Dongmai ThinkShare Salon Series 13: NEEQ Startup Resource Matching Session

Yesterday afternoon, VCBeat hosted a matchmaking salon on “New Three Boards” startup resources, featuring Dajia Community, Yibolai, and Zhuge IO. In fact, the term “New Three Boards” does not refer to the traditional concept of China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ). Rather, VCBeat coined this term to describe its one-stop solution addressing three initial challenges commonly faced by startups: technology, team building, and user acquisition.

Gao Hang, Product Consultant at Dajia Community, shared insights on bridging the technical chasm in the early stages of a startup.



Gao Hang: Our community helps businesses and entrepreneurs solve technical problems. I predict that in the next two to three years, the O2O industry, which simply moves from online to offline, will face a bubble burst. In fact, 99.9% of enterprises in China are traditional businesses, with true internet companies emerging only in the past decade. How should these enterprises develop? This is the theme of my talk today: how to achieve entrepreneurship through O2O.

Four Key Elements of Startup Success:
First, offline resources are required;
Step 2: Address talent issues by securing two types of professionals: technical experts and operational staff with internet-driven mindsets.
Step 3: Address the issue of capital;
Step 4, the critical part: how to address the internet and IT technology components. How should one go about selecting products, technologies, and platforms? Should they be developed in-house or outsourced to third-party providers?

Step 1: At the outset of your startup, is it better to develop an app or leverage WeChat? Generally, the decision hinges on your foundation and resources. If you already have an established business base, a robust business model, and a substantial offline customer base, you may want to prioritize developing an app.

Conversely, with only strong ideas and an operations team but lacking word-of-mouth reputation and brand recognition, companies will first validate their products via WeChat. In reality, WeChat serves merely as an entry point and a tool for traffic acquisition, enabling rapid attraction of followers and members.

Dajia Community provides a unified platform across three terminals: the mobile app, WeChat, and H5 within WeChat. These three terminals are interconnected, ensuring consistent data visibility regardless of the access point. Consequently, data between WeChat and the app can be seamlessly integrated.

How much does it cost to develop a startup app? The conclusion is that it takes at least six months and costs over one million yuan. Therefore, three key aspects must be addressed during the startup process: first, how to handle IT operations and maintenance; second, whether the system can support high capacity and high concurrency to accommodate tens of thousands of fans.

The third point concerns the ongoing challenge of scaling and updating. How can you ensure rapid product iteration and updates to maintain technological leadership? For enterprises seeking to undergo an “Internet Plus” or O2O transformation, as well as for individual entrepreneurs, there are three essential steps: selling products, building a fan base, and establishing a platform.

For traditional enterprises seeking to embrace “Internet Plus” and O2O models, my advice is that transformation carries a significant risk of undermining existing business models and profitability, while new models and revenue streams may not necessarily take hold. Therefore, we recommend that in the initial stage, companies should refrain from altering their core business and operational models; instead, they should simply migrate their existing offline operations online, which constitutes a very low-risk approach.

Step two is to build a loyal fan base. In essence, the core of O2O (Online-to-Offline) lies in fostering human connections. The goal is to attract and retain members and fans through the services we provide, rather than having them make a one-time purchase of a service or product and then leave. We aim to keep them engaged over the long term, leveraging word-of-mouth referrals and event-based marketing to continually expand our fan base.

The third step is to build a platform. In fact, establishing the platform completes the entire process of internet-based entrepreneurship or digital transformation. It enables the integration of my upstream and downstream industry chains and other hardware alliances, while attracting diverse business models onto the platform. Revenue can potentially be generated through advertising or profit-sharing arrangements.

Based on our analysis of the entire industry, the proportion of time users spend on mobile devices is gradually increasing significantly, while the share for PC-based usage is declining. Therefore, when launching new ventures, we often opt for mobile-first strategies centered around apps.

First, we need to build an aesthetically appealing or visually striking mobile portal; second, provide services and e-commerce capabilities. Through this model, we can attract our followers and members; third, focus on member management and engagement; fourth, address certain internal management issues.

The final two pages provide a brief introduction to what our community does.
We are dedicated to serving enterprises with O2O transformation strategies, as well as individuals seeking to embrace “Internet Plus” or O2O transitions. As a vendor providing APP development tools, we can rapidly build an APP for you to validate your ideas, launch your products, and facilitate trial-and-error learning. Our goal is to help those without technical expertise or prior exposure to internet technologies achieve their aspirations. Every entrepreneur aims to accomplish something meaningful; therefore, we strive to offer rapid platforms and tools to support your incubation efforts.

Third, I can launch one VP per week—out-of-the-box products built on a unified cloud platform. This includes full-service capabilities, such as online payment processing for e-commerce transactions. Ultimately, it will provide big data analytics to help you manage your members, merchandise, and services.

If we all aspire to start businesses, I believe that in the next two to three years, those who succeed will likely not be individuals with technical backgrounds or those from the internet sector. Instead, they will be entrepreneurs with a solid foundation in traditional industries. My perspective has shifted: only when technology finds strong partners and business models are effectively integrated can such enterprises and individuals create promising prospects for mass innovation and entrepreneurship in the internet era.
   
The second guest, Wang Wei from Yibolai Recruitment Network



Wang Wei: We have gradually observed that many professionals from the healthcare sector are venturing into mobile health. To understand how talent in the pharmaceutical industry perceives mobile health, I conducted a small-scale survey. With a sample size of approximately 500 respondents, the results showed that 44% had never heard of mobile health. We can therefore conclude that professionals in the pharmaceutical industry have little understanding of mobile health, with more than half unaware of what it entails.

When professionals in the pharmaceutical industry are unfamiliar with the concept of mobile health, virtually every mobile health company still requires talent from the pharmaceutical sector. Where can such candidates be sourced? Professionals in the pharmaceutical industry exhibit the following characteristics:

First, the talent pool is highly dispersed. Unlike the internet industry, where a significant proportion of professionals are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, pharmaceutical talent is distributed across cities throughout China. While Beijing may have a relatively larger share, it still pales in comparison to the concentration of talent in the internet sector.

Second, they lack an understanding of the internet. Furthermore, their mindset is quite conservative. Of course, a small minority with more progressive thinking have stepped forward to engage in mobile healthcare.

Another characteristic is that everyone says Internet programmers have high incomes. I admit this; when I graduated, my monthly salary was 800 yuan, whereas new graduates today confidently demand 8,000 yuan. Moreover, their jobs are very stable, making it difficult for mobile health companies to recruit talent from the pharmaceutical sector.

We are a website dedicated to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, with mobile health as one of our key focus areas. The job postings featured on our site represent positions that are currently in high demand or actively being recruited by the majority of mobile health companies.

Next, I would like to provide a detailed overview of our current initiatives. Essentially, we are focused on addressing two key challenges faced by mobile health companies. What exactly are we doing? We are deeply restructuring and optimizing talent resources within the pharmaceutical industry. This is our sole focus, both now and in the future; we will remain dedicated exclusively to this mission. What specific problems do we solve? First, we assist mobile health companies in acquiring pharmaceutical expertise. We do not handle recruitment for internet-based roles. If companies ask us whether we can recruit programmers or product managers, I must clarify that such services are beyond our scope. However, we specialize in securing top-tier talent from the pharmaceutical sector.

Another issue to address is the user base. Let me briefly introduce who we are: we are a recruitment website specialized in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, operating as a mobile internet recruitment platform. Everyone talks about mobile internet; currently, mobile devices are extremely popular, accounting for 70% of total traffic, with mobile usage continuing to grow steadily. Thirdly, let me briefly explain tag-based big data-driven precision recruitment. Many may not fully understand what is meant by “tagging,” “big data,” and “precision recruitment.”

We serve as the primary talent gateway for the pharmaceutical industry, attracting professionals from across the sector to our platform. Leveraging big data tagging, we perform precise segmentation and classification of all talent. Based on individual characteristics, we enable each professional to maximize their additional value. For instance, a micro-model involves recruiting medical representatives, segmenting them, and then incentivizing them to invite physicians to register on the platform.

The aforementioned website, Yibolai Recruitment Network, initially began as a WeChat Official Account named “Pharmaceutical Talent Mutual Promotion Platform.” This account currently boasts 200,000 industry followers within the pharmaceutical sector and serves as the primary traffic source for our website. By channeling user resources from the WeChat platform to the PC-based website, we have established what is currently the largest recruitment-focused self-media platform in China. Our WeChat Official Account and website are fully integrated, with the former functioning as a hub for industry resource consolidation.

We are currently the only professional mobile healthcare recruitment platform in China.

Currently, we have an offline promotional team of over 2,000 medical representatives across China, covering more than 5,000 public hospitals nationwide. This includes secondary and tertiary hospitals in cities throughout the country, including Xinjiang, and even one or two hospitals in Tibet. How do we leverage our resources to help enterprises acquire valuable connections? Our primary activities include the following: Since each company has different requirements for physicians—for instance, some may specify a need for doctors based only in Beijing or Shanghai—we conduct targeted and precise promotions in each region according to these specific demands. Additionally, many mobile health companies focus on single disease areas, such as WeTang, which specializes in diabetes and cardiovascular conditions. For such clients, we carry out specialized promotions within relevant medical departments to secure access to physician resources.

Some may ask how you managed to build an offline promotional team of over 2,000 medical representatives. When we first partnered with Chunyu Doctor, we began accumulating such resources. Our primary channel for resource acquisition was our WeChat official account, which boasts 200,000 followers from the pharmaceutical industry. Approximately 50% of these followers are medical representatives, totaling nearly 100,000 individuals. Therefore, recruiting 2,000 representatives from this pool of 100,000 was not particularly challenging. At that time, the concept of mobile health was just emerging and perceived as novel by many, enabling us to secure this resource base within a very short period.

The Third Guest: Weng Tuo, ZhugeIO



Weng Tuo: Our product is an analytics tool designed for refined operations. Regarding our team composition, I am one of the co-founders. Also present is Mr. Zhao Qiankun, whom many of you are eager to meet. Mr. Zhao previously served as Chief Data Analyst and Data Scientist at AOL and Telefónica. Additionally, we have Kong Miao, a distinguished technical expert who formerly served as Kai-Fu Lee’s Head of Technology.

A few days ago, 23andMe, the U.S.-based genetic sequencing company, secured $115 million in its Series E financing round, pushing its valuation above $1.1 billion. In another development, Wang Jun from BGI has also embarked on his own entrepreneurial venture in the mobile health sector. While I cannot guarantee that everyone will strike gold in the mobile health industry, I believe that among you, one or two unicorn companies may emerge. Therefore, it is a great honor for me to share ZhugeIO’s experience in data operations, including user operations. Our current approach to product management is divided into two dimensions: functionality and users. The functional dimension includes hardware devices. For instance, Apple’s iWatch, which many are familiar with, can measure heart rate; Google’s Android Wear can also monitor your heart rate; and Microsoft’s devices can capture basic physiological data. These are examples of hardware devices within the functional dimension.

Furthermore, software services are integrated with hardware usage. For instance, as is widely known, Android offers Android Health, and Samsung has its own health management software. Beyond the integration of hardware and software, there may be practical implementation efforts, such as incorporating medication or enhancing functionality through established connections between physicians and patients. In addition to the functional dimension, we believe that mobile healthcare also encompasses a user dimension, allowing us to access users’ diagnostic data. A case in point is 23andMe, which utilizes genetic sequencing to understand users’ disease risks and probabilities, thereby generating diagnostic data. This also includes the disease prediction capabilities mentioned earlier, as well as the feedback provided to users. By examining both the user dimension and the aforementioned functional dimension, we can delineate the product lifecycle as we define it. Ultimately, a product may find its convergence point in data by integrating functional and user aspects: functional perspectives yield B-side (business-side) usage data, while user perspectives enable the collection of C-side (consumer-side) data.

Therefore, I would like to introduce a new topic: data. Those familiar with the field of internet data analysis know that we have undergone numerous iteration cycles. For instance, widely used tools such as Umeng, Baidu Analytics, and Google Analytics primarily provide common metrics, such as daily website visitors, app users, and app activations. However, I believe that the application developers present here seek more than just these figures. They want to understand who their users are, what actions they take on their platforms, and which users constitute their core customer base. They aim to identify which product modules can be further refined or segmented, and even elevate certain sub-features into core product functionalities. This is the type of data insight that app developers, particularly those aspiring to build ideal applications, hope to obtain. This is precisely where Zhuge excels: we assist app developers by providing data support and tools that facilitate continuous product iteration. Our slogan is “make a better world,” as we strive to minimize the creation of unnecessary elements.

Below, I will share some practical insights. First, what can Zhuge do? Many of you may be concerned about the following two points: first, how to drive user growth through Zhuge; second, how to optimize products using Zhuge. I will share a compelling case study with you.
First, how do we drive user growth? We employ the AARRR model for growth. The first step is user acquisition. During this process, traditional data analytics providers may only offer basic metrics such as page views (PV) and unique visitors (UV). For instance, JD.com is not necessarily concerned with the number of daily users or page browsers on its platform; rather, its core metrics focus on how many customers make purchases and how many engage in repeat purchases. Therefore, earlier approaches to user acquisition, often referred to as “Analytics 1.0” products, primarily provided simple data points. The second “A” refers to enhancing user activation. Once you have accumulated a substantial user base on your platform, understanding how these users interact with your platform becomes critical. I believe that app developers present here are also highly interested in this topic.

First, which content on Baozou Manhua is most cared about and popular among its users; second, he wants to know what characteristics high-retention users have; third, he also hopes to enhance user stickiness. I believe this is a topic of interest not only to Baozou Manhua but likely to all app developers.

Based on the product’s status at the time, we resolved this issue for him through our platform. First, our platform provided a custom retention analytics feature, enabling him to track the number of visitors and retention rates for each module. This included not only day-1 retention but also 7-day retention, allowing him to identify which modules within his product were the most popular.

It raised a second question: it wanted to understand the behavioral patterns and user profiles of its core users. In response, we provided a user segmentation feature that enables grouping based on different user characteristics. Thirdly, Baozou Manhua expressed its desire to continuously increase user engagement. To address this, we offered recommendation algorithms designed to identify which articles and content would be truly meaningful and engaging for users.

Subsequently, we derived actionable insights from click-through data. By optimizing click-through performance, we achieved an 81% increase in same-day retention, nearly doubling the original figure. Meanwhile, following product iterations that incorporated recommendation algorithms, click-through rates on the recommendation page rose by 51%, and page views increased by 17%. This reflects our end-to-end methodology: starting with problem identification, leveraging data analytics to pinpoint key issues, determining the optimal solution strategy, and finally implementing product iterations. As previously mentioned, this approach effectively enhances user retention rates.

The final “R” refers to Retention. In the earlier stages of data operations, the RAR model may have reached its limits. With the emergence of WeChat, Weibo, and other self-media platforms, organic viral dissemination has become a significant channel, helping products or platforms attract additional audience segments. This is therefore an important consideration in our current operational strategies. In terms of user growth, Zhuge can provide support to app developers and platform providers. Additionally, the case of Baozou Manhua (Baozou Comics) I mentioned earlier serves as a typical example of product optimization. Finally, given that this event is focused on the healthcare industry, we present a case study from our partner, XYWY (Xun Yi Wen Yao). It is somewhat regrettable that our collaboration has not been particularly close recently. Shown here is their 3G-era webpage. Through event tracking and continuous optimization of the page structure, their user growth has reportedly increased by 30%, according to the latest information available to me today.

Finally, I’d like to share a few thoughts. Previously, I was also quite interested in mobile health and bioinformatics. What I wish to communicate with you today is this: many of you may be working in the mobile health sector, leveraging big data to provide data support for your consumer-end (C-end) users, including health-related data collection and mining. However, have you considered that your own product and corporate data could be utilized, with the assistance of professional data platform companies like ours, to help you continuously refine and improve your products? When you share your vision and data-driven aspirations with your C-end users, I also recommend considering partnering with Zhuge for your product operation data analytics. Thank you all!