Even without Chen Pingjiang, Pony Ma would propose "Internet+" several years later, which would eventually develop into a national strategy.
Chen Pingjiang merely proposed it a step earlier, accelerating the development process, hoping to advance the timeline through personal effort.
After the summit in the afternoon, Chen Pingjiang became highly sought after, and many people extended invitations for private meetings, but most were declined by Chen Pingjiang.
With so many people, even if it were just one coffee per person, Chen Pingjiang wouldn't be able to leave BJ for days.
At the end of the meeting, Old Ma leaned over with a smile:
"Free tonight? There's a dinner party."
"Who's hosting?"
Chen Pingjiang asked.
"Old Liu."
Chen Pingjiang lost interest as soon as he heard it.
Old Liu referred to Liu Zhi, so this dinner party should be the Taishan Club's dinner.
Chen Pingjiang was not interested in a certain Xiang, nor was he interested in this so-called Taishan Club.
What's the point of going there to be a junior when there are people at the table who could be his father, or even his grandfather?
The mysterious Taishan Club was dominated by brick-and-mortar companies, with only Li Yanhong and Old Ma representing the internet sector, and Shi Yuzhu at most.
It was rumored that the accumulated wealth of its members reached two trillion.
Every time members gathered, they agreed: no recording during talks, no note-taking, no inviting local leaders, and no external publicity.
They acted so mysteriously, yet in the end, they couldn't escape the fate of disbandment.
Chen Pingjiang was very sensitive to such matters.
Old Ma, however, was tireless; he not only participated in the Taishan Club but later also mimicked it to create the Jiangnan Club, finding a prime feng shui location in Lin'an and building a top-tier clubhouse.
However, it was ordered to close in 2014.
Chen Pingjiang smiled:
"You should have told me sooner. I have an appointment with Shen Nanpeng. Definitely next time."
He wasn't lying; Shen Nanpeng indeed arranged a gathering.
This dinner party was much purer, attended by titans of internet companies.
When Chen Pingjiang arrived at the clubhouse, Lei Jun, Pony Ma, Dongzi, Wang Xing, Chen Yizhou, Li Yanhong, Ding Lei, and others were already there, in addition to some CEOs of companies invested in by Shen Nanpeng.
One has to admire Shen Nanpeng's influence in China's internet industry; it's not wrong to say he invested in half of the internet landscape.
Among these people, Chen Pingjiang, Pony Ma, Ding Lei, and Li Yanhong were on the same level.
Although Lei Jun was not short on money, the industries he held were not comparable to the first four.
The remaining Dongzi, Wang Xing, and Chen Yizhou were considered rising stars; at this gathering today, they still had to be reserved.
"Mr. Chen, today's speech was deafening and thought-provoking."
"Today, leaders from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Internet Association are very interested in the concepts you proposed and plan to report them to their superiors."
"..."
Unlike others who greeted Chen Pingjiang.
Chen Yizhou and Wang Xing felt a bit awkward seeing Chen Pingjiang, and even Chen Yizhou and Wang Xing themselves were quite unnatural when they met.
The love-hate relationship between the three was intense.
Chen Yizhou's Xiaonei.com and Wang Xing's Meituan were currently being ground into the dust by Chen Pingjiang's Renren.com and Renrengou, especially with Meituan and Renrengou's offline sales teams constantly fighting.
When Chen Yizhou became famous, Chen Pingjiang was still a junior, and a pursuer.
Unexpectedly, in just two or three years, the tables had turned.
After Chen Yizhou acquired Wang Xing's Xiaonei.com, although Wang Xing worked at Oak Pacific Interactive, the two were not very happy together.
Tencent invested in JD.com, so they brought Dongzi.
Baidu invested in Nuomi.com, so Li Yanhong also brought Chen Yizhou.
Anyway, the relationships among the people attending this gathering were quite chaotic.
"Why the hell do I feel like the whole world is against me?"
Chen Pingjiang secretly grumbled.
Among this group, except for Dongzi, whose conflict with him in e-commerce was minor, others more or less had business conflicts with him.
Shen Nanpeng had anticipated this when organizing the gathering, and his first words after everyone arrived were:
"Company competition is company competition, but personal relationships still need to be maintained. More friends mean more opportunities, and everyone will always meet at various conferences in the future. You are all leaders in your respective industries, so more exchange and communication can only be beneficial."
"Today's gathering is not about politics; you can talk about work, you can gossip, but don't bring up unpleasant things."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lei Jun smiled and said,
"I won't talk about unpleasant things. I'm just particularly curious how Mr. Chen poached Lin Bin. He and I have a very good relationship."
Chen Pingjiang chuckled:
"I offered Lin Bin a stage."
Hearing this, Lei Jun didn't dwell on it.
At this time, he had no thoughts of founding Xiaomi; he merely wanted to invest in Meizu, which was why he had once introduced Lin Bin to Meizu.
Among the present entrepreneur bigwigs, Chen Pingjiang had the best impression of the honest, down-to-earth, and loyal Dongzi.
Chen Pingjiang had heard the story of how the entire village collected eggs from house to house to support his schooling, and he had also heard stories of Dongzi distributing large gift packages and down jackets to his villagers during festivals.
The current Dongzi had not yet met Milk Tea Sister.
The meal lasted about two hours.
Chen Pingjiang was very low-key and didn't say much.
It was only after getting into the car outside the clubhouse that he slowly let out a breath.
This meal was truly exhausting.
Everyone was too good at pretending; Chen Yizhou and Wang Xing clearly wanted to kill him, yet they kept up their fake smiles.
Pony Ma was also very cunning, toasting Chen Yizhou and Wang Xing back and forth in front of Chen Pingjiang, deliberately trying to put Chen Pingjiang in a difficult spot.
Cliquishness in the circle was nothing new; you couldn't escape it if you were in it.
Only by being strong enough yourself could you disregard the so-called small circles.
......
After returning to Dongjiang, Chen Pingjiang attended Renren.com's roadshow preparation meeting.
Huaxing Capital, as the exclusive financial advisor for the listing, specially sent a partner.
"Over the next two weeks, we will hold IPO roadshows in multiple cities. Let me outline the schedule: September 10th, Hong Kong; September 17th, New York; September 25th, London. After that, we can ring the bell for listing within no more than 21 days.
Previous trial meetings have already received approval from multiple institutions, and the estimated IPO fundraising scale will exceed 3 billion USD, with a stock price between 22 USD and 28 USD. After successful financing, Renren.com's total valuation may reach 15 billion USD."
Chen Pingjiang nodded, looking around:
"Take the schedule back and plan your work arrangements."
The roadshow is an indispensable part of an IPO.
It is a stock promotion event held by Renren.com and four underwriters for investors.
The purpose is to promote communication and exchange between investors and the stock issuer to ensure the smooth issuance of shares.
To put it bluntly, it's about drawing a grand vision for underwriters, institutional investors, analysts, fund managers, and hedge funds, telling them how awesome Renren.com is, what scale we aim to achieve in the future, and guaranteeing that buying our stock will lead to sure profits.
It's to get these people to approve Renren.com, buy Renren.com's shares, and act as a backstop for Renren.com's listing.
Only if everyone buys can enough money be raised for a successful listing, and for the stock price to soar on the first day of trading.
Getting real market feedback on the company during the roadshow allows issuers and investment banks to better determine the valuation range, laying the foundation for a successful IPO.
If no one is willing to buy your shares, then congratulations, it means the listing has failed.
"From now until the listing, your company must be extremely careful. Any slight disturbance could attract regulatory scrutiny and harm investor confidence, including but not limited to various disputes and lawsuits, executive scandals, etc."
Huaxing Capital's partner reminded them again.
After the meeting, all departments at Renren.com immediately issued a notification.
"How is it, everyone, are you nervous?"
Chen Pingjiang asked with a smile, looking at Li Xi, Miao Bingwei, Wan Yuqian, Shu Mang, and Tian Hongrui in front of him.
These four, as Renren.com's CEO, CTO, CHO, and CFO, would join Chen Pingjiang in the roadshow, exposed to the spotlight, and scrutinized by institutional investors, fund managers, and hedge funds.
Li Xi smiled unnaturally:
"How could the pressure not be great? I specifically searched on Baidu for information, and it's said that institutional investors consider management's experience and trustworthiness as very important indicators?"
Chen Pingjiang nodded:
"Good management can build more confidence for investors. Even if the company's current profitability is not necessarily excellent, investors often lean towards companies with outstanding management teams."
Shu Mang gave a wry smile:
"Then we're in trouble, aren't we? Compared to other companies, we seem to be weaker in both education and experience?"
Chen Pingjiang waved his hand indifferently:
"There's no need for everyone to belittle yourselves. While these are important, Renren.com's vigorous development itself cannot be separated from your efforts. We may lack experience, but we are capable, and besides, I'm here."
Tian Hongrui comforted:
"Indeed, all of us combined are not as favored by investors as Mr. Chen. Have you forgotten the previous roadshow trial? Institutional investors may not care about us, but are more interested in Mr. Chen."
It could be said that the success or popularity of Renren.com's IPO depended entirely on Chen Pingjiang's performance.
Putting everything else aside, his age alone was enough to be Chen Pingjiang's biggest advantage.
If Chen Pingjiang remained healthy, he would lead Renren.com to stable development for at least fifty years, which was enough to give strong confidence to various institutional investors.
September 9th.
A large group of Renren.com executives and various hired business teams arrived in Hong Kong by chartered flight.
The first stop of the roadshow was previously expected to have 500 investors, but the actual attendance reached 800, making the venue very crowded.
All Renren.com executives, including Chen Pingjiang, underestimated investors' interest in Renren.com and Chen Pingjiang.
"This global promotional event is very significant and will allow Renren.com to decide whether to issue shares above the original guided price and bring itself closer to this valuation."
"Many investors believe that Renren.com's founder Chen Pingjiang is impressive, with some investors calling Chen Pingjiang 'surprisingly young, bringing a lot of imagination'."
(End of Chapter)