On August 8, 2019, Lai Ziyu, a post-95 blockchain investor, and his founding team announced the establishment of Renren Capital, with a fund pool of 100 million yuan, which is mainly used to invest in blockchain projects.
The author interviewed this mysterious post-95 after hearing the news. When I saw Lai Ziyu for the first time, I found that he always had a smile on his face, giving people a kind of approachable feeling. He combed his dry hair, his eyes were sharp, and his words revealed a good temperament. But such a person who has just graduated from university for one year is already the owner of a restaurant brand, an "old driver" with both investment and business thinking.
The second generation of the rich, the son of the Lingnan paper industry tycoon
Lai Ziyu's business acumen is in the same line as his father's. Lai Ziyu's father was a self-made businessman. In 1995, he took over a paper towel factory that was about to close down. At that time, the paper towel factory was too small to compete with big manufacturers such as Jierou in the civilian market.
After Lai Ziyu's father took over the paper mill, he resolutely adjusted his strategic direction, avoiding the fierce competition of large manufacturers in the civilian market, and instead targeted commercial markets such as restaurants and hotels. At that time, the napkin commercial paper market was still in a blank state, so he quickly occupied this market and turned losses into profits in just one year. In 2005, the paper group he led became Lingnan napkin paper The benchmark in the industry, the annual turnover has reached billions, and it has become the leader of Lingnan Paper Industry. Subsequently, the group involved hotels, KTV, industrial parks, resorts, and wineries, with total assets of several billion yuan.
His father, who came from an industrial background, instilled in Ziyu a word of "truth" since he was a child: seeing is believing and being down-to-earth. Lai Ziyu said that although his father was busy with work, he did not neglect education. He grew up in a strict environment since he was a child, and he also learned prudent and rational investment philosophy from his father.
earn the first pot of gold
Lai Ziyu born in 1995 has a background in finance, coupled with the business philosophy instilled by his parents since childhood, Lai Ziyu soon started his own money-making model: in 2014, he used the 1 million yuan that his family originally planned to give him to study abroad to invest in the stock market go.
At that time, he saw that railways were being built all over the country. In the next few years, high-speed rail will become a super artery connecting major cities in China. He intuitively judged that CSR was a stock whose potential was seriously underestimated, so he decided to invest in CSR at a low price. In December of the same year, after the resumption of trading in CSR, the stock price rose by the limit. Since then, the stock price has gone up rapidly. CNR merged. At its peak, CSR's share price doubled nearly six times. Lai Ziyu thus earned the first 5 million in his life.
Bring restaurants back to life, return 3 times in 2 years
Lai Ziyu, whose investment has yielded initial results, started working on new projects. The life of constant trouble is Zi Yu's life.
He saw the rise of restaurants with Internet celebrity attributes, and decided that Internet celebrity restaurants had a good room for development, so he began to look for suitable entry opportunities. Later, he found a very interesting steak cup with fresh and tender steaks on the upper layer. Next is fruit tea. Such a novel "cross-border" combination immediately caught Lai Ziyu's attention. He decided to talk to the main store that launched this drink to join.
However, the franchise did not go as smoothly as expected. Lai Ziyu spent 200,000 yuan to negotiate the franchise, and found that the other party did not give him actual benefits other than a few machines and a few days of tasteless staff training. help. The business suffered heavy losses in the first two months, and the restaurant was in danger. He asked the head office for help, but the phone always gave a busy signal.
Lai Ziyu simply gave up the brand he originally joined and repackaged the store himself. He spent three months concentrating on the study of catering, and visited restaurants in Shenzhen, Huizhou, Dongguan and other major business districts and food streets. Later, he met Mr. Xu who "has tea" and asked him about a " Internet celebrity restaurant" management method.
At the same time, he worked hard to improve the quality of the products, went to various wholesale markets in person, purchased the best fresh ingredients, and constantly adjusted the salinity, sweetness and taste of the drinks. "At most, I had to test two hundred cups of drinks a day." , Lai Ziyu said.
Although it is the first time to start a business, he has inherited the business factors of his father's generation, but he seems very sophisticated. From decoration, tuning to product formula debugging, quality control, publicity and promotion. He starts from scratch. The entire store was re-improved, with an investment of 700,000 yuan and an average monthly turnover of 80,000 yuan. The cost was paid back in less than a year and a half.
Lai Ziyu's restaurant has been in operation for more than two years, and has gained many fans, and the monthly turnover is also growing steadily. When the restaurant was developing steadily, he chose to resell it at a price of 2 million yuan, which tripled the brand value.
Start again, develop the block chain
After leaving the restaurant, Lai Ziyu wanted to start again and devote himself to a new field. Which field should I enter? In fact, Lai Ziyu has already belonged in his heart, and that is the blockchain industry.
"I heard about such an emerging field four years ago. It felt very novel and special at the time. In this world, there are forms of currency that can be circulated and traded other than money and gold. This is definitely a field worth investing in."
梓裕本着家族特有的谨慎和实干的投资理念，他仅花了10万块钱买了个数十个比特币(2016年比特币对人民币价格为4000元左右)。赖梓裕说：“当时就想着当作一个投资的尝试，没想到过了一年就翻了好几倍”。这次成功的投资让赖梓裕更加坚信区块链是个值得为之投入精力的领域。
然而，对于前面所收获的投资成效，赖梓裕觉得仅仅是小试牛刀，还远远不够。他想要更为深度的参与到区块链项目中来。18年中旬，赖梓裕结实了国内知名区块链媒体人王子健，作为最早的一批区块链媒体人，王子健曾创办区块链行业头部媒体未来财经。值得一提的是，王子健竟然还是95后，是同龄人。两人讨论了一宿，认定成立资本是切入区块链行业的绝佳方式。他们一拍即合，按照当时的说法是：“这次要干一票大的！”
不努力就回家收租
赖梓裕家庭出身不俗，是一个不折不扣的“富二代”，在资本的投入上，他也丝毫没有手软。这一次，他想以投资人的身份入局区块链领域，而且，更为劲爆的消息是，他将联合纸业集团股东们出资1个亿来组建人人资本！
“为什么集团股东们会支持你并投资一个亿成立这个资本呢？”面对笔者的问题，赖梓裕表示，一方面，父亲和股东们作为资深的投资人，早有关注到区块链的高速发展，也非常看好该产业；另一方面，传统的创业模式、渠道资源都已经被老一辈企业家占用完了，年轻人应该在新的领域去打拼成绩，他们支持我在区块链领域去创业和投资。如果人人资本的投资回报符合预期的话，股东们还会持续增加新的资金进来，扩大人人资本的资金池。
赖梓裕打趣着说道：“父亲跟我说，‘我们给你投一个亿，如果你都败光了，就回来收租吧’，所以我必须全力以赴，不然每天穿着拖鞋挂着钥匙串，到处收租的日子得多无趣啊！”
“只投90后，不投80后！”
赖梓裕做投资不满足于因循守旧。他认为区块链行业是一个新兴产业，必须要用新人和新思维才有破局的可能，区块链是90后百年一遇的巨大机会。60后是房地产改革，70后是互联网，80后是金融改革，90后则是区块链。
“所以我们第一步会先筛选区块链项目的创始团队，只投90后，不投80后”，赖梓裕对笔者如是说。
虽然区块链是互联网的朝阳产业，有很多特别的玩法和规则，但赖梓裕认为万变不离其宗。看项目，无论是区块链项目还是传统项目，最重要的还是看人。一看创始人有没有强大的领导力和卓识的远见，二看创始团队有没有强大的执行力和凝聚力。他说道：“项目方向错误了可以调整，投错了人，那就GG了。”
赖梓裕坦诚，相对于从业多年的老投资人和从业者来说，他和人人资本在经验和判断上会有一些不足。但相对于那些“老司机”资本公司，人人资本主要管理层均为95后，“我们比他们更懂90后创业者的想法”。