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It's getting cold, and the founder is preparing to run home!

Published: 2026-06-26 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/06/26, In the first half of the year, the topic of # ofo Dai Wei starting a Business again went viral on Weibo, causing widespread discussion, with netizens shouting crazily to Dai Wei at the bottom of the blog post. Half a month after the news that Dai Wei went to the United States to open a cafe to start a business spread all over the network, interface news reported that David's second start-up project was once again close to the brink of suspension.

In the first half of the year, the topic of # ofo Dai Wei starting a Business again went viral on Weibo, causing widespread discussion, with netizens shouting crazily to Dai Wei at the bottom of the blog post. Half a month after the news that Dai Wei had opened a coffee shop in the United States spread all over the network, interface news reported that David's second start-up project was once again close to the brink of suspension, and store expansion came to a complete standstill.

Half a year later, the founder, who went from sharing bikes to running a cafe, once again entered the topic of hot search. Ofo founder Dai Wei failed to start a business in the United States, leaving only one store for his second venture, About Time Coffee, China Entrepreneur reported.

Reported that About Time Coffee currently only Madison Avenue stores in New York show that it is still operating, the other four stores all show "permanently closed", and Instagram search found that the last tweet on About Time Coffee account stayed in September, and the last time consumers posted pictures was last year.

As a new coffee chain, About Time Coffee has opened five stores since its debut in February 2022, leaving only one store in less than two years, a pace comparable to a roller coaster ride.

According to reports, About Time Coffee is mainly cost-effective, with a unit price lower than that of Starbucks, between $3 and $7; innovative products such as pearl coffee and taro coffee with tastes between coffee and milk tea; and unique sealed cans for outer packaging, which are aimed at young people in the United States.

In addition, in order to attract more attention, the pre-operation of About Time Coffee adopted a "money-burning" strategy, using the slogan "the first five cups are our treat" to attract the public to download APP, process orders and payments and collect user data through APP, so as to provide users with customized discounts and coupons.

This marketing model is very similar to the early business model of Ruixing in the Chinese market, so it can be said that Dai Wei wants to copy Ruixing's game to the United States, so as to replicate Ruixing's success in a foreign land. However, as the ancients said, "tangerine born in Huainan is an orange, and born in Huaibei is a trifoliate orange". The marketing model is also the same. although the lucky "template" can be successful in the Chinese market, it is not compatible with the local market environment.

Dai Wei's plan to win a turnaround with the About Time Coffee chain now seems to have come to naught, and his second venture ended in failure.

When the media reported that there was a bottleneck in the About Time Coffee funding chain at the end of May this year, netizens who followed the matter were not optimistic about Dai Wei's second venture, complaining that the founder "couldn't make it happen."

About Time Coffee, which has only one store left, does confirm netizens' speculation at the beginning, commenting that "success is only accidental, and there is no management experience, so it would be strange to fail", "what's the difference between starting a coffee shop in the United States and opening a hot pot restaurant in Sichuan and Chongqing," and "failure is inevitable."

And most netizens are more concerned about whether their ofo ofo deposit can be refunded, which is also the issue that will be mentioned most when Dai Wei appears in media reports.

According to reports, more than 16 million people across the country are still waiting in line for the ofo deposit, which is as high as 1.5 billion yuan.

Dai Wei failed to start a second business, and ofo is still heavily in debt. While netizens shouted "pay back the money", some people also gave Dai Wei some "suggestions" to make money, "next time to start a business and sell curry to India", "selling pancake Youtiao may be more reliable", "find a class", "Why doesn't he do a live broadcast to sell goods? there should also be black and red traffic."

For a large number of users who failed to get back ofo's deposit, Dai Wei has long lost their trust. Whether he gives up his entrepreneurial dream and whether he is waiting for a comeback is not the focus of users' concern. Users hope that this founder can pay off the debt as soon as possible and deal with the mess of ofo.

Picture from: Internet

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