Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 315 The Representative Bought for 38 Yuan
Far exceeded expectations!

What does 5,000 units sold in ten minutes represent?
Everyone initially set a goal of 50,000 pre-orders within a month!
We've reached one-tenth of our target in just ten minutes! That means this pre-sale should at least reach 10 to 20 units!

This is a pre-sale unit priced at 3999! That's four thousand yuan! Even after deducting JD.com's commission and shipping costs, you can still get at least 3800 yuan!

It makes 300 yuan more profit than a mobile contract!
Everyone smiled.

Mr. Chen smiled too.

This was unexpected, yet it was also within his expectations.

He knew what had brought it, so he didn't show much excitement. He tapped the table and reminded him:

"Meeting adjourned. Everyone return to your departments. At the internet company, make sure the servers and backend are secure. There absolutely cannot be any problems!"

These days, internet servers are unstable, and there are many hackers who will cause trouble wherever there are many people. The official website was prepared for several days before going live, because we were afraid of the server crashing, and especially afraid of being hacked. Reservations require a deposit of one thousand, which is not a small amount of money. If someone hacks the website and writes something like "XX was here" on the homepage, it will destroy our trust.

Lin Bin stood up and said, "Don't worry, we built it to the standards of a medium-sized website according to your requirements. I hired a security team, the server room has a cluster of 10 servers, and the transaction data is backed up in real time. The video views and comments have reached millions in the past few days. The front and back ends are very stable. We've weathered many storms. It's just a matter of placing an order now, there won't be any problems."

Chen Xuebing nodded. He had really made the right choice in recruiting Lin Bin. Lin Bin had solved many problems with the Kunlun system and handled network and software matters with great ease.

I feel like I could take on more responsibilities.

"Alright, then you don't need to go. Come to my office for tea. Mr. Lu, you come too."

A cake of aged Pu'er tea, when tapped lightly on the edge with fingertips, produces a crisp sound.

Chen Xuebing slowly and methodically pried open the tea leaves, warmed the pot, added the tea, let the tea awaken, and brewed it, his movements flowing smoothly.

The moment boiling water is poured into the clay teapot, the aroma of tea rises and fills the air.

"This is the first time I've seen you make tea," Lin Bin said with a smile.

"The chairman's tea-brewing skills are getting better and better," Lu Weibing remarked.

"I don't like drinking tea, but I have many friends who do, so I can only learn a little. However, I don't recommend that you drink tea often. In the field of science and technology, everyone is chasing after each other, while tea is a slow art and it's too much of a waste of time."

As soon as he said that, Lin Bin immediately agreed.

"Yes, it's been a year."

Chen Xuebing and Lu Weibing both looked somewhat puzzled.

"Don't worry, I won't forget." Chen Xuebing laughed. "Singularity will begin its shareholding reform immediately. The 1500 million shares I promised you will be worth one yuan per share. Do you want shares or cash?"

"Shares," Lin Bin said matter-of-factly.

There is no doubt that Singularity has huge appreciation potential. At this time, the shareholding reform valuation does not have the premium of listing. If outsiders want to invest, they have to pay at least two or three times the valuation price. Only a fool would want cash.

"However, is it really necessary to split my 1500 million share contract into one yuan per share? The share split is too large. I can accept a discount. Just give me shares worth 1500 million yuan."

Chen Xuebing waved his hand: "It's not for you. We were going to split off a large number of shares anyway. I prefer to count them in whole numbers, either one dollar or ten dollars, so that everyone can clearly see our growth."

He hadn't forgotten his original plan: to list three companies on the A-share market, aiming to become weighted stocks in the A50 index of the two stock exchanges.

The benefits of becoming part of the A50 are undeniable. Not only will it attract widespread attention from stock market investors, but with the future popularity of ETFs, index funds will have to buy stocks according to their weighting to invest in the Chinese stock market, resulting in a passive siphoning of funds and an increase in trading volume.

The highest-valued private enterprise in the A-share market is Suning, with a market capitalization of 250 billion yuan. In fact, Vanke has an even higher market capitalization, but Vanke has a large amount of state-owned capital involved and is a mixed-ownership enterprise.

Yili is a gatekeeper among the top 50 companies by market capitalization in the A-share market, with a market value of approximately 150 billion yuan, and it is also a mixed-ownership enterprise.

BOE has now also entered this line, ranking above Yili.

Spreadtrum will be listed in the US next year. Its market value peaked at over $20 billion in its previous life, and it will definitely surpass that figure in this life as well. Moreover, its market value will be more stable and will not be as fleeting as it was in its previous life.

The singularity is actually not far away.

With 23% of Spreadtrum's turn-key chip profits, Kirin phones, and Kunlun OS combined, even if it's less than 10 billion, it's at least qualified to be hyped up to a market value of 10 billion.

But Chen Xuebing was certainly not satisfied with this.

"The mobile phone business will soon start making money, and we also need to start preparing for the mid-range phone business. In addition, we get a commission from Spreadtrum every month."

"Our profits will be very high next year."

"The shareholding system reform is just a temporary valuation. Next, we need to really plan for listing, create some conceptual products, and add value to the company."

"I'm planning to work in the internet industry."

"Isn't mobile internet already underway?" Lin Bin's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean PC internet?"

“Yes.” Chen Xuebing picked up the fairness cup and poured tea slowly along the rim, filling the cup to about seven-tenths full, and handed it to the two of them. “Actually, the probing attack has already begun.”

The two of them quickly realized what was happening.

"Official website video comment section?"

The comment section for this video was opened at Chen Xuebing's request, and he also mobilized hundreds of internet trolls. About half of the comments and replies on the first day were from trolls, and it became a huge hit on the second day.

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "In just three days, we've had over 80,000 Alipay registrations, 60,000 replies in the comments section, 102 million comments, and over 100,000 netizens chatting in the comments section. Do you think this morning's great start has nothing to do with the recommendations and discussions in the comments section?"

Lin Bin pondered for a moment and said, "That's not the case. This product is great value for money. I think I would buy it even without reviews."

Lu Weibing immediately objected: "President Lin, you've been working in R&D at a major international company since graduation. You're too far removed from the average person. Even the best product needs brand power to sell well at four thousand yuan. Kirin itself is a new product; it lacks social recognition. What's the main mentality of ordinary people buying high-end products? It's that when this thing is shown, people will recognize how expensive it is! To achieve this, first, many people need to recognize it! The comments section, with its concentrated space and over ten thousand IDs discussing it, creates a sense of 'widely recognized social value' for consumers. Many will think: 'If I take this phone out, many people will definitely recognize its value.' Coupled with Kirin's prominent full-screen feature, it triggers the social and respect needs of some non-enthusiastic consumers."

"I think the chairman's idea is a textbook example of sales decision-making. In the future, when we make internal corporate publications, we must print it on the first page."

Mr. Lu's flattery skills have become increasingly adept.

Chairman Chen nodded approvingly: "You've memorized Maslow's hierarchy of needs very well. It seems that it's more suitable for President Lu to handle this social product. But you've been so busy lately, do you have any suitable personnel to take charge?" "You want to build a community?" Lu Weibing sensed something and probed, "A community for electronics enthusiasts isn't very valuable! But it would be beneficial for our brand building."

Chen Xuebing laughed: "Why an electronics enthusiast community? I see people posting matchmaking ads in the comments section, wanting to date guys who buy Kirin phones. Some are even saying whether buying a Kirin phone will scare away their BMWs. Why are so many diverse comments from all walks of life appearing so enthusiastically in the comments section of a phone launch video? Can't you broaden your thinking a bit?"

"It's rare to see such a lively and interactive public comment section with so many people chatting," Lin Bin pointed out the key point.

"That's right!" Chen Xuebing said with satisfaction, "The Internet 2.0 era has arrived. Netizens crave the right to create content and the right to interact socially. We've distributed these rights to users through 'main comments,' 'follow-up comments,' and 'likes on comments.' Coupled with the popularity gathered by a widely popular topic, this 'social interaction with tens of thousands of people' has been formed. What we need to do next is create a product that can meet users' needs in this regard."

"This kind of function already exists in many places in China, such as QQ Space, Renren, and Blogcn," Lin Bin listed.

"These are all private interactions, requiring entry into personal spaces, and there is no mature push mechanism. What we want to create is a publicly visible social microblog that supports forwarding."

Regardless of who manages the website, its construction ultimately rests with Lin Bin, so Chen Xuebing had to offer an explanation:
"If you don't understand, you can check out a website in the US called 'Twitter'."

As he spoke, a hint of anxiety, urgency, crept onto his face.

YouTube was founded in February 2005 and was acquired by Google for $16.5 billion last month. At the time, he was busy dealing with Steve Jobs and only found out much later.

Although it was a promising opportunity, the network traffic required was too large, which the 3G era simply couldn't meet. The acquisition price was also quite high, so there's nothing to regret.

But upon further investigation, it was discovered that Twitter also launched in July of this year.

He slapped his thigh.

He can deeply understand Jack Ma's anxiety about "milestones missing my name".

If he doesn't make something big soon, then in the realm of internet social networking, the Chinese will once again be copying others' homework.

It has to become popular before Twitter!

"Of course, there's not much to learn from Twitter; their website model is still immature. We need to take a two-pronged approach, focusing on both PC and mobile platforms, which is a more advanced concept."

Mr. Chen promptly provided a definition and conclusion.

"We want to create a social network that conquers the world!"

The two of them immediately perked up.

He never said that, not even when he was making Kirin phones!

Chen Xuebing would certainly not say that about Kirin phones.

Hardware is too limited, while networks have no boundaries.

“But let’s take it one step at a time.” Chen Xuebing issued the task according to his long-planned strategy: “Now that we have an official website, let’s get the integrated account sorted out first.”

"The official website, mobile operating system, Starlink, and all software implement unified account management. One account can be registered and used on all platforms, and even Alipay information can be bound to this account."

"We can design the website first, or we can adopt the software development model. Mr. Lin can directly connect with my ideas to design it. We have time to work on it slowly. Once the account system is mature, the website can be launched simultaneously. I'll give you a longer timeframe, four months, until March next year. We'll see the results and make a decision then."

Lin Bin's lips twitched.

This person really doesn't value time.

Design a social network that "conquers the world" in four months?
However, the previous software design process was indeed incredibly efficient. Everyone blindly followed the ideas of this nitpicking genius. For example, Starlink could make decisions almost instantly when functional design problems arose or when there were contradictory issues of choosing between two options. They were only responsible for code implementation and quickly produced a product.

As per previous practice, functional requirements were not considered; they only needed to consider security and usability.

"Do you have any mature ideas for the page layout and background rendering?" Lin Bin asked tentatively.

“I have the concept of the feature, but this time we’re not rushing. The team also needs to hone their design skills, and we’ll need the team for future maintenance. So let’s be open-minded. I’ll make the requirements, and you can do the layout according to your own ideas. I’ll give you suggestions for improvement in the form of regular meetings. As for whether to use them or not, you can discuss and decide for yourselves.”

“Okay, but we need to talk to each other separately to finalize the design scope and see how to build the team.”

The two of them settled the matter in a few words.

Lu Weibing, who was standing next to him, also snapped out of his brief contemplation and said with slight concern, "Chairman, our Starlink has already encroached on Tencent's territory. Isn't it too much to go into making a social network now? Tencent warned us not to enter the internet industry. Mobile software is a new field, and making a PC-based one is too provocative. They have 5.8 million users. Shouldn't we keep a low profile and focus on building Starlink first? We shouldn't arouse suspicion too early."

"Heh." Chen Xuebing got up and walked to the window, his hands behind his back, looking towards Nanshan Mountain, a smile gradually spreading across his lips:

"They started using Mobile Dream Network back in 2001, and they even replied to QQ messages with text messages. We've made such a big fuss, do you still expect to make a fortune quietly? Let me tell you the truth, I've already fought with them once. Those trolls in the video comment section yesterday were probably them."

Upon hearing this, Lu Weibing's expression changed.

Yesterday morning, a group of people suddenly appeared in the comments section, citing some international specifications and saying that Kirin phones must have many unseen vulnerabilities and that the technology is definitely not mature, urging everyone not to make impulsive purchases.

However, Qidian took this website construction very seriously and kept monitoring it. Within minutes, they discovered the anomaly and deleted all the suspicious accounts and comments. The security team also traced the IPs through the backend and found that they came from Shenzhen.

They came again in the afternoon, this time using dynamically concatenated SQL statements, attempting to bypass account verification by entering "admin" in the login box.

This is a form of hacking that threatens backend management.

He thought it was the group from Huaqiangbei who had been kicked out of the Spreadtrum Alliance, and they were going to give them a warning.

Thinking of this, he became furious and burst into a tirade:
"Damn it, they're using black magic? I'm getting people to find evidence of their website hacking! We're reporting them! The police have to catch those guys!"

"What's the point of this kind of whistleblowing? For a listed company, it's easy to find a few people to take the blame."

Chen Xuebing shook his head, a slight smile playing on his lips, and took out his phone, waving it around:

"You have to pay to report it!"

"I paid 38 yuan of my own money to subscribe to all their rogue billing services. Now I'm a representative of the Shenzhen SP Business Rights Protection Committee, representing 120 victims. I'm going to file a formal complaint with the Ministry!"

(End of this chapter)