Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 408 MiTalk! (Third Update!)

Thinking about the bright future ahead, Zhang Yiming straightened his back involuntarily. Just then, his phone suddenly chimed, indicating that a text message had arrived.

He then gave Lin Yi an apologetic look, waited a few seconds, and then took out his phone.

He turned on his phone screen and saw the notification text message; he almost cursed out loud.

[Dear customer, as of August 13, 2010, your phone balance is less than 10 yuan. Please recharge in time to avoid affecting your normal use.]

After reading the text message twice, Zhang Yiming roared inwardly and subconsciously reached for his computer to log into Alipay and top up his phone credit.

But when he raised his hand, he suddenly remembered that he wasn't in his office, but in his boss's office.

He awkwardly scratched his head and noticed that Lin Yi had come to his side, which meant that the new boss might have seen the text message.

Before opening his mouth to explain, Lin Yi pointed to the notebook in front of him:
"Those connected to WiFi can directly log in to the website to recharge via Alipay!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yiming stopped refusing, reached out and pulled the laptop in front of him, logged into Alipay, and quickly topped up his phone with 1000 yuan.

As he closed the online payment page, an element that hadn't been shown in the previous PowerPoint presentation quietly surfaced in his mind.

He then dragged the mouse and checked the PowerPoint presentation from beginning to end again, confirming that the point he had thought of was not in the presentation. He then began to organize the relevant information.

It took him a few minutes to extract all the relevant information and put it into concise words, which he then said to Lin Yi:

"Mr. Lin, if everything is normal, then our platform can indeed form a positive cycle with users."

"But you might have overlooked a point in the PowerPoint presentation."

"What time?" Lin Yi was busy brewing new tea when he heard this and turned around to ask curiously.

The software is Toutiao, which is a direct copy of the original Toutiao, but some details have been adjusted.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any omissions.

However, Zhang Yiming is a professional data analyst, so it's certainly possible that he's overlooked something.

Standing in front of the computer, upon hearing the question, Zhang Yiming spoke with a serious expression:

"When users complete our tasks and withdraw funds, we then transfer the money to the target account. This is usually done across banks and in different locations, and the banks need to charge a handling fee. Some banks charge as little as one yuan, some as little as five yuan, and the highest can be as much as 50 yuan."

“I just looked at the task template in Mr. Lin’s PPT. A regular task is worth two cents, and 10 tasks are worth two dollars. Initiating this transfer directly cuts off half of the money.”

"Moreover, many banks require additional payment to activate the balance alert service, and the price varies from bank to bank."

"In addition, if users go to the bank to check their balance, they may even need to take a bus. Even if calculated by public transportation, a round trip to check the balance will cost at least 5 yuan."

"In other words, the incentives we give to our customers may end up as bank fees and transportation costs. Then, when the customers go to the bank to check their accounts, they find that all their hard work has left them with nothing."

"And taxes have to be deducted from that!"

"Elite people don't care about the money; what they care about is the feeling of sharing and gaining. But there are too few people like that. Most people are ordinary people, and ordinary people care about that."

"They will not only feel the joy of gaining something, but also a sense of being cheated."

"At that time, we will be in danger."

The explanation was very clear, and Lin Yi nodded in agreement.

In 2010, banks were everyone's father.

They've taken the art of plucking feathers from a passing goose to its extreme.

After a month of hard work editing and posting videos, and interacting with viewers in the comments section, I only got 500 yuan at the end of the month!
Very fat!

If your income is less than 800, no tax will be deducted. When you check your bank account, you will receive 495 yuan, with a 5 yuan handling fee.

The bank lobby was too crowded and the service was too slow. I didn't want to wait in line, so I went to the ATM next door to withdraw money, but I could only withdraw 400.

A handling fee of 8 yuan will be charged!
Then deduct the cost of the round-trip bus fare...

This is considered good. Just like in later generations, most people who receive incentives are not actually capable of completing a lot of tasks, and the incentives they can actually receive are not much, usually only a hundred or so yuan.

After spending a hundred or so yuan on a round trip, I only ended up with a few dozen yuan left.

If you withdraw 10 yuan from a smaller bank, such as a rural credit cooperative, the teller won't say anything to you, since rural credit cooperatives deal with ordinary people.

If you go to a larger bank and withdraw a few dozen yuan, people won't say anything, but their eyes and expressions will reveal their true intentions.

Such a situation can indeed occur if one is unprepared, but unfortunately, Mr. Lin does not fight unprepared battles.

Lin Yi placed the freshly brewed tea in front of Zhang Yiming, sat back down opposite him, and calmly said, "What you said is indeed a problem!"

"But it's not actually a problem!"

"All you need is a payment platform. As for payment platforms, I think you should be familiar with them."

Zhang Yiming nodded, "Yes, so I was thinking, should we do what Alibaba does and create an additional payment software to support our platform?"

“Our users don’t withdraw money directly to their bank accounts from the platform; instead, they withdraw it to this professional payment software.”

"Funds arrive in real time, and they can see clear numerical changes in their eyes."

"And strictly speaking, it's all within our software. It's just a change in numbers. The funds are still in our hands, and we can still use them for investment."

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and after finishing his last sentence, he looked at Lin Yi expectantly, wanting to hear Lin Yi's opinion.

Across from him, Lin Yi raised his teacup, which was just filled with tea, and made a toasting gesture towards Zhang Yiming: "Then you might as well die!"

"why?"

What has Alipay been up to lately?

"They're running a bank!"

"What you're saying almost completely overlaps with Alipay, and Alipay has years of experience and has integrated with its own Alibaba platform. Tell me, how are you going to do it?"

After being reminded, Zhang Yiming raised his hand and gave himself a whack on the head.

In the relevant field, Alipay, owned by Alibaba, is already considered a large online payment platform, and their business is quite mature.

What I just said is tantamount to creating a competitor.

Even if you have competitors, you must have competitive advantages.

If your platform completely overlaps with Alipay, why would anyone abandon Alipay and come to your platform?

Having figured this out, he tentatively asked Lin Yi:
"Shall we try integrating with the Alipay platform?"

The next second, a hand blocked his view: "No need!" At this point, Zhang Yiming was completely baffled by Lin Yi's thoughts.

Suppressing his doubts, he picked up the tea that had gone cold and gulped it down. He put the teacup down, prepared to say a few more polite words, and then said goodbye to go to the human resources department to finish the rest of his work.

However, just as he was drinking tea, Lin Yi stood up and walked to the bookshelf, taking out another briefcase from under the bookshelf.

With the sound of footsteps, the briefcase appeared in front of Zhang Yiming:
"This is the source code for the solution!"

The suitcase was locked and there was no computer inside, so Zhang Yiming had no idea what software source code was inside.

But after hearing what Lin Yi said, he still turned his gaze to the metal briefcase.

This suitcase is exactly the same as the previous one, indicating that it comes from the same manufacturer. It also means that this new boss had already considered the relevant issues and made preparations when he contacted me.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yiming recalled his first meeting with Lin Yi.

Looking back on what he said back then, he now finds it all laughable.

They made two preparations, one of which they kept in reserve, and the other of which they revealed to me. If I hadn't agreed at the time and instead used their ideas to develop a plan, I would have faced a double blow.

With a wry smile, Zhang Yiming banished those chaotic thoughts from his mind and turned his gaze to Lin Yi:
"Boss, what software's source code is this?"

"A chat app called MiTalk!"

"Huh? Why did it switch to a chat app again?"

"This is a multi-functional chat platform that supports one-on-one and group text messaging, voice chat, image sharing, registration via mobile phone number, importing phone contacts, and online payments. It's also connected to the platform we just talked about, so one account works on multiple platforms. Do you think it has potential?"

Zhang Yiming really wanted to ask what the difference was between this and QQ, since QQ had a huge number of online users. But when he was about to ask, he suddenly remembered what Lin Yi had just said: this software is linked to a mobile phone account and supports importing the phone's contacts.

In other words, if someone uses this software, they may push it to other people in their contacts.

To use such software, a user must have at least one smartphone.

Such users can be considered high-net-worth individuals.

High-net-worth individuals love sharing the most!
Users recommend chat software to each other in chat, and then share the relevant content to the Toutiao platform. The rewards earned from sharing content on the Toutiao platform are then transferred through the payment function of the chat software.

After gaining sufficient emotional value from these two platforms, users will strongly recommend them to their friends, who will then recommend them to others after going through this process.

It's looping!
At that moment, Zhang Yiming's heart started beating uncontrollably, faster and faster.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart, Zhang Yiming raised his right hand and pounded his chest forcefully.

"Don't worry, boss. With these two platforms, Alibaba, Tencent, and all that other nonsense will die!"

"I will definitely kill them! If I fail to kill them, I'll offer my head as a reward!"

Hearing the guy's solemn oath, Lin Yi found it amusing and patted him on the shoulder: "Alright!"

"Here's the box and the computer. Tomorrow you'll take office in Lin'an and crush all the other companies."

"The HR department is hosting a welcome dinner for you all tonight, but I have other work to take care of, so I won't be able to come. Enjoy your meal and drinks!"

"Contact me directly if you need anything!"

Sensing the unspoken meaning, Zhang Yiming stood up, closed his notebook, grabbed the two boxes, and bowed to Lin Yishen.

"Don't worry, boss!"

"You'll see results in two months at most!"

After bowing, Zhang Yiming carried his suitcase out of the office. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Liao Xiangjun with her back to the office door, leaning against the wall, holding a folder in her left hand and fanning herself with it.

Hearing the door close, Liao Xiangjun turned around:

"Did we discuss it?"

"It's settled!"

"Let's go then!" As she spoke, Liao Xiangjun handed the folder in her hand to Zhang Yiming:
"This is the expense list approved by the finance department."

"The 200 million yuan is mainly used for daily operations. The related office supplies and servers have been separately applied for and purchased by the purchasing department from the finance department."

"Once we get there, we just need to fill in the gaps based on what we already have."

"Finally, our Manager Wang has booked a few tables at Taihu Restaurant. After the handover is complete, I'll take you there first. Let's have a good get-together tonight and get to know each other!"

"Okay!" Zhang Yiming nodded in agreement, his hands unconsciously tightening around the metal combination lock handle of the briefcase.

In the office, Lin Yi took out his phone, found Duan Feng's number, and dialed it.

No one answered the first time.

After waiting for two or three minutes, Lin Yi dialed the number again, and this time, the call was answered.

The voice coming from the receiver was someone covering the microphone, speaking in a choked voice:
"President Lin, Secretary Ke is in a meeting. What can I do for you?"

Lin Yi was not surprised that Ke Yonghuai was in a meeting.

It would be strange if someone at his level had any free time.

Lin Yi coughed lightly and spoke calmly:

"My people have arrived, and I've already arranged the relevant work. They'll be in Lin'an tomorrow, and we should have results in about two months. I'd like to ask Secretary Duan to inquire with Secretary Ke whether Lin'an is ready."

After a moment of silence, Duan Feng on the other end of the phone continued in a low voice, "The secretary mentioned these things in today's meeting. After the meeting, I will pass this on to Secretary Ke. If Secretary Ke agrees, I will also convey the relevant meeting results to you."

"Thank you for your help!" Knowing that the other party was very busy, Lin Yi naturally didn't want to chat with them for too long. He could only wait for a follow-up response, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then hung up the phone.

He tossed the phone aside, opened the system panel, and began searching for the technical issues that hadn't been resolved yet.

He marked these technologies, grabbed his phone, and headed out to the archives of the special alloy company.

Lin'an Municipal Government.

After hanging up the phone, Duan Feng turned and went back to the conference room. He crept up behind Ke Yonghuai and quietly relayed the contents of the call:
"Secretary, General Manager Lin's men will arrive in Lin'an tomorrow. He said on the phone that the relevant work has been handed over and that results should be available in about two or three months. What do you think?"

Upon hearing his words, Ke Yonghuai's eyes darted around, and he turned to look at the others in the room:
"Everyone, someone just asked me why I'm offering 3000 mu of land to attract investors."

"The investors we've attracted will be here tomorrow, and I can take you to meet them."

"Those who are interested can sign up!"

(End of this chapter)