Startup Street after the power outage: the loneliness and life-and-death test of entrepreneurs

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Amid the nationwide entrepreneurial craze, Entrepreneurship Street located in the core area of ​​Zhongguancun in Haidian District, Beijing, seems to have difficulty calming down, except for the power outage.

On November 3, Beijing was getting colder and colder outside. The rare afternoon sunshine was mixed with smog, covering the city. Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street had perhaps the emptiest day since its opening.

Two days ago, various institutions, startup companies, and cafes located in Entrepreneurship Street received notices that the local power supply department of Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street would be overhauling the power grid in its area throughout the day on November 3, and the entire street would be without power from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Obviously, a one-day power outage will not have a huge impact on Startup Street. But the lonely streets and empty cafes still make people passing by feel a little uncomfortable.

You should know that in the past this place was a gathering place for entrepreneurs who came here because of its reputation and had the dream of "a market value of $100 billion". They enjoyed the free venue, power supply and WIFI here, and discussed projects and industries with the media and investors, or completed their work in front of the computer; Garage Coffee, Angel Club, Black Horse Club and other venues serve as the stage for entrepreneurial roadshows every day, and the venues are usually crowded with audiences and entrepreneurs who come here to learn from experience; many startups also regard this place as an important area for ground promotion, which has earned Entrepreneurship Street the title of "Scan Code Street" like Wangjing SOHO, which is home to many startups.

All of the above factors have made the rent near Entrepreneurship Street increasingly expensive. Mao Daqing, who founded Ucommune after leaving Vanke, even said that some real estate developers are hesitating whether to take over nearby office buildings.

Li Jingze is in charge of public relations at the startup Niu Electric, an electric car company founded by former Huawei executive and investor Li Yinan. He used to work at the startup platform 36Kr, and this was the first time he had seen such a deserted scene. So he and several media friends took photos and posted them on WeChat Moments.

It is so rare to have a day when everyone can stop.

A lonely day

On this street which is usually bustling with people, the doors of institutions and companies such as Angel Capital, Pegasus Brigade, Venture Capital Circle, Lenovo Star, etc. are closed. Notices of suspension of business are also posted on the glass doors of 3W Coffee, Bingo Coffee, and Garage Coffee. Several white-collar workers and entrepreneurs who work nearby are looking for places to access the Internet.

The "alternative" on this street - the genealogy store that has attracted much attention due to media reports not long ago is still open for business. Mr. Wang, a specialist in the publishing department of the store, told Tencent Technology that he had originally made an appointment with a reporter from CCTV to come and film today, but had to postpone it due to a power outage.

Another company that changed its plans temporarily was Maimai, a workplace social networking software. Its press conference was originally scheduled to be held yesterday at the Wormhole Entrepreneurship House in Haohai Building on Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street, but the day before yesterday afternoon, the staff responsible for organizing the press conference suddenly received a power outage notice, so they had to temporarily change the venue. The person in charge told Tencent Technology, "It was too sudden."

Located on the west side of Chuangye Street, Yanjiyou is a space that combines five business formats: bookstore, cafe, restaurant, art gallery, and living space. In the bookstore on the first floor, only a few people are flipping through books in the natural light. In the cafe next to it, there is only one customer flipping through the book he just bought. The living space on the second floor sometimes hosts some small salons or activities, but it was empty after the power outage.

At the north end of Entrepreneurship Street, a row of white container buildings is particularly eye-catching. This is the Entrepreneurship Living Room, a one-stop entrepreneurship service platform that integrates government affairs, technology finance and professional services. A staff member who was chatting told Tencent Technology that entrepreneurs usually come to various windows to handle business and consult. Take the window for multiple certificates as an example. In just 30 minutes, at least 6 groups of people came to consult about business registration matters.

The "INNO BOX" in the middle of the Entrepreneurship Street is usually a place for some companies to promote their products. Several staff members of a company are doing promotional work here. The staff member told Tencent Technology that the company rented it for three days, but there happened to be a power outage today, so not many people came to consult throughout the morning.

One day later

When the blackout ends, Entrepreneurship Street will be bustling as usual.

It has been more than a year since the establishment of Entrepreneurship Street. With the venture capital boom sweeping the country, Entrepreneurship Street has become famous, and the 200-meter-long Entrepreneurship Street has welcomed a large number of dreamers. Since Premier Li Keqiang visited in May this year, the popularity of this street has risen rapidly.

Since then, "increased government support" has become a consensus that makes entrepreneurs excited, but on the other hand, concerns about industry bubbles are also spreading among some investors and entrepreneurs.

Especially in the second half of this year, there have been many startups going bankrupt. After reviewing these startup projects that have been drowned in the death tide, it is not difficult to find that food delivery, travel, automobiles, beauty, tourism, and education have become the hardest hit areas.

According to incomplete statistics from Tencent Technology, more than 20 catering delivery projects have been closed in recent years, such as Shaofanfan, Jiage Waimai, and Dai'e Breakfast, which are invested by Shunwei Capital under Lei Jun (Weibo); nearly ten community O2O projects have announced their closure, and the once highly-watched Community 001 and Dingdong Community are facing layoffs and capital chain rupture crises; nearly 20 entrepreneurial projects in the automotive and travel fields have died, such as Koala Shuttle, which provides carpooling services, Cocar, which provides P2P car rental services, and eWash and Che8Wash, which provide door-to-door car washing services.

It can be said that the current capital winter has disrupted the original chain of companies burning money. Some investors even said that if the capital winter lasts for a year, many Internet companies that burn a lot of money may find it difficult to continue.

Some analysts pointed out that many startups will face a life-and-death test in 2016, and only truly excellent startups will be able to survive this cold winter.