2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 778 Little Ma, are you going to promote WX Pay?
Regardless of whether the final outcome can be changed, Tan Jincheng is always trying to influence the process.

The rest is up to time.

"The two points that Mr. Tan mentioned are indeed objectively true. Let me think about it. However, I had previously discussed this matter with Mr. Ma from Ali."

Chen Weixin understood that cooperating with either AT would have its own advantages and disadvantages. Now that Tan Jincheng had a different opinion, he had no choice but to bring up his previous meeting with Lao Ma.

"So what if you talked to him? You didn't sign a contract with him, or did you promise him anything?"

"No, we just discussed an investment intention. At that time, we didn't lack money, and the app hadn't been launched yet."

"That's right; listen to me, if Ali enters the market, then Tencent will definitely enter the market as well. Neither of them will allow themselves to be absent from a major market."

As leading internet companies, BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) have an absolute advantage. With abundant cash flow, they can make acquisitions or investments in any sector. Apart from ByteDance, most of the well-known internet companies that have risen to prominence since then have some degree of their influence.

“We can post link ads on WeChat now, but if Ali invests, Tencent has a high probability of blocking our link ads. Don’t think they can’t do it.”

"Uh, really? They were fined during the 3Q controversy, how dare they do this?"

These words silenced Chen Weixin. Their company hadn't had much dealings with mega-internet companies like Tencent and Alibaba. Essentially, the success of Fancheng was driven by the times.

In an era of limited entertainment, you could make money by simply creating a PC game.

"Why not? If you were my competitor, I would do the same. I'm just not letting you post things on my turf. I can have all sorts of reasons, and even the regulatory authorities can't say anything about it."

Tencent has used this tactic on more than one competitor. It was used on Kuaidi and Uber during the two ride-hailing wars, and later on Taobao and Douyin, among other apps, and it worked very well.

"Well, okay, I trust you, Mr. Tan. You're familiar with both of Mr. Ma's. If this is how things are going to go, then we're definitely having a bit of a headache."

WX grew so fast that its servers were almost overwhelmed. A large-scale outage occurred at the end of July, but Tencent responded very quickly and released a brand new version in less than half a month.

The new version of WX is getting closer and closer to the WX that Tan Jincheng is familiar with. In addition, the city-wide search function is about to be launched, which is actually somewhat like the predecessor of mini programs.

The number of users of the overseas version of WeChat has exceeded 100 million, and the number of users of the domestic version is estimated to be close to 600 million. This growth rate is simply terrifying.

Even though MiTalk has been relentlessly pursuing its dominance and now boasts over 100 million users, it simply can't compete with Tencent in the social networking arena; Tencent's advantages are far too obvious.

In May of this year, Lei Jun publicly admitted that MiTalk had failed. In this timeline, with the help of Tan Jincheng's ideas and copying some things from WX, they were barely able to keep up with WX and get some benefits, so they didn't fail.

However, given the current situation, it won't last much longer. Xiaomi must sell MiTalk as soon as possible in order to maximize the profits from it.

Of course, with over 100 million users, it was already possible to continue operating, but the situation became increasingly dire as time went on.

One hundred million users is a very high threshold for any app. It's already quite remarkable that Tan Jincheng was able to push MiTalk's user base to over one hundred million through various means. He didn't have any better methods afterward.

Whether to sell or keep the company is up to Lei Jun himself.

"Think about it. Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Why don't you stay here for a couple of days? I respect your decision, whether you choose Big Ma or Little Ma first."

"If you choose Xiao Ma, I can help you make an appointment with him. Also, if you want Shunwei Capital to follow up, I can introduce you to Mr. Lei."

Lei Jun has been incredibly busy lately; it's not so easy to get an appointment with him.

"Okay, sorry to bother you then."

"You're too kind. Come to my house for dinner tomorrow. It's a rare opportunity."

Today is September 29th. The Mid-Autumn Festival is tomorrow, and the National Day holiday is the day after tomorrow. Today is still a workday, and the holiday will start tomorrow.

Although there are adjustments to the work schedule, this year's working people are still quite comfortable. The Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays combined give for a total of eight days off. Those who live far away can take leave today and be able to reunite with their families before the Mid-Autumn Festival night.

He called Zeng Jixiang over and booked a hotel for Chen Weixin. Tan Jincheng then took Chen Weixin on a tour of the headquarters of Flashpoint and Orange Technology.

"Come on, let me show you around our game studio."

It's rare for employees of large companies to see their bosses at the company. When Flash Technology was first established, he would spend almost every day in the factory and had a close relationship with his employees. The same was true for Orange Technology.

As the company grew larger, he rarely came to the office, especially at Orange Technology, which naturally created a distance between him and his employees.

There's nothing we can do about it.

Tan Jincheng rarely comes to TiMi Studio. Although Honor of Kings has not yet been officially released, it is already very well-known in the gaming community. It is a mobile game developed by a game studio under Orange Technology with an investment of several hundred million yuan.

Chen Weixin looked at Tan Jincheng suspiciously: "TiMi Studio?"

"Yes, let's go, let's take a look."

"Haha, that's a real honor. Actually, I've wanted to visit for a long time."

As a member of the gaming industry, TiMi Studio's Honor of Kings, which has been developed with huge investment, has not yet been officially put into closed beta and is still very mysterious. However, their first "practice game", Temple Run, has been very popular since its launch in early July.

Characters like Dual-Gunner and Cat Girl quickly captivated gamers. Chen Weixin only played a few rounds before he could feel the charm of this mobile game. Like Fruit Ninja and Talking Tom, which were previously developed by Orange Technology's game project team, it had the potential to become a huge hit.

The current Temple Run game doesn't have a wide variety of items, and there aren't many things to spend money on. The main focus is on cultivating users. Once the user base is sufficiently developed, various items will be added later.

Temple Run is clearly a very profitable mobile game, and this is actually their practice project. I'm so jealous.

"The lifespan of mobile games is actually limited, including all small games. So Orange Technology has always wanted to create a large-scale mobile game to extend the game's lifespan. Honor of Kings was founded on this basis."

Tan Jincheng guided Chen Weixin through the various business segments of TiMi Studio while explaining them.

Orange Technology's game project team has been merged into TiMi Studio. TiMi Studio is now a team of more than 300 employees, and it is responsible for pure mobile game projects such as Fruit Ninja and Talking Tom.

"Mr. Tan, what brings you here?"

Approaching us was Yao Xiaoguang, the head of TiMi Studio, whom Tan Jincheng had managed to poach during his first visit to Tencent.

Before joining Tencent, Yao Xiaoguang was already a well-known figure in the gaming industry, having participated in the production of games such as Fantasy Ranger and Miracle.

At that time, Yao Xiaoguang had only been with Tencent for a little over two years. Although he was valued, his foundation was not solid. Many people in the small factory were not convinced by him. Tan Jincheng spent some money and made empty promises to easily persuade him to join the company.

When Tan Jincheng recruited him, he was in charge of the game project team at Orange Technology. Cheng Hao was more inclined to focus on technology and was somewhat lacking in game operations.

After TiMi Studio was established, Yao Xiaoguang was transferred to oversee the project.

Having been with the company for nearly five years, Tan Jincheng has basically fulfilled his promises to Yao Xiaoguang, giving him shares, rights, and his passion for games. Yao Xiaoguang is directly responsible to either Tan Jincheng or Gu Qingqing.

He is also at the vice president level within Orange Technology.

TiMi Studio currently has three studios. Studio T1 is dedicated to the development of Honor of Kings, while Studio T2 is responsible for operating the current Temple Run and the upcoming Candy Crush Saga.

T3 Studio is the studio that operates the mobile games developed by the Orange Technology game project team.

"I brought a friend along for a visit. This is Mr. Chen Weixin, General Manager of Fancheng. Mr. Yao, you should have heard of him, right?"

"I've heard of it, I've heard of it. Dream City is an excellent game, and Mr. Chen is quite an outlier in our gaming industry."

"Haha, Mr. Yao, you flatter me. But I am indeed a bit of an oddball in the gaming industry."

What's unusual about Chen Weixin isn't that he makes games, but that his major in college had absolutely nothing to do with games. Chen Weixin graduated from the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Zhejiang University, majoring in civil engineering.

Logically speaking, with such an educational background and major, after graduation one should either go to a large state-owned enterprise or take the civil service exam, or at the very least work in real estate.

No one expected that he would become obsessed with games during college and now plunge headlong into the internet.

Chen Weixin started his business during college under pressure from his parents. From their perspective, they thought their son was just messing around. Fortunately, he eventually proved himself.

"It's perfect that Mr. Yao is here. Could you show us around and give us a tour? I don't understand games, so I can't explain many things clearly."

Internet companies are always brightly lit, regardless of holidays, with many employees working overtime. Flashpoint Building is still the tallest building in Beicang District, but if you were to ask which building is the most representative of Beicang District, it would definitely be the headquarters building of Orange Technology.

The Orange Technology headquarters building, which was completed and put into operation in 2010, is full of technological features. As the newest building in the CBD area of ​​Beicang City, the brightly lit Orange Technology headquarters building has become the focus of discussion among the surrounding residents every night.

In addition, the unique characteristics of internet companies mean that their employees are mostly young, wealthy, and attractive men and women, which has attracted many businesses to open bars nearby so people can have a drink after working overtime late at night.

Interestingly, the young employees of Orange Technology have also attracted a group of men and women looking to make money. These people target those who lack social experience but have money, and then use the guise of dating to scam them.

Several employees were deceived, which alarmed Beicang J Fang and eventually reached Tan Jincheng, who even organized a psychological counseling session.

"Mr. Tan is really too modest. Everyone in the gaming industry knows that you are the best product manager. Saying that you don't understand games is just slapping us in the face."

Yao Xiaoguang readily agreed with Chen Weixin's compliments, noting that the games currently in operation and under development were largely based on the boss's framework.

Tan Jincheng waved his hand: "It's not that I'm being modest, I really don't know much about this. I might have a few good ideas occasionally, but it's actually President Yao and you who bring the project to fruition. The credit belongs to you."

Some pretentiousness can be faked, while others cannot.

Both of them are well-known figures in the gaming industry. If you really try to get them to talk about a bunch of technical topics, they'll be completely lost. Orange Technology is now quite complete, with its own competitive industry chain built around Orange Products, and with the support of the gaming industry, its cash flow is very abundant.

However, unlike other internet companies that invest in this or that, Orange Technology rarely gets involved in investment.

On the one hand, he lacked the energy. With ByteDance's massive investment platform, Tan Jincheng did not want Orange Technology to participate in the investment, so as not to end up fighting with his own hands and wasting his energy.

On the other hand, they also wanted to hold back something big.

Although this has drawn criticism from shareholders, Tan Jincheng continues to do things his own way. However, the company's employees are very supportive, thinking that if they have too much money to spend, they should provide more benefits to the employees.

Taking this Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday as an example, Orange Technology's employee benefits can be said to be the best in the entire North Warehouse area.

"Small but beautiful, wouldn't it be better to spend more of the money earned on employees? As long as the investment is huge, that's fine. We just need to make sure they don't get scammed too much."

"Boss, you can be really ruthless sometimes. If those guys heard about this, they'd be hiding their heads in their pants."

Yao Xiaoguang replied with a wry smile that this happened in their TiMi Studio, specifically in the Temple Run development team. The game was developed on schedule and became very popular, so the bonuses were naturally high. They were easily scammed without realizing it.

He, as the person in charge, was also embarrassed.

"Haha, tell all your male and female colleagues about this. With the money you earn, you can buy things for your parents or invest in some fixed assets, like gold. You can go to bars less often, but you can still go out and have fun after you retire."

“Those who want to get married can meet in a formal setting. They can visit Jinpeng Industrial Company when they have free time. Although they may not be highly educated, they are honest and hardworking people who take care of their families. What kind of relationship is it to meet someone in a bar?”

This statement is somewhat biased, but it generally aligns with current values.

Chen Weixin was naturally not allowed to visit the Honor of Kings project team, as the team's secrecy was currently very high. However, he could still be shown some materials and certain game footage.

"Wow, Mr. Tan, this money was well spent. But I feel like the requirements for the phone are a bit too high. The compatibility needs to be perfect."

"Indeed, some phones simply can't run it smoothly. This is our biggest headache right now, and we're working on ways to adapt it. This could be a significant factor affecting the gaming experience."

The best way to play Honor of Kings is in a 4G environment. Right now, we're still mostly in a 3G environment. Although we've made a lot of optimizations to the graphics and game smoothness, it still feels like something's missing.

It's unclear whether the market will accept it. The expected release date for King of Glory is the beginning of next year for closed beta testing and the summer of next year for public beta testing. This is two years different from the original release date. If it doesn't work out, we can postpone it further and optimize it properly after the closed beta testing.

If all else fails, Tan Jincheng has a backup plan: to customize a batch of Honor of Kings co-branded phones, also known as gaming phones. This niche market is already being explored by some people.

The gaming phones that came out at a specific time were actually based on the fact that many mobile games had poor performance and did not take into account the feelings of gamers.

"Closed beta testing early next year? Can I apply for a closed beta test qualification?"

After playing for a while, Chen Weixin became genuinely interested. If it weren't for his love of games, how could a civil engineering student like him have worked on games under pressure during his university years?

Do you have the time?

"Time can always be found if you squeeze it in. I don't have a family like you, Mr. Tan."

"Alright, Mr. Yao, please make a note of this and give Mr. Chen a beta test qualification later."

What can you do? You've run into a game enthusiast.
-
September 9th, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

When Chen Weixin woke up, it was already past 10 a.m. After washing up, he sat on the windowsill and started smoking.

This is a quiet private club owned by Zhang Xupeng. Unlike Tan Jincheng's investment philosophy, Zhang Xupeng prefers tangible things, and this club is his creation.

It's usually used to entertain their important friends and business partners.

Chen Weixin stayed here last night. After visiting Orange Technology, Chen Weixin returned to his residence and contacted the Kuaidi management team, including Lü Chuanwei, for a meeting.

The topic naturally revolved around the next round of financing.

Lu Chuanwei is a returnee from overseas, so he doesn't care which of the BAT companies he chooses, as long as he can get money to support his career.

However, after listening to Tan Jincheng's analysis relayed by Chen Weixin, Lü Chuanwei does indeed lean more towards Tencent.

The Kuaidi project was spearheaded by Chen Weixin, and Lü Chuanwei was also persuaded by Chen Weixin to join. However, the key figure was actually Lü Chuanwei, who was fully responsible for the promotion and operation of the Kuaidi APP.

"What Mr. Tan said may be rough, but it makes sense. If you want to cash out quickly, choose Ali; if you want to go further, choose Tencent. In addition, Mr. Tan's concerns are not without merit. If we don't choose Tencent, they might really ban our links in the future."

As the key figure, Lü Chuanwei has been researching all the ride-hailing apps on the market since he returned to China last year to prepare. Each of the dozens of ride-hailing apps has its own advantages and disadvantages.

However, without exception, they all occupy a single city or region. Several ride-hailing apps have received funding. What do they do after receiving funding? They definitely seize the market.

Kuaidi is considered a relatively late entrant into the market. If it wants to quickly seize market share, it needs better advertising and promotion channels. With 500 to 600 million users, WX is definitely a top priority. In addition, they also have QQ.

The 3Q dispute demonstrates that Tencent is capable of blocking links.

"But did Mr. Tan say how he plans to persuade Mr. Ma of Tencent? And Tencent can't just provide the money and not do anything, can it?"

"President Tan didn't say anything about this. What he meant was that we should first reach a consensus internally. If we choose Tencent, he will then discuss it with President Ma. If we choose Ali, he will respect our opinion."

"Haha, they've kept something in reserve. It seems that if we choose Ali, President Tan will probably abandon us later. I have a feeling that President Tan is not willing to have a deep cooperation with Ali."

Lu Chuanwei's feeling was right. Tan Jincheng did indeed have a backup plan. At least before Kuaizhi reached a consensus, he wouldn't reveal how he would persuade Xiao Ma. If they chose Ali, he would stop caring and just sit back and wait to collect the money.

"Actually, it's not just you who feels this way, I feel the same way, but I can't say it out loud. Maybe Orange Products and Taobao are in a competitive relationship."

That's the feeling, isn't it? Both are entrepreneurs from Zhejiang Province, but it seems that Mr. Tan and Mr. Ma rarely interact. On the contrary, Mr. Tan often visits Shenzhen. It's also possible that he has some relationship with Mr. Sun Tongyu.

Rumors circulated that Mr. Ma was very resentful about Mr. Sun joining Orange Products Club, and there were even rumors that he would suppress Orange Products Club. However, Mr. Tan quickly got in touch with Tencent, a giant in terms of traffic, and he also did a very good job in the supply chain.

In terms of logistics, they have a close cooperative relationship with SF Express, and it seems that apart from being able to suppress them in terms of payment methods, they have no other way to do so.

They did try to suppress it for a while, but it seemed to have little effect and eventually gave up.

"Haha, let's not talk about that. Since everyone thinks President Tan's idea is right, then President Chen, why don't you reply to him that we choose Tencent?"

“Okay, no problem, let’s listen to President Tan. He has a good eye for investment. Let’s go big.”

Chen Weixin flicked the ash from his cigarette and readily agreed.

During his university years, he became a star entrepreneur and received numerous honors. At that time, he felt that he was invincible and a business genius.

But since creating the Kuaidi APP and coming into contact with various big investors and influential figures, Chen Weixin’s biggest feeling is that his previous success was really just luck.

Each of them seemed to have eight hundred schemes in their hearts. President Tan was very quick to take the money, but after learning of the internal disagreements within the company, he immediately stopped the allocation of Aion S, reacting with remarkable speed.

Lu Chuanwei's guess was also his own guess. If he chose Ah Li, although President Tan would respect his opinion, he would definitely not hesitate to choose another company, or even multiple companies.

That's the nature of capital; it's incredibly ruthless.

After extinguishing his cigarette and calming himself down, Chen Weixin picked up a box of mooncakes and headed towards the club's parking lot. His driver, who had been waiting for him in the car since nine o'clock in the morning, was waiting for him.

When it comes to investing, Mr. Tan is quite shrewd, but when it comes to being a good person, he is impeccable. He takes excellent care of all aspects of life in Ningbo, from food and clothing to housing and transportation.

"Brother Li, I'm sorry to trouble you. I went to bed too late last night and kept you waiting."

Mr. Tan's personal driver came to pick him up, and he dared not neglect him.

"Mr. Chen, you're too kind. I haven't been here long."

"Alright, let's go then."

One night was enough time to make a decision. Chen Weixin appeared at Tan Jincheng's house, exchanged brief pleasantries with the Tan family, and then gestured for Tan Jincheng to find a quiet place to talk.

"Choose Tencent? Okay, I'll call Mr. Ma right now."

Tan Jincheng was equally decisive. In fact, he had arranged to have dinner with Chen Weixin. Chen Weixin had contacted Zeng Jixiang late last night to say that he would be visiting at noon today. When he learned of this news this morning, he had basically guessed it.

There's nothing to say about choosing Lao Ma; we don't need him. Chen Weixin can negotiate on his own.

Little Ma was quite surprised to receive a call from Tan Jincheng: "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, Mr. Tan! What made you think of calling me? You're not here to wish me a happy holiday, are you?"

"Haha, of course; I have something good for you. Would you like to quickly promote WX Pay?"

"WTF?"

Little Ma on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment, then became serious. How did this kid know what I was thinking?

What he wants to do most right now is to promote WX Pay, or Tenpay, so that Tencent's payment channels can be like Alipay.

Chen Weixin, standing next to Tan Jincheng, was also wide-eyed with astonishment. Is this the relationship between big shots? Furthermore, although he was supposed to be asking Tencent for investment, it now seems like Mr. Tan is giving Tencent an opportunity to promote WeChat.

(End of this chapter)