Chinese Start-ups Someet，a Dream of Entrepreneur

Someet, a Dream of Entrepreneur

Photo by Zou Biyu

Source: Popular Photography

Someet, a WeChat public account founded by Li Dongzhe and Bai Huize, attracts more and more young people in the city with their working location developing from two tables in 36Kr incubator on the Zhongguancun Inno Way to its ideal office in an independent Chinese courtyard house. People may freely launch, create, look for and participate in a number of interesting offline activities through this account. It creates chances for the souls with eyes searching for interesting things to meet online and in real life.

Someet is a WeChat public account where city youths can initiate activities of their interest. 「Here, you can feel free to launch, create, look for and participate in many interesting offline activities. Souls with eyes searching for interesting things meet here and in real life.」 For example, through Someet, you can explore the unknown areas of Beijing, enjoy road concerts and try on electric skateboards. Or you can follow a graduate student majoring in architecture to visit Beijing hutongs, spending a pleasant afternoon listening to the introduction of the history there.

Before creating Someet, Li Dongzhe worked in City Pictorial, a once-prominent paper media. At the beginning of 2015, he went to Beijing as many young people did, and later founded Someet with Bai Huize. In the entrepreneurial team, Li is responsible for the business operation. Long hair and emaciated look do not make him look very dispirited; instead, he has a temperament of a declining artist. Perhaps it has something to do with what he was doing — a living experience program, in which he asked various people on the network for their allowance to let him stay one night at their home to experience a different lifestyle. Also, living in a basement was among his plan. Li』s friends prefer to call him Suiyi, his another name meaning easy and simple.

In the early September, Suiyi was sitting in his work station looking at the computer screen. The decoration of the office had not been completed yet. The wall was covered with photos of parties, which are their achievements in work as well as memories with each other.

Decoration of the new office began in the early September and was arranged by Suiyi and Xiaobai. They planned to keep the original structure and characteristics of the Chinese courtyard to ensure enough space for work and party.

During the decoration in the early September, Xiaobai often did craft work himself. Due to his hands-on experience of making bamboo bicycle with friends, his manual dexterity played a big role in the startup stage of Someet.

In the early September, Suiyi and his colleague were working at the rooftop. Instead of working all day long in the office, they can choose to work at the spacious open rooftop in good weathers.

Bai Huize, nicknamed Xiaobai, is the other cofounder of Someet. He also looks lean, but is more spirited than Suiyi. Xiaobai』s uninhibited appearance is integrated with a smart and sophisticated sense of a young entrepreneur. He used to run a bamboo bicycle workshop where he made bicycles: The frames of the bicycles were made of bamboo while other components were connected by carbon fiber materials. Each bike was unique and totally hand-made.

This is a comfortable rooftop near the office of Someet and the Yonghe Lama Temple. From time to time, friends of Someet came here and had a rest in the early September.

Ups and Downs on the Inno Way

At the very beginning, Someet was born in Xiaobai』s home. Then their working places frequently changed among different coffee shops in hutongs as in a guerrilla warfare. Proving to be a good project, Someet was invited to enter 36Kr incubator on the Zhongguancun Inno Way later. Working in the famous startup space meant that Someet had a much higher starting point than so many entrepreneurs who could only work in coffee shops all-day long. Even so, what Someet possessed in Kr Space office were no more than two tables which were thronged by other entrepreneurial teams.

In the early October, Xiaobai was talking about cooperation with friends in the courtyard. The courtyard has become a hot place for activities since Someet moved in.

At the end of September, employees of Someet were sorting invoices for reimbursement. As a startup company, Someet outsourced its financial business to a professional finance company. Therefore, they are required to collect invoices on time for reimbursement.

In the early September, Someet moved from Zhongguancun Inno Way to a hutong near the Yonghegong Lama Temple. Xiaobai was playing with a pet — a small white fox given by his friend.

Zhongguancun Inno Way was an unavoidable topic in 2015 among the startup circle. Premier Li Keqiang has visited this place twice, in May and October respectively, and leaders from other countries also visit here from time to time, thus martial law condition on this street is a common sight. Though people working on the street complain about the inconvenience, an atmosphere of entrepreneurship does shroud the street. Faces of successful technology elite are displayed on a big screen, urging people to break away from the outdated lifestyle and start new businesses.

Suiyi was standing at the rooftop of a Chinese courtyard near Gulou. He himself started a living experience program. In the program, he lived in houses of various strangers to observe different living environments. He even once slept on the roadside and under a bridge.

In Suiyi』s notebook, there recorded activities that Someet planned to do on the second weekend of May.

For an entrepreneur at the initial stage, Zhongguancun Inno Way is a very convenient place. As long as you have a working office with only two tables in the incubator, you are qualified enough to register for a company. Quick application material review makes business licenses available within a few work days. On this street, social interaction and big data are two hot words followed by O2O, a high-frequency word in the mouths of entrepreneurs. Leaders at all levels spare no effort to encourage 「Internet Plus」 businesses. Some colleges and universities in Haidian District even offer business training services on the street so that students can join the tide of entrepreneurship before graduation. On the Inno Way, you can chew the fat with investors in the Garage Café, and then a project of several million yuan is probably dealt. If you want to recruit staff and partners, just post your notice in some major startup cafes, because there are so many promising young people in Zhongguancun.

But Zhongguancun is not all about success. If a project is not good enough, you will be awakened from the wonderful daydream within a few days. Even if a project successfully attracts investors』 funds, team management is also a challenge for entrepreneurs. A minor mistake may foil the team in the battle of business. An investment of several million yuan may not be a small sum for common people, but this is barely enough for the first round of financing on the Inno Way. Stories going around the coffee shops are often that 「someone has made flash investment on a project with tens of million yuan. Now the company is estimated to be more than a billion yuan and the project faces a market worth tens of billion…」

Suiyi was sitting in a room of the Chinese courtyard. His living experience plan enabled him to try different living spaces.

In April, Suiyi and his college were working in the office in Space 36Kr. They only had two tables for working.

In the early May, participants were crossing the road of the National Art Museum of China. They were in an activity visiting the fading ancient buildings in Beijing and heading to the back street of the Museum where the former site of a printing factory was located.

In the early May, Xiaobai was visiting the art space reconstructed from a printing factory.

In the early May, Suiyi and other participants were leaving the factory together. They were almost of the same age. It was easy for them to find common hobbies and topics to talk about.

In the early May, a guide was arranged to provide an introduction when participants visited the former site of the Sino-France University.

In the early May, the guide was showing participants the objects created at the time of the Republic of China which were not open to the public.

In the early May, participants were taking group photos using the decoration in the art space.

Xiaobai and Suiyi were taking part in a weekend activity — a concert played by the Bu Kaopu Band. The major members played improvised music at the roadside. At first, the show was played in the hutong near Houhai. Then it moved to the roadside and attracted many audiences.

A New Dream Starting in the Independent Chinese Courtyard

Countless people started their businesses on the Inno Way in the year of 2015. However, for the new born Someet, it was definitely not an easy job to succeed and stand up in such a big environment.

In the summer, the street was filled with hot waves and an atmosphere of fickleness. It was in such an atmosphere that Someet gradually developed from a small project. From April to August, Someet staff almost worked seven days per week. More often than not, they slept in nearby coffee shops after all-night work. Weekends were the busiest time for Someet. Staff members had to take part in almost every activity of Someet because on the one hand, they wanted to check its quality; on the other hand, they could collect feedbacks from participants for better activities next time. There was nothing particularly mysterious; instead, all their work was to try to improve people』s life on the weekends at their best. Suiyi recalled that they 「worked almost 12 to 14 hours a day」 when they had nearly 20 activities to launch in that June. To ensure the quality of their activities, they had to select good initiators from 40 to 50 submitted projects and limited participant numbers in some activities. All the work was done by Xiaobai, Suiyi and two other partners. At the same time, they developed their own APP, hoping that they could stay independent from WeChat as soon as possible and promote their activities on various platforms.

According to the regulation of 36Kr incubator, Someet must proceed and attain investment within three months. If Someet got nowhere, it had to move away from the space. The incubator simply provided the convenience for startups, but it did not promise the future. No one knows whether there are shortcuts in doing business. For this, perhaps everyone has their own answers. Some believe that the capability of doing a good-looking PPT is an essential skill while some others think that telling stories to investors is the most important…

Xiaobai wishes for a starting capital of nearly ten million yuan for future platform development. In addition, recruitment and publicity, especially in Beijing, also need a large sum of money. Successful financing is a key step towards entrepreneurship. An investor once said that he would definitely invest in the startup projects initiated by talents who once worked in the director-level position in BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent), no matter what the project was about. However, Xiaobai and Suiyi were just grass-roots entrepreneurs. They had negotiated with many investors before, but things did not go smoothly at the beginning. After all, new entrepreneurs must also learn how to deal with investors.

An electric wagon withtourists was passing through the hutong where Bu Kaopu Band played the music.

In June, Xiaobai wasgreeting the guests at a party.

In June, the internalparty of Someet was also a chance for entrepreneurs to exchange ideas. Thesite, food, tea and alcohol were offered by some startups.

「Adopted Fathers andMothers」 is a party held for gathering friends of Someet. On the road ofentrepreneurship, friends are also important in addition to capitals andproducts.

Xiaobai is good atchatting. He could talk to anyone easily at the party.

Standing at the center, Xiaobai was about to announce the beginning of the party. He always easily attracts attention.

The good news of financing came in July or August. Someet gained money and moved out of the Inno Way. They rented a Chinese courtyard in the hutong near the Yonghegong Lama Temple and then hired new employees. The annual rental of such an independent Chinese courtyard near there was at least a few hundred thousand yuan. It seemed that Someet was quite rewarding in the summer.

In September, the new office of Someet was established and named 「Time and Space Planning Bureau.」 Together with the ancient hutong, a wonderful feeling was created. Xiaobai always kept an eye on the decoration of the house. More often than not, he decorated the house with the workers together. There was an open-air platform on the rooftop. Employees can spend the leisure time and take a rest there. A small white fox was amid the employees.

Stepping on a new journey, Someet has already organized over 40 weekend activities whose influence much exceeded. Activities co-sponsored with celebrities in the arts and culture circle often occupy the WeChat homepage of Someet. For example, participants were invited to watch the drama rehearsal directed by Tian Qinxin to know more about the work behind a successful drama.

The rooftop is the most attractive office place in Someet, but it is not favorable in bad weathers. In September, employees were packing the furniture vulnerable to rain.

In September, there were not many office supplies on the desk of Someet, but each staff member was equipped with a comfortable chair.

As the workload increases, Suiyi has suspended his living experience project. Those luxury mansions or floors that he once lived offer him various living experiences that differ from those of office workers and students in this city. More importantly, he is inspired to think of better ways to make lives more interesting.

Xiaobai is definitely not satisfied with confining Someet in Beijing. Probably he has already started planning subsections in other cities, and Chengdu is likely to be the next station. Maybe in one day, young people in the second- and third-tier cities will also break away from boring weekends with the help of Someet. Those who share the same hobbies can soon get together.

As a spectator, I have no idea about what Someet will be like in the future. It may be a platform or an organization with some media properties. In this cold winter of a tight capital market, Someet still maintains a rough balance in its business and keeps recruiting staff, which allows people to look forward to its development in the coming spring.

In the early October, Xiaobai (in the middle) and Suiyi (on the right) were talking with a visitor about the future cooperation. In the past, they had only two office tables in Kr Space, and had to arrange business meetings in coffee shops. After financing, they now have spacious, cozy and private space for any reception.