Chen Xi's work efficiency is as high as ever.
That afternoon, she finalized the specific meeting time with Wang An's assistant through her relationship with Bubble Mary.
Wang An originally planned to fly to Shanghai to attend a Designer salon on the weekend. When I heard that Zhao Chen was coming, I directly postponed Shanghai's schedule.
"Wang Zong said, when will you arrive, when will he be there?"
Chen Xi put down the phone with a hint of emotion in his tone,
"Zhao Zong, to be honest, in the more than half a year I have been at Henglong Capital, I have seen too many founders who are respectful and defensive of investors.
There are not many people like Wang An who sincerely regard you as one of their own."
Zhao Chen picked up the tea cup and took a sip, but did not answer.
He knew in his heart that Wang An's attitude towards him was rooted in the fact that he did one thing right -
From the first day he invested in Bubble Mary, he never had any thoughts of interfering in its operations.
Twenty-six point three shares, more or less, but he only wanted one Board of Directors Seat.
This kind of investor who "only gives money and doesn't cause trouble" is a scarce resource in the eyes of any founder.
Two days later, Zhao Chen took Chen Xi and Zhang Qingxue on board the flight to Beijing.
Beijing In November, the air is filled with the dry cold unique to the north.
When the plane landed, the Capital Airport outside the porthole window was shrouded in a thin layer of haze, and the sunlight was filtered into pale gold.
Zhao Chen wore a dark gray cashmere coat. When he walked out of the arrival hall, he saw Wang An in the crowd at a glance.
Wang An is not tall, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and a dark blue down jacket that looks like it has been washed many times.
If no one introduced him, it would be hard to imagine that this man who looks like a programmer is redefining the landscape of China trendy toys.
When he saw Zhao Chen, he immediately showed a smile on his face, walked up to her quickly, and held out his hand with both hands.
"Zhao Zong, it's been a hard journey."
Wang An's tone was filled with undisguised enthusiasm,
"The last time we met was when we signed Investment Agreement last year, and it's already been a year in the blink of an eye.
This year I have been looking for an opportunity to invite you to visit Beijing, but I am afraid that you will be busy and dare not ask."
"You should have come earlier." Zhao Chen walked side by side to the parking lot with him.
"Bubble Mary has changed a lot this year, and I have been paying attention to Chongqing."
Wang An's eyes lit up when he heard this.
The car drove from the airport to the Bubble Mart headquarters. Along the way, Wang An talked about what happened this year.
He knew the location of the new store, the pace of Robot Shops's construction, and the integration of Designer's resources.
Zhao Chen sat behind the co-pilot, occasionally asked one or two questions, and listened quietly most of the time.
The headquarters of Bubble Mart is located in an inconspicuous office building in Wangjing.
The moment the elevator door opened, a young woman with a ponytail and a loose sweater was already waiting at the door.
"Hello Zhao Zong, I will take you around today."
She smiled and stretched out her hand, her voice clear and crisp,
"Wang Zong has been talking about you for several days in advance, and I finally look forward to having you here today."
Su Xiaotang led Zhao Chen and his group through the office area.
The entire office is open-plan, with no partitions between workstations, and the walls are covered with design drawings and posters of various trendy toys.
Mololoy's big eyes looked over from all corners, Labobo's funny expressions were scattered among them, and there were also some new IP images that Zhao Chen couldn't name.
Most of the employees are young people in their twenties, dressed casually. Some are discussing the distribution ratio of Blind Boxes, some are talking to Designer Video Conference, and some are squatting on the ground to unpack the samples.
"This floor was expanded at the beginning of this year, and the previous floor couldn't accommodate any more people."
Su Xiaotang introduced while walking,
"This year our Designer team has expanded from twelve to thirty-seven people, and the number of external artists signed has also increased to nineteen.
Wang Zong said that IP is the lifeline of Bubble Mary, and it is worth whatever money the design team spends."
Zhao Chen nodded and glanced over the design drawings on the wall.
He noticed that the image of Mololoy appeared in several places, some were design drafts, and some were photos of actual objects that had already been prototyped.
"How far along is Mololoy's product line now?" he asked.
Su Xiaotang is obviously well prepared for this problem:
"The first batch of samples of three series have been completed, namely the 'Interstellar Voyage' series, the 'Urban Adventure' series and the 'Festival Limited' series.
According to the plan, it will be launched in China in the first quarter of next year, and the first batch of 120,000 Blind Boxes will be sold, covering all our stores and Robot Shops."
She paused and added:
"As soon as Mololoy's prototype came out, the team voted internally, and its popularity ranked among the top three of all reserve IPs.
Our Designer said that the image of this IP is very malleable and can be controlled from science fiction style to healing style. It is more mature than many IPs designed by domestic studios."
Zhao Chen and Chen Xi looked at each other.
When Hong Kong Dollar spent 30 million Hong Kong Dollar to buy Mololoy's Overseas Copyright from Hong Kong Longxiangsheng Design Studio, there were not without doubts within Henglong.
For a niche IP that has not yet been verified by the market, the price of 30 million Hong Kong Dollar is high no matter how you look at it.
But now it seems that the cost-effectiveness of this transaction is being continuously amplified by Bubble Mary's operational capabilities.
After going around in a circle, Su Xiaotang led several people to Meeting Room.
Meeting Room is not big, but it has good lighting. Outside Floor-to-Ceiling Window is the skyline of Wangjing.
Several neatly bound documents have been placed on the table, and next to each document is a Blind Boxes with the Bubble Mart Logo printed on it--it's Mololoy's Journey to the West Series.
"Zhao Zong, this is our most popular series in the third quarter of this year. I give it to you as a souvenir." Su Xiaotang said with a smile.
Zhao Chen picked up Blind Boxes, looked at it, thanked him, and sat down at the guest of honor position at the conference table.
Chen Xi is sitting on his left hand side, and Zhang Qingxue is sitting on his right hand side. Legal documents have been spread out in front of her.
Wang An then walked in, followed by a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who looked about forty years old.
"Zhao Zong, this is our Finance Director Zhou Zheng. You have seen before."
Wang An introduced, "Financial Data has already sorted out the third quarter. Let him give you a brief report first."
Zhou Zheng leaned forward slightly, sat down at the other end of the conference table, opened the laptop in front of him, and Projection Screen immediately lit up the Bubble Mart third quarter Financial Report PPT on the cloth.
"Zhao Zong, let me start with some core data."
"In the first half of 2018, Bubble Mart achieved revenue of 315 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 185.43%;
The net profit was 41.2 million yuan, while it was still in the red in the same period last year, with a loss of 2.3 million yuan.
Net cash flow from operating activities was 62.5 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 30 times."
Zhao Chen's eyes fell on the Projection Screen cloth and nodded slightly.
This growth rate far exceeded his expectations when he originally invested. Bubble Mary's business model has completed a complete closed loop from customer acquisition to repurchase.
He has already made a brief report on the semi-annual report data to Board of Directors.
After the semi-annual report of Bubble Mary came out, no one in Board of Directors questioned the investment in Bubble Mary.