Mai Waidi Zhang Cheng: Why does O2O company not love Ali love Tencent?

"What is the WiFi password?" Now we walk into a restaurant, coffee shop, the first sentence, mostly asked WiFi. WiFi scatters the sky and the net, people are still salvaged.

However, for Maididi, which was established in 2007, the first company in China that has entered the free commercial WiFi field, covers more than 30,000 commercial places across the country, and has more than 800,000 active users per day, only provides users with free and fast WiFi access. Still not enough.

"We have never defined WiFi as something that makes people online." Zhang Chengru, founder of Mai Waidi, said.

Mai Chengdi founder Zhang Cheng

Do not love Ali love Tencent

Since 2014, the giants have been arranging commercial WiFi and capturing the voice of the mobile Internet. Alibaba and the koala network reached a strategic cooperation. After Xiaomi, Tencent and Volkswagen Comments invested another 300 million yuan in Maididi.

"Ali originally wanted to vote for us, we refused." Zhang Cheng was a little proud.

Said very happy, but faced with the favor of the two giants, Zhang Cheng also tangled for a month.

"O2O's value is to increase revenue for offline merchants. The essence is to use online resources for offline diversion. Tencent uses social networks to conduct offline traffic. But Ali's entire business model is offline. No matter how Ali talks about its O2O strategy, it can't keep up with this main business. This is why we chose Tencent."

"To say this, isn't O2O company not willing to stand in Ali's team?" I asked.

"Just no one said so straightforward." Zhang Cheng actually said it was straightforward.

The benefits of working with Weddi and WeChat are obvious. Before the user used Maidi's WiFi, it was clicked and input in the browser, and various pop-ups and refreshing time were unbelievable.

Providing the services of Maididi within the framework of WeChat, the user experience is much better. WeChat sweeps the quick connection, and the merchant information is presented in the form of a public number, which is also more concise and clear.

"Why Baidu Direct did not work, because Direct is still based on a Web browser. But WeChat provides standardized development logic to improve the user experience. We use WeChat as the O2O framework." Zhang Cheng said.

Although it is the spring breeze, Zhangkou is the two giants vying for investment. When Mai Waidi was founded in the past one or two years, there were times when he could not open the pot.

At first, Zhang Cheng was deeply moved to the Internet because of his love of travel. He found that being a WiFi service provider may be a business opportunity. One side provides a WiFi network to the merchants, and one provides free WiFi to consumers. The jump page when this intermediate user connects to WiFi is a natural advertising platform. The more I want to be more reliable, in 2007, Zhang Cheng resigned from Southern Telecom and co-founded Mai Waidi with friends.

At that time, it was the most difficult moment since the establishment of Mai Waidi. It was not until the angels invested in that the temporary difficulties were passed.

"I have been very convinced of the model of Maidi, but the biggest challenge is to let investors believe in your value." Zhang Cheng said.

In the A round of financing, Zhang Cheng met 50 investors and talked for a whole year. Finally, in 2012, he obtained an investment of 10 million yuan from Jinglin Asset Management Co., Ltd.

In the B round of financing, Zhang Cheng met 20 investors and talked for three months. In 2013, he obtained a round of strategic investment of tens of millions of RMB from Xiaomi Technology.

In the C round of financing, investors are three. Recalling the meeting with CEO Zhang Tao of the public comment, Zhang Cheng said that he only introduced Mai Didi in half an hour, and the rest are talking about investment details. "I told the public that we want to do the O2O platform based on WiFi. They also realized that the four hurdles of O2O can't get around."

For WeChat, the value of commercial WiFi as an O2O portal has become increasingly prominent. On the eco-chain of WeChat and WiFi, WeChat has become the link between online and offline. At the same time, the user behavior data on commercial WiFi can be combined with the social relationship chain of WeChat itself. The commercial value is self-evident. In addition to Mai Waidi, WeChat also “hooked up” more than ten commercial WiFi providers including “Chao WiFi”, “Chengdu Jiuyou”, “Beijing Baitong Unlimited” and “Shenzhen Weiwei”.

What is O2O?

It is said that I like someone, just like there is WiFi on him. In this way, as a commercial WiFi provider, it is not surprising that Mai Waidi has attracted Xiaomi, Tencent, and public comment.

For the user, Mai Waidi provides free WiFi in various public places, saving himself the Internet traffic that the Prime Minister is too expensive. But in the Internet giant and the founder of Mai Waidi, Zhang Cheng, the story of commercial WiFi is even more talked about.

"Meididi wants to become the platform of O2O. This is similar to Taobao, but Taobao sells goods, and our platform is a variety of O2O applications." Zhang Cheng said.

O2O platform, the tone is not small, what is Maididi?

In Zhang Cheng's opinion, although there are many companies doing O2O, they have to go through four hurdles. And these four hurdles, Mai Waidi has been flattened.

The first hurdle is the hardware base platform. Most of the business orders are based on their own intranet system. If the O2O application is to be embedded, it must be connected with the IT system of the merchant.

Mai Waidi is laying hardware on a large number of merchants. It's worth noting that this is not just WiFi hardware, but also tools for merchants. WiFi connects users, merchant devices can connect to merchants, and then the cloud synchronizes to the local, users and merchants connect to meet the needs of most O2O application scenarios.

“Why public comment on investing in us because its O2O application requires our merchant equipment. It is very slow to order from the Internet, but through its equipment, it makes its local service possible.” Zhang Cheng said.

Since its establishment in 2007, Mai Waidi has targeted restaurants and cafes as its main target customers, covering more than 500 chain commercial brands including Starbucks, costa coffee, Pacific Coffee, Haagen-Dazs, Burger King, South Beauty and 19 countries. airport. Most merchant hardware is provided free of charge by Mai Waidi.

The second hurdle is the basic data, including the user's basic data. For example, our commonly used take-out platform needs to upload the pictures of the dishes one by one for the user to order, and the application of the public comment also needs the pictures of the dishes. Maidi can achieve this data sharing.

The third hurdle is the ability to access the merchant. Maididi has relied on free hardware and accumulated a large number of merchants for many years. O2O applications do not need to be pushed any more, and the O2O platform directly connected to Maididi will be ready.

The fourth hurdle is the user. Free WiFi is a natural user portal, and it also saves the app's troubles to promote to users.

For the above reasons, Zhang Cheng believes that Maidi can become an application platform like the App Store, but this platform is vertically in the O2O field. Developers can directly put O2O applications on this platform, and merchants can also directly connect to applications here.

"Why does Tencent invest in us? Because users must have a platform to use O2O, they used to use browsers, but in fact, this work can be done in WeChat." Zhang Cheng said.

In his mind, the ideal application scenario is this: the customer walks into a restaurant and automatically connects to WiFi. Then start queuing or ordering on the WiFi interface. This interface may be Tencent's WeChat, or it may be Xiaomi's MUI, or public comment.

When ordering, according to the user's basic data, such as the frequency of the store, the time of stay, where is the person, love sweet or spicy, you can put the corresponding dishes in front. After that, the user completes the order and payment via the mobile phone.

At present, Mai Waidi is cooperating with dozens of merchants to participate in testing such O2O services, which is expected to be officially launched at the end of this year.

The plan of the Maidi is good, but the requirements for the cooperation of the merchants are also really high. Take Maididi's old partner, Pacific Coffee, for example. Although they can see the user's address, the length of the store, and the frequency of the store through the background of Maididi, they have not been pushed accordingly. For the precision marketing, the user's order preference is also because the Pacific coffee order is using an independent intranet system, and has not been able to get through with Mai Waidi.

Where to make money

"We are doing a big event that has never been seen before."

On the recruitment page of Mai Waidi, the beginning is such a heroic slogan. At the bottom of the page, there is a small line: CEO interview through train. After opening, it is actually a set of intelligence test questions for the Mensa Club.

"If I want to interview directly, I have to test IQ first." Zhang Cheng laughed, and the thick baby face looked up.

"How many points do you have to do this set of questions?" I asked.

"I am around 130 points. 130 points can enter the club."

"What is your requirement for the candidate?"

"110 points or more."

“How many people are directly interviewed?”

"Not much. There are not many smart people." Zhang Cheng was proud of laughing.

Looking for someone is the most troublesome thing for Zhang Cheng. The three development plans of Maididi: from the traditional coffee catering industry to more industries; from the north to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen to more cities; from the traffic advertising operation model to the O2O platform model, the piles need people. Many are still new models, and no ready-made people can dig and cultivate themselves.

The real needs of the people's life, coupled with the Internet's pursuit of the concept of entry, let the relatively flat commercial WiFi in previous years also feel the feeling of standing on the air, into a period of rapid expansion.

It is reported that there are more than 2,000 large and small WiFi enterprises in the country, and there are basically two forms of business models. One is the hardware charging type, which includes traditional system integrators and equipment engineering companies to make money by providing WiFi hardware services to merchants. One is the value of traffic, the hardware is free, and it is made by hardcover traffic advertising.

But no matter what business model you are now, there are almost O2O and big data for the imagination of the future business model.

Based on WiFi, it will become an O2O platform and provide value-added services to advertisers and merchants based on data on WiFi. This is a story shared by various commercial WiFi companies including Mai Waidi, Kobong, and Tidal WiFi.

Mai Waidi CMO Xia Huajian said that the commercial value of WiFi is initially realized by traffic; after that, WiFi can become a bridge between merchants and users, providing ordering, coupons and other services; at the same time, it can also serve as an O2O portal. Become a platform for third-party applications; when the WiFi hotspot reaches a certain scale, it can also perform big data mining.

Internet companies' painting skills are always good, but it is not easy to do commercial WiFi operations. Businesses still need entrepreneurs to think hard. Traffic ads are only a small hit, and popping up a few boxes can also be annoying to users.

The value-added service for the B-end is currently only in the planning, and the difficulty of landing can be imagined. Offline merchants are not Internet industry insiders, the boss's awareness is in place; the boss is happy, the merchant's talents and tools are in place; even if talents and tools are in place, like the Pacific coffee we visited, it will involve innovation in business models. Business process reorganization, various data access problems, and the failure to turn the good vision of planning into reality, even if it is technically no problem.

Although Maidi is still at a loss, the founder Zhang Cheng's goal is to lead the entire team to achieve financial freedom.

"My point is that the main purpose of life is to enjoy." Zhang Cheng said.

"Is that still so hard?" I yelled at him.

“Enjoy things that have been done for five years in three years and ten years in five years.”

“So if you make money, will you choose to retreat or travel around the world?”

“I want to lead my colleagues to achieve this goal. Not only my personal or co-founder, but all the best colleagues in the team.”

Sitting in a drone, an angry bird helmet, a "Pacific Rim" mech model, a robot, a cottage apple watch, a smart cup, and other piles of older children's toys, Zhang Cheng will be happy to think of this goal.

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