2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 444 The Recruiting Plan
If the meeting with Huang Zheng was a prelude to the future, exploring potential collaborations, then this news, whether true or false, has definitely elevated this trip to Hangzhou to a whole new level.

This one piece of news alone makes the trip to Hangzhou worthwhile.

If it's true, Tan Jincheng will definitely do his best to invite him over. Tan Jincheng isn't sure if he can get him into the Orange Products Club, but it would certainly be a great opportunity for the club.

Old Ding is a good man; he'll actually dig a hole for his neighbor if there's one.

It's hard to imagine what Old Ma's feelings would be if Orange Products actually managed to get Sun Tongyu there, especially since Old Ding was the one who first revealed this information to Tan Jincheng.

Don't think that Lao Ma won't be angry. It's one thing for Sun Tongyu to be forced out, but it's another thing for him to be poached.

Sun Tongyu's position in Taobao is self-evident. Tan Jincheng, who was just a casual online shopper in his previous life, may not have been so clear about this, but in this life, he can see it very clearly. He deserves most of the credit for Taobao's rapid development in recent years.

Like ByteDance's advertising platform, Orange Products is currently lacking a strong leader, a matter that has been a headache for Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing.

As a very important project for Orange Technology now and in the future, the person in charge cannot be easily overlooked. Even if it is left vacant, managed by Gu Qingqing herself, or even managed by Tan Jincheng, it would be much better than just randomly assigning someone.

The reason is simple: the two of them can take responsibility for the failure of Orange Products Association, while other randomly chosen leaders cannot.

However, if we were to recruit someone as heavyweight as Sun Tongyu to Orange Products Club, it would definitely be a different story. Putting aside his operational experience, his status in the industry means he could take responsibility even if Orange Products Club failed.

After hearing Lao Ding's words during dinner, Tan Jincheng seemed a little excited, and his mind started racing.

"Brother, could you help me arrange a meeting? We don't necessarily need to poach Mr. Sun right now, just getting to know him would be fine."

"Haven't you always boasted that you're a real-world entrepreneur, not involved in the day-to-day operations of Orange Technology?"

"I really don't care, but since you've given me this opportunity, I have to give it a try."

Boss Ding nodded in agreement; Tan Jincheng's words made a lot of sense.

Well, how should I put it? Someone of Sun Tongyu's status means that even if you don't have any plans to do e-commerce, if he's willing to work with you, it would be worth it for you to start a new e-commerce project.

The problem is that he doesn't have the energy right now, and since both companies are located in Hangzhou, the probability of getting Lao Sun to come over is extremely small. Otherwise, he would have considered starting an e-commerce project specifically for Lao Sun.

"Arranging a meeting shouldn't be a problem. Can you stay in Hangzhou for a few days? If so, I can arrange it for you. It'll be more convenient if you handle this; it's best not to let your girlfriend get involved."

"Sure, absolutely! We'll just stay in Hangzhou for a few days."

Boss Ding is right. Recently, Gu Qingqing's fame has been boosted by Tan Jincheng, and she has frequently appeared in media reports. If she is photographed contacting Sun Tongyu, Lao Ma will definitely be on alert.

Tan Jincheng is different. When Orange Technology was first established, Tan Jincheng held the title of chairman, but now he has relinquished that title and does not actually hold any position at Orange Technology.

Recently, he has been publicly claiming that he only appears as an investor in Orange Technology, which is an internet technology company led by Gu Qingqing.

It was emphasized that Gu Qingqing is not only the CEO of Orange Technology, but also a co-founder.

Yes, if I don't emphasize it, many people seem to have forgotten that Gu Qingqing is not only the CEO of Orange Technology, but also its second-largest shareholder. With an investment of 3 million yuan, her net worth has already exceeded 100 million yuan as Orange Technology's valuation has risen.

There's a saying: Men conquer the world, women conquer men.

You can envy Gu Qingqing's shares in Orange Technology, and you can marvel at her good luck. Her net worth of over 100 million yuan is all thanks to Tan Jincheng. But being able to recognize Tan Jincheng when he was still a nobody is also a kind of foresight.

To be honest, back then Tan Jincheng was just a small business owner with not much money. He couldn't compare to Gu Qingqing, whose family owned dozens of shops in the commercial district. Even her status as a college student was enough to make Gu Qingqing proud of Tan Jincheng.

If you've made up your mind, you're set for life; but if you've made the wrong choice, you've just ended up with an uncultured small business owner as your boyfriend, and it's normal to be looked down upon by your friends, classmates, or family.

Moreover, Tan Jincheng's rise was too rapid; their identities changed dramatically in a short period of time. It's not necessarily true that all good luck will ultimately be rewarded.

There is a certain logic behind every stroke of luck.

Take Huang Zheng for example. The fact that Boss Ding was able to find him, who was still a student at Zhejiang University at the time, to solve technical problems, instead of some other industry bigwigs, must be because of his solid technical skills.

Without technical skill or emotional intelligence to win him over, he'd at best be a bystander after the problem is solved; no one like Lao Ding would proactively introduce him to influential figures as mentors just because he heard he was going to study in the US. Of course, some envy is understandable; seeing such a lucky child is indeed frustrating. Why can't it be me?
An unexpected event occurred, and Tan Jincheng's trip to Hangzhou was delayed again. However, it was also just as well, since Gu Hongshun and his wife had just arrived in Hangzhou and it would be a bit unreasonable for them to be busy with their trip.

The next day, Li Yaohui took Gu Hongshun and his wife, as well as Zhang Suzhi and her daughter, sightseeing around, while Tan Jincheng took Gu Qingqing to visit the pig farm's headquarters in Hangzhou.

This was the result of Tan Jincheng's repeated assurances the day before that he would definitely not poach people privately this time.

Tan Jincheng's bizarre tactics at Tencent last time have already spread throughout the industry. This strange way of poaching people is truly eye-opening. Being poached is a small matter, but losing face is a big one. Lao Ding is really afraid that Tan Jincheng will do it again.

"Brother, it's not that serious, is it? I didn't poach your core members, just some ordinary programmers. Why are you spreading such outrageous rumors?" Tan Jincheng was speechless.

You haven't seen anyone even more outrageous yet, Lao Huang, just you wait, wait for Lei Jun to come and visit.

Compared to him, I'm just a nobody.

"I don't believe it. You can be really outrageous when you want to be. Look at your electric vehicle competitors, they've been completely crushed by you. I've heard about it before. You said you wouldn't make any moves at the Shanghai exhibition, but you've pulled off the biggest move in the business world so far."

It is truly the largest. Even in the domestic internet industry, which is known for burning money, no company has ever spent more than 6000 million yuan at once, and all of it was used for users.

No matter how much each company boasts or makes grand promises to users, there's really nothing to deliver. Even their game gift packs are mostly hype.

"Don't worry about whether I'm provocative or not, but I've personally assured you this, so I can't be completely untrustworthy, can I?"

"That's impossible to say."

Despite saying that, Lao Ding still agreed to Tan Jincheng's request for a visit, showing he still had that much magnanimity.

I haven't had much contact with this young man, but he seems quite interesting, much like the advertising slogan says, "He doesn't follow the usual path."

Despite having no prior experience with the internet, his actions truly embody the concept of "internet thinking." He has transformed a traditional manufacturing company into a thriving enterprise, and its reputation is steadily growing.

Any project or marketing campaign can easily attract attention from the local community and the media.

When Tan Jincheng visited the pig farm, he wasn't really thinking about poaching anyone. He mainly wanted to rely on Lao Ding. Compared to Sun Tongyu, the pig farm's programmers were insignificant. Lao Ding could help him arrange a meeting with Sun Tongyu, so why would Tan Jincheng offend him over a few programmers?

This is the father of Taobao! With Orange Products going online, Tan Jincheng has to try every opportunity, no matter how small.

Like Tan Jincheng, Sun Tongyu is also very good at marketing. This salesman who joined Alibaba in 1995 took only 18 months to grow Taobao from nothing to 400 billion.

Today, Lao Ding revealed more details. It is said that Sun Tongyu, the second-in-command, had a serious conflict with Lao Matou in terms of business philosophy. As the person who built Taobao from scratch, he believed that Taobao still had many problems that needed to be improved during the period when Taobao's market value was rising rapidly.

He often voiced his opinions at board meetings and even had some verbal conflicts with Ma, but Ma didn't take it seriously.

Rumors of discord between the top leader and the second-in-command also began to circulate during this period.

"You can contact him now, but I don't think the chances of successfully recruiting him at this stage are high. You probably know why."

"You mean their IPO this November?"

"Yes."

In the lead-up to the IPO, even if the rumors of discord between the two parties were true, there was no way to reconcile them. In the three months leading up to the IPO date, it was impossible for either party to resign for the sake of their own interests.

On the one hand, it's for the company's stability; on the other hand, Lao Sun also needs to cash out his shares.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "Understood. It's impossible to poach such a big shot in a day or two. Anyway, we're not in a hurry right now. Let's make contact first and maybe poach some of Uncle Ma's waiters along the way."

Lei Jun waited until Gionee went bankrupt before he could poach Lu Xun. It would be easier for someone who had been kicked out of the company to do so, but it wouldn't be so easy for him to come running at a moment's notice. Tan Jincheng wasn't so domineering that people would bow down to him.

It looks like we need to poach a few more waiters to cover up our meeting with Lao Sun. I wonder how Uncle Ma feels about being controlled by Tan Jincheng on such a large scale before the company goes public.

(End of this chapter)