[JMedia] the coffee in Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street is cold and there is no way out.

Only those who are rooted in the street know that the cold wind is blowing under the lively appearance of Zhongguancun Venture Street. The impact of capital winter on Entrepreneurship Street is obvious, but it is still the "Yan'an" of entrepreneurs all over the country. For entrepreneurs, there is no way out. In this 220-meter street, life and death are staged alternately, dreams and reality knead the face of an era.

1. Deserted and deserted

Only people rooted in the street know that under the apparent hustle and bustle, the cold wind is blowing on Entrepreneurship Street.

Overnight, Entrepreneurship Street was deserted. At 10:00 in the morning, Entrepreneurship Street ushered in the first wave of the day. All the institutions along the street woke up, the young man Xi who sold meat and bun finished the first sales peak, the coffee shop grinded the first batch of coffee, and the entrepreneurs were ready to sit down in the incubator or coffee shop to start the day's work.

Sightseeing groups from afar poured into the street. They descended from the bus that marked the name of the unit, and were led by tour guides with work plates hanging on their chest. They visited the institutions on both sides one by one, and their excitement and curiosity, wait-and-see and discussion brought a lively atmosphere to Entrepreneurship Street.

On the face of it, the venture street under the cold winter of capital is not much different from that of three months ago. Only people rooted in the street know that the cold wind is blowing under the lively appearance of Entrepreneurship Street.

Shu Quan remembers that when he first joined the 3W incubator in August, Zhongguancun presented him with prosperity. "the street is full of flyers for the O2O project, and if you take two steps, you will be dragged to scan the code." small objects sent by the roadside are pushed on his desk, becoming a hill symbolizing the prosperity of mobile Internet entrepreneurship.

Over the past three months, the capital environment has taken a sharp turn for the worse. since the stock market shock, capital in the primary market has tightened, and investors have become increasingly cautious in spending money. Numerous investors have told him, "now as long as it is O2O projects will not look," a fund vice president admitted that they now basically belong to "only look at not invest." Nowadays, whenever he sees the words O2O, Shu can't help shaking his head.

In the streets, the number of leaflets distributed decreased sharply, and gift-giving by scanning codes was almost extinct. Everyone feels that life is not easy.

Lagou learned that there are 37 entrepreneurial service organizations on Entrepreneurship Street, including 3W, Angel Exchange, Krypton Space and Lenovo Star. As of June 12 this year, there were 600 entrepreneurial teams, of which 350 received financing. There are currently 10 start-up teams in the 3W incubator, up from nine in July, and the cold winter of capital has not reduced the number of teams in the incubator.

Of the 10 teams stationed in the 3W incubator, four are raising money everywhere, and two of the team leaders have complained to Shu Quan that "it is difficult to get money". Not long ago, he gave the contact information of one of the persons in charge of fresh O2O to a reporter who came to look for material. Just now, Shu Quan received feedback from the reporter that he claimed to be doing B2B and was unwilling to expose his product. He was surprised and quickly flipped through the entry and exit agreement, which was signed two weeks ago with the words "fresh O2O" written on it.

Shu Quan tightened his clothes and felt cold.

Zhang Xing, who makes a mobile e-commerce APP, feels a more chilling chill. After receiving a text message from an investor, Entrepreneurship Street became almost bleak in his eyes. He held the phone motionless in his hand, showing the words, "Sorry, we're not going to vote." Just two weeks ago, he signed the term with the investor, and nothing has happened since then. When asked, he got such a reply.

He looked out of the window and saw a man standing on a tripod photographing pedestrians on the road. The people on the street came and went, making him dizzy.

Zhang Xing remembers clearly that he had been in contact with different investors for nearly two months before talking about this not-so-big investment. Without capital input, his project would not be able to continue. The night he talked about the investment, he and several partners went to a barbecue restaurant that was open all night and drank a whole case of beer. The excitement of rebirth made his team very energetic these days. But all this suddenly came to naught.

Zhang Xing came to Entrepreneurship Street in October 2014. He experienced the hottest period of venture street capital. At that time, it was very easy to get money, and as long as it was an embryonic form of an idea, it was easy to get an investment. He once saw with his own eyes a young man who had been on Entrepreneurship Street for only three days. Jiang Ziya, who had talked to investors for two hours, received an investment of 5 million yuan.

A few months later, the madness disappeared.

Anxiety spread quietly on Entrepreneurship Street, and everyone smelled the smell of "worry". In the eyes of outsiders, entrepreneurs are covered with "passion", "struggle", "dream" and "achievement" labels, and only those in them know what these labels mean.

Zhang Jian has been in business for 10 years. He did not raise the first sum of money from 2005 until he finally moved to the free krypton space in 2014. In the past few years, Zhang Jian and his wife, who have been committed to the field of health, have invested 5 million out of their own pocket. In the most difficult time, all the money he and his wife had in their pockets was only a few thousand yuan, and the next day they had to pay their employees tens of thousands of wages. in this dilemma, his wife became pregnant and his elders both fell ill, forcing Zhang to a desperate situation.

Lack of money is a permanent theme. Zhang Jian, who moved out of Entrepreneurship Street, came back here this time to find the person in charge of Krypton Space to discuss the promotion plan of APP. This is the sixth APP Zhang Jian has ever done, and against a backdrop of poor economic conditions, he believes that counter-cyclical health areas are likely to be popular instead. To this end, he is actively preparing the proposal and preparing for financing again.

Zhang Jian, who is more than 1.80 meters, sat on the slightly cramped wooden seat of the coffee shop, and the sun fell into his table from the side window, failing to illuminate the worry on his face. Zhang Jian's face was "bitter" after years of starting a business with little return. Starting a business is like a long-distance run. once you start, there is no chance to catch your breath. "it's really hard, and the pressure can't be relieved."

Starting a business has entered a bottleneck, making him restless and irritable. At the staff meeting a few days ago, he was furious because of the low-level mistakes made by his employees. "the pressure was so great that he couldn't control his emotions a lot of times." Worst of all, when he spends more than five minutes with his two-year-old child, he gets restless and distracted, and his mind is full of outstanding work problems. He feels that spending time with his children is a meaningless waste of time. "I'm really in such a hurry."

This street, which is sometimes packed with tourists, is quite different from the stillness that Zhang Jian remembered a year ago. The only thing that is the same is that there are always countless entrepreneurs, with the same mood, painfully and unwilling to give up, looking for a way out of their dreams.

"you should spend more time with your children." Zhang Jian sighed to Lagou.

The vivid success stories exude a strong magnetic field, attracting the admiration and imitation of the newcomers, with a view to changing their fate. They have an almost primitive fanatical impulse to start a business, and when they can only hold the peak of glory in their eyes, they often selectively ignore the mourning all around them.

two。 Onlooker

Although the impact of capital winter on Entrepreneurship Street is obvious, it is still the "Yan'an" of entrepreneurs all over the country.

In 2015, the whole of China is yearning for Beijing, and the whole of Beijing is yearning for Entrepreneurship Street, just like yearning for a promised land. The prime minister has been to this street twice and drank 3W coffee once. It is also common to see foreign delegations here, looking curiously at completely different Chinese passions.

A visit to the street can be completed in half an hour. after that, the tour group will pour into 3W coffee, order 50 cups of prime minister coffee, happily take a group photo under the plaque of "Entrepreneurship Street", and discuss their feelings enthusiastically. contentedly, he was driven away by the car. As if in this way, the secret recipe for "success" has been successfully put into the bag, and as long as you take it out and swallow it, you can realize your life-changing dream.

Tourists who come alone to explore the secrets of Entrepreneurship Street look at a loss when they first enter this unattractive street. When they catch a guide with an explanation, they lean over and listen attentively for a while, and the extroverted ones will seize the opportunity to ask questions to the guide.

Everything on Entrepreneurship Street is mysterious and legendary.

On November 29, Chen Peng, who had worked in Australia for five years, appeared on Entrepreneurship Street dragging his suitcase-he had just got off the plane and had not had time to unpack his luggage. He has long heard of the boom of entrepreneurship in China, and this magical street is the meeting place of all passions, and he can't wait to come here to see the most fighting and dynamic dreamers in China.

He walked from north to south of the street and from south to north, entered each coffee shop and sat for half an hour, quietly listening to the conversation of the people next to him. "I think it's very interesting. Almost everyone in the coffee shop is talking about starting a business, talking about projects, talking about ideas, they are very loud, sometimes even quarreling, they seem to really love their work. I never knew a coffee shop could still be like this. "

For a week in a row, Chen Peng came to Entrepreneurship Street every day to observe other people chatting, from 10.1 in the morning to 7 p.m. He looked excited and thoughtful, wondering if he could do something, too.

The good-looking stylist Gu Wei read a report about Beaver's family on the Internet and was immediately attracted. "A small manicure can be made on this scale, so why not?" Goodway told Lagou that the Internet startup boom had made his heart restless and he was eager to try. On October 16, he specially took a part-time job in a hair-cutting O2O push activity through his friends to "find out the inside story and get one of his own if it's reliable."

Guwei talked to every customer who came to his stall for a haircut, and a woman next to him gave advice to the barber, "I think styling is a rigid need. I have to do it several times a month. Why don't you do that?" After listening to this, Goodway hurriedly stopped his work, leaned over and quietly told her that he was the stylist. If there was anything he could do, he smiled and added Wechat before he went back to his booth with satisfaction.

Of the 21 O2O platforms that closed in 2015, 12 died from July to November. According to the statistics of Pintuo Network, 220 O2O projects have closed down in recent years. According to Angel Junction, 18868 entrepreneurial teams were released on the platform from January to June this year, compared with 24000 from July to the end of October. Under the background that the capital is not as expected, the number of entrepreneurial projects still maintains a substantial growth.

Because of the endless stream of visitors, Entrepreneurship Street shows a lively scene even in the cold weather. These tourists make Entrepreneurship Street look alive, and every head looking up confirms that it has become a national entrepreneurial mecca since it opened on June 12, 2014.

Even if it has entered the winter of capital, bystanders who want to replicate the legend are still eager to step into this "holy land". Those exciting entrepreneurial myths, those tempting rising wealth figures, attracted the most thoughtful people of this era, came to Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street one after another.

3. People who have no way out.

With or without capital, these entrepreneurs on Entrepreneurship Street have no way out.

"Why did you start a business?"

"one day about half a year ago, I was writing code in the company step by step. I was sitting next to an old employee who had worked for more than a decade. He made a mistake that day. The leader came to his station and scolded him to death. But he didn't say a word because he was afraid of losing his job. I suddenly felt scared. I don't want to be in my late forties and be pushed around and bullied for a job. I seem to see my life ten years from now. I don't want that kind of life. "

"I came to Beijing from my hometown five years ago, and I have no plans to go back. I want to buy a house and settle down in Beijing. A friend bought a house in Tongzhou and it takes two hours to go to work. It's so horrible that I absolutely can't accept it. I want to buy the house next to the company and go to work on foot. That's too expensive. I may not be able to afford a ten-year class. But I must buy a house. I always feel insecure and panicked without a house. It is really forced by life, so we can only start a business and gamble. "

When "gamble" came out of the mouth of Luo Li, who was wearing sportswear and slippers, the entrepreneurs sitting around him nodded and someone let out a sigh. After China's social class is solidified and resources are monopolized, Internet entrepreneurship is the only social upward channel for children from poor families.

On Entrepreneurship Street, entrepreneurs who gather in coffee shops to find a "way out" like to gather around and talk to each other about their past jobs and current ideas. They expect to learn about industry trends and market demand from other people's conversations, and they also expect to capture entrepreneurial inspiration from them. When asked "Why to start a business", some people say it is a helpless choice, more often, they will say: "this is my dream."

It is not so much a dream to start a business as a dream to change fate through entrepreneurship. They dream that one day they will make a great product by themselves, "walking on the road will see everyone around them using my product" and completely get rid of the "loser" label. But most entrepreneurs are confused about what that awesome product is.

Laurie gave himself two years to start a business. Six months ago, he quit his job with a monthly salary of more than 30,000, came to Entrepreneurship Street alone, worked hard in a coffee shop for a few months, and gave birth to a brand new APP. But the day APP goes online, it faces death. Luo Li, a technical man without any market experience, suddenly found that after the development of APP, which he thought was "reliable", there was no user to download it. For him, who had no experience and no funds, "promotion" was an insurmountable wall.

But he doesn't want to give up, or he can't. Luo Li, who graduated from an ordinary university, initially studied finance. When he first arrived in Beijing from Wuhan, because he could not find a job, he worked as a peddler in Ali, taught himself as a furniture designer, and finally became a programmer. "it takes too much money to take root in Beijing. I can only start a business." Asked about his current state of life, he said, "that's it." You can't die, you can't live well.

Ni Peng, who wears glasses, doesn't like to take part in the fun. Most of the time, he likes to bury his head in the computer, put headphones in his ears, cut off from the outside world, and immerse himself in his work. He sat in front of the computer for two hours, and a man called "the future Buffett" called him four times before he looked away from the computer screen and slowly moved into the chatting crowd.

"the future Jack Ma, it's hard to ask you to come over and talk for a while." "there's nothing to talk about."

"Xiaopeng is amazing. The products he has developed are already profitable, and he doesn't need investors' money at all. Tell us how you did it!"

"you can't talk about it, you can't talk about it."

He smiled shyly, inadvertently showing some complacency, and kept quiet about his products. After a few words, he felt dull and sneaked back to his seat while others were talking.

Like all technicians, Ni Peng is accustomed to reticence, focusing only on practice and results. Like all cautious entrepreneurs, in order to avoid plagiarism of product models, he kept quiet about his products and didn't tell anyone. When he was preparing to develop a second product, which was called "Jack Ma of the Future", he did not refute it, but smiled.

Having products and being profitable is the goal that many entrepreneurs want but cannot achieve.

Especially since the capital environment is not as expected, it has become more difficult to seek investment, and many developed products must find ways to achieve self-profit. Ni Peng's ease and mystery are envied by a group of helpless entrepreneurs.

In the helpless entrepreneurial group, some people do not even have a good idea of the product form. Liu Da, who has been mixing coffee in the garage for ten months, was described by the coffee shop clerk as the "no one will ever invest in him" type. Liu Da is so talkative that as soon as he sits down and begins to talk, he will soon gather a circle of curious onlookers around him.

He seems to have his own unique view of all products. The social product on the left can communicate for 10 minutes, and the online education on the right can discuss it for half an hour. When asked about his own product, he became dumb, took a sip of his own cup, swallowed a mouthful of spit, and said, "as long as you have Daniel technology, the product will come out in a minute. I'm looking for a partner!"

Liu Da is confident in herself. "as long as my product is made, how can it not be popular?" He told himself that he must make achievements before he could go back to his wife and children in the northeast.

The joking Liu Da often "flirted" with Luo Li and said, "Xiao Luo, you and your girlfriend haven't broken up yet?" In order to dissuade Luo Li from starting his own business, his girlfriend often got angry. Lo Li always lied to her, "I'll go to work in a few months."

In fact, during this period of time, Laurie seems to have seen a new light of hope. "A few months ago, there were a lot of people in the coffee shop, but I couldn't find a seat when I was late. Now it's different. They all say that the capital is coming in winter, and it's hard to get the money. Many people have left. Even in the busiest time, the coffee shop is not full." "I think this is my chance," he told Lagou. "as long as I stick to it, my stuff will be easier to see." He was a little happy to think of it.

On the morning of October 19th, Laurie and his girlfriend quarreled again. When he angrily came out of his home and went to Entrepreneurship Street to hear the news of Premier Li Keqiang's visit, his unhappy mood was swept away. He once regretted not being able to catch up with the Prime Minister's visit in May. This time, he excitedly tried his best to get into the meeting, but was soon cleared out by security guards.

Even so, his face was still brimming with uncontrollable excitement. He walked to the side of the street, leaned against a tree and posted two moments in a row, and secretly told himself to work harder, one of which said: "the rivers and lakes of the Internet." it has become the rivers and lakes of the creators of the times. who will be the next hero?

He said he immediately made a decision: he won't go home until 11:00 and will never be lazy!

4. The "Rangers" of Entrepreneurship Street

Entrepreneurial Street has a group of homeless people. They know nothing about the Internet and entrepreneurship. However, they broke into this entrepreneurial mecca, shuttled through it, and found their own unique way of life.

"can you leave your contact information?" The 1.8-meter-tall Jiyu suddenly stood up from the chair of the coffee shop, approached the uncle who was begging along the table, and asked eagerly. The ragged uncle was inexplicably startled, waved his hand again and again, clasped his begging bowl and turned around to escape. Jiyu quickly stepped forward and grabbed him. "Sir, leave me a phone number and I'll help you!" The beggar panicked and shook his head.

Ji Yu, who claims to help others, is being helped by many people. Three months ago, he came to Beijing from Nanjing and has been hanging out on Entrepreneurship Street. For the first half of the month, he spent 30 yuan a night on the sofa in the garage coffee, and soon a kind professor he met at the meeting offered him his office to spend the night occasionally. More often, he will blend into all kinds of star hotels that are holding meetings and stay for a night or two.

Before seeing uncle beggar, Ji Yu was sitting in a coffee shop chatting with a man who had just arrived on Entrepreneurship Street and wanted to start a business. Dressed in a gray tracksuit, he proudly said to the speaker, "all my clothes, except my shoes, are gifts." He carried three large bags with him-they were almost all he had.

In the morning, he had just returned from a four-star hotel where he pretended to be attendees, stayed there for two nights, and finally came back with a bag of leftovers to share with cash-strapped entrepreneurs in the coffee shop.

Entrepreneurial Street has a group of homeless people. They didn't start a business, they were inexperienced, their ideas were not new, and before they came to this street, they even knew nothing about the Internet and entrepreneurship. However, they broke into this entrepreneurial mecca, shuttled through it, and found their own unique way of life.

Ji Yu's main "job" on Entrepreneurship Street is to catch up with meetings, with an average of four to five meetings a day (although it has nothing to do with him). He is interested in talking about everyone he knows, and knows a lot about their experiences and possessions, and when he talks about the people he has recently met and the Daniel he has known in the past, he is immersed in his own world, and his face is glowing with excitement and contentment, as if every big shot is his own relative.

Chen Xiao, who is also wandering on Entrepreneurship Street, never goes straight to ask for contact information. He wears a well-fitting suit and walks around the coffee shops and institutions on Entrepreneurship Street all the year round. When he saw someone with a trail, he would go up, greet him politely and say, "how about I take a look at your face, sir?" People who are questioned usually ask who he is. At this time, he pulls out his mobile phone and shows his own name to the other person. His resume appears on Baidu encyclopedia, showing the title of "Chinese studies enthusiast" and "planner".

He boasts that he can read faces, see through the joys and sorrows of others, and provide solutions. "I was at 3W Coffee just now, and it took only 15 minutes, and the gentleman called me 10,000 yuan and asked me to help him revise the plan book. I can be trusted. " He sat in the coffee shop, looking at a man's hand, analyzing and talking about his "great achievements", causing the other party to nod again and again.

The short Brother Li is very good at using the resources on Entrepreneurship Street to earn some income for himself. He said to the entrepreneur, "We will hire a large number of rich investors to use your project for road performance, and we may be chosen by investors." "We have contacted a lot of excellent start-up projects to take a look," he told investors. " He collected fees in the middle and gathered them together for a roadshow. After talking for half an hour, the entrepreneurs were moved and pocketed with anticipation.

Jiyu seems to be in no hurry to make money. He seldom uses the many contacts he knows to make money, and more often, collecting business cards seems to make him more excited.

At most, he gets more than 50 business cards from the company's core executives a day. His pocket was full of business cards, one on the left, another on the right, and one in the back of his ass. There is a special bag to hold the business card, and Jiyu tells the entrepreneur sitting opposite him:

"it's so big, it must weigh a few jin! It's never been sorted out. "

"can you introduce me to some successful entrepreneurs and investors?"

"No problem! I know thousands of people. I'll look through my business cards when I go back. But. "

"but what?"

"you see, it's late now. I live too far away. Can I stay at your house for one night?"

Ji Yu spoke the request fluently and looked sincere. In his opinion, it was a very good deal to exchange a few phone numbers for a night's accommodation. Carrying three large bags, he followed the hurried entrepreneurs down the silent start-up Street and into the dark night.

In the early morning, Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street became empty. The crowd and the noise are hidden, so are the excitement and troubles. No one was watching through the windows in the street, and no one was frowning under the lintel. Only the sculpture with angel wings in the window is still gazing at the whole street, just like in the day.

Source: pull hook net