the decision to promote pro did not take too much time. Although compared to the regular version of the small blue bicycle, the cost of the pro version is much higher, and the last financing from the small blue bicycle has been half a year.

The small blue bicycle is also the only one, in addition to Moby and ofo, the shared cycling players who claim to be expanding overseas. Hu Yubo told NetEase Technology that this year, the small blue bicycle will speed up the pace of going to sea and land in nearly 30 cities in 12 countries.

Back in the history of sharing bicycles to go abroad, in fact, as early as January this year, Xiaolan Bicycle has already announced a high-profile announcement to enter San Francisco, USA, and plans to launch 10,000 bicycles. As the first bicycle company to go to the sea to eat crabs, Li Gang soon Received various restrictions and fines from the San Francisco City Council. In the end, only ten private parking spots were rented and only 200 bicycles were placed.

But that time, the test of water, the domestic shared bicycle companies eager to go to the sea, sounded the alarm - Hu Yu boiling with a small blue bicycle to go abroad, only to find that the entire foreign environment is completely different from China, involving The problem of public road rights, "Some countries need to apply for a license. Some countries must wear helmets when riding bicycles. In some countries, you must fully participate in legislation on vehicle use."

After half a year of crouching, until the momentum of Mobai and ofo marching overseas, the small blue bicycle finally decided to start attacking overseas. This time, Hu Yu boiled three modes for the blue bicycle. .

The first is the investment by overseas investors, the small blue bicycle is fully operated; the second is to establish a joint venture with local partners, each of which holds a certain share, but Xiaolan still dominates the operation; the last one is also a joint venture model, but Small blue bicycles retreat behind the scenes, only a small part of the equity, output production capacity and operational experience, local partners will create a new brand based on this, the shape, color, logo will be different from the current small blue bicycle.

Choosing to cooperate with the local partner, Hu Yu Bo believes that it is the most important thing to share bicycles and avoid the acclimatization in the country. “A lot of things that you may need to take four to five months to get, local partners may be in a few weeks. You can do it for you.” Hu Yu said that the little blue bicycle was in Australia and landed directly in just one week.

Chen Yuying, CEO of Xiaoming Cycling, once admitted to Netease Technology that the first-mover advantage of Moby and ofo is insurmountable, and investors are insurmountable. However, Li Gang is a self-confident person. He feels that a normal business society should have three major enterprises in one field. Everyone has their own advantages. "The market for sharing bicycles should be three in the next year. The case of the drop."

Harrow Cycling: Second and Third Line City Barriers

In October last year, the team almost did not hesitate and unanimously decided to give up the first line, focusing on the second and third tier cities. This strategy is still the most correct decision in the whole process of entrepreneurship in the view of Hello cycling co-founder Li Kaiqiu. “First-tier cities are a must for head companies, and positive competition will quickly wipe out our limited resources.”

Hale bicycle founder Yang Lei and his team did not think that they chose to attack the second stop of the second-tier city, they encountered a lot of difficulties.

Taking into account the supply chain, bicycle research and development, urban foundation and other issues, Yang Lei selected the first stop of Haro cycling in Suzhou, which is close to the distance. This is a small infrastructure with a green shade and a perfect fit for cycling. A fresh city, and the user's spending power is also very good, probably second only to the north and the depths.

However, when there were only a few days or two or three thousand bicycles in Suzhou, the Haro bicycles encountered a prohibition order from the Suzhou government department, and they were not allowed to continue to use bicycles. Although the team made various attempts, the Suzhou government shared bicycles. The introduction was quite cautious and strict, and eventually, Haro bicycles abandoned the city.

Until today, Suzhou still has not opened the door to shared bicycles. At present, there is still no single bicycle in the whole city of Suzhou. In Wujiang District, Mobai plans to gradually put 5,000 bicycles.

The frustration of the first pilot city brought a lot of trouble to the Haro bicycle that had just started. The choice of the next city became extremely critical. Co-founder Li Kaiqian still regarded it as a Haro bicycle. A more prominent difficulty in the entrepreneurial process.

"At that time, I was basically meeting every day and I was constantly discussing the situation." Li Kaiqian recalled the scene at the time. The selection team about the second city discussed a lot. On the one hand, the user base is better, so that the business can be launched; more importantly Yes, after the setback in Suzhou, Harrow’s bicycle communication with the government was more active and cautious. “To choose a city that can communicate with the management and get some support.” After comprehensive consideration, they chose the city of Ningbo. .

After this experience, Li Kaiqian summed up some experiences of communicating with the government: in the face of relatively open cities, first, and then problems, but to strengthen operational management, actively cooperate with the government; In the state of the city, you need to actively communicate with the government, continue to use some good samples to convince them and dispel concerns.

At present, there are more than 20 cities in the exclusive operation of Haro bicycles. At least this year, Li Kaiqian did not have much interest in entering overseas. He wanted to be deep. Harrow bicycles have developed a three-dimensional travel plan. In the near future, Harrow bicycles will not only be a shared bicycle. enterprise.

In fact, this strategy is prepared from an earlier date. As early as more than two months ago, Harrow bicycles replaced hellomble as the company's unified brand name. Insider of Haro Bicycle revealed that in this three-dimensional travel strategy, hellocock represents only the product and business layout of the shared bicycle.

Netease Technology has learned that Harrow Bicycle has recently reached an exclusive strategic cooperation with a third-tier city to help the latter to create a smart transportation plan for the city as a whole, and Harrow Bicycle will also serve as the overall operator of the city's smart transportation. The products will not only be limited to the single dimension of shared bicycles, but also include the shared electric bicycles developed by the independent research and development, and the shared electric vehicles such as the B+ round investment Weimar automobile pilot, to realize the complete industrial chain of shared travel integration.

Zhixiang bicycle: scenic cooperation is the way to survive

COO Yang Haifeng felt that it was a pity that if Mobai was released to Beijing a little later, even if it was only a week or two, he felt that if the project of cooperation between the bicycle and the government would be able to operate, there would be no chance for Moby, ofo.

Zhixiang bicycle originally planned to launch bicycles in mid-July last year. This is a PPP project. The government and social capital cooperate. Yang Haifeng has already talked about the cooperation of more than 30 governments and the procurement quota of 50,000 vehicles.

However, in August last year, Mobai launched the first bicycle in Beijing. Ofo went out of the campus and marched into the city. Both of them announced large-scale financing. This thorough mode of private capital operation, the rhythm of the bicycle. The child was disrupted.

In October last year, Zhixiang Bicycle cooperated with Haidian District Government to build the first generation of shared bicycles, recycling local residents and “zombie” bicycles on the streets for renovation and spraying. Later, Yang Haifeng and the team found that the cost of this transformation was quite high, and it was better to produce bicycles on their own.

After almost 6 months, after the improvement of the second-generation car produced by self-produced, Zhixiang bicycle officially launched the third-generation car on April 11 this year. This is a shared bicycle without a lock tongue. The two physical keys at the end can realize temporary lock and settlement.

Mobai and ofo are fighting in Beijing. Although they are headquartered in Beijing, Yang Haifeng does not want to compete face-to-face with them here. He has chosen another way of survival - seeking new cakes in the tourism industry, one of which focuses on It is the franchise of scenic spots in the third- and fourth-tier cities of considerable magnitude.

Yang Haifeng regards it as an innovative business model, and the good relationship with the government is a good card in the hands of the bicycle, about the cooperation of the three- and four-tier cities, and more imagination of the tourism industry. Yang Haifeng told Netease Technology that they have already implemented it, and the speed is very fast. "First of all, you have to have an innate advantage, at least in terms of quantity."

Pony cycling: born for aggregation

Even the car chain was painted in red, the whole body of the red pony bicycle, in the summer of Beijing, netizens dubbed the crayfish, pony bicycle head Li Haijun said, "Add a little Chinese elements, we are Chinese red. ”

The trial operation in April and the launch of the pony bicycle in July are the first internal projects of the self-operated incubation of Baosteel after the transition.

Realizing that the P2P car rental model is still not mature in China, CEO Li Rubin upgraded the original car rental business to a comprehensive travel platform at the end of last year, and proposed new energy electric vehicles, RVs, shared bicycles, and shared electric bicycles. Eight major travel strategies. At the same time, Li Rubin also decided to Baojia to do his own shared bicycle.

However, Baojia does not intend to compete with the shared bicycle companies, but hopes to share the bicycles to the platform of Baochao. The pilot of the pony bicycle, in the view of Li Haijun, "is born for the sake of convergence. Baochao hopes to understand what the manufacturer needs by operating such a relatively large-scale self-operated project, and then more targeted to help the demand. square."

“No car manufacturer is willing to become a foundry manufacturer.” Li Haijun described such a scenario, intending to participate in the sharing of the economic wave of the car factory, they have their own brand premium and unique advantages, but perhaps subject to Internet thinking and Lack of fierce financing capacity, "At this time, we can provide a series of solutions, including systems, background, big data, etc. as an aggregation platform."

Although the shared bicycle has already been in the Red Sea, Li Haijun does not feel that it is not suitable for admission at this time. "Like gambling, if you are not on the table, you will have nothing to do with the card when you finally open the card, but as long as you are betting On the table, maybe there is something to do."

When using a few to describe the past year of sharing bicycles, these entrepreneurs tacitly said the same three words - innovation, enthusiasm, barbaric growth, and for the next year, they are eager to try.