Chapter 103: “Overestimating Yourself, Trying to Create an E-commerce Platform!”

Pinhao started to show promise and achieved significant success. Xu Mo did not hesitate and began to change the name of Pinhao, upgrading its technology, and transitioning it to Pinduoduo.

Although the Price Slashing model had its controversies, with many people considering it a scam, there was no doubt that this model could attract a large number of customers to join.

Xu Mo insisted on focusing on the sinking market, not pursuing the high-end segment, and mainly targeting cheap goods.

Compared to Taobao, JingDong, and Tmall, he would pay more attention to the consumer experience.

Xu Mo and his three partners continued their efforts, causing some stir, and it wasn’t long before some investors noticed their actions.

The first to notice was Zhou Shiming. He was the first to discover that Xu Mo was creating an e-commerce platform.

Zhou Shiming was a well-known investor in Xiahai City, primarily involved in venture capital, and quite famous. When he heard about it, he immediately came over to mock them, “Xu Mo, what are you doing? Creating an e-commerce platform? You young people, what do you know about creating an e-commerce platform?”

^[1]Pinduoduo (拼多多) is a Chinese e-commerce platform known for its innovative approach to social shopping. The name “Pinduoduo” can be broken down into two parts: – … Continue reading

Xu Mo had some good impressions of Zhou Shiming and smiled, saying, “We want to try something new!”

“Try something new? Don’t you know that starting an e-commerce platform now is a dead end? How much have you invested in this? Why can’t you see it’s hopeless?” Zhou Shiming did not think highly of the Pinhao model and felt that Xu Mo was just fooling around.

“We’ve invested around five million so far! We’re just getting started!” Xu Mo replied.

“Switch to another project as soon as possible. This one won’t work, it won’t take off! The e-commerce platform market is already monopolized. Anyone entering now is almost certainly heading for a dead end!” Zhou Shiming advised immediately.

Xu Mo smiled and said, “There’s definitely some risk, but we still want to give this project a try!”

“Sigh, why can’t you see it’s hopeless? It’s impossible for a project like this to succeed!” Zhou Shiming had a look of frustration as if he were lamenting over an unpolished gem.

Xu Mo didn’t bother with him, chatted a few more words, and then sent him off.

Soon after, news of Xu Mo starting an e-commerce platform spread, although it was unclear who leaked it. This quickly caught the attention of some media and attracted the interest of several investors.

There was no doubt that most of these investors were skeptical and mocking, thinking that Xu Mo, a young man, starting an e-commerce platform was nothing short of a wild fantasy.

In the domestic e-commerce market, a three-way dominance had long been established, with many smaller players beneath them.

The so-called “three legs” referred to Taobao, Tmall, and JingDong, forming a huge market.

The market share of these three companies was as high as 80%. In such a situation, anyone trying to enter would almost certainly face a dead end.

So, when some investors saw Xu Mo’s project, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“This young man is really bold! Rich and willful!”

“This isn’t willfulness! It’s squandering! Trying some new project? It’s laughable! Does he think he can make a name for himself in the e-commerce platform race?”

“This project is bound to go bankrupt! It seems that this so-called young genius entrepreneur is nothing special after all!”

The news spread far and wide, even reaching the ears of some people at the Alibaba Group. When they heard it, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“Overestimating oneself, actually trying to start an e-commerce platform!”

“Aspirations as high as the sky, but fate as fragile as paper!”

“It’s good for young people to have ambition and vision, but unfortunately, they chose the wrong target!”

…

Xu Junzhe also received this news.

Recently, the shared electric scooter project had been very challenging, and funding had still not been secured.

Xu Junzhe had already made some changes and invested a huge amount of money again, but the number of users still hadn’t seen much improvement.

Last month, he gave several speeches at schools, promoting his company and entrepreneurial ideas, hoping to gain some followers.

However, some people seemed to see the limitations of the shared electric scooter project and started mocking him, causing him great embarrassment.

The shared electric scooter project had not failed, but to continue developing it would likely require significant sacrifices.

Xu Junzhe was still doing his best to stabilize this project.

Yet at this moment, news came about Xu Mo. He had started an e-commerce platform, shifting his focus to a different field. Xu Junzhe, for a moment, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

At the beginning, the reason Xu Junzhe got into the shared electric scooter business was to defeat Xu Mo in the same field and prove his own excellence.

But no one expected Xu Mo to sell off his company, dashing Xu Junzhe’s hopes.

He read numerous media reports, and most of them praised Xu Mo for selling his business.

The most important thing was that Xie Bingyan and Xu Manni had also learned about Xu Mo selling his company, and Xie Bingyan seemed to be acting a bit strangely.

Xu Junzhe was eager to prove himself and achieve success, but it seemed that the more anxious he got, the more problems arose.

Now, what Xu Mo was doing seemed to give him some hope.

“An e-commerce platform? A suicidal venture! Ha! He’s already established an e-commerce platform company? That’s just laughable!”

“This is what it means to be blind to the truth!”

“You make things difficult for me, and I absolutely won’t let you have it easy! I’m going to start writing articles right now!”

As a student of Tsinghua  University and an entrepreneur, Xu Junzhe had excellent writing skills and often contributed articles to economic journals.

At this time, opinions from various investors about Xu Mo investing in an e-commerce platform had already surfaced. Xu Junzhe was naturally eager to add fuel to the fire and mock the failure of this project.

To him, Xu Mo’s failure would be his success.

“Junzhe! Did you see the newspaper? Xu Mo seems to be starting an e-commerce venture!” Xu Yuanchan hurriedly ran over to him with a newspaper in hand.

Xu Junzhe nodded, “I just heard about it too!”

In fact, he had deliberately made sure that this news reached Xu Yuanchan, Xu Pandi, and others, but he wouldn’t mention it directly, only subtly guiding them to find out.

Once they knew and saw the news, they would usually come to him to share their own opinions.

Xu Junzhe would then make a few neutral comments without showing too much of his own malice.

Xu Junzhe understood very well that pushing Xu Mo out was not a simple task; the precondition for sidelining Xu Mo was to gain the favor of Xie Bingyan, Xu Manni, and others.

Without their goodwill, he would be in serious trouble.

Therefore, Xu Junzhe had one principle: he absolutely could not let others know he was trying to sideline Xu Mo, and he must never let Xu Yuanchan, Xu Manni, and others develop any ill feelings toward him.

Based on this principle, he managed to maintain his current position.

Apart from Xu Mo, almost everyone in the Xu family had a favorable opinion of him. Even Xu Wanting and Xu Xuehui, the eldest and second elder sisters, couldn’t find a fault with him.

Thus, his position remained secure.

Over the past year, tensions between Xu Mo and the Xu family remained very high.

Xu Junzhe received several messages, indicating that Xu Mo had already begun dealing with Xu Wanting and Deverna. For him, this was excellent news.

It seemed likely that his eldest sister, Xu Wanting, had already severed ties with Xu Mo.

Xu Junzhe hoped that in the future, Xu Wanting would fully stand on his side.

“This project looks promising! Xu Mo really has a sharp eye and seized a business opportunity!” Xu Junzhe hypocritically commented.

“Promising? Junzhe, are you being sarcastic? Where is there any business opportunity left in the e-commerce market now? Xu Mo investing in this is definitely a dead end, bound to fail!” Xu Yuanchan retorted with a disdainful expression.

“You never know, it might succeed! Last time, Xu Mo almost succeeded!” Xu Junzhe continued.

“Where did he succeed last time? Last time he sold off his company! And Big Sister even said it was because of us!” Xu Yuanchan expressed her dissatisfaction with this remark. “Now he’s starting this e-commerce platform again. I don’t think he has any vision at all!”

Xu Junzhe almost laughed at this, but he maintained a serious tone. “Sixth Sister, maybe you could talk to Xu Mo about it! Perhaps he has some insights.”

“Hmph! I would love to talk to him, but he’s completely avoiding me now. Every time I’ve seen him recently, he’s been so sarcastic. He’s almost driven me mad!” Xu Yuanchan recalled, stomping her foot in frustration.