2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 263 Orange Experience
Saturday, September 2006, 4.

Today marks the 15th day since Gu Yanning officially joined Orange Technology. With less than two months until graduation, she, like most of her classmates, has already decided on her career path.

The students in their class were lucky. When they enrolled, it was still the School of Electronic Industry, but when they graduated, their diplomas were from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. As the school's status improved, their employment prospects naturally became better.

As is well known, there are only two universities in Zhejiang Province.

However, in terms of strength, both the School of Electrical Engineering and the current Hangzhou Dianzi University are quite good and can be considered rare good universities in the province. In addition, with the rise of the Internet in recent years, their students have no trouble finding employment.

However, Gu Yanning still felt that she was luckier than most of her classmates. Unlike being a programmer, she was able to take on the position of CEO assistant as soon as she joined the company. Although it was a startup internet company, it was a really good start.

Furthermore, it's perfectly normal for programmers to join internet startups. If the company grows, being a veteran can lead to instant success.

However, her experience since joining the company has not been pleasant. Gu Yanning knew that the workload in startups was heavy, but she did not expect it to be this heavy.

At the company, there was no distinction between men and women, and there were no weekends. She hadn't had a single day off in 15 days, which was absolutely exhausting.

"Qingqing, did Xiaotan always treat her employees like this?"

Today is Saturday, and Gu Qingqing, the nominal CEO, also came to take a look. In reality, she doesn't know anything and is still in the learning stage. The company's specific development direction is still personally controlled by Tan Jincheng.

Orange Technology has rented the 10th and 11th floors of Building B in Beicang Financial Center. The main reason for this is the large area, since the rent is cheap. They can put a bed in the space that is not currently in use so that employees working overtime can rest.

The office was spacious enough that even the CEO, who didn't come often, had her own office, which was usually used by Gu Yanning. Right now, there were only the two of them in the office, so Gu Yanning spoke more freely.

Moreover, Tan Jincheng is going to Guangzhou today, as it's the opening day of the Canton Fair, and he has to go and take a look.

In addition, Zhang Xupeng is also returning to China, and he will be staying in Guangzhou. The two will meet up then.

"No, I don't think so. Although the factory was tough before, the workers didn't complain much, probably because of the two shifts. Also, they were given holidays when they were supposed to. But he himself worked very hard. There was a period when he slept in the office for half a month."

"So you've always been a workaholic. I knew you wouldn't have agreed so easily. Why didn't you say so sooner?" Gu Yanning said, dumbfounded.

"But the salary is high! If you didn't come to Orange Technology, could you get such a high salary? And your classmates wouldn't get it either, right?"

Internet companies need to offer lucrative opportunities, but to motivate employees, they also need to provide adequate salaries, benefits, and other perks. With ample funds, Tan Jincheng naturally wouldn't skimp on these aspects in order to expedite the process.

"That's true; well, it's better to suffer a little than to earn more money." Gu Yanning was just complaining.

In terms of salary, Orange Technology offers a 13-month salary plus an annual bonus. The annual bonus is generally equivalent to two to three months' salary, meaning a maximum of 16 months' salary can be earned in a year. In addition, there are incentives, with stock options awarded to employees who make significant contributions to the team.

Options are an important component of internet companies. Based on existing internet companies and information that Tan Jincheng knew in his previous life, Orange Technology's option reward system is relatively advanced.

After an employee has been with the company for a full year, they can vest their stock options in batches. Vesting means that the employee can convert their stock options into company stock, and the vesting method is on an annual basis.

In other words, after two years of employment, employees can convert a portion of their stock options into company stock. This stock not only participates in the company's profit sharing but can also be freely traded internally, providing convenience for employees to cash out their shares.

Despite the good treatment, she also faces a lot of pressure. Currently, Orange Technology has two development teams: one is responsible for developing Kaixin.com, and the other is responsible for developing the Happy Farm game. She and her classmates make up a total of 8 people, who are the members of the Happy Farm development team.

Compared to the naive students who were about to graduate, the project team members who developed Kaixin001 were much more energetic and capable.

The core gameplay of Happy Farm is social interaction; without Kaixin.com, it wouldn't even be possible. Therefore, to maximize the game's profitability, developing a Kaixin.com platform with social features is crucial. Only by combining Kaixin.com and Happy Farm can the best results be achieved.

Kaixin.com, in its previous form, appeared after 2008. It was the first social networking site in China targeting office workers, providing social tools such as diaries, photo albums, status updates, reposts, and social games.

In essence, it's similar to QQ Space in terms of functionality, except that it targets a different demographic. Tan Jincheng advanced the development of Kaixin.com by two years.

He's not very familiar with Kaixin.com, but he's very familiar with QQ Zone. He even knows some features that QQ Zone doesn't have yet. Pony Ma often learns from others, so Orange Technology could learn from him.

But these are definitely not things a recent graduate can do.

So, Tan Jincheng, who had no idea who the development team of Kaixin.com was in his previous life, had a sudden inspiration and poached a team from NetEase. This was a complete team, including technical engineers, marketing, and other staff—a total of 12 people. After the huge success of Fantasy Westward Journey, NetEase's focus shifted more and more towards games, and the social aspects began to weaken.
Cheng Hao, one of the earliest employees at the pig farm, rose through the ranks from engineer and department director to deputy general manager of wireless technology. However, after being transferred to deputy general manager of enterprise services at the beginning of last year, he became increasingly frustrated.

Pig farms may not need someone like him, but that doesn't mean other places don't. A tree dies if it's transplanted, but a person thrives.

Recommended by a headhunter, Tan Jincheng personally went to Hangzhou in mid-March and persuaded this tech expert to join Orange Technology to be in charge of the development of Kaixin.com with the promise of a high salary and stock options.

Tan Jincheng also promised that he could bring his team and that they would receive excellent compensation once they joined the company; in addition, Tan Jincheng gave him the position of CTO (Chief Technology Officer) to be responsible for all technical work at Orange Technology.

Both Kaixin.com and the Kaixin Farm project are directly managed by Cheng Hao.

CEO Gu Qingqing is currently still a student, but is only nominally a student in order to secure some resources from universities. Cheng Hao's influence at Orange Technology is considerable, second only to the boss Tan Jincheng.

It was both a challenge and an opportunity. The Kaixin.com project was a success, and Cheng Hao, as the de facto number two person in Orange Technology, gained both fame and fortune. He was no longer the marginal figure in NetEase, which was why he accepted the challenge.

Cheng Hao, born in 1972, is only 34 years old this year. There is no such thing as a 35-year-old elimination system these days, but it is undeniable that he is facing a turning point in his career and must seek change. Without Orange Technology's recruitment, he would also seek other ways out.

Otherwise, his fate would only be to be kicked out of the house one day.

The images of companies going bankrupt and laying off employees during the dot-com bubble at the beginning of the century still occasionally appear in his mind.

Without Tan Jincheng needing to keep a close eye on him, Cheng Hao and his team, these disillusioned individuals, rallied on their own. Although they had been poached, it was practically the same as being kicked out. If they didn't achieve something to prove themselves, their lives would probably be over.

On one side is a frustrated team determined to prove themselves, with work experience and a knack for working overtime, their efforts seemingly endless; on the other side are young people about to enter society, still retaining their naiveté.

Compared to the other team, the members of the Happy Farm project team were simply weak and were completely outmatched by the Kaixin.com project team!
Gu Yanning and her eight friends, who were originally arrogant and thought they were the chosen ones, were immediately dealt a crushing blow.

The original thought was that since the new company boss didn't understand technology, I could independently develop a project as soon as I joined, which would mean I'd enjoy high-level treatment. But it turns out the boss had a backup plan and hired a bunch of seasoned veterans!
Having only been at the company for a week, Gu Yanning and others had suffered a severe blow to their self-confidence, and were even afraid that they might be fired by the boss if things went wrong, which would be incredibly embarrassing.

Fortunately, Tan Jincheng had experience as a boss, and Cheng Hao had experience in managing a team. After being appeased, these people finally calmed down and became more obedient.

They cooperate fully with work arrangements, working overtime whenever asked, and are incredibly obedient.

To be honest, Tan Jincheng's trick worked quite well. Although it was a bit unethical—there's no way to crush a recent graduate right from the start—there was no other way. The project development couldn't stop, and there was no time for them to slowly develop.

Although Happy Farm will be launched later than HappyNet, both HappyNet and Happy Farm complement each other and are indispensable. The progress cannot be delayed for too long, otherwise both projects will fall through.

In the previous life, Happy Farm was created by a group of college students with similar qualifications to Gu Yanning and her group. At that time, they had no money and no manpower, but they still managed to make it. Now, Tan Jincheng not only provided them with development ideas.

At the same time, they have a lot of financial support and a senior team with excellent engineers to help them with the code. All they have to do is unleash their potential, which is much simpler than the team in their previous life.

The early stages of the internet industry involve burning through cash. The longer the development time, the more money you burn. And by the time you finish developing the product, the market may have changed. Your competitors may launch their products before you, and you may lose your market share.

Therefore, Tan Jincheng will not give Cheng Hao and his team too much time. At the latest, they must complete the internal testing by the end of July, which is four months, and launch it to the market in early August, taking advantage of the time when students are on holiday and white-collar workers are unwilling to go out due to the hot weather.

Summer vacation is always a crucial time for product promotion, including social networking sites and games.

Cheng Hao also made a solemn pledge that he would complete the internal testing by the end of July and launch it to the market in August, no matter what. This was not only related to Orange Technology, but also to himself and his team.

Orange Technology's project, even if it fails, still has a chance to survive, but theirs doesn't. This summer vacation is their last chance to turn things around.

"Hey, do you feel any pressure being the CEO? I heard your uncle invested 300 million?" Gu Yanning asked Gu Qingqing with some curiosity.

"Pressure? Of course there is. After all, I don't know anything yet, and I also have to go to school, so I can't do the company's daily affairs."

Gu Qingqing was somewhat apprehensive about Tan Jincheng pushing her into the CEO position. Not only was her ability not convincing enough, but she was also often unable to be at the company while everyone else was working themselves to the bone.

Fortunately, she has a strong support system.

(End of this chapter)