I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 287 Stealing some money from my dad isn't a big deal, is it?

Su Cheng felt that the original team probably didn't start out in order to make money, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen a name like "I'll Tell You," which sounds like a free resource tool site.

They may have wanted to change the online shopping and consumption environment, which is why they created this product.

The product was launched without any promotion, and in just one year it grew from a niche, high-quality software to a mainstream software, accumulating a huge user base.

But this response quickly attracted the attention of several leading e-commerce platforms.

Because "I Tell You" is just too powerful in terms of functionality.

Coupons, subsidies, discounts for spending over a certain amount, cashback for positive reviews, money-saving cards, and premium coupons—sometimes you even have to make consumers water plants, grow crops, and harvest vegetables to get those coupons, and so on.

In the end, consumers find that all the effort they put into calculating discounts, stacking up this and that coupon... wait? Why is it still not as good as the price they paid if they just bought it last week?
I don't care what tricks merchants and platforms play on consumers behind the scenes, as long as it's not the lowest price ever, I won't buy it.

Such awesome software is not allowed to exist on the Chinese internet.

This extremely high level of transparency seriously "infringes" on the interests that e-commerce platforms originally had within their grasp.

Almost all e-commerce platforms have now updated their anti-scraping systems, and some even require their merchants to frequently change their links. They have also made technical adjustments within the platforms themselves.

If I don't let you crawl my website, how can you update it without data?

You can't just fill it out by hand, can you?

In an effort to mitigate the impact of public opinion, the platform updated its own "price trend," but this only shows the price trend for the past month and does not include discount coupons.

The presence or absence of this chart makes little difference; the price remains the same year after year.

It's fair to say that "I Tell You" failed before it even had a chance to be commercialized, and customers are gradually being lost.

Judging from Su Cheng's standards, "I'm Telling You" cannot actually be classified as a "non-performing asset".

To be precise, this product is on the borderline between benign and undesirable.

Because many users still haven't uninstalled the product, but the decline is happening very quickly, it may become a serious non-performing asset in three to five months.

The "judge" who determined the nature of this case file has no name, only an internal code name [AT10867], and only headquarters knows who the person who made the previous determination is.

Su Cheng felt that he should be a very conservative yet forward-thinking colleague, and his position in the group should be quite high.

You need at least a K15 level to reach that level.

Strictly speaking, there's nothing wrong with how this colleague is characterized.

According to standard procedures, Shengyue is the last checkpoint besides the headquarters, and their job is to re-examine the case files and fill in any gaps.

If there is a disagreement with the former, a certain improvement plan can be proposed, and the headquarters will then evaluate whether the subsequent improvement plan is feasible.

If there is a solution, then proceed according to the plan; otherwise, agree with the former's proposed solution, or offer your own different solution.

Once the case files reach the hands of a consulting firm, there's virtually no problem with over 95% of the assets directly agreeing with their handling opinions.

If the relevant problems can be improved and the situation can be turned around at a low cost, that would be a great achievement for Shengyue.

This is what Shengyue's program does.

Su Cheng was quite interested in the software, and he had already come up with many feasible improvement measures in his mind.

However, he did not intend to report this to Long Ruoli or headquarters.

Su Cheng wanted to sell it cheaply to his company, Shadow, and then he would handle the manufacturing himself.

During the group discussion meeting that day, Su Cheng singled out the group's asset, "I Tell You," wanting everyone to discuss it publicly.

The general consensus on the product analysis and opinions was quite high; almost everyone agreed with the data assessment from the previous expert, and there were virtually no points of contention.

Because the product "I'll Tell You" relies heavily on web crawlers, if the e-commerce platform implements anti-crawling measures, it's doomed.

Assuming that manually crawling data is too labor-intensive and resource-intensive, with an extremely low return on investment, not to mention that manual crawling is simply not feasible for such a massive amount of data.

The only point of disagreement was the suggested selling price for this product.

It would be best to sell "I Tell You" as soon as possible; many people believe that the price could be further discounted.

This subsidiary died before it could even go commercial. Although it had no money in its accounts, it didn't owe any wages, and the social security and salaries of dozens of employees were still being paid as usual, which was a considerable expense.

Why not just dismiss them now and let them decide whether to return to work for the group or choose something else based on their personal preferences?

If they are willing to return to work for the group, headquarters should assign them to work in internet companies.

However, based on their resumes and achievements, the team can apply for the Advancement Program again and get another round of funding from the group to start their business.

Currently, the most valuable asset of "I'll Tell You" is its accumulated user base and daily active users.

Although the number of users is declining, it still has a large user base.

The reason for the price discount is that the software has no functionality and users are leaving at an extremely rapid pace.

Users who haven't uninstalled the app yet simply haven't noticed the problem. The original team posted a message on the app saying "[Undergoing fixes and adjustments]", which has retained a large number of users, and hopefully they will continue to use it in the future.

But this is just a delaying tactic. Only those in the industry know that this product is already dead. Holding back users now is just giving the group some time to figure out how to handle it.

Therefore, finding a good buyer as soon as possible during this window of opportunity is the best solution and can minimize the losses for the group.

Simply put, one sentence.

The longer the process drags on, the more users will be lost, and the lower the price the product will fetch.

The seniors suggested around 650 million, but this was just a rough estimate. Su Cheng and the others would need to provide a more professional figure based on their experience and judgment.

Some say it's a clearance sale for 5 million, others say 7 million, and still others say it was initially quoted at 10 million, but was eventually offered for 6 million.

In any case, as long as the startup fund of 220 million and the team's annual salary exceed the cost, the group will not lose any money from an economic perspective.

They will definitely sell as much as possible, because they are now representing the interests of the group.

However, if we assume that Su Cheng is in a position of power, he would not want "I Tell You" to cost seven or eight million or even ten million.

This is all his hard-earned money!
Of course, the lower the price, the better.

Just then, a girl with a single ponytail stepped forward: "Team Leader Su, may I share my opinion?"

Su Cheng shifted her gaze to her and noticed her name tag, which read: Wu Xiaotong.

She must be the clever and quick-witted girl Lin Lin mentioned before, who was even recommended to Su Cheng as the deputy group leader.

Su Cheng held out her hand to indicate that she could speak.

Wu Xiaotong cleared her throat lightly and then began to express her opinion:

“Our group’s current product, ‘I’ll Tell You,’ is still quite large, and I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the future.”

Ok?
Su Cheng frowned: "You mean..."

"What I mean is that this product can still be saved."

Su Cheng: ???
Is there any hope?
Not sisters.

Don't cause trouble.

I was just about to pick up a small bargain, you wouldn't be thinking of coming up with a groundbreaking plan to revive this company, would you?

Although the group headquarters offers few opportunities, they do offer none.

This girl seems clever; could it be that she has the same idea as me?

Su Cheng even noticed her choice of words.

Wu Xiaotong used terms like "our group" and "we," which shows that she is also a loyal member of the Emperor Group.

However, Wu Xiaotong did not propose any specific solutions, but only pointed out that there was a lot of room for improvement and vaguely described the general direction.

This relieved him.

Before Su Cheng could voice her objections, the others in the group began to contradict Wu Xiaotong.

"Xiaotong, we don't have time for this product. If we delay for a month, we might lose a million in sales. If we delay for two months, we might not be able to sell it at a good price." "The speed of the internet is not like that of traditional industries. This kind of software can die in an instant, just like overnight."

"Xiaotong, I think it's better to get rid of it as soon as possible."

Yan Yue, the girl who spread the rumor that Long Ruoli was a distant relative of Su Cheng, quietly tugged at Wu Xiaotong's sleeve, hinting that she should restrain her thoughts.

Everyone turned their attention to Su Cheng, as the group leader, it was up to him to decide whether to support Wu Xiaotong's opinion.

"Wu Xiaotong, right?"

"Uh, yes."

"Manager Lin mentioned you to me."

"what."

Do you have any good ideas, or more specific solutions?

"Uh, I haven't thought about it yet."

Su Cheng certainly didn't want Wu Xiaotong to cause trouble, but as the group leader, it wasn't appropriate for him to force her to stay quiet.

Geely only charges you a few cents, right?

What a desperate effort!
Su Cheng certainly knew that this product had room for improvement and great potential for future development; otherwise, why would he be interested?

Su Cheng had even written out the revised plan.

"I'm sorry, Xiaotong, that's a real shame."

"If you bring up revisions or solutions along with your question, we can discuss them during the group meeting."

"But what you just said were all vague directions, which makes it difficult for us to determine whether they really have potential and what the subsequent risks are."

“This case file is marked as time-sensitive, and it is an asset that we are prioritizing. Every day we delay it means a loss.”

"We can't go to Boss Long empty-handed, and we certainly can't send a blank email to headquarters, right?"

"Let me take another step back and tell you, even if you come up with an improved and optimized solution and solve the data problem, there is still a big hurdle ahead. Commercialization is also a difficult problem to deal with."

Wu Xiaotong fell silent.

Su Cheng's words were flawless from any angle, but she just felt that "I'll Tell You" could continue.

It's not intuition; in their line of work, intuition is the last thing they trust.

Wu Xiaotong's thoughts were a bit hazy right now. She hadn't seen the case file before, and it was only at today's meeting that she saw the "I Tell You" case file for the first time.

Three days.

Give her three days, and she'll definitely be able to sort out the vague ideas in her mind and turn them into concrete, actionable plans.

"can."

"I can give you three days."

“But the asset processing process cannot be delayed. Assuming you come up with a plan before the processing of ‘I Tell You’ is completed, we can hold another meeting to discuss it.”

"I've given you special permission to dedicate these three days to this case, is that alright?"

"Okay, thank you, Team Leader Su."

"That's settled then. If there's nothing else, let's adjourn the meeting."

End of the meeting.

Su Cheng went to the smoking room and lit a cigarette.

three days?

Three days my foot!

Do you think you're me, able to come up with a high-quality solution in three days?

Even if you come up with an optimization plan, what about commercialization?
How to make money?

After finishing her cigarette, Su Cheng immediately went to Long Ruoli with a stack of case files to report on her work, including her opinion on the handling of the case of "I'll Tell You".

He was genuinely afraid that this little girl might suddenly come up with an irrefutable plan to gank him.

"Mr. Long, I've come to report on the handling of these assets. These are assets with urgent time constraints..."

Su Cheng placed a small stack of files in front of Long Ruoli, and she browsed through them one by one from top to bottom.

Regardless of the circumstances, Long Ruoli is the CEO of Shengyue, and she still has to review these kinds of cases.

The first set of files was the material from "I Tell You".

As Long Ruoli looked at the exhibits, Su Cheng explained them to her.

This includes asset positioning, situation analysis, non-performing asset classification, and final handling recommendations.

"Mr. Long, my colleagues and I agree with the previous senior's opinion, but we have some disagreement about the price."

"Oh? What controversy?"

“Personally, I think the reference price of 650 million on the case file is relatively conservative... At least 150 million more could be added, so we should have no problem selling it for 800 million.”

Yes.

Instead of lowering the price, Su Cheng raised the price with Long Ruoli.

The lower the processing price of "I'll Tell You", the less cost Su Cheng pays.

However, if Su Cheng does something about it, then the suspicion surrounding him will increase.

Therefore, raising the price can not only clear one's name of any doubts, but also earn praise from the group.

Simply put, the more money "I'm Telling You" brings back to the group, the safer Su Cheng will be.

After all, he's the one who makes money for the company!
Su Cheng could give the group more money, consider it a protection fee for their deception.

But we definitely can't let Wu Xiaotong cause trouble; the group will invest its own funds to do it itself.

"But Team Leader Su, are you sure you can handle raising the price so much?"

"This asset is very time-sensitive, so I think it's best to get rid of it as soon as possible."

"If we set such a high price, we won't even be able to sell it for five million; we'll only be able to sell it for one or two million."

"Team Leader Su, what I mean is that even if we sell this asset for three or four million, as long as the group doesn't lose money, the headquarters won't have any objections."

Su Cheng was tempted, but he resisted the urge to agree.

Long Ruoli's ideas were more conservative than those of the previous person who handled the case files, and she even came up with prices of three or four million.

There's really nothing to say, since Long Ruoli only watched for a short while.

She is not an expert in this field, and her judgment may be slightly off, but her direction is absolutely correct.

Within minutes, they grasped the key point: "The longer it drags on, the less money is recovered."

Su Cheng felt that she still couldn't let Long Ruoli take a closer look, in case her thoughts were the same as Wu Xiaotong's.

He patted his chest and solemnly guaranteed:

"Mr. Long, please trust my professional judgment. 'I'm telling you' will definitely fetch a good price!"

"Team Leader Su, you've already given your assurance?" Long Ruoli showed a sweet smile. "Then I'll believe you."

Paji~
Long Ruoli closed the file and began browsing the next one...

(End of this chapter)