Chapter 2322 Not Optimistic

"Chen Ou, have you ever thought that your focus on the product isn't high enough?"

Zhao Fusheng didn't beat around the bush and directly asked Chen Ou.

Chen Ou was taken aback.

Product?

He really didn't understand what Zhao Fusheng meant.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head helplessly and said nothing more.

The two chatted for a while longer, and soon someone came to tell Zhao Fusheng that his wife was calling him to dinner.

Zhao Fusheng invited Chen Ou to have a meal in the dining room before having someone see him off.

"How did it go?"

Fan Baobao naturally knew why Zhao Fusheng had invited the young man over and asked curiously.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "Plenty of talent, but to be honest, a bit opinionated and self-willed."

That was his honest opinion.

The young man Chen Ou gave Zhao Fusheng the impression of being talented but very arrogant.

In this regard, Zhao Fusheng felt he was very much like his former self.

But the problem was that back then, he himself had been much more low-key.

Although Chen Ou tried hard to control himself in front of Zhao Fusheng, Zhao Fusheng could still sense from his words that the man had a certain unwillingness to admit defeat.

Even when facing him, Chen Ou was striving to showcase his abilities.

It was a state of desperately seeking recognition and praise.

In response, Zhao Fusheng naturally didn't skimp on his compliments, but similarly, he wasn't optimistic about the future development prospects of this website.

It wasn't that the industry was bad or unsuitable for him.

Rather, it was Chen Ou's personality that determined he would inevitably overlook some details when managing a company.

That was the most frightening and troublesome part.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng didn't know that in his original history, Jumei Youpin had fallen from grace precisely because of product quality issues.

In Zhao Fusheng's original history.

Jumei's predecessor was called Tuanmei Wang, focusing on women's cosmetics group buying. In an era when China's e-commerce industry was not yet developed, this kind of vertical e-commerce focusing on a single field was a typical 'small but beautiful' model, concentrating on depth in a niche area. Because of this advantage, it expanded faster than comprehensive e-commerce platforms like Alibaba.

Jumei initially launched only a few discounted products, then started playing with limited-time discounts and flash sales. Before the concept of Double Eleven became as popular as it later did, Jumei was already stirring consumers' hearts, guiding and stimulating consumption.

In fact, Jumei's prices weren't that attractive, but women still tirelessly sat in front of their computers for flash sales. The reason was that in 2011, Jumei launched the highest after-sales policy in the beauty industry: '100% genuine products, unconditional refund within 30 days of unsealing.'

However, Jumei Youpin's miracle came quickly and left even faster, like a tornado.

The direct cause of this tragedy was a common ailment of e-commerce companies: counterfeit goods, which were repeatedly banned but persisted. The counterfeit problem at Jumei Youpin could never be effectively resolved, coupled with poor public relations, leading to escalating issues and a continuous decline in reputation and brand.

In fact, not long after the company was founded, users reported facial allergies after using cosmetics from Jumei Youpin, suspected to be counterfeit. In response, Jumei Youpin explained that it was due to different skin types.

But thereafter, users continuously voiced online, questioning that they had bought counterfeit goods from Jumei Youpin.

To maintain Jumei Youpin's positive image, Chen Ou did not hesitate to argue with netizens on his Weibo, claiming that if anyone bought counterfeit goods on Jumei, he would compensate one million yuan after verification. This move seemed upright, proving that Jumei Youpin absolutely had no counterfeits, but it was clearly overdone, and netizens were not convinced.

Then reality dealt a harsh slap!

International cosmetics giants like Guerlain and Lancôme successively issued statements saying they had never cooperated with Jumei Youpin. Worse still, within a few months after listing, a supplier named Yipeng Hengye was exposed for forging big-brand products and selling them on various platforms, and Jumei Youpin was赫然 on the list.

With solid evidence of selling counterfeits, Jumei Youpin's image was severely damaged, and its stock price plummeted.

Within half a month, the stock price fell by more than half.

In other words, the company's market value was halved!

From then on, Jumei Youpin never recovered.

Of course, Zhao Fusheng didn't know about this.

He simply didn't trust Chen Ou very much.

After all, the guy gave the impression of being talented but too arrogant.

To put it bluntly, Zhao Fusheng really didn't think Chen Ou was someone worth investing in.

But he also understood that a company that could go public was still worth trying to invest in.

"How about this, let's be a small shareholder," Zhao Fusheng said after thinking for a moment, picking up the phone and dialing Dong Chenxi's number.

"Small shareholder?"

Dong Chenxi was a bit surprised.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yes, we won't participate in their angel round. For subsequent investments, we can follow the investment, but keep our stake at ten percent, with an investment amount under ten million US dollars."

He paused and smiled: "We'll just sell off after the IPO."

"Alright."

Dong Chenxi nodded, having no objection to Zhao Fusheng's words.

She herself felt that future investments in companies of this level didn't require too much attention.

In other words, Jumei Youpin was just one project in her strategy of casting a wide net to catch more fish.

It was only because Zhao Fusheng wanted to meet Chen Ou that she paid more attention to it.

This was the current state of internet companies.

Even a big shot like Sun Zhengyi was the same. No one could predict what any internet company would look like in the future at the beginning of its development.

So everyone just did their best to maximize profits.

It was precisely because of this that so-called venture capital and multiple rounds of financing came into being.

This way, companies could have opportunities for development, and investors could have room for choice.

Clearly, Zhao Fusheng wasn't very interested in Jumei Youpin.

Even less so than in Jingdong Mall back then.

Since that was the case, Dong Chenxi naturally didn't plan to bother with this matter anymore.

All her attention was now fixed on Facebook.

"That Zuckerberg guy is up to his tricks again!"

Sure enough, after finishing the discussion about Jumei Youpin, Dong Chenxi directly turned her矛头 to Facebook.

She really couldn't stand that Zuckerberg guy, always feeling that this seemingly honest and laughable nerd was plotting something behind the scenes.

Harmless might just be Zuckerberg's disguise!

Little did she know, Zhao Fusheng shared the same perception on this point.

Only, Zhao Fusheng never showed it.

Only, Zhao Fusheng never showed it.