Back to the prime of life

Chapter 159: Starting to Be Decent
Regarding how to set up the company's basic structure, Zhou Shuang can give a general direction. That is all for the good of the company and there will be no problems.

But after overturning the original equity structure, she did not arbitrarily put forward new detailed plans.

Her choice was to talk to Lu Changge first.

It was because she spoke that Lu Changge finally understood why she didn't speak, because she wanted to "hurt" the interests of others.

First, Chi Yongsheng's 10% and the remaining two people's 5% equity will be reduced.

There is a reasonable reason for this, which is that after reserving 15% of the incentive pool, everyone has to reduce their contributions. It is impossible for only Lu Changge to reduce his contributions.

But there are actually reasons that I can’t express.

"...To be frank, Chi Yongsheng went to the US. Although he represented PulseGo, most of his energy was definitely on Chatter. A reasonable incentive at this time would be to give him a certain percentage of Chatter's equity."

Lu Changge said, "I invited him over because I definitely wanted him to consider the interests of the parent company."

"So you have to strike a balance between the two. If there's an over-balance, he won't have a say and could easily be squeezed out later. If he's not a founding shareholder, and a key investor thinks he's in the way and wants him out, what will you do?"

"Okay. We can renegotiate this with him. What about the other two?"

Zhou Shuang was very straightforward. "I think the two of them should reduce their salaries a bit more. All profits are based on contribution."

Lu Changge waved his hand. "I know you mean to say that running a company can't rely on brotherhood, but the way big companies only care about systems and not people isn't necessarily suitable for small companies. We can't just abandon the donkey after it's done its job."

"But we will definitely need to recruit talents in the future. If the technical experts I find are not as good as them, it will sow the seeds of conflict."

Lu Changge still insisted, "Shares can't be given away cheaply. That's what you taught me. And respecting talent doesn't mean licking their boots. I also have an idea I want to share with you. I'm not very good at so-called flat management. No matter who comes, I will allow everyone to make suggestions, but the final decision cannot be implemented."

He has his own ideas on this.

He had considered Zhou Shuang's approach, which was indeed an effort to use real money to motivate the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of all employees, at the cost of a repeated reduction in the founder's share of the stock.

From a financial perspective, this is fine. Honestly, as long as he has some initial capital, he can make a lot of money investing in the future. He can buy another thousand bitcoins when he has time. As long as it's for the good of the company, he's fine with a lower percentage.

But from the perspective of management and control, he would not accept a ratio that was too low.

It's not that he is controlling or doesn't trust others, but that he has foresight. In the future, there will definitely be a situation where the decision he makes makes no sense at the moment, but he made that decision based on the foresight, so will he do it or not?

From his original intention, of course he should do it, but if he doesn't have enough control, it can't be done.

Different companies have different cultures, and there is no requirement to learn from any particular one.

Zhou Shuang smiled at this and asked, "Are you so confident?"

"Some people have arbitrarily concluded that a boss who lacks decisiveness is unqualified because it means he lacks confidence."

"Who said that?"

"That's what the famous entrepreneur Lu Changge said."

Zhou Shuang's face twitched, "This joke is not funny at all."

"You have no sense of humor."

"Okay, you're right. Fine, I'll listen to you. You're the boss."

Anyway, so far, she felt that Lu Changge's judgments were quite accurate.

In fact, Zhou Shuang was also a little cautious. She had the ideas of a big company, while the rest of the people still preferred the brotherhood of a start-up company. There was no problem with reducing the shareholding ratio, as it was all money written on paper and might not necessarily become reality.

And as long as it's for the good of the company, and she gives a reason, then there's no problem with that.

最后PulseGo的整体股权架构就是85%创始人持股，15%预留激励池。而85%的组成是这样的：余娜、惠传坤都是3.75%，池永盛是3.75%PulseGo+5%Chatter，周霜是7.5%，剩余的66.25%归陆长歌一人所有。

According to the previous agreement, PulseGo controlled 75% of Chatter's shares through an equity pledge agreement. Now after 5% was taken away, there is only 70% left.

Shen Mo didn't care how they divided it, as long as her previous 25% remained unchanged.

In this way, it is indeed much more formal and reasonable.

The changes brought about by Zhou Shuang's joining did not stop there. Because of her practical experience, she was able to immediately initiate the project when Lu Changge decided to develop an Android version of instant messaging software.

This requires recruiting new people, because Yu Na and Hui Chuankun will definitely continue to work with the Apple system team.

As the boss, Lu Changge is in charge of almost everything, and his idea is to set up different development teams according to product divisions. If a product is particularly successful, it will be operated more independently through some means such as establishing a subsidiary, just like Chatter.

Of course, the key to everything lies in money.

Before, everyone was in the garage. Since we had the equipment, we just used it first and didn’t talk about the salary.

But recruiting people definitely involves salary, so money needs to come in.

At first, Lu Changge promised to give out $30, and under extreme circumstances, he could get $50. This was the "big talk" he said at the time.

Now that he really needs money, he will not break his promise and will naturally pay out $30.

The current exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar is around 7. After converting it to the nearest integer, he first took out 200 million to support the company's development.

That's a lot of money.

Many people have heard so many big numbers that they feel that anything less than tens of millions is just a joke.

Actually,

别说08年了，15年后的24年有200万存款的也是少数人。能拿出200万来干事业的，那就更加凤毛麟角了。

For example, finding a place and buying some office supplies can make it look presentable with just a few tens of thousands of dollars.

As for the office building, haha, this time Lu Baopi really showed what being stingy means.

He went directly to Xu Weiguo and told him that he wanted to find a place in the entrepreneurial incubation base set up by the government department. Does Jiangzhou City currently have any channels in this regard?
Xu Weiguo said, "I'm kidding. This is a development zone! How can I start a business without a place?"
Moreover, he was the deputy director, so all the application materials and conditions were given a green light. The personnel were advanced and the materials were supplemented later.
Putting aside other things, Lu Changge really took out 200 million, and he wouldn't be lying.

On August 2008, 8, the brand with the letters 'PulseGo' that Lu Changge ordered arrived. The one he bought also glowed white, giving it a somewhat high-end feel.

The company's location was set in the Small and Micro High-tech Enterprise Incubation Base in Jiangzhou Development Zone. There was a standard office building with 22 floors. They chose the 8th floor, but only used half of it.

After coming out of the elevator, turn right and you will see a glass door. The PulseGo logo is placed where you enter the glass door. In addition to the English name, it also has a Chinese name: Pulse Go.

Now this has become Lu Changge's other workplace.

In order to facilitate communication and reject concepts such as bureaucracy and hierarchy, Zhou Shuang suggested not setting up special offices for leaders, including herself. Her desk is in a public area.

Of course, office buildings like this often have some rooms on the side. That was easy enough to just convert into conference rooms and reception rooms. There were three conference rooms and one reception room.

Lu Changge, Yu Na and Hui Chuankun stood in the middle, watching her gestures and imagining the structural layout behind.

"I don't have much of a problem with the design, but I don't like names like conference room and reception room. Internet companies have young employees, and no one would like such lifeless names, so we changed them all."

Zhou Shuang asked, "What to change it to?"

"Whatever. Swallow Valley, Qiao Family Compound, Pansi Cave...anything is fine. Just don't call it a conference room."

Not only Zhou Shuang, but even the less serious Yu Na scoffed at the name, saying, "Can you even think of the Silken Web Cave? Are you overthinking the Spider Spirit?"

"you guess."

"I think it can be called the Spiritual Time House!" Hui Chuankun suggested.

Lu Changge's mind was confused, "What house?"

Zhou Shuang said disdainfully, "Don't you have a childhood? The Spirit Time House is a magical house in the Earth's Heavenly Temple in Dragon Ball. A year inside is equivalent to a day in the outside world!"

The remaining three were also a little dumbfounded. "Sister Zhou, you're still watching this? We thought only people born in the 80s would watch it."

"Don't go too far, you guys."

After the joke, we still have to start working.

In the next two days, Lu Changge asked someone to move the computer over and bought twenty tables, chairs and computers. The empty room was filled with these things, and the feeling of the workplace emerged, and the room instantly became decent.

Zhou Shuang started recruiting people because he needed to form a team to develop the software and he couldn't do it alone.

At this time, Jiangzhou's disadvantages are reflected. There is no Zhongguancun like Beijing, and few large Internet companies will set up branches in Jiangzhou, so the Internet talents are not as abundant as imagined.

So after understanding the knowledge of industrial chain and industrial scale, you will know that industrial agglomeration is not a simple thing. Often a small town or a small city, or even a street is full of wedding shops, and there are reasons behind it.

But Lu Changge didn't plan to move. He wouldn't be able to find a place like this where he could use the place for free for two years and only have to pay for water and electricity.

Fortunately, Jiangzhou is still an economically developed area, close to Shanghai and Nanjing, so it is not impossible to recruit anyone.

In addition to recruiting people, Zhou Shuang also uses his own connections to contact some people and persuade them to join.

Anyway, there is enough time to recruit talents.

Lu Changge had already returned to school at this time because his junior year had begun and he had to take care of Qin Jun, Li Ming and others.

Ten days ago, they finally put product pictures in the store, and implemented the marketing and logistics practices he had originally set, such as filling out thank-you cards.

As for sales, they are very average. They priced the product at 89 yuan, but after 10 days, there were only about 120 orders. This is because Lu Baiwan's store has some traffic. If it was a completely new Taobao store, the sales would probably be even worse.

When Lu Changge went inside, he saw that everyone looked gloomy, no longer as high-spirited as they were two months ago.

"What's the problem?"

"I don't know if there's something wrong with the way we filmed it, or if it just doesn't look good. It just feels like... no one cares, and it hasn't caused any waves." Qin Jun and Li Ming were both scratching their heads about this.

Lu Changge looked at the three girls again, and each of them had a confused look in their eyes, as if they didn't know where to put their strength.

"In fact, this is the scenario most entrepreneurs face. You work hard for a long time, feel you've put in a lot of effort, and do things well, but there's no effect, right?"

Qin Jun said: "Maybe we think making money is too simple."

An Yihuan, who was always sharp-tongued, also wilted. "Hurry up and think of a solution."

"Okay. Everyone, take a seat." Lu Changge pulled out a chair himself. "First, let me ask you a question. Is the refund rate high?"

"About 14, about 10%."

He then asked, "What's the reason for the refund? Have you analyzed it?"

After asking, no one answered him.

Lu Changge was surprised. "What's wrong?"

"The most common reason is that the size doesn't match," said Ai Mai.

Maybe they felt that this oversight was a bit too trivial, so they were embarrassed to talk about it.

However, Lu Changge didn't laugh at them. Instead, he lowered his head and began to take notes. "It doesn't matter what kind of mistakes you make. The key is the ability to solve and correct them. Of course, the fewer low-level mistakes, the better. So the first problem is the confusing size chart. What's the second biggest reason?"

"logistics."

"Ignore it, there's no way around it."

Later, JD.com also discovered that logistics received the most complaints, which could only be solved by building its own logistics, which is impossible now.

There is no need to ask about the third reason. There are not many orders sold in total, so there are very few actual cases of refunds.

Lu Changge turned around and started looking for the problem from another direction. "What is the search keyword? White-collar shirt?"

"Correct."

"Have you ever tried to capture multiple keywords? For example, new employees, business suits, etc."

Probably not. An Yihuan has already started to remember it.

……

After that, he looked at the customer service again. This involved issues with the wording, and he also made some optimization suggestions. For something like theirs, it has already reached this point, and it is unlikely to make any further changes in the general direction.

Did I choose the wrong category?
Impossible, as most of the employees in the shop worth 6 million are new employees.

So the problem is that they lack attention to details. They are all college students and probably have not experienced what the real service industry is like.

In the end, after seeing Lu Changge put forward seven or eight optimization suggestions in a row, Li Ming was still a little skeptical, "Is it really okay to just change it like this?"

"It should be possible. I don't know either." Lu Changge smiled slightly.

In fact, the financial crisis is about to begin, and the coldness in the coming autumn and winter will come more from the economy than from the weather. The colder the economy, the hotter the job market will be.

He made several changes to maintain his image, including optimizing the store's visuals. Everything had to look presentable, because what he was selling wasn't just shirts; it was the last bit of dignity newcomers in the workplace needed to maintain during the harsh winter.

(End of this chapter)