Ofo: Are you dying or reborn?

Near the end of the year, major media have compiled and released the annual hot search list. There is a name in the list that is hard to ignore, and that is ofo. Just as its appearance set off a boom in the capital circle, making Leqi the fastest-rising Internet track in history, now ofo is on the verge of collapse in a near-collapse way, which is really embarrassing.

Unable to take out the ofo deposit, it once became a hot search, and the online refund crowd was endless. The ridicule of "the deposit does not exceed seven figures, and the queue exceeds seven figures" is endless. Overseas business stopped, core executives left, and questioning reports were overwhelming. Dai Wei, the founder of ofo, sent a letter to all employees, saying that he did not owe a penny, claiming that "in the most difficult time, we still need to stick to our beliefs, even if we are kneeling, as long as we are alive, we have hope!" However, in the cold winter, users, suppliers and investors will not worry, and the luck to survive is hard-won. Now ofo's situation is like a prisoner with a broken arm. Trust, influence and capital are not what they used to be. How far ofo can go is unknown.

"Watch him rise from the bamboo building and watch his building collapse."

Dai Wei, the founder of 2065 438+04 ofo, launched ofo with the concept of "* * * enjoying the economy", which captured the hearts of many capitals. With the strong help of capital, ofo triumphed all the way, attacked the city slightly, and its development momentum was unprecedented, and it was firmly in the first echelon. As of September 20 18, ofo has completed the E+ round of financing and operated in 200 cities in 20 countries around the world.

Financing process before table 1

[source]: www.newseed.cn.

Although ofo is favored by the market and capital, the profit problem is the most concerned result of enterprises and capital after all. With the power of enjoying bicycles and relying on capital to seize the market, the demographic dividend gradually disappeared, and ofo's overseas entry was less than expected. Market tests have proved that the business model of ofo is difficult to achieve profitability in a short period of time, which greatly weakens the investment enthusiasm of capital for ofo.

Since mobike was sold to Meituan for comment in April, 20 18, ofo has been caught in the rumor of financial break for many times. According to public information, at least nine companies have brought ofo to court due to contract disputes, involving logistics and transportation, house leasing, advertising expenses, payment arrears and other reasons. At the same time, ofo also involves many labor contract disputes. According to the information disclosure website of China, from August 20 18 to August 201,the operating entity of ofo, Dongxia Datong (Beijing) Management Consulting Co., Ltd., was included in the list of executors for 20 times, involving more than 53.6 million yuan.

In August, 20 18, Shanghai Phoenix announced that since Phoenix Bicycle and ofo signed a bicycle purchase framework agreement in 20 17, both parties have signed several purchase contracts, but as of the date of prosecution, Dongxia Datong still owes Phoenix Bicycle 68 15. 1 10. Shanghai Phoenix has filed a lawsuit in Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, demanding that ofo repay the purchase price and liquidated damages.

2065438+February 4, 2008, 65438+2008, according to the disclosure of China Executive Information Open Network, the Haidian District People's Court of Beijing issued a "consumption restriction order" to Dongxia Datong (Beijing) Management Consulting Co., Ltd., and the company and its company (legal representative, principal responsible person, direct responsible person and actual controller) Dai Wei are not allowed to engage in related high consumption and consumption unrelated to life and work.

20 18 12 19. In a letter to all employees, Dai Wei said that due to the failure to make a correct judgment on the changes in the external environment from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, the company was burdened with huge cash flow pressure throughout the year. Refund the user's deposit, pay the supplier's arrears, and maintain the company's operation. 1 yuan will break into 3 yuan. By the date of 65438+February 19, the number of users who applied to refund the deposit of ofo was close to1150,000. According to the minimum deposit per 99 yuan, ofo owes more than 1 1 billion yuan. If calculated by 199 yuan, the arrears of ofo exceed 1 100 million yuan.

20 18 12.30 According to the information disclosed by China Judgment Document Network, Shenzhen Shunfeng Integrated Logistics Service Co., Ltd. filed an application for property preservation with the People's Court of Baoan District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, requesting to freeze the deposit of the respondent Dongxia Datong (Beijing) Management Consulting Co., Ltd. (the operating entity of ofo bike-sharing) in Anshan West Road Sub-branch of China Merchants Bank Tianjin Branch 13750600.

From the unicorn favored by capital to today's embattled, ofo only took more than three years. Whether it is the rumor of the bankruptcy and reorganization of ofo, or the deposit refund gap exceeds 654.38+0 billion, or the criticism of Dai Wei, people have to sigh that things have changed. Investors who are highly touted no longer speak out, and no one is responsible for the deposits of tens of millions of users.

"The last straw that crushed the camel"

In recent years, the concept of * * * enjoying travel has been accepted by the broad masses of the people, and * * * enjoying bicycles is one of the "four great inventions" of China in the new era. Due to the low entry threshold and strong reproducibility, there were as many as 77 companies providing bicycle-related services at the peak. When the tuyere appears, capital always queues up at the fastest speed. For a time, entrepreneurs are full of wolves, madly spreading attacks on opponents, and investors are also happy to see it. However, there is no cash channel and no profit, which is always the curse that puzzles Leqi.

* * * Bicycle enjoyment is a large-scale low-profit business. Although it is under the banner of "* * * enjoying the economy", the domestic bicycle enjoyment platform actually buys bicycles and rents them at its own expense. These bicycles are the private assets of the platform. The way for the platform to seize the market is to rely on the upgrading of vehicles, accumulate users by subsidies and enjoy the demographic dividend. When the market is completely saturated, it is difficult for new capital investment or the rise of new platforms to create new value, so we can only seize limited resources and compete for quantitative cakes. The continuation of this business model is inseparable from the continuous investment of external capital, but fireworks are easy to cool and capital is ruthless. With the growth of the number of users, the extensive management model based on large-scale users in the past made it impossible for capital to obtain considerable returns. At present, whether it is Didi, Meituan or Ali, the demand for * * * to enjoy bicycles is regarded as the entrance and trading scene of traffic, and it is difficult for * * * to enjoy bicycles to become the mainstream business model.

There are many factors that cause ofo's current survival dilemma, the most important of which may be the problem of enterprise development strategy. On the one hand, crazy expansion, excessive subsidies, financing, buying a car, putting it into operation, refinancing, buying a car and putting it into operation, on the other hand, the cost estimation of vehicle wear and tear and operation is seriously insufficient. In fact, bicycles enjoyed by * * * are public goods, and it is easy to depreciate rapidly without supervision and public care. With the increase of vehicle age, the failure rate of vehicles is getting higher and higher, and the management and operation costs are also rising. However, in order to seize market share, various bicycle platforms still choose to continue to add more new cars, and the surplus bicycles will undoubtedly make cycling companies worse. The strategic contradiction between the founder of ofo and investors has triggered more investors to "leave" one after another. As the largest institutional shareholder of ofo, Didi has always intended to incorporate ofo into its strategic system, but ofo hopes that the two sides will have a strategic cooperative relationship. Later, Didi sent professional managers to the key departments of ofo, but in the running-in process, some anti-customer-oriented measures shook the position of the founder team, leading to Dai Wei's direct

Unilaterally announced that these executives left ofo. In the face of Didi's efforts to promote the merger with mobike, the founder team did not support it. With the contradiction between Didi and ofo becoming public, the cutting of capital chain directly affects the daily operation of ofo. In order to survive, ofo once sold bees on the platform to do WeChat business, received advertisements to get rent, and also launched online loan supermarkets to divert cash loan products from online lending platforms to achieve traffic. However, under the negative entanglement, when the trust of investors, suppliers and users gradually fades, no matter how many tricks and new measures, it seems that it can't help ofo.

"The wind has stopped and only birds can fly."

When the market is hot and the prospects are bright, unicorns can fly very high by virtue of the tuyere, but with the saturation of the market and the arrival of winter, whether they can fly far depends on their own ability. Earlier, People's Daily also published a commentary entitled "Comment on bicycle deposit: It is deceptive to say not to misappropriate, and tolerance does not mean connivance". The article said that whether it is the traditional economy or the new economy, the real success will be tested for a longer period of time. In fact, the scene of100000 people scanning the code to ride bicycles is so gratifying, and the scene of100000 people collectively running the deposit is so terrible. This may become the last straw to crush enterprises, and it will also cause harm to innocent enterprises, and will also undermine people's confidence in * * * enjoying the economy. "

Ofo mobike, two young enterprises, could have devoted themselves to improving user experience, improving product quality, strengthening cost control and further innovating business models with the support of capital. However, they chose capital competition, paved cars to occupy the market, and even set off a three-level "price war" of red envelope cars, free rides and free deposits. This kind of blind competition will undoubtedly lead to a waste of resources and a large amount of funds will not be effectively utilized. The vicious competition of throwing money will only make enterprises sink deeper and deeper, and will eventually be swallowed up by this bottomless pit.

Now that the wave of capital has subsided, bicycle enjoyment in the future must return to a relatively rational development state and find a development model that really suits you, so as to spend the cold winter and usher in spring. As for ofo and founder Dai Wei, we can only hope that they can find new growth points and explore sustainable business models, so that the concept of "* * * enjoys the economy" can really benefit the people!