The Age of Rebirth

Li Weidong's suggestion is not complicated. The people here are all engaged in IT, so they can understand what it means when they hear it, and it seems that there is no difficulty in realizing this proposal.

In their cognition, it is to get a network hard disk storage, users can put data in it, and take it out from the network disk when needed, the realization is so simple.

As for the deeper cloud storage and cloud computing, there is no such concept at this time. In fact, even Li Weidong himself has not figured out the true meaning of cloud.

Lei Jun pondered for a while, and suddenly said with excitement on his face: "The chairman's proposal is very good, and it is not difficult to operate. We only need to take out the storage space of the server for users to use!"

The previous Kingsoft word processing software, including most of the current software, is a stand-alone version. As long as you purchase a membership after downloading and activate it, you can use it normally, and there will be no interaction at ordinary times.

Now because of competition with Microsoft, it is free for individual users, and even the activation process is unnecessary. After downloading and registering successfully, you can log in and use it, or even use it without logging in.

This created a problem. Although their download volume was huge, some users actually did not register and log in, which caused them to lose some real users.

So in this era of pursuing the number of Internet users, they have suffered a lot.

However, Microsoft's word processing software has no such thing as registration in order to step on Kingsoft's feet and allow piracy to run rampant. If Kingsoft wants to compete with Microsoft, it can only do it more thoroughly.

According to Li Weidong's statement, adding the function of network storage must use the user name as the basis for access, which will definitely increase the number of users, and even plan to charge for value-added services.

Qiu Dong next to him nodded first, and then hesitantly said: "It's not difficult to deal with, but in this way, we have to rent a lot of servers, even if we only configure a standard 3.5-inch floppy disk storage space for each user, It is also a considerable cost, and it is also a long-term cost!"

At this time, although the USB flash drive had come out, it was expensive and could not be used by ordinary people, and it could only be used as a special product, while the floppy disk was still in an absolute monopoly position, and it would even last for a while.

The storage space of a 3.5-inch double-sided high-density floppy disk is 1.44m, based on Kingsoft's current 800 million registered users, this is a huge storage space in this era.

Naturally, it was also a considerable expense. Although Director Qiu didn't manage specific matters very much, he couldn't remain indifferent to such a large cost.

"Although the cost has increased, this is a novel method after all. First, it can increase the number of registered users, and second, we can also charge appropriately in the form of value-added services!"

"This is also a way!" Qiu Dong heard Lei Jun say this, and this was proposed by Li Weidong, so he couldn't say anything more!
It is estimated that no one would have thought that Li Weidong's simple proposal would later become the founder of the concept of "cloud", which made "cloud" come out several years in advance.

These people did not get the specific time for the arrival of spring from Li Weidong, but they can also see the degree of optimism for the Internet from Li Weidong's attitude.

I am no longer pessimistic and hesitant, but have regained a firmer belief. The most important thing now is to make a good product. Only when the product is ready, can it break through the ground and grow into a towering tree in one fell swoop when spring comes.

Therefore, each of these people became happy, and began to chat about what Li Weidong liked to hear, and occasionally chat about anecdotes in the industry, and the room was full of laughter.

However, in this peaceful atmosphere, a thin man was sitting in the corner. Although he also had a smile on his face, he was somewhat melancholy and dull.

This person is none other than Ma Yun, the head of the Alibaba family who will own half of China's Internet industry in the future!

It's just that Mr. Ma, who is usually chattering and sometimes aggressive, seems a little unusually quiet and even a little lonely.

I can't see the high spirits when I got the [-] million US dollars invested by Li Weidong at the beginning of the year.

At that time, he never dreamed that their small company, which was established not long ago, had little revenue and limited number of users, because of his words, Li Weidong gave a valuation of [-] million US dollars and directly invested [-] million US dollars, and It will still be credited in a short time, and the more important thing is to entrust him with a part of the control, so that he has the final say.

For half a year, there has always been a legend in the venture capital and Internet circles that the unattractive man exchanged [-] million with one sentence.

Even in this crazy era of venture capital investment, investing in a company will go through various processes, rounds of research and consultations, price negotiations, and finally a decision can be made.

Such a free and easy investment like Li Weidong is simply unimaginable, even the invested companies find it incredible.

However, insiders close to Li Weidong, such as Zheng Sijing and Zou Yi, have long been familiar with Li Weidong's behavior.

And after careful sorting, all the investments made by Li Weidong seem to be so calm and easy, and the key point is that there will be unexpected benefits. All the people who are favored by Li Weidong become winners in the end.

So in the past six months, this English teacher who "cheats" an investment of [-] million US dollars is completely out of the circle.

Coupled with his personality and professional habits, he usually likes to talk a few words, and even has some eloquent tongue, making some words that are not surprising and endless.

But today, Mr. Ma behaved very low-key, as if there was still a trace of despair in his heart.

And these people here seem to have not noticed such an obvious change in Teacher Ma, or they have noticed it, but they just turned a blind eye on purpose!
Time passed slowly, Li Weidong seemed to be very talkative today, and the people next to him also supported him, and they chatted happily.

They didn't leave until Douban sent Li Weihong and the children back to the hotel, and it was getting late and dinner was ready to be seated.

Li Weidong sent these people away. At this time, only Zheng Sijing and Teacher Ma, who had been depressed all afternoon, were left in the room.

"Sit down!" Li Weidong pointed to the sofa opposite, and said to Zheng Sijing and Ma Yun.

"Chairman, I'd better stand!" Ma Yun said with some trepidation, but she seemed to have a good mental quality.

"Sit down, it's uncomfortable to look up!" Li Weidong looked at Ma Yun and said jokingly, he liked to see these future talents show respect in front of him.

"Thank you, chairman!" Ma Yun sat respectfully next to the sofa, far less casual than when there were a lot of people just now, and it was the first time for him to face Li Weidong alone like this.

Zheng Sijing was sitting on the sofa next to him, looking at Ma Yun, but he felt a little appreciative in his heart, not for anything else, just because he was the person Li Weidong asked to meet.

Even if you want to lose your temper at him, it is an honor. Facts have proved that anyone who can make Li Weidong scold him has become a wealthy and successful person.

Zheng Si said with a surprised smile: "Chairman, you said a few days ago that you wanted to see Mr. Ma. The time was originally scheduled for this morning, but unfortunately, this time it was just in time. Let him meet you early this morning." Flying over from Shanghai!"

This is also the reason why Ma Yun is a little nervous and anxious. She usually wants to visit Li Weidong, but now Li Weidong wants to meet him.

Moreover, Ma Yun also got news from Zheng Sijing that the boss made the decision to meet him after reading their company's semi-annual report and related materials, and the boss seemed not very happy at the time.

In fact, their company's mid-term report has been submitted for more than a month, but the boss only saw it two days ago, which also shows that the boss is very busy with work. They don't like it at all in a small company like theirs, but now they call him to see him.

There is only one reason, and that is their interim report. Something went wrong, which made Li Weidong unhappy.

For this matter, Ma Yun called Zheng Sijing several times, and finally reminded him, "Why did the boss invest in you, and what are you doing now?"

The words he had fooled Li Weidong back then were still vivid in his memory, and Ma Yun began to feel anxious.

"I remember your company is not by the West Lake, when did you move to Shanghai?" Li Weidong asked calmly.

Ma Yun was a little flustered, and even stammered: "The company decided to move its headquarters from Hangzhou to Shanghai mainly because of the economic situation and development of Shanghai!"

Li Weidong nodded calmly and said: "Well, this reason is reasonable. Shanghai City is better than Hangzhou's economic situation, but I think New York and Hong Kong Island seem to be better than Shanghai City. How about you move there?"

At this time, Ma Yun, who was sitting next to the sofa, stood up, sweat appeared on her forehead, and everyone could hear Li Weidong's irony.

In January of this year, Alibaba received a financing of [-] million U.S. dollars, and Ma Yun was so energetic that she even felt that there was only so much money in the world.

As a result, he was dazzled by the huge amount of funds and began to expand wildly. Not only did he set up offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, but also moved his headquarters to Shanghai, and overseas offices bloomed everywhere in thirteen countries and regions. area.

Following this kind of geographical expansion comes large-scale marketing investment, and various operating expenses remain high. In just half a year, more than 2000 million US dollars in the financing account were spent.

In fact, spending money quickly is also Li Weidong's requirement for the companies he invests in, but the money spent must be turned into good results.

Now the boss's attitude has obviously changed, and Ma Yun also knows the reason for the boss's change of attitude. The money spent has not turned into actual benefits, and the money has not been spent according to Li Weidong's thinking.

Ma Yun slowed down and said respectfully: "Chairman, I have held meetings with several senior executives of the company for three consecutive days, summed up the work experience of the past six months, learned lessons, and adjusted the company's strategy! "

It is useless to talk about the previous mistakes and force the reasons, and it is of no benefit to this matter. Now we must show what to do.

"We have determined the strategic layout of returning to China. Except for the office in the United States, all other offices will be abolished, and the headquarters will also be moved from Shanghai to Hangzhou!"

Ma Yun briefly reported the results of their meetings in the past few days to Li Weidong. Of course, he added the last sentence temporarily. The boss doesn't like them in Shanghai anymore.

In fact, for them, the domestic business has not yet been done well, and they have to go abroad, and from the experience of later generations, it is still early for Alibaba to do business abroad.

"Is there any more?" Li Weidong asked.

Ma Yun knew that it was time to come, and she was bragging at the beginning, and now it's time to settle accounts.
At the beginning, he told Li Weidong that he wanted to do b2c and c2c, but now there is no shadow of these two businesses.

"Chairman, our b2b business is currently expanding in an orderly manner. We are also studying b2c and c2c transaction models, and have conducted a lot of social surveys. I just feel that these two models are still a little immature!" Ma Yun said honestly, but it was a bit dishonest.

In fact, they did do research, but they didn't pay attention, they just conducted some rough social surveys.

"Really, there is eBay abroad, and there is a company called eBay in China. I don't know if you have heard of it. Their model seems to be close to c2c. You can study it when you have time!" Li Weidong was a little unconvinced, but he didn't expose it.

There was more sweat on Ma Yun's forehead, which was the embarrassment and fear of being exposed on the spot.

"Yes, I will study the business models of these two companies when I get back, and try to launch them as soon as possible!" Ma Yun said hastily, ignoring the sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah!" Li Weidong nodded in agreement.

When Li Weidong saw this name on the Internet by chance, I thought of this company that was only briefly brilliant in the depths of my memory.

According to the previous investment logic, Li Weidong cast the net in a large area, and if he caught one, he counted one. He planned to invest in eBay, and asked Zheng Sijing to find an investment manager to get in touch with.

It's just that the founders have deep personal connections, and they don't need more funds at the moment, and they don't want to sell the company's shares when the company is new and the valuation is low.

After getting the news, Li Weidong thought of Ma Yun, who used to brag to him, what he was going to do in b2b and c2c, and he didn't know how he was doing now.

So I asked someone to bring over Alibaba’s information and take a look. It didn’t matter if it didn’t matter, and he almost got angry with his heart. Half a year later, he didn’t seem to have done anything except spend money.

At that time, Zheng Sijing was called to talk about it. He wanted Zheng Sijing to tell Ma Yun his anger, but later he thought it would be better to meet him in person, so as not to let the future rich man die.

It's not that Li Weidong has much interest in Taobao in the future, but that in a country like China, cheap goods are the only chance to develop e-commerce.

This is also in line with the current national conditions. The United States can succeed in engaging in B2C and selling genuine products, but when domestic consumption is generally relatively low, cheap is king.

In such an environment, the things produced by small workshops are competitive, and C2C is the business model for small workshops to survive.

This is also the reason why Taobao will be popular in the future, and finally it will also drive Taobao's b2b Tmall business, which is a later story.

Even the later Pinduoduo started with this model. The poorer the place, the more it needs this model, and cheapness will always be the proof of travel in these places.