The coffee shop became a "base" for entrepreneurs to communicate, and the coffee shop became a headhunting company.

Henan Business Daily reporter Hou Jianxun / Photo

Yang Yan, convener of Huigu Coffee:

I just want to make the cafe a "base" for entrepreneurs to communicate.

Coffee shop becomes a headhunting company

"matchmaking" entrepreneurs

Chen Wei, a reporter from Henan Business Daily.

Now many people call Huigu Coffee, founded by 21 shareholders, as a crowdfunding cafe, but Yang Yan, the convener of Huigu Coffee in Zhengzhou, doesn't think so.

Because their cafe was founded in 2011, when there was no concept of crowdfunding, he just wanted to make it a "base" for entrepreneurs to communicate, without simply thinking about profit, nor did he promise dividends to shareholders.

01

Huigu Coffee, founded by 21 shareholders

Like many young people, job-hopping used to be commonplace for Yang Yan, who worked in sales and advertising, and eventually moved into the Internet world as a computer student.

The Kuaituan Network founded by Yang Yan was born almost at the same time as Meituan. Because of its localization service and experienced the reshuffle of the "Thousand Regiment War", Kuaituan Network finally survived with its own small and beautiful characteristics.

Yang Yan's experience in setting up a group buying website made Yang Yan get more contact with the Internet world and met a number of Internet people. Different from the mature Internet environment in Beijing and Guangzhou, there is no gathering of celebrities in Henan Internet, and there are few places to communicate and collide with each other.

Learning from the model of Beijing Garage Coffee and 3W Coffee, Yang Yan began to prepare his own Internet position in 2011, and he became the convener of Huigu Coffee.

Yang Yan said that among the 21 founding shareholders, there are not only successful entrepreneurs from Henan, such as Li Zhiguo, founder of the former word-of-mouth Network and now Chairman of Amoeba Venture Capital, but also local Internet leaders, such as Li Shaojie, Chairman of Ruizhi Banner, as well as traditional enterprises such as Miao Guojun, general manager of Dukang holding sales Company, as well as Internet entrepreneurs.

Yang Yan, a shareholder in Huigu Coffee, said that he may not have much money, but he must like the industry and have the corresponding industry resources, so there is no need to talk about "tuhao" alone. Now many people say that Huigu Coffee is the product of crowdfunding, but Yang Yan doesn't think so. he just uses the cafe as a "base" for entrepreneurs, and he doesn't just think about making a profit, nor has he promised dividends to shareholders.

02

The cafe turned into a headhunting company.

Yang Yan said that through his gatherings in cafes over the years, he found that more and more Henan people floating in big cities had plans to return to their hometown, and he planned to build a platform for these people to return to Henan in the cafe.

This year, he plans to set up resident "offices" in start-up cafes in cities such as Beijing and Hangzhou, and to collect information about Henan people who want to go back to their hometown to start a business or work. Henan local enterprises, if they need these talents, he is responsible for docking in this database.

"these people who pass by in big cities not only have a fresh way of thinking and can inject vitality into the company, but they will not easily change jobs when they return to work in Henan." Yang Yan said.

He came into contact with a girl who returned to work in Zhengzhou from Hangzhou. Her family lived near the intersection of Nanyang Road and Beihuan Road, while her work unit was on Zhongyuan Road and West fourth Ring Road. He never complained about going to work by bike every day, because she traveled farther to work in Hangzhou every day.

And the girl was very down-to-earth in her job. Although there were many opportunities for job-hopping, she chose to work in this company for three or four years.

It is precisely because there are many good qualities in young people who have drifted, many companies also like them very much. Yang Yan said: in fact, they are also very good at starting a business, with a very open mind, but lack some understanding of Henan, and Huigu Coffee will also provide them with corresponding help.

03

Provide "incubation workshop" for entrepreneurs

In addition, Yang Yan also wants to do a start-up "incubation workshop". Next to Huigu Coffee's current new site, there is an empty house that he plans to decorate this year to provide free office space for entrepreneurs.

"of course, entrepreneurs who enter must be screened by us." 'they need to help some really good projects grow up, 'Mr. Yang said.

He is also considering setting up a small fund to provide small financial support for start-up projects, which can be raised through the Angel Fund of Huigu Cafe and listed on the new third board as these projects grow.

As for the introduction of VCs, Yang Yan said that VCs with better brands should also be considered at the initial stage. These companies bring entrepreneurs not only capital, but also the integration of upstream and downstream industrial chains and other resources. as long as the project develops smoothly, they will take the initiative to provide entrepreneurs with the next round of financing.

Yang Yan, who participates in the Henan Economic Daily Entrepreneur Club, said that because Henan Business Daily is paying attention to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, Huigu Coffee is also a platform for entrepreneurs. He hopes that in the future, platforms such as Entrepreneur Club and Huigu Coffee will jointly provide better services for entrepreneurs.