How far can a cafe run a cafe-style financing platform?

With the promotion of the concept of crowdfunding, "crowdfunding cafes" are no longer a new topic, and now, nothing is more striking than the entrepreneurial cafes that sprung up everywhere two years ago. 3W Coffee in Beijing and Beta Coffee in Shenzhen are outstanding representatives of such entrepreneurial cafes, which are regarded as incubators for innovative projects and greenhouses for entrepreneurs to "find money" for dream projects.

Crowdfunding start-up cafes use cafes as the carrier, but are actually financing platforms. At present, there are not a few crowdfunding cafes across the country, but very few are profitable. On the one hand, crowdfunding cafes need to be well planned and run by professional teams, on the other hand, they are also facing severe survival challenges. Few of the existing founders can really break even in this business.

Chuangke, which is still in a state of loss, can it go on in the sad wind and rain of reality, and will it survive in the next more severe survival test?

An investment and financing intermediary in the name of a coffee shop

Unlike ordinary crowdfunding cafes, Venture Cafe has more attributes of "entrepreneurship" and, to put it bluntly, is closer to investment and financing intermediaries. Coffee shop as a platform and carrier, entrepreneurial cafe is actually closer to the investment and financing platform-entrepreneurs and investors find a circle of acquaintances here, on the one hand, they can reduce the cost of communication with each other, on the other hand, they can also establish broad relationships and find opportunities for future investment or project development, which is also the charm of maintaining the development and growth of entrepreneurial cafes.

Take Innovation Valley Coffee as an example. According to a former shareholder of Innovation Valley Coffee, Guangzhou Innovation Valley Coffee is a coffee creation platform under Shenzhen Innovation Valley, while Innovation Valley itself is an incubator and accelerator for TMT and mobile Internet industry, and Innovation Valley Cafe is not so much a coffee shop as an exchange interface for this incubator.

In such a cafe platform similar to a startup salon, entrepreneurial teams come here to look for projects, and people with projects come to show them, which is, to some extent, a roadshow. The person explained. The venue setting of Innovation Valley Coffee also fully shows its center of gravity-the coffee shop on the first floor, with a total of more than 200 square meters, is the site for the coffee shop, while the rest is the innovation base.

In addition to finding quick ways to find money for investors, Innovation Valley itself is involved, providing free office space for selected projects for a period of time, company-nurturing strategic guidance, and even company registration can help.

Compared with garage coffee, which only provides a platform for entrepreneurs and investors, Innovation Valley goes a step further, adopting the "front store and back court" model, which not only introduces investors to look for projects, but also pays for some good projects. "in fact, it is to turn a project into a product, sell the company, cultivate and incubate some promising projects."

Although the investment is high, in fact, once harvested, the incubation platform itself can get a very high return. It is understood that Innovation Valley has successfully cultivated two successful projects: Super course schedule and sticker as an example. The market capitalization of the super curriculum has increased by 26,27x in 10 months, with round An investments earning 10 million, while Innovation Valley has a 20 per cent stake.

"the cycle of the super curriculum is ten months, and the most common project is the semi-annual cycle. Short cycle and high risk. Only a few of the 100 projects may have been successful, but that's enough, waiving venue rent and providing entrepreneurial guidance. " Shareholders familiar with the situation said that in this way, the start-up cafe is trying to achieve its mission as a platform for networking and resource integration, while achieving its own survival and growth.

The wrong way: the current withdrawal of Innovation Valley Coffee

Like many start-up coffee, the profit model of Innovation Valley Coffee "looks beautiful"-it builds a bridge between entrepreneurs and investors, integrates excellent network resources, and has the hope of incubating a successful business. A founding shareholder of Innovation Valley Coffee told reporters that it was because he was optimistic about this model that he joined the crowdfunding of Innovation Valley Coffee in the first place.

The concept of innovative Valley Coffee, which seems to be attractive, has encountered a lot of problems in its later development. According to people familiar with the matter, just six months after the start of the preparations, recently, there has been a large-scale withdrawal wave of Innovation Valley Coffee, with nearly half of the shareholders withdrawing its shares, leaving the newly established Innovation Valley Coffee in crisis.

Innovation Valley Coffee as a crowdfunding cafe, Innovation Valley is the major shareholder, other original shareholders participate in accordance with the crowdfunding model.

It is understood that the first batch of shareholders of Innovation Valley Coffee initially invested about 10,000 to 20,000, and the wave of withdrawal is so wide that there are about 40 withdrawing shareholders among the 100 shareholders, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why is the contradiction so intensified? According to a withdrawing shareholder, most of the shareholders of Innovation Valley who joined with their original intention were told that in the course of the operation of Creative Valley Coffee, the initial shareholders, as core shareholders, acquired two shares unconditionally after buying shares, and there were no requirements for shareholder obligations. However, as time goes by, the caliber of the organizers of Innovation Valley Coffee is constantly changing.

"the requirements for shareholders have grown from scratch, with a lot of provisions, such as having to be core shareholders for three consecutive years, not divestment, introducing projects, and so on." The former shareholder revealed that Innovation Valley Coffee is also extremely "simple and rough" in the process of managing and communicating with shareholders, further intensifying conflicts that already have opinions.

What caused this contradiction to break out completely was the two shareholder meetings of Innovation Valley Coffee. It is understood that when Innovation Valley Coffee was founded, the cost of land occupation, decoration and other costs did not account for shares, but at a subsequent shareholders' meeting, Innovation Valley unilaterally announced that the original decoration and venue fees would account for 25% of the shares. This has aroused the discussion of some shareholders.

In a subsequent shareholders' meeting, these unsettled discussions turned into large-scale dissent-at a later shareholders' meeting, Innovation Valley once again proposed that decoration and site costs account for 40%. This caused widespread dissatisfaction among shareholders. "there is even a withdrawal group in Wechat. On the first day, more than 20 shareholders joined, and later it rose to more than 30. There are also direct arguments and doubts among shareholders in the general group."

"in fact, the investment fee of 10,000 yuan is nothing, but the key is that the implementation of the management and going back on its promise makes me feel unreliable." A withdrawing shareholder spoke bluntly to the reporter. On the one hand, inconsistent rules make shareholders suspicious, on the other hand, the blunt attitude of some managers in Innovation Valley has strengthened her determination to withdraw shares.

It is understood that after the occurrence of a large-scale withdrawal, although two senior executives from Innovation Valley also came forward to explain, many shareholders have made up their minds and are difficult to recover. For the newly founded Innovation Valley Coffee, this withdrawal obviously has a great impact.

Entrepreneurial Cafe: the Road ahead is bumpy

Are the twists and turns encountered by Innovation Valley Coffee just a microcosm of the problems that start-up cafes may encounter? As a new thing, what other challenges may be encountered in the business process of start-up cafes?

Dong Jianqiang of China Entrepreneurship Coffee Alliance said that the biggest problem facing entrepreneurial cafes is profitability. Secondly, due to lack of experience, imperfect regulation and other reasons, they are also faced with problems such as improper operation.

Dong Jianqiang revealed that in nearly 50 start-up cafes across the country, the proportion of profitable enterprises is no more than 10%, and about 30% of the enterprises that break even are still in a state of cash flow loss.

"start-up cafes are facing a lot of pressure. They can't compare with ordinary cafes in terms of passenger flow, customer unit price, and billing rate, and there is a lot of pressure to survive." Dong Jianqiang said frankly. As for the problems encountered in Innovation Valley Coffee, Dong Jianqiang believes that the withdrawal of Innovation Valley Coffee is essentially a disagreement caused by unequal rights and obligations. "on the one hand, the theme of Innovation Valley Coffee is different from that of Innovation Valley Incubator. Innovation Valley Coffee is the source of projects and capital flows, but the profit of the cafe itself may not be able to support shareholders' demands. On the other hand, it is also a core issue. The founders should respect the rules of the game, and the board of directors should make reasonable decisions in other ways. If it is forcibly adjusted by abnormal means or there is no communication in place, it is inevitable to lead to differences among shareholders. "

Dong Jianqiang said that at present, various start-up cafes are prone to the problem of unclear management structure in the management, and there is no main body when it comes to equity issues, resulting in the problem of "too many dragons do not control water." this aspect needs to be further improved in the future.

"the core issue of crowdfunding is the issue of equity management, and how to design the equity structure is very particular. According to the current experience, there can be a major shareholder full-time participation, the use of market-oriented means to hire full-time personnel to use the incentive system to make managers motivated to take care of the cafe. " Dong Jianqiang said that if the ownership is scattered, a sunny, open and transparent standard must be developed.

Crowdfunding coffee began to appear in 2011, and after two years of rapid growth in 2012 and 2013, there are now more than a hundred, and it is still in the stage of rapid growth. The number of start-up cafes will peak at the end of 2015, although many of the current problems are not clear enough, but in the future, the business model of this industry will be polished and upgraded, and the format will certainly develop steadily and exist for a long time. " Dong Jianqiang said.