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

Chapter 330 First Product: AI Chip! Chen Yansen: What Little Deer Bike? It's called OFO!

Xucheng, Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, Building No. 9.

Chen Yansen led Wu Shengyu on a tour, from the meeting room, tea room, and office area, all the way to his office on the top floor. He then invited Wu to sit down and said softly:

“Mr. Wu, today is Saturday, and the colleagues in the AI ​​lab are all off. Otherwise, I could introduce you to Daniel and Zhou Chuangxi. I hope that the first product of the chip design department will be an AI chip for smart speakers.”

The chip industry chain is extremely complex, from upstream design, manufacturing, packaging and testing to downstream applications, involving tens of thousands of core patents in fields such as chip IP, EDA software, manufacturing equipment and raw materials.

Even with Chen Yansen's abilities, he could not replicate all the designs, production processes, and raw material manufacturing techniques on his own.

He needs help and time; he doesn't intend to achieve anything overnight.

Of course, mobile phone CPUs, GPUs, and radio frequency chips can all be developed simultaneously, but priorities must be considered.

Starting with the AI ​​chip needed for smart speakers is the most appropriate approach. By simply improving the compatibility between the voice interaction engine and the chip, the performance and experience of the Alexa smart speaker can be further optimized.

Currently, the TI OMAP 3630 processor used in the Alexa smart speaker suffers from high response latency and high power consumption, and it is also unable to run the full-fledged acoustic model algorithm, resulting in insufficient performance in noise reduction and echo cancellation.

In addition, it has a fatal flaw: it's too expensive!

The LG P970 and HTC Tianxi phones both use this chip. This thing wasn't specifically designed for smart speaker products, and the purchase price per chip is as high as $19, which is the main reason for the high material cost of Alexa.

A single chip accounts for one-third of the total cost.

"AI chip? Mr. Chen means integrating the NPU (embedded neural network processor) and DSP (digital signal processor) into the same chip?"

Wu Shengyu, with his rich experience, quickly grasped Chen Yansen's general idea.

"The chip architecture also needs to be adjusted to focus computing power on voice interaction tasks, thereby improving the efficiency of voice recognition, natural language processing and voice generation functions. At the same time, an independent power management module will be used to reduce energy consumption and extend the speaker's battery life."

Chen Yansen nodded slightly and added.

As a general-purpose chip, the TI OMAP 3630 processor is simply unable to fully utilize the capabilities of the Alexa voice interaction engine technology.

A dedicated AI chip can integrate multiple modules such as CPU, NPU, DSP, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication, and audio codec, replacing the existing multi-chip combination design and reducing material costs by at least 50%.

In addition, Xiaomi is working intensively to develop its own intelligent voice interaction engine.

Once Orange Technology and Xiaomi join forces to popularize the concept of smart speakers, a large number of industry players will rush into the market.

At that time, Orange Technology will be able to generate billions of US dollars in revenue annually solely from its chip business.

“Yes, Mr. Chen, I understand,” Wu Shengyu nodded in response.

Although he had never been involved in similar product design before, based on his experience, he believed it would not be too difficult.

"Drink tea!"

Chen Yansen pushed a cup of hot tea from the coffee table in front of Wu Shengyu, indicating that he should make himself at home.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Wu Shengyu accepted the teacup, thanked him respectfully, and immediately changed his form of address, a gesture that represented his approval of Chen Yansen.

In just over ten minutes of conversation, it was easy to see that this was a boss who understood technology.

Although the other party was young, they were not greedy for quick success and did not immediately target the mobile phone processor market. Instead, they chose the Alexa smart speaker, which already had a certain degree of success, as their entry point.

Firstly, it can achieve profitability as soon as possible, and secondly, it can avoid direct competition with Qualcomm and Broadcom too early.

"Then I'll call you Lao Wu. Get settled in these next couple of days, and officially report for duty on Monday."

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

“Boss, my English name is Blake.” Although Wu Shengyu felt a sense of familiarity upon hearing the name “Old Wu,” he still felt a strong sense of resistance.

"Okay, Lao Wu, I'll accompany you to the underground parking lot to choose a car first, and we'll pick up the keys at the front desk while we're at it."

Chen Yansen responded and then stood up.

For chip engineers like Wu Shengyu, he had already arranged for the administration department to rent apartments in upscale commercial districts in the city center for them, and each of them was also provided with a car worth about 500,000 yuan.

The job level is on par with that of a supervisor, and the compensation is comparable to that of a director or general manager.

Moreover, he wins once when Wu Shengyu works for him to earn money; he wins a second time by contributing a monthly humanitarian donation to him.

For Chen Yansen, his employees might make a small profit, but he would never lose.

The hundreds of thousands of employees at companies like Yunsu Express, Orange Mobile Phone Factory, and Kuaipao are like power banks, providing him with the energy to gradually become stronger.

Okay, Lao Wu?

Wu Shengyu's lips twitched. Seeing that he couldn't change Chen Yansen, he had no choice but to give up and follow his new boss to the underground parking lot by elevator.

As soon as I stepped inside, a row of cars of various colors, models, and brands came into view.

Audi A6L, BMW 520Li, Lexus CT200h, BMW X1, and even seven or eight Chevrolet Camaros.

"These aren't even considered high-end cars. Once you're promoted to chief scientist, the company will replace your car with a 200 million yuan one."

Chen Yansen said seriously.

A 200 million yuan car for commuting?
Wu Shengyu couldn't help but smile wryly. Even Qualcomm doesn't offer such generous benefits. Besides, can a car that costs 200 million yuan be called a commuter car?
Five minutes later, he picked out a BMW X1, took the house key handed to him by Chen Yansen, and drove towards the city.

After making arrangements for Wu Shengyu, Chen Yansen returned to his office.

When he took out his phone, a friend request popped up. The profile picture was of a long-haired woman in a motorcycle outfit. She was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, not particularly beautiful, but she had a more dashing and confident air about her than her peers.

Hu Weiyi?
Chen Yansen looked at the self-introduction in the application box, raised an eyebrow, and immediately recognized the other party's identity.

Founder of Mobike!
But it was 2012, more than two years before Mobike was launched.

Moreover, Hu Weiyi's entry into the shared bicycle industry was purely coincidental.

While helping smart bike designer Chen Tengjiao find angel investors as the CEO of Geek Auto magazine, she met Li Bin, the CEO of Bitauto. However, Li Bin refused to invest in the smart bike project.

He frankly stated that he would prefer to work on bike sharing, and he had even come up with a name for the product: Mobike.

It is a transliteration of Mobike, a combination of "mobile" and "bike", meaning a mobile bicycle.

Chen Yansen then thought that under his influence, even Cheng Wei had created Didi Bike, so it was not surprising that Hu Weiyi had ventured into the shared bike industry ahead of time.

Immediately afterwards, he clicked the "agree" button.

the other side.

Hu Weiyi, far away in Hangzhou, was constantly checking her phone. When she saw that Chen Yansen had accepted her friend request, she immediately picked up her phone and carefully crafted a greeting:

"Hello Mr. Chen, I apologize for bothering you! I have drafted a business plan for the shared bicycle project. May I send it to you first? If it is inconvenient for you to read it, I can introduce it to you over the phone."

Hu Weiyi adopted an extremely humble attitude. Her "Geek Auto" was merely a small, niche magazine whose revenue relied entirely on payments from car brands, making it incomparable to internet giants like Chen Yansen. She dared not simply toss a document at him; that would be a sign of extremely low emotional intelligence.

In order not to waste Chen Yansen's time, the first message she sent was straightforward and extremely concise, giving the impression of a subordinate reporting to their boss.

She's a smart woman!

Chen Yansen glanced at the text message and thought to himself with certainty.

Generally speaking, communicating by phone is more efficient, but he has a talent for memorizing things at a glance, so reading documents is naturally faster for him.

"Send it to me first."

When Hu Weiyi saw Chen Yansen's reply, her heart skipped a beat. She thought he was just giving her a perfunctory response because he wasn't interested in the bike-sharing project.

Although she felt disappointed, she dared not show it. She could only follow up on Chen Yansen's topic and ask for his email address, then send him the business plan for 'Little Deer Bike'.

At that time, she did not know Li Bin, so she naturally had no idea about Mobike's product philosophy.

Two weeks ago, she went to Yanjing on a business trip and discovered the existence of 'Didi Bike' at the subway entrance. With her keen business sense, she immediately realized the market potential and commercial value of this bike-sharing app.

So, as soon as she returned to Hangzhou, she launched the 'Little Deer Bike' project.

Hu Weiyi knew that the cost of a bicycle was around 200-300 yuan. With the funds she had, she could only purchase a few hundred at most. The remaining money would have to be used to develop an app and hire maintenance and dispatch personnel.

Therefore, seeking angel investment became the only way out.

Cheng Weixing, who was doing very well in the ride-hailing market, came into her sights. The two were alumni of Zhejiang University, and it was through this relationship that she was able to get Chen Yansen's private contact information.

This is the importance of going to university, and going to a good university!
For example, Zhang Xuhao's Ele.me was able to secure Series A funding thanks to the support of Jiaotong University alumni, as Zhu Xiaohu of GSR Ventures is also a Jiaotong University graduate.

Little Deer Bike?

Chen Yansen's expression was strange, but he realized that Hu Weiyi hadn't gotten close to Li Bin yet.

With that in mind, he took the initiative to send a voice message to the other party.

Upon seeing this, Hu Weiyi panicked, her breathing became rapid, and she quickly took a few deep breaths, licked her lips, and then pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Mr. Chen," Hu Weiyi greeted him with a slight smile.

"How much money do you want?" Chen Yansen asked bluntly.

"Two million." Hu Weiyi blurted out without much thought.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yansen smiled and said, "For 200 million, you're going to use Cheng Weixing's connections? Is this looking down on the CEO of Kuaidi Dache, or on Senlian Capital?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, that's not what I meant. I just think that in the initial stage of bike sharing, not much operating capital is needed."

Hu Weiyi smiled broadly and immediately explained.

"How many shares can you get for 200 million?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"20%." Hu Weiyi cautiously reported a number.

"Can a business plan alone be valued at 1000 million?" Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

It is indeed possible, but it depends on the person.

A year ago, Pinduoduo's app was valued at $20 billion before it was even fully developed; Zhang Yiming's ByteDance Technology was valued at tens of millions of dollars without even a decent business plan; Cheng Wei's Didi Bike was valued at 5000 million dollars before it was even launched on the market.

As long as you are strong enough, everything will be fine.

However, Hu Weiyi's resume mainly focuses on the media industry, which is not convincing enough.

"What is Mr. Chen's target price?" Hu Weiyi asked tentatively, her brow furrowing slightly.

“I’ll give you 5000 million, and you’ll be in charge of the project. You’ll release 1% of the equity every year, up to a maximum of 3%.”

Chen Yansen said lightly.

The implication is that the position of project manager and up to 3% of the equity are exchanged for Hu Weiyi's 'indenture'.

Hu Weiyi was stunned when she heard this; she hadn't expected such an outcome.

Working for Chen Yansen?

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Hu Weiyi was tempted.

Senlian Capital has more than a dozen holding subsidiaries, including well-known leading companies such as Orange Technology, Pinbei, Today Technology, Orange Payment, Kuaidi Dache, Kuaidi Dache, and Gaode Map, each with a valuation of no less than 10 billion US dollars.

Although the shareholding ratio is small, the value is higher!
It is said that Liao Wei, CEO of Yunsu Express, only holds 2% of the shares, but based on the company's valuation, this portion of the shares is worth at least several billion yuan.

Hu Weiyi's face lit up with joy, but after thinking for a moment, she still said, "Mr. Chen, but I'm here to ask you for investment."

"Didn't I give you any money? I not only invested in your project, but also in you as a person," Chen Yansen said with a light laugh.

Entrepreneurs instantly become wage earners!

Hu Weiyi wanted to get on board with Senlian Capital, but she didn't want to lose control of the project, so she hesitated for a while.

"The timing of both investing and accepting investment is crucial. Yaoyao Zhaoche missed out on investments from Tencent and CEFC, and when it was crushed, it didn't even make a ripple. Didi Bike has been online for a month, and you're not the only one watching it."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly and deliberately, his words carrying a hint of indifference.

Once capital sets its sights on this market, bike-sharing apps will spring up like mushrooms after rain.

In his memory, besides Mobike and OFO, there were dozens of similar products such as Hello, Bluegogo, Yong'anxing, Xiaoming, Xiaobai, Shiguang, Wukong, and 9M.

There were many options, and neither Hu Weiyi nor Little Deer Bikes were his first choices.

"Mr. Chen, I've thought about it and I agree with your proposal." Hu Weiyi understood what Chen Yansen meant. If they missed this opportunity, it would be extremely difficult to communicate with him again.

You only get one chance; if you don't seize it, it's gone.

"The name 'Little Deer Bike' is a bit off; let's change it," Chen Yansen said.

"What suggestions does the boss have?" Hu Weiyi quickly changed her mind.

“OFO is simple and easy to remember. From the graphic representation of the word, it also looks like a bicycle,” Chen Yansen said calmly.

The shared bicycle industry is destined to be a fierce battleground.

However, this product can also become part of Gaode Map's O2O strategy. Although the profit margin is not large, it still has certain ecological value.

Taking into account the humanitarian donations, we won't lose money; at worst, we can find a sucker to take over in the future.

(End of this chapter)