Sharing is moving from outlet to risk

History is always surprisingly similar. There are more and more "sharing" entrepreneurship, which is exactly the same as the O2O chaos two years ago.

The world is prosperous, and everyone is here for profit. The frenzied pursuit of capital and entrepreneurs has led to false prosperity and bubbles. Those entrepreneurial projects that are launched blindly under the aura of so-called "sharing" will also leave troubles due to various shortcomings and eventually become fireworks.

Recently, there has been a new situation in the shared sleep project that has attracted much media and public attention. After being shut down last week, on the 21st, the Public Security Management Department of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau interviewed the person in charge of the shared sleep company "Sleeping Space" and asked to dismantle the space capsule that had been built.

Image source: The Paper reporter Li Jing

Why is it required to be demolished because lives are at stake.

These shared sleeping projects encountered heavy setbacks at the beginning. They are indeed very different from the previous shared umbrellas and shared basketballs. The problem with the latter two is more about demand, while shared sleep has its own design flaws.

Let’s not discuss whether these shared sleeping projects set up near office areas are urgently needed. If you simply observe the preparation work before them, you will find that entrepreneurs and investors rush to launch projects without legal procedures and business licenses in order to grab the limelight. This will inevitably leave bitter consequences for others and themselves.

Nowadays, 16 places set up by the "Sleep Space" company have been shut down, and it was precisely they who jumped into the hole they dug themselves. This also shows a trend. Government departments will become more stringent in standardizing, ordering and supervising entrepreneurship and innovation. You really need to think about where the red line is before running blindly.

Sharing new species encounters growing pains

On July 15, some media reported that the door of the "Sleeping Space" shared bed in Zhongguancun, Beijing, was closed. An office staff said that the company's shared bed had been seized by the police. The specific reason is not yet known. It is understood that similar shared sleeping capsules have been gradually rolled out in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other places.

This matter has made new progress recently. According to Xinhuanet, the Beijing Public Security Bureau revealed that an investigation into the recent emergence of "shared sleeping cabins" found that there are many hidden dangers to public security and fire protection.

It is understood that the shared sleeping space capsule in Zhongguancun, Beijing, is owned by Beijing Technology Co., Ltd., and its business scope focuses on technology development and technical services. There are also many sleeping space capsule placement locations throughout the city. The space capsules that appeared on the second underground floor of a square on Zhongguancun Street in Haidian District are rectangular spaces about 2.1 meters long, 0.9 meters wide, and 0.9 meters high, and can accommodate one person. It is worth emphasizing that there is no need to register identity information to stay in the space capsule. You only need to register and scan the code through your mobile phone to use it.

According to the provisions of the Fire Protection Law, "shared sleeping cabins" are in the nature of hotels. If they are opened to the public for operation, they must go through corresponding legal procedures, such as fire administrative approval or filing procedures. In addition, according to Article 2 of the "Beijing Hotel Industry Public Security Management Regulations", business premises that provide accommodation and rest services in the form of timed rest must apply for a special hotel industry license from the local public security agency, and are not allowed to operate without permission without permission.

However, sleeping spaces do not have the corresponding business qualifications in terms of relevant laws and regulations, supervision by public security agencies, and fire safety technical standards. Therefore, the Public Security Management Department of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau interviewed the relevant person in charge of "Sleeping Space" and informed them that they should fulfill the corresponding legal procedures. If they operate without permission, they will be investigated and punished in accordance with the law.

In this regard, the person in charge of Sleeping Space Company said, "I am very grateful to the public security organs for their guidance on laws and regulations. The company will strictly abide by the law and operate." The company has indeed complied with its promise and has suspended all 16 space capsule operating points set up in the city.

The conversation was clear and the relationship was pleasant, which shows that you are convinced. After all, the tragedies caused by an unextinguished cigarette butt over the years are enough to serve as a bloody lesson.

Blindly launching online cannot create a trend

Looking back at the online ride-hailing war in 2015 and the popularity of shared bicycles in 2016, it was because of the huge market demand and user traffic that they were sought after by capital, which triggered a sharing craze.

For a time, in the wave of sharing economy entrepreneurship, shared bicycle companies took the lead, followed by shared umbrellas, shared basketballs, shared washing machines, shared power banks, and shared sleep... The emergence of these sharing economy projects has a lot to do with the crazy promotion of shared bicycles and even online ride-hailing by the capital market.

This situation reminds me of the O2O boom in 2014 and 2015. Due to the popularity of food delivery O2O and other local life services, hot capital poured in, and investment and financing events occurred almost every week, which led to many people rushing to launch various O2O projects.

However, projects that were eager to seize the limelight and attract capital ended miserably due to various hidden dangers. For example, fresh food O2Os that do not have cold chain service capabilities, laundry O2Os that lack a complete after-sales service mechanism, and beauty industry O2Os that do not have personnel safety training have all been abandoned by capital and the market.

However, the reason why these projects cannot survive is not only the hidden dangers left behind by each, but also the key factor of market demand. In the current sharing economy, many projects are still unable to verify whether there is real market demand. But what is certain is that some of these projects are very similar to O2O back then. They are all designed to attract capital to quickly make money. And because many capitals have missed the bicycle-sharing trend, they are trying to seize or create new ones at all costs.

Take the shared sleep project as an example. According to Dai Jiangong, the founder of Sleep Space, he came up with the idea in April this year, completed internal testing in May, and then went online. "In terms of the usage process, users can open the cabin door by scanning the QR code and entering the sleeping space applet. After clicking 'Unlock the cabin door', the user can leave temporarily or end their stay. In order to ensure the user's hygiene when entering, we provide disposable bedding, including space blankets, disposable sheets, disposable pillow covers, etc."

Objectively speaking, the design of the sleeping space can provide some convenience for users. Moreover, the 50 space capsules launched in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other places have also attracted many users. However, this project was launched in a hurry and was insufficiently prepared in all aspects in the early stage. As a result, it was stopped within two months of launch due to lack of relevant business qualifications.

Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, once summed up an experience based on the problems that occurred in the startup companies he invested in. All companies that ended up with problems had one thing in common, that is, while they claimed to solve the pain points, they also had two problems. "The first is to find a false pain point, and the second is to solve the pain point and bring about other pain points. For example, I found a beautiful girl and wanted to fall in love with her, which solved the pain point of falling in love. Then the girl made a request, and she had to give me 100,000 a day to fall in love with me. I immediately felt that I couldn't fall in love because it brought about the pain point of financial shortage."

This shows that sharing economy projects, without considering whether they are strictly needed, should not ignore early design because of the rush for time and market, leaving themselves with hidden dangers, otherwise they will pay a greater price.

The world is full of hustle and bustle, all for the benefit of others. Entrepreneurs and investors need to understand that not all sharing projects can become shared bicycles, and blindness and illusion will not create a new outlet.