Since everyone's so into bathing

@Guo Yunxiao

On the night of the World Cup final, elsewhere hosted an event at Shui Guo in Wujiaochang.

The descriptors for this gathering: bathhouse, post-midnight, new funds making their collective debut — though some also counted it among the many side events of this year's WAIC. Same old us, still fond of theatrical flourishes.

Frankly, the final was forgettable: both teams grinding through a cagey match, Ferran Torres scoring the lone goal in extra time.

What proved more interesting was a narrative that emerged before and after the final: Shakira performing the anthem, the opening match of South Africa vs. Mexico, a generation of players fresh off winning the Euros, that single decisive goal in the final — everything seemed to loop back to 2010.

More interesting still: transpose this to the venture capital world, and you might reach a similar conclusion. That afternoon, Wujiaochang was hit by a violent thunderstorm. Many Shanghai friends said they'd never seen rain like it. The Wujiaochang weather station recorded 212.8 millimeters of rainfall that day.

Yet that evening, conservative estimates put attendance above 500. Beyond the sea of founders, participants covered nearly every hot fund, major tech firm, and lab of young talent in circulation right now, plus plenty of media colleagues.

This completely exceeded our expectations, and the result was chaos.

Around the 1 a.m. peak, friends had nearly claimed every locker bracelet in the Shui Guo location; all men's clothing in stock was gone. After the new funds' introductions, the crowd was already restless, forcing us to skip most programmed segments. We'd planned to connect with "special correspondent" Guan Shanxing watching live from the stadium, but had to abandon that too. The prepared prize — a Lego World Cup trophy — was completely forgotten at the front desk.

Still, the event wrapped successfully, everyone had fun and talked themselves out. My favorite piece of feedback: "The best-smelling event in venture capital."

Thanks again to our new fund friends: Nebulon Ventures, Creek Stone, Impa Ventures, XIAOXIAO FUND, Magic Find Ventures, First Rule Ventures, AGI House from Silicon Valley, and Xiaohongshu, broadcaster of this World Cup, for their generous support.

Following the event, we clicked immediately with Xiangshanghui Group (Shui Guo's parent company) and decided to bring elsewhere's irregular gatherings to Shui Guo Tangquan and Qushui Lanting locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and other cities. Going forward, bathing will become a signature elsewhere activity.

Many have asked: why do we want to invite people to bathe together?

There's a scene in the film Shower: a young man, in debt, gets beaten by creditors. Old Liu, the bathhouse owner, steps in to break it up. His line goes something like: whatever grudges you carry outside, you come here to bathe, and that makes you my guest.

Stay in touch. Come bare it all with us, often.

Cover image: Hubert Robert, $2, 1798, The State Hermitage Museum