Miura Atsushi, Li Feng, and a former 7-Eleven executive break down the many possibilities of new retail

FreeS Fund has always kept a close eye on the consumer and retail sectors. We believe that in the future, Chinese brands will claim their place in every major consumer category worldwide.

Looking back at the evolution of Chinese consumption and retail over the past two to three decades, Li Feng, founding partner of FreeS Fund, noticed a pattern: urbanization and rising household incomes create new retail and consumer demands; incumbents from the previous wave aren't prepared to meet these demands, opening a gap between supply and demand; this gap can be filled by new players leveraging new channels, new traffic sources, and new business models; meanwhile, China's manufacturing sector has developed supply chain capabilities that can support these new players on the production side.

FreeS Fund's portfolio includes many companies that have exploited such supply-demand gaps, including Three Squirrels, the top online and offline nut and snack brand; Huasheng Haoche, a new automotive retail brand; Saturnbird, which extended the specialty coffee drinking scenario to become the top domestic coffee brand on Tmall; Club Factory, an export e-commerce platform known as the "Taobao of India"; and Xinliangji, a foodservice supply chain brand, among others.

Recently, FreeS Fund partnered with Waterdrop Product Evolution Camp (founded by former partners of Hundun University) to develop and launch the "New Retail Entrepreneurship Camp" program. We invite you to join us in exploring the meaning of consumption, studying the essence of industry, and capturing signals of the future.

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Curriculum and Instructor Profiles

The 2019 Waterdrop New Retail Entrepreneurship Camp is newly launched. Starting from the origin point of "insight into consumer trends and real user needs," the curriculum combines the latest and most compelling cases of product innovation and business innovation in new retail, building five practical competency models — "Product Development," "Growth Execution," "Experience Innovation," "Brand Strategy," and "Digital Management" — to explore the path of new retail entrepreneurship in a multidimensional way, empower traditional retail entrepreneurs (offline retail and traditional e-commerce), help retail entrepreneurs achieve genuine cross-border transformation, and cultivate a new generation of entrepreneurs oriented toward the future.

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What You Might Gain

Top-tier mentor resources: More than twenty new retail industry investors, founders, decision-makers, and business school professors participate throughout curriculum development and instruction;

Most practical teaching approach: For the first time, a full-time "learning leader" role is introduced, led by Li Nan, Senior Vice President of MEIZU, emphasizing the practical transformation from input to output and delivering tangible learning outcomes;

Most vivid teaching cases: Starting from student needs, combining entrepreneurial practice with teaching theory, learning for application, breaking through the limitations of traditional business school education;

Immersive visits to leading companies: Enter benchmark retail enterprises including Xibei Youmian Village, Alibaba, New Hope, and Aranya for in-depth exchange and learning with their founding teams;

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Admission Requirements

Selection criteria:

• Entrepreneurs in the broad new retail and service innovation sectors;
• Key decision-makers in enterprises;
• Companies established for more than three years;
• Company revenue at the 100-million-yuan level or above;
• Recommended by Waterdrop alumni.

(Meeting two of the above conditions is sufficient)

Tuition and admission process:

• Tuition: RMB 98,000 (study fees only, transportation and accommodation not included).
• Friends who register through the QR code below and pass the interview enjoy an exclusive 10% discount for FreeS Fund;

• Preliminary review: After registration, shortlisted candidates will be scheduled for interviews in batches; those who do not receive an interview notification will be considered not to have passed the preliminary review;
• Interview: Interviewers consist of instructors and Waterdrop alumni; after passing the interview, an admission letter will be issued;
• Admission and enrollment: After receiving the admission notice, complete contract signing and fee payment to proceed with enrollment;
• Registration deadline: June 18, 2019.