Remember the ofo little yellow car that was popular all over the country? Some time ago, the news of its founder Dai Wei's successful entrepreneurship in the United States appeared on the hot search, which triggered heated discussions among netizens.
What netizens are most concerned about is why Dai Wei, who has become the executor, that is, Lao Lai, still runs abroad to start a successful business?
However, after reading his life, you may be able to solve the doubts in your heart.
Who is Dai Wei?
Dai Wei is indeed a talent, bachelor's and master's degrees are graduated from Peking University, others are busy looking for a job, he graduated in 2013 and went to Qinghai to teach for a year, which shows that his family conditions are not ordinary.
In 2014, he and four friends founded ofo shared bicycle, which is the first new Internet technology company in China to operate a school bicycle business in a platform sharing way, when he was only 24 years old.
At that time, ofo set off a wave of shared bicycles, and after multiple rounds of financing and business expansion, ofo was valued at 120 billion yuan, making it the largest shared bicycle company in China.
As the founder and chairman of ofo, Dai Wei can be described as full of spirit and infinite scenery.
However, young people are still young people after all, and there are very few people who can achieve their ambitions for the first time, not to mention that Dai Wei was only in his twenties at that time, with empty ambitions and lack of lessons.
In the management of the company, Dai Wei committed a taboo and copied the "one-vote veto" of the permanent council of the United Nations.
At that time, Ofo's major shareholders Dai Wei, Ali, Didi, and Jingwei all had veto power, that is, as long as one of the four disagreed with a resolution, then things could not be done.
Due to a veto, ofo missed many opportunities for development, and merging with Mobike was the biggest mistake of the one.
At that time, Ma Huateng said in the circle of friends that the root cause of ofo's failure was "vete right", that is, a veto.
Li Xueling, chairman and CEO of Happy Times, also issued the same view in his circle of friends, saying that the real cause of ofo's death lies in "a veto".
At the same time, within ofo, high-level infighting is very serious, and the contradiction between ofo's young founding team and major shareholder Didi is particularly serious, and Dai Wei even drove away Fu Qiang, the former senior vice president sent by Didi, Nanshan, the head of the open platform, and Leslie Liu, the former financial director of Didi.
Second, Dai Wei's ambition is too big, and the pace of ofo's expansion is too fast.
In order to seize the market, ofo quickly expanded across the country, and many areas that were not suitable for operation invested in a large number of shared bicycles, and finally these little yellow cars did not make much money, but the cars disappeared.
Due to the big step, by 2018, ofo began to encounter a capital chain crisis, and even the user deposit could not be refunded, and ofo began to slump.
Forced, but successful in starting a business in the United States?
To be sure, ofo has completely closed down, ofo client has been completely unable to log in, WeChat mini programs cannot be used, official 400 phones cannot be connected, and even the company has sold the official WeChat public account.
According to a report by Mai Hui Finance, it is conservatively estimated that there are still at least 16 million people's deposits unrefunded, and the deposit of ofo is 200 yuan per person, a total of 3.2 billion yuan.
This 3.2 billion must have been lost.
Modern companies are basically limited liability companies, although legal persons and shareholders only bear limited liability, but Dai Wei still cannot escape liability.
Since 2018, Dai Wei has been enforced, and now Dai Wei has more than 40 consumption restrictions under his name.
However, Dai Wei was only enforced to have 13.42 million in property. This is only 13.42 million, which currently shows that there is no property under the name to be enforced.
As the founder of a unicorn company with a valuation of hundreds of billions that year, he only had 13.42 million property, and it is estimated that he did not believe it when it came to children. Moreover, Dai Wei's annual salary that year was as high as 3.5 million, and later he cashed out by selling shares, and his worth has exceeded one billion.
It can only be said that people have long thought of ways to deal with it, transferring assets in advance, or transferring assets under their names to their relatives, leaving only more than 10 million to be enforced.
As a result, this side owes 3.2 billion yuan to the Chinese people, and the other side has run to the free United States to continue to start a business.
Dai Wei opened a coffee brand called About Time Coffee in the United States, the first store opened in a prime location in downtown Manhattan, and then opened four chain stores in a row, selling chilled pearl coffee.
At present, About Time Coffee has been favored by some large venture capital companies in the capital market, and domestic investment institutions ZhenFund, IDG Capital China Subsidiaries, and Beijing Hunter Capital have all expressed interest.
About Time Coffee is currently valued at $200 million and is still seeking financing.
About Time Coffee sells iced pearl coffee, the equivalent of domestic bubble tea. And the coffee suddenly became a trend on the American social media TikTok and Instagram.
And Dai Wei says it's not just a coffee shop, but a tech-savvy startup.
As a result, About Time began to emulate Luckin Coffee's technology-driven business model, using mobile apps to customize discounts and coupons for customers.
In terms of selling price, About Time sells for an average of just $4, compared to $6 for Starbucks.
At the same time, in order to attract customers, About Time has also developed the first free model, which attracts the love of young people who are mainly college students.
In the United States, About Time has quickly become an influencer brand.
About Time Coffe's official Twitter account shows that the brand's products are currently in short supply, and orders will have to wait three or four weeks to produce.
About Time is expected to open 150 stores across the U.S. in the coming year.
Although he got $10 million in the initial round of financing, but entrepreneurship needs financial support, doesn't Dai Wei have no assets to execute in China? And where does the money come from to start a business? Has the domestic deposit of 3.2 billion been repaid?
The family is prominent, and ofo just buys a lesson
Normal people who fail to start a business are basically burdened with a debt, and then they are enforced, and even normal travel is restricted, let alone start a business in the country.
A celebrity like Lao Luo, after taking on 400 million debts, can only sell his body to work to pay off debts, but Dai Wei can go abroad to start a business again, and after seeing his family lineage, he may not be so surprised.
Dai Wei's father, Dai Hegen, is chairman and party secretary of China Chemical Engineering Group.
Looking at his Baidu entry, his resume can be described as very beautiful, and he has successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of China Railway Engineering Corporation, vice president of China Railway Co., Ltd., president of China Railway Co., Ltd., and secretary of the Party Committee of Xinxing Jihua Group Co., Ltd.
In July 2017, he began to serve as the chairman and party secretary of China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation.
He has successively won the Anhui Province May Fourth Youth Medal, Anhui Province Outstanding Young Entrepreneur, National Locomotive Medal, National May Day Labor Medal, 2021 China's Top Ten Economic Figures and other honorary titles.
Dai Wei's wife Ji Xuefei also has a good origin. Also graduated from Peking University, and Dai Wei is a classmate.
Ji Xuefei's father, Jilin Lin, graduated from the Law Department of Chinese Minmin University with a master's degree in law, associate professor, and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, executive vice mayor, and deputy secretary of the party group of the municipal government.
In July 2021, Jilin was transferred to serve as the secretary of the party group and first vice president of the Central Academy of Socialism, and the chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
With the support of his father and husband, it is normal for Dai Wei to be able to establish ofo. If I also have the support of these two husbands, I believe I can also succeed in entrepreneurship.
So even if you owe 16 million people 3.2 billion, it seems normal to succeed in starting a business in the United States, right?
So do you still believe in those rags-to-riches stories? Ma Yun's father, Ma Huateng's father, and Wang Jianlin's father-in-law are all beyond our reach.
By the way, and Dai Wei's father and father-in-law...