The news that a 43-year-old delivery man had an accident while delivering food has sparked heated discussions. A survey by enthusiastic netizens found that the insurance provided by Ele.me to the delivery man is only 1.06 yuan, but it charges a daily fee of 3 yuan. Is this money really "

Are you hungry? Did the platform deduct it?

The food delivery platform "Ele.me" was once pushed to the forefront.

Speaking of the mainstream third-party takeout ordering platform in China, we will definitely think of "Ele.me". It occupies the market with a user penetration rate of 69%, second only to Meituan Takeaway.

In 2008, Zhang Xuhao was just an ordinary master's student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Occasionally one night, he called all the nearby businesses but couldn't order food. Zhang Xuhao, who had nothing to eat, suggested that he and his roommates jointly build an online ordering takeout platform.

Although they were still students at the time, they had been looking for entrepreneurial opportunities. Zhang Xuhao's suggestion was like a torch that instantly ignited their hearts.

According to Zhang Xuhao, that night, they talked about everything they would do in the next three years.

The next day, they got ready early in the morning to research the market.

They went to several restaurants and found that business was indeed very good, with a lot of phone orders.

As a result, Zhang Xuhao and his small team began to talk about cooperation with one restaurant after another.

Just like that, Zhang Xuhao successfully delivered the first takeaway on his old motorcycle.

In the early days of starting their business, they were sometimes overwhelmed by the large number of orders and were afraid that customer satisfaction would be reduced, so they had to deliver the goods themselves.

He also experienced difficult days such as "sweeping buildings" and handing out leaflets, delivering food to waiters with frostbite with bare feet.

After checking the accounts every day, the teammates began to talk about their dreams and life and encourage each other.

In a talk show, Zhang Xuhao said that he was not a competitive person. His original intention was not to do business to make money, but just to use the Internet to create something valuable for consumers.

Their efforts were not in vain. They won many entrepreneurship competitions and received four to five million in bonuses.

Finally, in April 2009, the company was officially established, and they moved from the rough house to the villa.

With the advancement of smartphones and the continuous growth of market demand, "Ele.me" has finally ushered in spring.

In just a few years, in January 2015, it completed a US$350 million investment led by CITIC Industrial Fund, with participation from JD.com, Tencent, Dianping and Sequoia Capital.

In August of the same year, it set a record for the highest single financing amount for a global food delivery platform.

After several rounds of financing, the company began to enter a period of rapid development.

With strategic investors, Zhang Xuhao did not abandon the near and distant, but devoted all his energy to the business itself.

The company's culture at that time was to never forget the original intention, the products we were making, the people we were serving, and how to achieve it.

However, starting a business is not always easy. The strong attack of competitor "Meituan Waimai" has brought unprecedented development pressure to "Ele.me".

We all know that the Meituan APP has more comprehensive services and functions, and merchant discounts are also strong. Especially users born in the 1990s prefer Meituan takeout ordering, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of users and merchants of "Ele.me".

The crushing of giants, the pursuit of capital, and fierce competition are all enough to make "Ele.me" fail.

Several young people have fallen into thinking that the only way to survive in such a crack may be to find a more powerful backer.

In 2018, the opportunity they had been waiting for for a long time finally came. Jack Ma invited Zhang Xuhao to discuss the details of Alibaba's acquisition of Ele.me. After two negotiations, it was fully acquired for US$9.5 billion (equivalent to 66.5 billion yuan).

Ele.me, this was also the largest cash purchase order in the history of China’s Internet at that time.

However, Alibaba stated that it would allow "Ele.me" to operate independently. Zhang Xuhao will serve as chairman of Ele.me, and Alibaba Vice President Wang Lei will serve as CEO of Ele.me. Others on Zhang Xuhao's team have not left.

Time has also proved to us that Zhang Xuhao’s choice is good. “Ele.me” has broken past performance from time to time.

As chairman of the board, Zhang Xuhao devotes more energy to supporting strategic planning and strategic decision-making.

At the same time, when he serves as Zhang Yong's special assistant, he can also obtain more resources to help Ali find breakthroughs in new wholesale.

In 2020, Zhang Xuhao still serves as the chairman of "Ele.me" and has also appeared on the "2020 New Fortune 500 Rich List" with a wealth of 9.2 billion yuan. It must be said that this is also among the entrepreneurs born in the 1980s.

Outstanding.

In fact, judging from the companies acquired by Alibaba in the past, it is not uncommon for founders to gradually fade away, and Zhang Xuhao seems to be no exception.

Currently, Zhang Xuhao is studying biomedicine and other fields that he has never been involved in before, and is spending more time with his family.

In the early days of starting a business, Zhang Xuhao's team did not have any business strategy analysis. They just relied on business intuition and the advantages in the team's DNA to solve user needs through good technology, good products and business model innovation.

Innovation seems to be something that is in his and their bones. Therefore, whether Zhang Xuhao will start a business again in the future is still highly possible with his personality and unique vision. We still have to wait and see.