Rebirth 10: I'm a Promoter at Tencent

Li Wei felt as if she had been thrown into a rare, awkward position in her career.

The paper in my hand seemed slightly warm.

Her rational HR mind was racing, and finally, "Lin Shen," Li Wei said, noticing that her voice was drier than she had expected.

She cleared her throat, trying to regain her professional composure, but her tone inevitably carried the caution one would show when facing an unconventional situation. "Your proposal... has a very clear line of thought and a fairly complete structure. I must say, its design and the way it was presented are both beyond the norm."

She carefully chose her words: "It embodies... more than just boldness. But precisely because it is so unconventional, it completely and utterly exceeds my approval authority, and even goes beyond the scope of what the usual procedures can handle."

She felt a long-lost sense of unease, a feeling typical of HR professionals. She excelled at solving problems within established frameworks, balancing various parties, and providing optimal or near-optimal solutions. But Lin Shen's direct proposal aimed to redefine the framework. It was like a stone thrown into calm water, and the ripples it created required decisions from higher-level individuals.

"I need to prepare a very detailed special report on this, along with our communication today, and submit it directly to my superiors." She looked at Lin Shen, her gaze becoming exceptionally serious. "This report must, and will only, go directly to General Manager Zhang. I will ensure that your core demands, the underlying logic, and the binding relationship you requested are conveyed completely, accurately, and without any embellishment. But now, you still have one more chance..."

Li Wei objectively relayed her thoughts from the rapid thought process: "I will evaluate you based on the high salary of a senior engineer and the high stock options of a project leader, and I will work hard to push this matter forward. Now, do you still want to stick to your plan?"

A trap? Maybe. Regardless of Lin Shen's choice, Li Wei is considering including this part in today's report.

However, Lin Shen did not hesitate at all: "I understand the process, and I would also appreciate it if Teacher Li could report my proposal. I think this is also a way of being responsible to the company, after all, it is just an experimental project, right?" Lin Shen casually rejected Li Wei's proposal and reaffirmed his own thoughts in an unconventional and indifferent tone.

"By the way, Professor Li, this is merely a directional suggestion based on the unique nature of the 'WeChat' project and my personal wishes. Please also convey a core point to me during your report: I am willing to stake my expected returns for a crucial period of my future career on the exploratory possibility of 'WeChat'."

My only hope is that the company can give this project, and our small team willing to take the risk, a pure opportunity—an opportunity to prove its value entirely through measurable results and milestones, and to realize corresponding rewards based on that value.

The talks have concluded.

Lin Shen put away the dark blue folder, nodded slightly to Zhou Botao and Li Wei, and turned to leave the conference room.

The door closed gently, shutting out the young man's figure. The remaining silence in the room seemed particularly heavy at this moment.

Zhou Botao leaned back deeply in his chair, raised his hand and rubbed his temples hard, as if trying to dispel some complex emotions.

After a long silence, he gave Li Wei a wry smile and sighed, "This kid... I'm starting to not understand him anymore. Is he just extremely confident, or... too ruthless to himself? Is it really worth taking such a huge gamble on an opportunity like this?"

Li Wei did not answer immediately.

She slowly tidied the scattered documents in front of her, her movements a few steps slower than usual. After placing the "Suggested Framework for Betting" into a separate transparent file folder, she spoke with a rare tone, a mixture of emotion, analysis, and a hint of subtle shock:

"Teacher Zhou, I now feel that this may not be something that can be simply summarized as 'confidence' or 'ruthlessness'."

She looked up, her gaze unfocused on the closed door, as if she could see through it and see the young figure walking towards the small office.

"This might be a kind of 'clear-headedness'," she said slowly, as if sorting out and confirming the conclusion in her mind. "He is frighteningly clear-headed. He is clearly aware of what he really wants to hunt. What he wants is not just the monthly increase in the numbers on his bank card, but a ticket to a certain possibility, a ticket with part of the rudder."

He clearly understood that within Tencent, or indeed any mature system's pyramid, following the conventional ladder pre-set for people like him, with his current qualifications and background, no matter how outstanding he was, he would absolutely never reach the level of rewards, influence, and power he was aiming for in the foreseeable future. Now, he had secured the project, and then, he had also laid down his bargaining chips.

She picked up the file bag containing the proposal and weighed it in her hand.

"Therefore, he chose the most extreme, steepest, but possibly only path to reach his goal, using the 'cost of failure' that he could hardly bear as a stake and a ticket to leverage a 'success lever' that far exceeded what his current status could match."

He was using this extreme method to force the company to face the unique potential and risk logic of this project; moreover, he was using this method to cut off all his own hesitation and retreat, pushing everyone to the edge of a precipice where "success is the only option, and we must move forward."

Li Wei neatly placed the document bag into his briefcase, zipped it up, and spoke with a serious tone that also conveyed his judgment:

"I remember last time, you applied for an exception for him in the same way. This time, it's Mr. Zhang's turn to choose. What Lin Shen handed over was not just a salary plan, but a cleverly designed leverage, and on the other end, there's a level that neither you nor I can decide..."

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A few days later, at Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen, in Ma Huateng's office.

Zhang Xiaolong sat on the sofa and gently placed the special report written by Li Wei, which included his explicit opinions, on Ma Huateng's large desk.

At the top of the report is a copy of Lin Shen's "Suggestions on the Betting Framework".

"Pony, that's the situation," Zhang Xiaolong said succinctly. "Lin Shen, the person in charge of the 'WeChat' project spun off from Light, proactively proposed this in terms of compensation. He gave up an easy cash promotion and demanded that his personal rewards be extremely strongly tied to the project's core metrics. If it succeeds, he wants stock options far exceeding his job level and long-term commitment; if it fails, he is willing to give up everything and accept any arrangement."

Ma Huateng picked up the thin betting document and put on his glasses. He read it quickly but carefully. The only sound in the room was the soft rustling of the paper turning.

After a moment, he put down the frame and looked at Zhang Xiaolong: "So, he's planning to bet everything on WeChat." His tone was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Tencent's foundation is solid and steady progress. They typically don't like this kind of overconfident and reckless approach.

Zhang Xiaolong leaned forward slightly: "He's a bit unconventional, but his product intuition and obsessive pursuit of 'user experience perfection' are rare. I've seen his proposal. Given the limited resources we agreed upon, if WeChat can reach 100,000 real users within three months, that would be the ultimate success."

He pointed to the agreement, "But this thing itself... is very interesting. It's not asking for money, it's asking for a 'betting opportunity.' It completely ties its short-term interests with the project risks, which is actually helping us reduce the cost of trial and error. In the short term, it's beneficial to us."

He paused, a deeper meaning creeping into his voice: "But what I'm worried about is the 'outlier.' Pony, what if he really... pulls off every single step? Or even does it better than we expected?"

Ma Huateng picked up the agreement again, his gaze sharp: "You're the one who's starting to worry?" He quickly grasped the core issue: "What Lin Shen wants isn't just a high-risk reward; he wants a promise: a promise that this 'dissident' WeChat project will be taken seriously, a promise that its value will be measured and realized by a pre-agreed, objective standard. He's fighting for a fair 'value judgment' mechanism for his ideals."

Zhang Xiaolong nodded: "So I think the framework itself is acceptable. The key is the metrics, which need to be set scientifically, challenging but not unattainable. Accepting it means that we recognize this extreme incentive of 'speaking by results,' and it also means that we have given WeChat a unique path, an opportunity to truly prove itself with market data. Of course, resource investment must be strictly controlled within the agreed scope."

Ma Huateng remained silent for a moment, his gaze shifting between the report and Zhang Xiaolong. On one side of the scale in his mind was the steady progress and mature system of the main team after the merger; on the other side was this high-risk, high-potential-reward surprise exploration, and that unconventional betting agreement.

Finally, he took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Okay." His voice was steady and firm, carrying the decisive authority of a senior decision-maker. "I agree in principle to this performance-based incentive plan. Specific metrics will be proposed by the WeChat project team based on the product plan, and you will be responsible for final approval to ensure they are challenging yet accurately reflect the product's health. The option pool will be reserved according to the highest standards for the core teams of internally incubated innovative projects. However, vesting must be strictly, clearly, and ruthlessly linked to milestones, with no room for ambiguity."

He looked at Zhang Xiaolong, his eyes deep: "Tell him, and everyone who needs to know, that Tencent is willing to provide a path for valuable innovation and talented individuals who dare to bet on their abilities to exchange exceptional results for exceptional rewards. But this path has no guardrails; it's all about skill. I want to see the data and conclusions for the first cycle in three months."

At this moment, it was as if he had once again grasped the pulse of the times, intending to inject some new vitality into Tencent, which was seeking stability.

"Understood," Zhang Xiaolong replied. Pony gave the final approval, and the matter was settled.

This was not just about approving a salary scheme; it set an inescapable tone for the "WeChat" experiment and for Lin Shen himself.

The approval was issued in Zhang Xiaolong's name, but those who know the inside story understand its significance and origin.

The email was extremely concise: "We agree in principle to the performance-based incentive plan. Specific targets will be submitted by the WeChat project team and implemented after my confirmation. The option pool will be reserved according to the standards for the core team of a startup project, and the vesting will be strictly linked to milestones."

When the approval reached Lin Shen, he was standing next to Zhao Cheng's workstation, the two of them staring at the audio waveform on the screen that kept changing as the parameters were adjusted.

The blue peaks and troughs leaped and rippled, like a miniature ocean stirred up by an algorithm.

An email notification sounded.

Lin Shen shifted his gaze slightly from the waveform, glancing at the corner of the screen beside him. He tapped it, read it, and the whole process took about three seconds.

Then, he refocused his gaze on the jumping blue lines, as if he had just checked the time.

"Lower the cutoff frequency by another 5 Hz," he told Zhao Cheng, his voice completely calm. "We need to capture the emotional fundamental tone at an even lower frequency. We'll temporarily abandon the high-frequency glitches."

"Understood." Zhao Cheng nodded and tapped his fingers on the keyboard.

Lin Shen straightened up, walked back to his seat, and as he sat down, he took a deep breath, almost imperceptibly, and then slowly exhaled.

The movement was so subtle, as if he had merely adjusted his posture. Only he knew that a weight that had been hanging in his chest had quietly settled, transforming into a more solid and sharper foundation beneath his feet.

The bet was officially accepted.

And now, it's my turn...

Lin Shen reorganized his thoughts and said to everyone, "Come here, everyone. We'll meet in five minutes."

The sound of chairs sliding echoed as the nine people quickly gathered around the makeshift long table in the center of the room.

Lin Shen didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point:

"The approval has been granted. Based on our proposed approach, the performance-based agreement is now officially in effect."

"So, the time has come," he continued, his voice clear and steady. "WeChat 1.0, our first milestone, will be officially released in a week, on September 20th."

"Is there only one week left?" Lu Chuan had been paying off his previous "debts" with Sun Hui these past two days and had clearly lost track of time.

"Yes, one week." Lin Shen confirmed, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "In the early stages, we don't have the resources for promotion, so there's no need to take our time and work meticulously. We need to get the product into the validation phase as soon as possible and use real feedback to drive iterations. We must complete the release next week."

He cut straight to the point, first looking at Sun Hui, who was in charge of the backend and systems: "Brother Hui, what's your biggest risk? Deployment, servers, monitoring—can you withstand the first wave in a week?"

Sun Hui spoke quickly: "Boss, the basic backend functions have been tested and there aren't any major problems. But the release process, online monitoring, and emergency rollback plan all require rigorous testing. A week... is extremely tight. Especially since we have so few people, if unexpected problems arise after release, the manpower for troubleshooting and fixing them will be a huge issue."

Lin Shen nodded; he had anticipated this issue. "In the 72 hours leading up to the release, you, Lu Chuan, and I will work together to tackle the release process and contingency plans. All known, high-priority bugs must be eliminated by the three of us. Lu Chuan, you'll mainly be assisting Brother Hui these next few days."

"Understood!" Lu Chuan straightened his back, his playful smile gone.

Lin Shen turned to Li Yue: "Sister Yue, the login and main interface are the biggest bottlenecks right now. I need to know the most accurate information."