What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 414 Perspective
Yu Xing has gained a new friend on WeChat who never likes his posts.

He didn't actually intend to do anything to Xing Hongyu, but he genuinely wanted to see what the people on the front lines of short video production thought about the product, and the other party seemed to need some communication and even a little help.

Kuaishou was just emerging, Miaopai was integrated into Weibo, serving as a supplementary function similar to Instagram, while Weishi was developed as a standalone app. This firsthand experience and insights are still very important.

Because Lü Haiying was in charge of overseas projects, Yu Xing would often chat with her about ideas after finishing his work at the Silicon Carbon Group, and they also discussed the changes at Tencent Video.

Lu Haiying was curious about her senior's communication with the neighbor, and found an opportunity to see their WeChat conversation.

She was taken aback when she saw this, pointing at the phone screen: "Senior, you guys are talking about so much? This... won't this involve leaking secrets?"

"We were just chatting casually, like pen pals in the modern era. We talked about ideas, client needs—all general concepts, nothing about data," Yu Xing said dismissively. "How could that possibly reveal any secrets?"

Lu Haiying casually flipped through the pages and found that it was indeed true, but she also saw some content that seemed inappropriate.

For example, when the two were discussing the topic of daily active users (DAU) of an app, Mr. Xing mentioned that Weishi's DAU is now only calculated based on "launching the app".

The daily active user behavior of different software is definitely different. For example, WeChat used to be calculated based on the user's interaction behavior of launching the app and sending messages. However, for game apps, the different standards are "login to the game" and "playing a game". The former is naturally inflated.

The way Weishi calculates daily active users now will inevitably make the data look better.

Lu Haiying glanced at it briefly, then returned her phone, feigning displeasure, and said, "Senior brother, why are you having a private lesson with the people from Tencent? You're teaching them things you haven't taught us yet?"

She was referring to the product-related issues that Yu Xing and Xing Hongyu had recently discussed.

Yu Xing mentioned that the perspective of product development should still be user-centric, and that many companies now approach product development from roughly three perspectives.

Either follow the actions of your competitors, like WeChat and WeChat, which have now reached the point where they have to follow each other regardless of whether the features the other offers are truly suitable for users.

Either the company has a good track record or the feedback from its products is positive, and the company feels it has excellent capabilities and adds features entirely according to its own ideas.

Or, if the product team has taken on a task and received payment, they can't just sit idle; they have to do something to show their presence.

Xing Hongyu seemed particularly impressed by President Yu's casual conversation, perhaps because it touched on situations he had encountered in his own work.

"This is just casual conversation. I'm just expressing my thoughts. I think Weishi's recent gray-scale testing has been quite good. Whether or not it's learned from Instagram, the increased video length and shooting filters on Weishi are all suitable for users," Yu Xing said with a smile. "Just like what you and I talked about last time, this does lower the barrier to entry for users to create content, which is definitely beneficial to the product's long-term competitiveness."

"Wait, wait a minute." The more Lü Haiying listened, the more uneasy she felt. She made a pause gesture. "Senior, President Yu, wait a minute. You're the CEO of our Carbon Silicon Data, not the person in charge of Weishi. Don't say everything. If Weishi really succeeds and dominates the domestic market, we'll be in trouble!"

Although Weishi is very similar to Vine, she would never underestimate Penguin.

Even though Tencent is currently mired in difficulties, it is still a giant. Its technology, talent, and capital resources are still top-tier. If Weishi really succeeds, it will be much harder to compete in the future.

“I seriously discussed my thoughts, and he seriously discussed his thoughts; it wasn’t a one-sided discussion,” Yu Xing said cheerfully. “Anyway, there’s WeChat’s external constraints and WeChat’s internal constraints, so Weishi faces multi-faceted competition.”

Communication is a collision of ideas; the other party may find it very beneficial, while Yu Xing will only gain a lot of insights.

"Senior brother, don't be so reckless. At the very least, once Weishi has reached a certain level, we can try to promote WeChat. We can't just let the market be taken over," Lu Haiying reminded him seriously.

Yu Xing nodded: "It's very simple. When we see Weishi introducing QQ Music, or when Xing Hongyu talks to me about adding music when recording on Weishi, or when he talks to me about template-based creation, that's about the right time."

Upon hearing this, Lü Haiying realized it perfectly matched what she needed to do.

She thought for a moment and realized that this kind of stabbing was indeed a very shrewd and experienced move.

"Weishi, Miaopai, Vine, Instagram, Kuaishou—their products and operations are all worth our careful observation and study." Yu Xing sighed as he spoke, recalling the problems encountered by the Silicon Carbon Group in integrated die casting. "It's like the ultra-large die casting machine needed for trams. The plans on paper look great, but when you actually implement them, you'll find there are many problems."

He shook his head: "Right now, we're in the exploratory stage of short videos. Let's see what each company can accomplish and what problems they encounter. This is a very valuable experience."

A project cannot succeed simply by proposing the right idea. While this may save a lot of effort, it is hard to say how well it will actually be executed.

There is still a lot of time before the planning of carbon silicon data is completed, but it is also being adjusted due to continuous internal thinking and discussion. Lü Haiying's trial is the result of such adjustments, and the performance of various companies in the market will also become a new factor for adjustment.

Lü Haiying once again felt the importance her senior brother placed on her.

She chatted for a bit about her preparations, then thought back to the initial topic and laughed, "Senior, if you push WeChat to add a new feature to Moments, this CEO Xing will probably hate you to death."

Yu Xing shook his head: "No, I've already talked to him about it."

Lü Haiying: "???"

She asked, puzzled, "How can this be? Senior brother, you're not going to tell him the plan, are you?"

"It wasn't that specific, but the essence was the same. I told him..." Yu Xingping said calmly, "When you're in the martial world, you're not in control of your own destiny."

The message has already been given to him. He's not the only one who has no choice in the matter; we should all try to understand each other.

Lu Haiying blinked, not knowing why, but she felt that her senior brother was very skilled at this kind of secret spying.

The remaining question is whether WeChat will accept the addition of short video posting functionality to Moments.

This is not a big problem.

Tencent is developing Weishi, and Weibo is developing Miaopai, but Alibaba has remained silent in the short video field. On the one hand, it is dealing with Tencent's aggressive e-commerce encirclement alliance, and on the other hand, it is also intensively preparing for the overall listing of Alibaba Group.

Alibaba previously listed its B2B business in Hong Kong, but with the booming development of the mobile internet, it also needs to leverage the capital market to obtain funds for accelerated development.

At least, there are already reports that Alibaba's IPO will be a globally unprecedented fundraising scale.

Moreover, in order to go public, Alibaba is also undergoing organizational restructuring. Joseph Tsai has stepped down as CFO and is now in charge of the group's strategic investment and investor relations. Correspondingly, the strategic investment department has been incorporated into Alibaba Group's investment department.

In this situation, adding new features to WeChat is a win-win situation for Alibaba: it maintains competition with WeChat while also hindering Tencent's investment in short videos. Of course, this is the logic, and WeChat may not actually be willing to do so.

If WeChat doesn't do that, they can directly approach channels to suggest WeChat. It's about competing for resources within Tencent to further increase user stickiness in instant messaging, which is perfectly reasonable. We can't assume WeChat is wrong just because Weishi is right.

The mutual constraints between WeChat and WeChat should be overcome if a breakthrough is found.

Destruction is easy, construction is difficult; the fortress has flaws both inside and out.

Lu Haiying chatted with her senior brother for a while, and seeing his rather confident expression, she teased, "Good, good, senior brother, you are really radiant when you look at these things, unlike when you always have a sullen face when you talk about trams."

Yu Xing's face darkened, and then he realized the change in his expression. He said helplessly, "I can't not keep a serious face. I keep running into problems. I wish I could tighten the screws myself, but even if I tighten them myself, it's not a solution."

Lü Haiying laughed and said, "At least the tram is running now. I thought we'd have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate."

Yu Xing couldn't help but rub his face: "It's easy to get it running, but difficult to optimize it."

He waved his hand, not wanting to continue the topic, thus ending his conversation with his junior sister.

Integrated die casting is a significant issue that Silicon Carbon Group is currently facing, but it is not the only company experiencing this problem.

Yu Xing had already met with Du Yaojie of the Lijing Group. The communication between the two sides was quick and decisive. Neither side wanted so many misunderstandings to arise in a project that was only halfway through the cooperation. After reaching a consensus, they decided to establish a joint venture.

This will be another significant expense.

Yu Xingming outwardly needs to discuss the rationality of this expenditure, but he has already made a decision in his heart. However, when will this decision bring the desired feedback? Such unpredictable research and development is the most grueling.

From last year to this year, the projects of the Silicon Carbon Group have generally progressed smoothly. However, in the second half of the year, various problems have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

Faced with this situation, Yu Xing couldn't help but hesitate about his choice when he was alone at night. Could this kind of investment and catalysis really achieve better results?
If we can wait until the industry chain is more mature, then things will definitely be much easier and more efficient.

However, once you're in the world of martial arts, you're not always in control of your own destiny...

The fact that the Silicon Carbon Group has reached this point is indeed out of necessity. No matter what, Yu Xing must stick to the existing path until "Jiuzhou" enters the market, either to be crowned with success or to reflect on the failure.

On August 7th, Zhang Yangxu finished his work on the company's expanded management trainee program and then went to report a small piece of news to his boss.

"Mr. Yu, LeEco wants to join the patent alliance. What's the procedure...?"

Yu Xing was a little surprised: "Does LeEco have any suitable patents to add?"

Zhang Yangxu joked, "It seems not. They probably want to add it with a check."

Yu Xing pondered for a moment: "Can you come up with another 1000 million?"

Zhang Yangxu was stunned. He meant that LeEco had already given a check for 1000 million yuan, and that gift was just to pave the way. But the boss didn't seem to realize the weight of that check at all and actually wanted to pay more money.

“Forget it, we can apply, then go through the process, look at the patents, and finally the members vote to reject it,” Yu Xing said quickly. “The patent alliance is a serious matter; we shouldn’t let LeEco get involved.”

Zhang Yangxu thought for a moment and asked, "Mr. Yu, don't you think LeEco's foray into the automotive industry is a good idea?"

Yu Xing was more than just pessimistic.

He had even figured out how to find someone to create problems.

Short selling is allowed domestically, but Guoshanfeng doesn't involve this aspect and has to consider another level of risk. However, this matter can be left to Li Song's "real research".

The Silicon Carbon Group has a deep understanding of the new energy industry. If they then cut off cooperation or supply to LeEco Auto and inadvertently reveal the situation to Li Song, he will definitely pounce on it.

Ah Zhen's attempt to short 360 failed, and it's unclear whether she has set her sights on any new targets now.

Yu Xing even suspected that if the Silicon Carbon Group went public, given Li Song's performance, he might still try every means to find out about him.

He didn't answer his secretary's question, but just smiled and said, "I don't understand that side of the road. Oh right, could you find someone to arrange a few engineers who understand testing equipment? I have a friend who wants to do emissions testing in Lingang, and he said he's providing technical services to the Singapore and Southeast Asian markets."

Zhang Yangxu had no suspicions and inquired about the specific requirements.

“I’m not sure either. You can find someone to build the framework. It’s a side job, and there will be a bonus. Give me a list of candidates first, and then I’ll give it to them so they can choose. It’s not certain that they’ll be able to do it for long.” Yu Xing casually arranged.

Zhang Yangxu nodded, understanding the nature of the matter.

After his secretary left, Yu Xing casually flipped through some news articles, still looking forward to the outcome of his "side job."

Mid-month, Yu Xing, the boss of Carbon Silicon Data, attended a mobile internet conference held in Shanghai.

He originally didn't want to participate, but then he saw that the person in charge of Tencent Video was also there.

Yu Xing attended and spoke at the pen pal meeting, based on his idea.

What he said was exactly the product perspective he had discussed with Xing Hongyu on WeChat. These insights were based on his experience in product development and observation over the past few years, and were a very practical sharing.

As Yu Xing talked about these things, Xing Hongyu, sitting in the front row, immediately recognized that they were things they had discussed before.

When Xing Hongyu took the stage, he explained that Weishi would adhere to the operating principle of following user needs, and talked about the great prospects of the short video market, believing that this format is a perfect fit for the development of the mobile Internet.

Yu Xinggang talked about the product perspective earlier, and Xing Hongyu mentioned the operational principles here. It sounds like they agreed on it, which makes one wonder about this coincidence.

After Xing Hongyu finished speaking, he glanced at Yu Xing as he stepped off the stage. The two simply smiled at each other without any further interaction, displaying a gentlemanly demeanor.

(End of this chapter)