Xu Jingnan: currently, he is the chairman and general manager of Fujian Peak Group Co., Ltd. and Peak (Hong Kong) International Co., Ltd. Vice President of Quanzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce (General Chamber of Commerce) and Vice President of Quanzhou Footwear Chamber of Commerce.
In August, 27, Sequoia Capital invested in Peak Group and obtained 7.8% equity, which also helped Peak to start the shareholding system reform. In 28, Peak introduced the second round of investment from private equity funds such as CCB International and Shenzhen Innovation Investment.
On April 22nd, 29, Fujian Peak Group officially announced that it had obtained financing of USD 56.83 million (about RMB 4 million) from three financial investment institutions: Sequoia (China), CCB International and Lenovo Investment. Xu Jingnan said that this is Peak's third round of financing and the last round of financing before Peak's overseas listing.
after the third round of financing, it was reported that the above three strategic investments accounted for about 24% of the shares, while the Xu Jingnan family, the founder of Peak, still held over 7% of the shares and held absolute control over the enterprise.
Roughly speaking, Xu Jingnan is worth hundreds of millions now, but you rarely see him on VIP lists of luxury cars and yacht clubs. Xu Jingnan in front of the reporter, with her simple business casual clothes and polished black round-headed leather shoes, has a very short and refined speech style, giving outsiders an unusually capable feeling. There is no red tape in the conversation with him, and even he seldom speaks long sentences. His style is quite like Wang Yongqing, the boss of Formosa Plastics Group, but Xu Jingnan always has a smile on his face, which is a simple and open-minded.
to this day, he still only takes economy class when he is on a business trip, and he also eats the same pot of rice in the canteen at work. "I'm used to it, but I can't change it now." Xu Jingnan's mouth rose and she smiled slightly. "Now I'm too busy to race horses and drive a sports car. How can I have time? ！”
Three levels of "doing"
The first level is to do what others say, that is, follow the crowd; The second layer is to know what to do, and what to do again, with subjective consciousness; The highest level is that what you do and what others follow shows that you have become an example to many people.
Unlike those successful private entrepreneurs in Fujian and Zhejiang who like to gild their resumes, Xu Jingnan never hides his entrepreneurial history. "I started with a scooter."
Some media once asked him how he became the first basketball player in the world from a rickshaw puller. What are the secrets of starting a business? Xu's answer is as simple as one word: "do".
It is such a simple word, but he simply divides it into three levels: "The first level is to do what others say, that is, follow the crowd and follow those who are better than you;" The second layer is to know what to do, and what to do again, only with subjective consciousness; Of course, the highest level is what you do and what others follow, which shows that you are already a role model for many people. "
More than p>3 years ago, Xu Jingnan, who had just walked out of the slum, struggled to pull a scooter on the mountain road in southern Fujian from dawn to dusk. Obviously, he didn't think of this "doing" and could do it at so many levels. However, Xu Jingnan solved the problem of food and clothing for his family by pulling a scooter. "At that time, a trip to a scooter from the north gate to the south gate can earn 2 yuan money. As long as you are willing to do it, you can earn more money by pulling a few trips. To say that my first bucket of gold began at that time. " In this way, Xu Jingnan started his entrepreneurial career.
The first bucket of gold is really not "gold". Even when Xu Jingnan got married, his family was poor. Not only are there none of the "three big pieces", but even the kettle is borrowed from the village neighbors.
The embarrassed life did not crush Xu Jingnan's backbone, let alone imprison his innate business vision.
"The trolley has brought me into contact with many customers." Remarks: Pulling a scooter can pull out customers. Why can't we succeed? Change your personality, absorb the nutrients of knowledge and follow the footsteps of successful people, and you will succeed.
More importantly, how can we break into other people's circles and "steal from teachers"? "My way is to see what people need first. If you have what others need, naturally you can come together, you can step in and learn in a down-to-earth manner. " So, Xu Jingnan made a deal with a mine owner, who exchanged his free labor for the cinder burned by the boiler. Every day, he picks out the unburned coal, strikes the iron, then uses fine ash to burn bricks, and pure slag is used as building insulation layer, thus slowly forming the embryonic form of an industrial chain.
after he tasted the sweetness, he also established more than 1 enterprises, including packaging factory, slipper factory, wooden box factory and machine brick factory, by means of "stealing teachers" and exchanging resources, and completed the original accumulation of capital.
Insist on doing what needs to be done
Xu Jingnan, who decided to create his own brand, has reached the second level in his mind, but the hardships from "knowing what to do" to "making achievements" can only be understood by those who have experienced it.
The gradual deepening of reform and opening up has provided Xu Jingnan with new opportunities in life. In the early 198s, a large number of small processing factories for making clothes, shoes and hats sprang up like mushrooms after rain in Quanzhou, Fujian, and he was certainly among them.
Nike invested in a shoe factory in Quanzhou at that time, so Xu Jingnan set his sights on sports shoes, hoping to process them for Nike. Unfortunately, however, just after the factory was built in Xu Jingnan, Nike's Quanzhou factory was withdrawn, which was more than ordinary people could bear. After Xu Jingnan learned from this painful experience, "I pinched my thigh. If I don't do it, I will start my own brand!"
This is a bold idea, because in the eyes of people at that time, brands were not that important. At this time, what Xu Jingnan was thinking was, why did Nike and Adidas sell so expensive and sell so well that they could advertise everywhere? There must be a reason for its success.
to do or not to do? If you don't do it, the machine in the factory will stop, waiting for the order; If you do, you can start work now, but you have to throw in a lot of money. Hesitation, Xu Jingnan chose the latter, because he vaguely realized that the future market is likely to be the brand market. I came to this conclusion because, "I went to the market and found that young people chose clothes and began to look at the nameplate hanging around their necks."
Xu Jingnan, the "activist", immediately absorbed most of the technicians and workers left by Nike into his own factory with a high salary, which laid a high starting point for the production of Peak sports shoes. In the early 199s, domestic sports shoes just started, and many shoe enterprises only focused on what to produce and what to sell. People in the industry described this as "bowing their heads and pulling cars", which means working hard, while Peak was described as "looking up at the road" because he proposed to create a brand early, and the peak who started first grew stronger and stronger.
Xu Jingnan, who decided to create his own brand, has now reached the second level in his mind. However, from "knowing what to do" to "making achievements", I am afraid that only those who have experienced it can understand the hardships.
"I'll give you two examples. One is the macroeconomic regulation and control in 1989, 2 years ago; The second was the Asian financial turmoil in 1997, and both of these things made me feel a lot of pressure. " Xu Jingnan said that it's hard to live in hesitation, but now that you know what you want to do, you must stick to it.
"In 1989, we just finished building the factory building, and met with macro-control and re-registered the private enterprises. At that time, I was very worried. What if the state does not advocate private enterprises? What if we entrepreneurs are treated as capitalists? The local government encouraged us to say that' reform and opening up will not change', so I survived.
experience is a powerful weapon in dealing with crisis. Different from many rising stars, Xu Jingnan has been working hard in this industry for more than 2 years. Xu put forward the viewpoint of "family capital and socialized management" in Quanzhou very early.
Let others follow suit
When Peak succeeded, many enterprises followed suit, but the winners were lacking.
With the intervention of capital and effective enterprise management system, Xu Jingnan has the capital to "let others follow suit".
Peak, which passed the listing hearing of Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 28, can now start IPO at any time. The author learned from Xu Jingnan that Peak, which is not short of money, is waiting for a new listing window, and Peak has no listing schedule now.
For the three investors introduced this time, Xu Jingnan said that what he is interested in is not cash flow, but the resources supplemented by strategic partners at different levels.
Remarks: "After CCB International became a shareholder, the credit granted to us by CCB suddenly increased a lot, which was never reached before; Sequoia helps us to sell all over the world through the online shopping websites they have invested overseas, and Lenovo shares their management experience with us. "Xu Jingnan said that this chess way of seeking strategic investment resources is likely to be followed by many enterprises.
The story of "learning from the East" is staged in the market every day. In Xu Jingnan's view, the main reason why investors take a fancy to Peak's future development is Peak's internationalization strategy. When Peak was successful, many companies followed suit, but the winners were lacking.
However, few people know how much bitterness he has paid to take this step. "We walked the earliest and the best on the road of brand internationalization," Xu Jingnan said with a smile after a pause. "In 23, SARS made sports brands grow rapidly, and at the same time, it also made me remember a sentence, sunshine always comes after the storm."
recalling the past, the eventful years are thick. When Xu Jingnan talked about Peak's sad road to internationalization, he broke the ice.
We are the first China advertising sponsor to enter the NBA venue. When I first went to the Rockets to discuss business cooperation, I was in trouble when I applied for a visa to the United States in Shenzhen. "He recalled.
"As soon as the visa officer of the American Embassy heard that I sponsored NBA games, he was very skeptical." Xu Jingnan replied directly with a firm tone, "I sponsored it!"
"Does the NBA still need your sponsorship?"
"Look, this is a photo of our signing cooperation, this is a photo of our advertisement on the NBA venue, and this is …"
"Stop, these photos can be faked."
Xu Jingnan showed the original signing document to the visa officer again, but he got the reply that "the text is kept, yet to be verified, waiting for notice". "Americans don't trust our enterprises in China to have this strength, and they always say that I am lying to them." Although after some investigation, Xu Jingnan successfully got the visa for the second time, he was still unconvinced. "I can't figure out why the NBA can't let us sponsor?"
It's interesting that Peak shot a series of TV advertisements after signing a contract with Battier, a teammate of Rockets Yao Ming. The core value reflected in it is, "I'll fight for victory"!
We don't know whether this advertisement is aimed at visa officers, but it is undeniable that Xu Jingnan's indomitable character also enables him to persist and forbear.
Now, Xu Jingnan, which is not satisfied with the domestic low-end market, has started a new round of strategic adjustment, and targeted at high-end markets such as Europe and America. "It is obviously not enough to sponsor the NBA or other top events in the world just by relying on the power of capital." He knows that if he wants to make a difference in the top sports events in the world, the high-end product line is an indispensable element.
Xu Jingnan doesn't think there is any technical gap between China's sports products and world famous brands. "International high-end goods are also produced in China. NBA stars also wear our Peak shoes. What is more advanced than this? "
Xu Jingnan said that he is not a qualified "dreamer", and more often he is "doing" and moving forward step by step. "Sweat, low tide, failure, it doesn't matter, this is my preparation for victory." This is Peak's advertising slogan, and it is also the best summary of Xu Jingnan's early hard training. And "I come to fight for victory" shows his ambition and courage to open up the market.