Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 602 Killing Two Birds with One Stone (Second of the Fourth Update!)

Wang Han laughed and said, "How can we consider personal relationships in business competition? Considering personal relationships is something ordinary people should be thinking about. You are all big shots in the internet cafe industry..."

"I wouldn't call myself a big shot." Boss Zhao interrupted Wang Han, raising his voice slightly, and snorted, "Lately, newspapers, television, and the internet have all been saying that Microsoft and Samsung have joined forces to bully Chinese companies, impose technology blockades, and engage in unfair competition. Although we just run an internet cafe, we know right from wrong."

"No matter what, Momo Group is our own company. If they expand the market, we can all get a piece of the pie. Microsoft is a giant, that's true, but is your goal really to make more money for us small business owners? I doubt it. You just want to kill Momo, and then what? When that happens, you'll be in control of the market again. Will you still give us the same conditions we have now?"

Boss Zhao sneered, "I'm afraid that when the time comes, it will be like using a donkey to grind its millstone and then discarding it. Sooner or later, all the subsidies spent on us will be taken back, and I don't want to be that donkey that gets slaughtered."

These words left Wang Han speechless.

All the arguments he had prepared about interests, the future, and technology seemed rather pale and powerless in the face of the other party's rhetoric, which combined realistic concerns, painful lessons, and seemingly even a touch of national sentiment.

Mr. Zhao's words effectively killed the conversation.

It's gotten to the point of discussing national sentiment, what's the point of even talking about it?

The negotiations ended in discord.

Over the next few days, Wang Han, still not believing in bad luck, visited more than a dozen internet cafe owners in Qingdao, Zibo, and other places, and the results were almost identical.

Some bosses would politely decline, saying, "Thank you, but I'm doing fine right now and won't consider it."

Some bosses, upon hearing that it was Microsoft and Lianjiang, would cut to the chase and say: "Haven't you learned your lesson from the Audition game incident? No way!"
Some bosses were even more direct: "Dude, don't bother. Everyone knows the ropes now. You'll make money by following Momo. We've been following Momo internet cafes for almost two years. Microsoft, you can just give up."

Even if some agreed, they demanded exorbitant prices, completely treating Microsoft like a sucker.

An internet cafe with 200 computers offered a transfer fee of 500,000 yuan.

The key question is, what the hell does this have to do with the transfer fee?
A week later, Wang Han returned to Jingzhou, feeling defeated and exhausted.

He stood before Waters, no longer the confident consultant he once was, his face bearing undisguised frustration and confusion.

“Mr. Waters,” he reported in a dry voice, “we have probably underestimated the cohesion of the Momo Alliance. They… they are not only bound together by interests, but also by a strong deterrent effect. They dare not easily leave the Momo Group now.”

He quickly recounted his experience in detail.

Waters listened quietly, and for the first time, a subtle sense of gravity rose in the depths of his blue eyes regarding this war.

He originally thought that as long as he offered enough benefits, these profit-driven individual business owners would switch sides.

In retrospect, he is not just facing a commercial company, but a carefully cultivated ecosystem that is mixed with interests, fears, and even emotional identification.

The stone was thrown out and didn't even make a decent splash before it was swallowed up by this bottomless ecosystem.

His plan to start a fire in his own backyard has hit a brick wall right from the start.

The sense of defeat brought by Wang Han did not make him angry; instead, it was like a bucket of ice water, making him much calmer.

He waved his hand, indicating that Wang Han could leave, and then walked alone to the huge map wall.

His gaze swept over the more than 140,000 red dots again, but this time, his perspective was different.

What he saw was no longer a collection of independent individuals who could be easily manipulated by self-interest, but an ecological community that had been tempered by blood and fire and had formed an internal order and shared memories.

“Four battles…” Waters whispered in a voice only he could hear.

He quickly reviewed in his mind the internal Microsoft investigation report on the rise of Momo Group.

From its initial emergence at Jingzhou University City, to its expansion throughout the province and the acquisition of Tianqin Internet Cafe, to its nationwide license sweeping of Shikong Internet Cafe, followed by its offensive to dismantle Microsoft China and Lianjiang Internet Cafe, and finally its head-on collision with the Samsung-KFC alliance and a resounding victory.

These four battles represent an expansion history for Momo Group, but for the 100,000 internet cafe owners, they serve as a vivid educational film.

They witnessed firsthand the fate of all challengers: surrender, defeat, or exile like the losers.

Especially in the final battle, international giants like Samsung and global brands like KFC came in with huge sums of money and seemingly impeccable service center models, but ultimately ended up being wiped out.

The visual impact and psychological deterrence are immense.

It clearly sends a signal: challenging Momo will come at a heavy price.

While following Momo involves commission and management constraints, at least it offers a stable way to make money.

Against this backdrop, the short-term profit incentives offered by Microsoft appear weak and ineffective in the face of the heavy foundations of stability and fear.

Those bosses aren't ignorant of profit; they're better at calculating profit after risk weighting.

Moreover, Momo Group cleverly disguised itself as a national enterprise fighting for its cause, skillfully using external pressure to strengthen internal cohesion.

That last trick, in particular, was utterly shameless.

In recent years in particular, the people of China have become more united than ever before.

“The fortress is difficult to breach because its internal walls are incredibly strong.” Waters quickly abandoned the idea of ​​turning the enemy into a defector.

According to the information provided by Wang Han, even if this path were feasible, it would require a tremendous amount of financial and material resources.

His gaze shifted from the red starry sky on the map to another display screen next to him.

That's a graph of active data for instant messaging software in Asia.

The green area representing QQ is vast and vibrant, covering almost the entire country of China and spreading outwards.

The blue area representing MSN, although it received a boost during the Audition Online era and became more eye-catching, is still tightly surrounded and suppressed by green, like an isolated island.

Since the offline physical stronghold cannot be breached for the time being, let's first eliminate Momo Group's most important online traffic platform.

Waters's eyes refocused, flashing with a cold light.

Attacking QQ is a move that kills two birds with one stone. First, QQ is the most important traffic source and social relationship carrier for the promotion of Momo and even the Moc-os system.

crippling QQ is tantamount to strangling the lifeline of Momo Group, which can greatly weaken its ecosystem vitality.

Secondly, this is also a battle of ignition in the backyard, only this time it's an online backyard.

If QQ faces a crisis, Momo Group will inevitably have to allocate a large amount of resources to defend this core position, which will also make it unable to expand outwards and covet the government and enterprise market.

Finally, this was also an extreme stress test for MSN.

If MSN can gain a foothold and even seize market share in direct competition with QQ, then Microsoft will truly have a powerful online foothold in China, and all its future strategies will be revitalized.

“This can no longer be considered a probing battle…” Waters murmured.

If this battle were to begin, it would surely be a cataclysmic event.

First, he needs to understand QQ's true strength and Momo's emergency response capabilities. Second, he needs to turn MSN into a Chinese software company; otherwise, the final outcome of this battle will be the same as before, with the conflict being mediated and resolved.

He returned to his desk, pressed the call button again, and said, "Notify the heads of MSN Business Unit, Marketing Department, and Strategic Investment Department to have a meeting in one hour. Have them prepare the agenda in advance. There is only one agenda: formulate an MSN China counterattack plan. The goal is to seize at least 20% of the instant messaging market share from Tencent within three months. I want to see the most aggressive solutions, including but not limited to feature innovation, channel cooperation, viral marketing, and... a precise strike against QQ's weaknesses."

His voice was cold and full of fighting spirit.

This battle against QQ will be his first truly strategic feint attack against the Momo empire.

He wanted to see if, when Cheng Yi's online foundation began to crumble, this seemingly stable empire would reveal weaknesses that could be exploited.

An hour later, in the No. 1 conference room of Microsoft Asia Group, a large group of executives took their seats, half of whom were of Chinese descent.

Waters stood before the head of the table, his hands braced on the table like a wild beast about to pounce.

"Gentlemen," he said in a low voice, but clearly into everyone's ears, "our MSN, thanks to Samsung's previous efforts, has captured 31% of the social networking market in China! This proves that our software itself is fine."

His gaze swept over the head of the MSN business unit: "From now on, forget your elegance in Silicon Valley. I want MSN to become more understanding of Chinese users than QQ within a month."

“Immediately establish a local R&D team in China. I don’t care if you poach people or throw money at it. In the next version update, I want MSN to be exactly the same as QQ. If you can’t do that, your management team can go back to Redmond. I will rebuild the management team in China.”

The head of the MSN business unit broke out in a cold sweat and nodded repeatedly.

Then, he looked at the marketing director and said, "Furthermore, we need to rebrand MSN! MSN can't be a software for chatting with kids about non-mainstream music. It needs to become the exclusive chat tool for elites, white-collar workers, and future business leaders. The concepts of 'say goodbye to noise and focus on communication' and 'the choice of professionals' must be written into the elevator advertisements of every high-end office building, on the bulletin boards of every top university, and in the pages of every financial magazine."

"Yes!" the marketing director replied quickly.

"Go find government and enterprise procurement companies and have them tell all job seekers that contacting HR via MSN will increase their success rate. This is our home advantage, and we must take advantage of it."

The marketing director quickly took notes.

"Also, contact those well-known public intellectuals and get them to take sides. This group will naturally be very receptive to MSN, and they have a very large fan base in China. Let them make up some stories to push MSN to a higher position."

"And for Office, develop a plugin! Let users see which colleagues are online when they are writing Word or doing Excel, and they can start a discussion with one click, welding MSN and the office scenario together seamlessly."

Finally, his gaze turned icy as he looked at everyone: "At the same time, launch a cognitive war against QQ."

"Use all available media, forums, and tech blogs to tell users how insecure QQ is! Trojans, account theft, privacy leaks! MSN, on the other hand, backed by Microsoft, has enterprise-level security protection!"

"We need to create a societal perception that QQ is synonymous with children and entertainment, while MSN is a symbol of adults and professionalism."

Before taking office, Waters had already done a lot of hard work and knew almost everything about the Momo Group.

He issued his orders one by one, and then said, "Before the meeting, I told you to prepare your plans in advance. Now, tell me your thoughts."

After Waters finished speaking, the executives present all looked somewhat embarrassed.

They glanced at Waters and thought to themselves: Say something? What are you talking about? You've rambled on about everything we prepared.

"What? Did you come here to play the silent card?" Waters coldly surveyed the executives present.

The executives who met his gaze all lowered their heads.

Seeing that no one spoke, Waters straightened up and looked around the room, saying, "Alright, since you have nothing to say, then show me with your actions. This time, it's not a test, it's a war, a decapitation strike against QQ. Within six months, I want to see MSN's market share exceed 50%, and I want to see that blue butterfly fly to every corner of China."

"implement."

With Waters's sharp shout, a blitzkrieg aimed at crippling Momo Group's online presence was suddenly launched.

MSN China's R&D Center was established at an unprecedented speed, with its office located in a brand-new office building in the core area of ​​Zhongguancun.

Headhunting firms have been bombarding the phones of key technical personnel at major Chinese internet companies, offering double or even triple the salary.

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

In just one week, a local elite technical team of over two hundred people was quickly formed, and they began to analyze every functional detail of QQ day and night.

"The stability of offline message transmission must surpass that of QQ; they sometimes lose messages, but we can't."

"The file transfer module has been rewritten to support resuming interrupted downloads."

"The compression algorithm for video calls utilizes the latest technology from headquarters, ensuring that the smoothness and clarity of the video are visibly superior."

"Simplify the registration process! Simplify it even more! It must be completed in three steps!"

The office was piled high with Red Bull and coffee cans, and the sound of keyboards clicking never stopped all night.

The pressure was immense, but Microsoft's money and Waters's strict orders were like a whip lashing at everyone.

Meanwhile, at Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen, Ma Huateng was engrossed in new product iterations, unaware that a cold front from the north was sweeping in with overwhelming force.

(End of this chapter)