What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 235: Fighting Method (5k)

"500+150, this $650 million plus the previous $300 million, together, is all the money we can use when we enter the market."

"No more, no more. I have spent all I have to get this money."

“If I had used up all my efforts in this thrilling leap from product to market and still failed to leverage more resources, WeChat would have been dissolved.”

Yu Xing stood in front of the whiteboard in the president's office, pointed at the numbers on it, and explained the tasks and challenges of the current stage to Li Shanyou and Lei Weiming who had joined WeChat.

Li Shanyou officially joined WeChat as vice president. Lei Weiming made the decision later than him, but after some hesitation he still tried to transfer from Bai Xiaosheng to the WeChat project. His title was raised and he became vice president.

When the two heard what Mr. Yu said, they nodded at the same time. They all knew what he meant and felt that "a thrilling leap" was really appropriate at this moment.

From commodity to money, Marx described it as a thrilling leap in "Das Kapital": "If you fall, not only the commodity but also the owner of the commodity will be broken into pieces."

Mr. Yu holds the largest number of shares in WeChat and has gone through great pains to raise funds. Once WeChat receives poor market feedback and cannot obtain venture capital, there is no need to talk about benchmarking against Penguin, as it will collapse first.

Li Shanyou previously thought that Yu Xing was crazy because of this. It would not be easy for him to get money from Red Falcon, and with the huge pressure from the giant Penguin, institutions would weigh the pros and cons again and again when investing money.

It can be said that WeChat has been walking on a tightrope from its birth to its foreseeable entry into the market.

He felt that President Yu obviously knew this. He had not seen him talk about this in the development meeting before, but he chose to talk about this with himself and Lei Weiming, who would be in charge of the market. It was obvious that he knew this very well.

What puzzled Li Shanyou was that Mr. Yu acted as if he knew nothing about the situation and just rushed forward with his head held high. This made him feel a little insecure. Is this how all young people start their own businesses nowadays?

"How we use this $950 million will determine our survival. Ge Zhijie, Tan Ruize and I have conducted an assessment on the technical level and have reserved $300 million for this phase of expenditure. We have also reserved $150 million for salaries, which is roughly enough for employees for seven or eight months, which is $450 million. In addition..."

Li Shanyou did the math in his head and couldn't help interrupting, "Mr. Yu, wait a minute, minus $450 million, the remaining amount is $500 million!"

The competitive pressure is already great, and if you spend all the time thinking about things, half of your funds will be gone!
Yu Xing asked in return: "How can we save on these two parts?"

Li Shanyou hesitated for only a second before giving his opinion: "The $300 million budget for technology can be squeezed a little. They are also doing it in stages, not all at once."

Yu Xing flatly rejected it: "No, there is no need to discuss this."

Li Shanyou looked at the young man in front of him helplessly.

"Don't worry about the $450 million. We are only considering the use of $500 million. If it is all spent by then..." Yu Xing fell into deep thought when he said this. If they only needed a breath to survive the crisis, he would certainly not stand by and watch them die. But the issue of the source of funds...

Li Shanyou asked with a sharp gaze: "Can Hongshun still invest?"

Yu Xing shook his head. The funds from the mountain were to be used to snipe the penguins. Everything was planned. Even if he used up all his bullets, he would not be able to buy more bullets.

He went over it in his mind and said slowly, "We'll see how things go. If we can still struggle, we can use Bai Xiaosheng's money temporarily. If we can't hold on after using this money, we can only sell it off to make up for the loss."

Li Shanyou frowned and said, "It's not a good idea to use Bai Xiaosheng's funds. The investors won't agree to it."

"Just make a worst-case scenario plan. As for the opinions of investors..." Yu Xing paused, "Sometimes you don't have to be so rigid."

Li Shanyou’s brows tightened even more.

Yu Xing smiled and said, "Look at your expression. Which side are you on? Are you an investor? Have you spent your money? Do you want to spend it now? Has anything happened?"

He advised: "Boss Li, when we do things, we have to focus on the big picture and ignore the small details. Don't worry about this."

Li Shanyou found that he could not fit in. He was a higher-level worker here than at Ku6.com. However, one of the main purposes was to observe, and there was nothing wrong with the logic of grasping the main contradictions.

He finally expressed his concern: "Well, funding is the most important thing. I'm afraid WeChat will not be able to make a profit for some time."

If WeChat can win in the end, it naturally does not have to worry about profits. However, it will probably be difficult to be self-sufficient during this competition. On the one hand, free instant messaging has been deeply rooted in people's minds in the PC era. On the other hand, any new WeChat company that intends to do business will probably be squeezed out by its wealthy competitors.

Under such a competitive situation, how WeChat can maintain the long-term stability of its capital chain is actually a very important issue.

Li Shanyou believes that President Yu must understand this point. He is not the kind of person who only cares about the beginning and not the end. Otherwise, Bai Xiaosheng would not have started the recruitment business so quickly. Only by outlining a self-consistent revenue framework can the company continue to move forward.

"Yes, Mr. Li, so, back to the topic, how to use the 500 million US dollars and how to make it have the greatest effect is the biggest challenge we face at this stage." Yu Xing talked about it, "Penguin is now working on the mobile version of QQ step by step, but QQ's image and tone have been fixed for the past ten years, and most of its social interaction is based on the relationship chain of strangers."

"WeChat is different. Our WeChat relies on acquaintances to socialize."

"If Penguin uses QQ to attack us, its competitive strategy must be wrong. This is reassuring."

"If it uses similar competing products, I believe we can get a head start of 2-3 months or even 4-5 months. I tend to think that Penguin will not make strategic mistakes, so our $500 million will have the greatest effect within 3 months."

"What is the effect? ​​It needs to pry investors and make them think they can get something out of the fire, so that they will invest money."

Yu Xing reached out and wrote down the limiting conditions on the whiteboard - 3 million US dollars in 500 months, and put a question mark behind it.

He asked Li Shanyou directly: "Mr. Li, if you were in charge of a venture capital firm, what kind of results would you need to see before making the decision to compete with the giants?"

Li Shanyou thought and hesitated, unable to give an answer.

He was still digesting Mr. Yu's information, including the penguin's response strategy, socializing with strangers and acquaintances, and judging the time of competition...

Li Shanyou felt that Mr. Yu had no secrets, so he was afraid that his words would be misleading. In the end, he could only shake his head honestly: "It's hard for me to estimate a specific number. Well, Mr. Yu, what do you think? How big do you think it needs to be?"

Yu Xing also shook his head: "I don't know."

Li Shanyou:?

"I've been thinking about it recently, but after all, I've never made an investment, so let's just ask the investors directly." Yu Xing didn't have a set answer. Today was not a lecture, but a discussion of a reasonable plan. So, he took out his phone and said while looking for a number, "I'm familiar with the vice president of Capital Today. I'll ask him and ask him for some advice."

Li Shanyou said, "Uh," "Is this okay?"

“Why not? Investors are not monsters. They are the best partners to accompany us along the way.” Yu Xing said seriously.

A voice came from the phone: "Mr. Yu, you don't have to tell me so deliberately, what's the matter?"

Li Shanyou: “…”

"It's like this. Today we are discussing how to impress investors. I hope Mr. Liu can give you a project progress that you can discuss, for example, how many users have been achieved in three months, so that you can have a simple reference." Yu Xing didn't say anything too complicated.

"I definitely can't make the decision on your investment." Liu Jiankai muttered on the phone, but he still pondered, "The user volume in three months, if it is an ordinary project, it is actually easy to say from the beginning, but you must consider the competition from Penguin."

He explained briefly: "Whether a project is worth investing in depends on a combination of many factors. Normally, if it scores 90 or points and is rated 'good', we can give it a try. But your score must be points, it must be 'excellent', or even 'excellent among the best', only then is it worth investing in."

Yu Xing reminded: "Stop talking nonsense."

The phone fell silent.

Li Shanyou seemed to feel a ray of imaginable anger floating out from the phone.

After a moment, Liu Jiankai became concise and to the point: "If you can achieve 2 million yuan without any water in three months, we will hold a meeting to discuss it."

"Okay, goodbye, Mr. Liu." Yu Xing received the reference, "Hang up."

"Wait, Mr. Yu, we have to talk about Bai Xiaosheng's financing. You really have the time..." Liu Jiankai answered the phone and wanted to talk about business, but he found that he had been hung up halfway through his words.

He held the phone in his hand, stunned for a second, and his instinctive reaction was only one word: "Fuck!"

Yu Xing on the other side reached out and wrote "200 million" behind the question mark on the whiteboard. However, he was not satisfied with just one reference, so he asked IDG and Qiming Venture Partners in the same way. Then, "150 million" and "250 million" appeared on the whiteboard.

IDG's intention threshold is the most relaxed and its strength is the strongest. Qiming Venture Partners has the highest threshold and its financial strength is the weakest among the three.

Li Shanyou looked at Mr. Yu's inquiry and said with a smile: "Mr. Yu, you are very efficient. By the way, you also laid out your intentions with the investors."

"It's all just a matter of convenience." Yu Xing didn't think there was anything worth talking about. His attention was still on the competition plan. He reached out to erase the question mark and the number, and finally said as he wrote, "We will select the best from the best and set a target of 300 million. This should be a very competitive number in the market."

He took a step back and looked at the target on the whiteboard.

Li Shanyou and Lei Weiming in the office did the same thing.

Three million in three months.

Not only did he not choose IDG's minimum threshold, but he also raised himself to twice the threshold.

Lei Weiming had been listening and pondering, and finally couldn't help but say, "Boss Yu, the goal for these three months is too high. We at Bai Xiaosheng haven't reached this number in more than a year."

"The goal is indeed high, but Bai Xiaosheng targets vertically segmented workplace users, which are several times more difficult to acquire. As for WeChat, it only needs to be able to intercept ordinary users. The needs of the two types of users are completely different, and the latter is much broader." Yu Xing first affirmed, then denied.

Lei Weiming understood this, but he used the development of Bai Xiaosheng to clarify the relative difficulty. He hesitated and said, "Even so, it is still difficult. Bai Xiaosheng's advertising prices for acquiring users are all the same. It is the final effect that reflects the different user groups."

Because of vertical segmentation, spending 100 million may result in the acquisition of 1 new users. Even if WeChat can acquire more users, it still needs to spend 100 million.

If this kind of promotional funds were spent in the same way as Bai Xiaosheng did, it might be spent all at once. However, unlike Bai Xiaosheng's competitive situation, it would be difficult for WeChat to obtain follow-up funds in this way.

"Yes, so, in the early stage, at least before we got institutional investment, we didn't need to use large-scale advertising promotion. This is a bit like what it was like, just like Bai Xiaosheng relied on the website mechanism to obtain traffic in the early days." Yu Xing said seriously, "The 'mechanism' of WeChat is that it can save SMS fees and can cross different operators. This is a very strong demand for use nowadays."

He reached out and wrote the word "text message" on the whiteboard, and continued, "Take China Mobile's M-Zone music package as an example. The 11-yuan package includes 60 free text messages, the 16-yuan package includes 120, and the 21-yuan package includes 240... If it's 240, you can only send 8 messages a day, and the extra message costs 1 cent each, which is often not enough."

"If text messages were enough for chatting with classmates, chatting with lovers, communicating at work, etc., and if people didn't care, China Mobile's Fetion wouldn't have gained so many users so quickly. People's text messaging needs have been verified on Fetion."

"WeChat can help people save money when communicating, which is its biggest attraction. Unlike QQ, which has been established for more than a decade, its function among acquaintances makes people willing to try it."

Yu Xing talked about this and talked about the competitive approach of the company: "We cannot promote WeChat in a big way. We must give full play to the effect of mobility, fully penetrate the most dynamic user groups, and give full play to the communication effect of the Internet. Only in this way can we have a chance to impress the market and investors."

He looked at Li Shanyou and said, "Mr. Li, one of your major tasks is to represent WeChat and communicate with major mobile phone brands to pave the way for user acquisition by using built-in software. The icon of our software can directly have the words 'free text messages' written on it."

Li Shanyou thought: "I really don't know what the market is like, and I don't know what the conversion rate can be."

"In the past two years, there were specialized flashing companies in Zhongguancun that pre-installed software. Overall, they were not very large-scale, but now the prices are not very expensive. We negotiate directly with mobile phone manufacturers. For example, Apple will directly put the software in the software store. For Samsung and HTC, we will see if they can pre-install the software. If not, we will also go through their stores. Second- and third-tier brands will definitely not mind the extra income." Yu Xing introduced the situation. "This needs to be discussed. Mr. Li, you are mature and steady, which suits you."

Moreover, a good resume can give you some advantages when negotiating business deals.

Pre-installed software is definitely not that expensive now, and the price will only go up once the brand structure is formed.

Li Shanyou nodded, feeling that he had gained a very specific difference from the mobile project.

"We need to discuss these before the internal testing. In addition to the manufacturers, third-party app stores also need to be negotiated. I estimate that for a company like Wandoujia to have one million Chinese yuan in funding, it would be great." When Yu Xing mentioned third parties, he casually wrote down the current app market on the whiteboard.

When Google withdrew from the Chinese market at the beginning of the year, changes began to take place in the Android system developed and controlled by Google, and a third-party application market quickly emerged.

Wandoujia, Anzhi Market, Kuaian.com...

Yu Xing pointed to Kuaian.com and said, "It was just established a few days ago. What I mean is that Android's domestic shipments are expected to reach 600 million units this year, and this emerging third-party application market must be short of money, so it doesn't cost too much, which is suitable for us. Moreover, Android users are generally willing to try new things, which is also suitable for us. WeChat just needs to win over the most active users first."

At this point, he proposed a branch goal: "I hope that this year we can achieve 'where there is Android, there is WeChat' in the Android camp, through manufacturers' built-in, third-party cooperation, and app store promotion. This will accumulate little by little and will be a major move for us to achieve great things with little money."

Develop with the development of emerging factions, this is the lowest cost way to play.

Li Shanyou pondered the situation, feeling confused about this method, but also had some fresh speculations: "I wonder how much can be converted in this way..."

"Even if it's 10%, that's 60. This is not only a three-month target, but also a requirement for our competition with Penguin." Yu Xing took a breath. "In addition, I still have more than one million followers on Weibo, and Bai Xiaosheng has more than two million users. These are all resources that WeChat can use at a very low cost. Oh, and the ratings of If You Are The One are also good."

When he said this, he suddenly remembered the whirlpool of public opinion that the Penguins will face this year, and slowly said: "Also, a while ago, the media interviewed me about my views on the Penguins. It sounds like they want to criticize the Penguins. I wonder if there will be an opportunity that is beneficial to us, which may be icing on the cake."

Li Shanyou said "hmm" and didn't care about it. He just felt that Mr. Yu already had a clear plan in his mind.

We talked for a long time in the president's office. When WeChat was more than half developed, we had to start market competition from within.

Yu Xing had a smooth conversation. Seeing that Li Shanyou and Lei Weiming looked thoughtful, he felt that these two veterans had a preliminary understanding of future competition.

That night, Yu Xing was looking through documents, and by the way, he was chatting with Xiaoying about filling in the gaps in the competition plan.

The cell phone on the table rang.

He saw that it was Li Shanyou, whom he had communicated with during the day, and pressed the external voice: "Hello, Mr. Li, what's going on?"

Liu Wanying glanced over. She had just heard Boss Yu praising General Manager Li.

"Mr. Yu, I have completely figured it out!" Li Shanyou's voice was a little excited.

Yu Xing wondered: "What do you want to understand?"

"You said before that if Penguin used QQ to compete with us directly, it would be a strategic mistake!" Li Shanyou said loudly, "Yes, that's right!"

Yu Xing opened his mouth. This... is this the end of your thinking? What were you thinking about before?

He calmed down for five seconds and praised: "Well, Mr. Li, yes, I'm glad you agree with me on this point. You understand that this is very important..."

After a moment, he put down his phone and frowned.

"Is this Mr. Li, the man you praised for his smooth communication skills?" Liu Wanying teased.

Yu Xing was speechless.

After a while, he both argued and comforted himself: "Old people react slowly. This... I finally figured it out, which is great."

Yes, that's great, much better than playing dumb.

Yu Xing pursed his lips, leaned back in his chair, and suddenly felt worried.

Liu Wanying observed for a moment and made a small request: "How about, Boss Yu, can you return the money from Hongshun to me?"

Yu Xing turned his head and glared: "If you disrupt our army's morale, we won't be able to get through without $50!"

Liu Wanying ignored all this.

Yu Xing sighed and changed his request: "Forget it, black stockings are fine too."

Liu Wanying does have two sets...

Black stockings can relieve your worries and remove all troubles.

(End of this chapter)