"We expect each 'leader' to lead a flock of sheep in the future."
Chu Xiaoqiang丨Text
Is there no money? Unsuccessful upfront investment? So employees are required to bring 1 million yuan to work?
In response to recent rumors, Micro Connect responded by issuing an internal letter on the evening of May 13, with founders Li Xiaojia and Zhang Gaobo appearing at the check-in office.
In the letter, Micro Connect also announced the full launch of the second phase of development, and called this strategic development stage "two-stage rocket departure", which is compared with the previous "first-stage rocket" stage.
In the "second stage rocket" stage, Li Xiaojia said frankly that as a start-up company, labor pains and challenges are inevitable when the old and new kinetic energy is converted. The company's organizational structure also needs to be adjusted, and some positions will have to be cancelled or adjusted, but the company will try to minimize the impact of the transformation on students.
01
Respond to all kinds of questions
According to the information on the official website, Micro Connect is an exchange group that uses financial technology to connect global capital and small and micro enterprises, and is an international revenue sharing product exchange based in Macao and facing the world, which will be officially launched on August 3, 2023.
To put it simply, Micro Connect has created a revenue sharing model to list stores in the four major industries of catering, retail, service, and culture and sports on the Micro Connect Macau Financial Assets Exchange (MCEX) to raise convenient and affordable long-term funds for them, so as to explore and practice the problem of financing difficulties for small enterprises.
In the development stage of "first-stage rocket", Micro Connect has not only created a series of revenue sharing products, but also built an ARM system, an exchange system, and a supporting full-process system, algorithm model, and risk control system to ensure product operation. During this period, Micro Connect has helped more than 13,000 small and micro stores raise nearly 4 billion yuan.
But just recently, about why Micro Connect is making a "two-stage rocket"? Is it that the "first-stage rocket" was unsuccessful? Is Micro Connect running out of money? Is the upfront investment not good? A series of questions began to come and go.
In the face of these questions, Li Xiaojia gave a clear answer in this letter: no!
The reason for the scepticism is that Micro Connect proposed a "leader plan" at the end of April this year. The plan encourages employees to start their own businesses, and the employees contribute 1 million yuan by themselves, and the company allocates 9 million yuan to jointly establish an SPV, and the SPV then hires the employee in reverse and forms a team to help the SPV continue to mine high-quality assets to be listed on the Micro Connect ASX, so as to create investment opportunities and returns.
"Raising money from employees is like the 'last madness,' which was the routine of real estate companies many years ago," one opponent said. ”
For a while, the news about "Micro Connect asked employees to give 1 million to the company to start a business" spread far and wide. Soon, public opinion evolved into "Micro Connect requires employees to bring 1 million to work", and Micro Connect was pushed to the forefront.
In the development stage of the "first-stage rocket", Micro Connect said that it was using its own money and its own strength to test the feasibility of the Micro Connect model. "We had to role-play to give the market a sample."
At this stage, Micro Connect is both an investor and an exchange, that is, "both a referee and an athlete".
However, after entering the "second stage rocket" stage, Micro Connect began to organize the money and market forces of the market on the basis of the completed construction of the ASX market, and began to truly overcome the global historical problem of investing in small and micro stores.
To put it simply, the second phase of Micro Connect will focus on the operation of the exchange, acting more as "referees" and "waiters" and less as "athletes", so that more market forces can jointly overcome the difficulties of small and micro financing.
02
Architectural changes are inevitable
Micro Connect had planned to announce the main contents of the "Second Stage Rocket Departure" in June, as well as its changes and impacts on the company's business development strategy, the company's organizational structure, team division and work focus. However, in light of some recent media reports, it was decided to share the plan in advance.
Li Xiaojia said that the "second-stage rocket" must be the development of the "first-stage rocket" after completing its mission. It introduced the three core components of the "two-stage rocket" - the navigation system, the power system, and the escort system. Among them, the navigation system is the aforementioned "leader plan".
The plan is to select a group of outstanding backbones, divide them into several teams, funded by Micro Connect, and follow the team, forming a group of professional investment institutions with different focuses to explore investment strategies in different fields.
Li Xiaojia said that the second stage of the market needs more leaders, and the "leader plan" is the key first step, which is the rocket head of the "second stage rocket", undertaking the key task of leading and breaking through. "We expect each 'leader' to lead a flock of sheep in the future."
In response to the external concern about the adjustment of the organizational structure, Li Xiaojia explained that as a start-up company, it is necessary to realize the transformation of new and old kinetic energy, and the pain and challenges to the company's management are inevitable. With the launch of the "second stage rocket", the company's organizational structure needs to be adjusted, and some positions will have to be cancelled or adjusted, but the company will try to minimize the impact of the transformation on the students.
In addition, the letter also revealed for the first time the power system of the "two-stage rocket", the internal name of which is "Central Trading System ETF"; The escort system covers four new functions, namely information disclosure, valuation, risk control and post-investment asset management.
A "central trading system ETF" is the central counterparty of all market participants on the ASX. All market participants can use this central trading system to generate and participate in the market in a simple and convenient way according to their familiar behavioral logic.
In fact, Micro Connect has only been established for more than three years, and the reason why it has attracted the attention of the outside world is more due to the company's two founders, who are both well-known figures in the financial circle. Among them, Li Xiaojia is the former chief executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the former chairman of JPMorgan Chase China, and Zhang Gaobo is the founder of Oriental Patron Financial, which pioneered the listing model of China's "red chips".
With the blessing of the two bigwigs in the financial circle, Micro Connect's development is soaring. In March 2022, Micro Connect secured another $70 million Series B funding after receiving $50 million in Series A financing, and has since quickly realized the "100 Stores Plan". In December 2022, Micro Connect was approved by the Macao Special Administrative Region for the establishment of the ASX and officially launched on August 3 of the following year. Subsequently, Micro Connect closed a $458 million Series C funding round.
However, in addition to the continuous increase in the scale of financing, Micro Connect as a new financial model, the outside world has always been skeptical of it.
The founder, Li Xiaojia, also said frankly in this letter: "What we are exploring is a new field for the whole world, and without our bravery and ignorance, no one would have done this big money investment in a small store." What we want to create is a completely new trading place, where there are neither ready-made sellers nor ready-made buyers in the market. What is DRC? No one has heard of it. Who wants to finance with DRC? Who wants to invest in DRC? Everything is unknown. ”
It seems that in this uncharted territory, both Micro Connect and Li Xiaojia still have a long way to go.
Attached is the full text of the internal letter from Micro Connect:
