I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 237 Is a target of one trillion too much?
In mid-March, the group-buying war gradually came to an end.

Over the course of two years, nearly 6000 group-buying websites were reduced by more than 5000, and 70 billion yuan of venture capital was burned through.

Leading companies have begun to dominate the market, and small and medium-sized websites have been abandoned by investors. They can neither obtain financing nor attract users, and can only slowly wait to die.

In order to raise funds, the founder of Dida Group even offered a bargain price of 20% equity in exchange for 500 million yuan in investment.

Unfortunately, investors aren't stupid. In this industry, it's always more about adding flowers to brocade than providing charcoal in the snow. They'd rather stuff money into Lashou, Meituan, Dianping, Wowo, and Nuomi than waste a single penny on Dida Tuan.

Chen Yansen opened a survey report, and when he saw that Meituan's market share was as high as 21%, second only to Lashou.com's 27%, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Wang Xin still managed to make Meituan the second largest in the industry!

The remaining elimination process will be quick: five to four, four to three, three to two, and in the last track, only two or three companies will survive.

Dianping's rise has been astonishing. In just six months, it surpassed the market size of Wowo and Nuomi, jumping from outside the top ten to third place.

Although Lashou.com still holds the top spot in the industry, it is gradually finding it difficult to compete with Meituan and Dianping, and its market share has plummeted from over 40% to 27%.

It remains to be seen who will ultimately prevail!

Meanwhile, "Empresses in the Palace" was broadcast on satellite TV, Weibo users exceeded 300 million, "Titanic 3D" announced its re-release, and Liu Qiangdong pressed the start button for JD.com's IPO preparation.

On the eve of the mobile internet boom, capital poured in like crazy, and all sorts of bizarre projects took advantage of the trend to grow wildly.

From "24-hour errand service for sanitary napkins" to "shared boyfriends," "office pet rentals," and even absurd projects like "Bitcoin mining training" that have secured angel investment, netizens are left speechless.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-!"

At this time, there was a knock on the door.

"Go in!" Chen Yansen put down the report and replied softly.

HR Director Wang Xueting pushed open the door and walked in. After stopping, she explained, "Boss, Mr. Huang has arrived. He's in the B6 meeting room on the first floor."

"Please bring him over," Chen Yansen ordered, raising an eyebrow.

"Please wait a moment." Wang Xueting turned and left, making sure to close the door behind her before she left.

Three minutes later, an HR specialist from Orange Technology led Huang Zheng to the office door.

"Mr. Huang, welcome!" Chen Yansen stood up to greet him with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, please forgive my abrupt visit! I brought you some new tea from my hometown as a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept it."

Huang Zheng picked up the gift bag and showed it off generously.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, please have a seat! What kind of tea would you like, Mr. Huang?"

Chen Yansen took the gift, placed it in the tea cabinet, and then turned to ask.

“Mr. Chen, I’m not picky about tea, so you can decide for me. Also, you can call me Colin,” Huang Zheng said, waving his hand slightly.

"Alright, Lao Huang, let's drink Huangya tea then, so you can also try the specialty from my hometown."

Chen Yansen took the tea leaves and returned to the coffee table.

Boiling water, brewing tea, and pouring tea—the movements were fluid and seamless.

Huang Zheng secretly observed Chen Yansen. Even though he had prepared himself mentally before setting off, he couldn't help but hesitate when he saw him.

Chen Yansen is too young. Would working for a boss like him be better than starting his own business?

He asked Duan Yongping for his opinion, but the other party only said, "This decision can only be made by you. Others' opinions will inevitably be mixed with subjective emotions."

After receiving Gao Weilin's call, Huang Zheng pondered for five or six days, during which time he also studied Chen Yansen's entrepreneurial journey again.

Senhai Technology was founded in August 2010, and in September it incubated the FoxTao project. Six months later, it became a leader in the shopping guide e-commerce industry.
Orange Technology was founded in March 2011, and a research and development team for the Aurora OS operating system was formed.
2011年8月橙子C1手机上市，首发当日，14小时销量20万台；

In September 2011, FoxTao was sold to Alibaba, successfully cashing out 12 billion yuan in cash;
Pinbei Technology was founded in October 2011, securing a top-tier traffic entry point from Tencent and $300 million in funding.
In November 2011, Orange Technology received a strategic investment of US$13.5 billion from DST Capital and took the opportunity to optimize its supply chain system.

Looking across Asia, it would be difficult to find a business genius on par with Chen Yansen.

The other party proceeded steadily and surely in every step. Whether it was promotion, sales, or finance and supplier management, Chen Yansen never stumbled in any of the most difficult matters.

"Old Huang, have some tea!"

Chen Yansen pushed a cup of hot tea in front of Huang Zheng and looked him over with great interest.

More than a decade later, although there are not many entrepreneurs who are hated and attacked, Huang Zheng is the most famous one.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen," Huang Zheng said politely as he accepted the teacup.

"The position of CEO of Pinbei has been vacant. I can hand it over to you, but I have one requirement: within two years, you must achieve an annual sales volume of one trillion yuan for Pinbei."

Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and said slowly.

One trillion seems like a burden on people!
However, given Pinduoduo's current development trend, its sales volume could exceed 2600 billion yuan by the end of the year.

In her previous life, Pinduoduo spent four years achieving this goal.

Chen Yansen believes that if Huang Zheng can't handle the traffic from Tencent and Orange mobile phones, then he is not qualified to sit in the position of CEO of Pinduoduo.

Huang Zheng was taken aback upon hearing this, and subconsciously swallowed.

His Leqi agency only generated 300 million yuan in revenue last year.

What does one trillion mean?
We need to cultivate at least 10,000 merchants with annual sales exceeding 100 million!
Ali's total sales in 2011 were only over 6000 billion!

Huang Zheng stared intently at Chen Yansen. From the other man's eyes, it was easy to tell that this person was serious and not joking.

He opened his mouth, about to say something in rebuttal, when Chen Yansen added, "This requirement is a bit high for ordinary people, but I believe in your ability."

You don't believe that!
Even I don't believe it!
Huang Zheng was both amused and exasperated, and couldn't help but mutter to himself, but since his future boss had spoken, he couldn't let his words fall flat. So he forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your trust, boss. I will do my best."

There was no way around it; Chen Yansen was offering too much—a generous base salary and stock option rewards—more than he could earn by starting his own business.

Moreover, there's no longer a need to beg for favors and act subservient to others in order to secure brand operation contracts.

Once he takes the position of CEO of Pinduoduo, apart from a small number of top-tier S and A-level brands, which other brand would dare not treat him like their own father?

Chen Yansen smiled faintly. He knew that Huang Zheng had agreed to join the company because he saw that Huang Zheng had changed his form of address.

To put it bluntly, Huang Zheng had not yet made a name for himself in the industry at that time. How could he not be tempted when he suddenly received an olive branch from an e-commerce giant?
This is as shocking as the owner of a small e-commerce service company with an annual net profit of less than ten million yuan bumping into Ma Liyun on the street, who then invites him to become the CEO of Ali.

The reason Huang Zheng was able to remain calm was simply because, under Duan Yongping's tutelage, he had met many big shots, which helped him maintain a stable mindset.

"Finish off the Leqi business as soon as possible. The Pinduoduo 618 promotion is just around the corner. Doing a good job will be your breakthrough!" Chen Yansen stood up and patted Huang Zheng on the shoulder.

For him, recruiting Huang Zheng didn't bring much satisfaction. The man in front of him wasn't an e-commerce tycoon with a net worth of hundreds of billions, but just a former Google project manager who had started two businesses and hadn't yet found the right direction.

If Lei Yijun were to come and become his underling, it might even ignite a desire for conquest in him.

"Boss, I sold Leqi to LightInTheBox. I don't need to be involved in the handover. I can start working here anytime."

Huang Zheng immediately said.

The goal of one trillion is ambitious, but the annual salary, equity value, and industry influence associated with the CEO position at Pinduoduo are enough to excite him.

Of course, we need to join as soon as possible to propel Pinduoduo into a faster development track.

“Okay, I’ll take you to Building 8 to meet the heads of various departments at Pinduoduo.”

Chen Yansen glanced at the time; there was still an hour and a half before lunch break, so he had plenty of time.

"Okay, thank you, boss." Huang Zheng followed Chen Yansen into the elevator.

the other side.

Upon receiving the message, Xiong Li and Zhang Junjie immediately sent meeting notices to the directors of each department, and five minutes later, they went to the boss's office.

"Brother Li, what's up? Didn't we just have a morning meeting?"

Design Director Cai Qiming came over and asked Xiong Li curiously.

Xiong Li's work style is efficient and his personality is assertive, which earned him the nickname "Brother Li".

“We’re going to have a new boss.” Xiong Li rolled his eyes at Cai Qiming. This effeminate Taiwanese guy had told him countless times, but he insisted on calling him “Brother Li”.

"Is your sister-in-law pregnant?" Zhang Wenbo, who was passing by the two, stopped and looked surprised.

"Wenbo, what are you thinking? It must be that Brother Sen has decided on the CEO." Xiang Pengfei covered his mouth and laughed, amused by Zhang Wenbo's thought process.

"Huh!? Oh, oh." Zhang Wenbo touched his nose and smiled awkwardly.

Wang Zihao, Song Yuncheng, Zhang Yifeng, Chen Peng from the Internal Control Department, Yang Pinglun from the Marketing Department, Fei Qiwen from the Customer Service Department, and staff from the Finance and Legal Departments arrived at Chen Yansen's office one after another.

Wang Zihao peeked over and saw Chen Yansen leaning against the conference table, chatting with a man in his early thirties wearing a suit.

"Come in! What are you doing standing outside? Lao Huang, let me introduce you. This is Wang Zihao, the team leader of Pinbei's advertising department."

Chen Yansen caught a glimpse of Wang Zihao out of the corner of his eye and waved to him.

"Team Leader Wang, please take good care of me in the future. We need to cooperate well and achieve our sales target of one trillion as soon as possible."

Huang Zheng stepped forward and took the initiative to make amends.

Before deciding to join Pinbei, he asked around to find out about the backgrounds of Pinbei's core personnel in order to avoid getting into unnecessary trouble.

Although Wang Zihao's position as team leader was low, the other party was the big boss's childhood friend and best friend, as well as one of Pinbei's top ten employees.

Therefore, Huang Zheng behaved in an exceptionally easygoing manner.

Afterwards, the heads of each department greeted Huang Zheng in turn, and then everyone took their seats.

"Starting today, Mr. Huang Zheng will serve as the CEO of Pinbei. From now on, all department weekly reports and data department daily reports will be sent directly to Mr. Huang, and a copy will be sent to me."

Chen Yansen announced.

"Yes, boss!" the people in the room replied in unison.

"As for the one trillion target that General Manager Huang just mentioned, it is indeed true. I hope everyone can achieve it within two years! After 618, I will distribute equity incentives to all employees based on sales performance. Let's keep it up!"

Chen Yansen said a few words briefly.

To date, Pinbei has no more than 30 shareholders. Excluding Song Yuncheng, Xiang Pengfei, Zhang Yifeng, and Xu Xingxing, the rest are all department directors.

Cai Qiming's eyes lit up, and he couldn't suppress the smile on his face. He had traveled all the way to the mainland just to achieve financial freedom, hadn't he?
Currently, each Pinbei option is worth around $5. He already had 10 shares, and if the big boss is generous, he could earn at least several million more.

In an instant, the office was filled with noise and flattery.

Chen Yansen smiled and shook his head.

Huang Zheng took over the operation of Pinbei from him.

On his second day in office, he worked with major appliance brands such as Haier, Gree, Midea, Fotile, and Sacon to reorganize the pricing system. By using differences in models, specifications, and batches, they made minor price adjustments to products with the same functions, competing with JD.com and Suning for appliance customers.

Not long after, Liu Qiangdong keenly noticed that the output of home appliances had declined recently. He initially thought it was because the demand from users was being suppressed due to the upcoming Suning 418 promotion.

However, after some investigation, it was surprising to find that not only had sales on JD.com's main site decreased, but even JD.com's self-operated products on Pinduoduo were showing a shrinking trend.

"That Chen Yansen is dishonest!"

Liu Qiangdong was so angry that he started cursing.

Huang Zheng's first move after taking office was to target Liu Qiangdong.

The battle for e-commerce supremacy is not a matter of sooner or later, but a fight to the death!

After accumulating users and merchants by leveraging the home appliance resources of JD.com, Suning, and Gome, Pinduoduo has finally laid its cards on the table and is now directly competing with Taobao and JD.com for the large home appliance market.

This greatly angered Zhang Jindong of Suning, because Pinbei had also prepared a 418 Home Appliance Category Day before the 618 promotion. Wasn't this a blatant disrespect?

At that time, some of Suning's appliance orders will inevitably be snatched away by Pinduoduo.

at the same time.

In the streets and alleys of Nanjing, you can often see salesmen carrying laptops with wireless network cards plugged into them, asking young men and women, "Brother, want a free taxi?"

After securing 600 million yuan in funding, Cheng Weixing immediately replicated Hangzhou's free ride-hailing model in the Nanjing market.

With offline promotions and online marketing through the Orange App Store and Tencent's promotional platform, it became a hit throughout Nanjing on the day of its launch.

"Who would stand at the intersection and flag down a car now? Everyone calls a car on their phone and leisurely walks to the starting point."

Young people in Nanjing regard it as a fashion.

In the past, passengers could only endure being scolded by taxi drivers. Now, if they are scolded, they can turn around and give the driver a bad review. The platform will also deduct a fine from the driver's income and convert it into a compensation voucher for the user.

Just as Didi Chuxing was rapidly expanding its reach in Hangzhou and Nanjing, Cheng Wei, who had resigned more than half a month earlier, was also building a team in Beijing and was working hard to develop the Didi Chuxing app.

(End of this chapter)