You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 565

Although this cheap father-in-law is a bit of a snobbish person with questionable character.

But none of that matters. There are only misplaced resources, not worthless resources.

Qin Shaoyan felt that this suddenly appearing father-in-law was someone he could use to make a fuss.

As for how to use this person specifically, Qin Shaoyan didn't say, and Mingyue didn't ask either. The two tacitly agreed not to bring up the topic again.

After lunch and a short rest, Qin Shaoyan rushed to the conference room and convened a meeting on "group buying business".

Among those attending the meeting were familiar faces, but even more were new faces.

In the past two years, Sentinel Technology has been expanding and recruiting talents, attracting many elites.

Most of them are technical personnel, but there are also management personnel.

Technical skills can be seen after working for a while, but management skills require time to prove themselves.

Qin Shaoyan didn't waste any words and gestured to his assistant to turn on the big screen and display the PPT.

"Starting this month, Sentinel Technology will officially enter the army procurement business!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present perked up and showed excited expressions.

A big move is finally happening, and those who want to advance have finally got their chance.

Sentinel Technology hasn't made any major moves in the past two years, which has left some people feeling quite frustrated.

If the company's business doesn't expand, where will they get opportunities to perform, and how will they get promoted and receive a raise?

The development of the domestic internet in the past two years has been like a rocket, making it the perfect time to make great strides.

People with connections, networks, and abilities all flock to start their own businesses, easily attracting investment by simply creating a website.

Internet companies are as numerous as hairs on a cow, and CEOs are everywhere.

Besides starting your own business, joining a major internet company is another shortcut to advancement.

Especially for large companies that are constantly expanding their businesses, the more they expand, the faster they rise.

Qin Shaoyan was very satisfied with everyone's performance. As long as they wanted to improve, that was good, it showed they had ambition.

"Group buying will be a key project for us in the future. The company will invest heavily in it, and other sister companies will also fully cooperate."

"We have ample funds," Qin Shaoyan said, glancing around at the crowd. "But our opponents are formidable."

Do you know how many opponents we have in total?

Qin Shaoyan looked at the executives sitting in the front row. Yang Ke, the vice president of the business unit, thought for a moment and replied, "It is said that there are thousands of group buying websites."

"To be precise, there are more than 5,500 companies." Qin Shaoyan held up his palm to show the number. "5,500 is a very large number, it sounds quite frightening."

"Imagine the entire Chinese internet, with 5,500 competitors crowding into the group-buying arena."

"I can't even imagine how users will choose from over five thousand websites every day when they go online. Just browsing through the websites would take several days, and they wouldn't be able to do anything else." Qin Shaoyan made a thoughtful expression. "Huh, which websites did I just look at? Whatever, I can't remember any of them anyway."

The crowd burst into amused laughter.

"You see, giving users too many choices will only make them feel overwhelmed," Qin Shaoyan said with a relaxed expression. "Don't even mention 5,500, even if there were 55, users wouldn't be able to remember them."

"The entire market can only accommodate a maximum of ten companies. The rest are insignificant, vulnerable, and their very survival is questionable."

“We face several main competitors, including Manzuo.com, Tuanbao.com, Lashou.com, Meituan, and several group-buying websites backed by major internet companies.”

“These websites each have their own advantages.” Qin Shaoyan pointed to the screen and switched the slides in the PPT. “As the art of war says, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle.”

"If we want to defeat our opponents, we need to have a deep and detailed understanding of them."

"Manzuo.com is the first group-buying website in China, and its advantage is that it was established early."

"Tuanbao.com claims to be the only group-buying website to achieve profitability in 2010."

"Lashou.com's boss, Wu Bo, is a returnee from overseas. As soon as it was founded, it attracted capital and was known for burning money endlessly."

"Wang Xing, the founder of Fanfou.com, led his original team to shift from social products to offline lifestyle e-commerce and founded Meituan."

"Groupon," Qin Shaoyan smiled slightly. "This one has the biggest pedigree; it's a product of the collaboration between Groupon and Tencent."

"But this is the least of our worries. The idea that foreign monks can chant sutras better, or that only a powerful dragon can cross the river, is all nonsense. In recent years, the number of foreign internet companies that have died in the domestic market is countless."

"These foreign monks who want to make a living in China should first learn to speak Chinese before they even talk about begging."

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, Qin Shaoyan casually turned to the next page of the PPT.

"The group-buying market has economies of scale and network effects. Ultimately, it will form a 7-2-1 market share pattern, just like other internet sectors, where the winner takes all, the second place struggles to survive, and the others are in grave danger."

"So, although we seem to have many opponents, we actually only have two or three."

"Comparing these websites, who do you think will be our two main competitors?"

Yang Ke spoke again, "I think it should be Lashou.com and Tuanbao.com."

"Why these two?" Qin Shaoyan asked in return.

Yang Ke replied, "Because Lashou.com has abundant funds, the promotion and competition of its group-buying business cannot be separated from burning money. Lashou.com's biggest advantage is that it has more money than other competitors, and this alone is enough to widen the gap."

"Tuanbao.com claims to be profitable. Since it is profitable, it will attract more investment. In addition, the funds from the profits will also help it become another formidable competitor."

Qin Shaoyan nodded approvingly, "Your analysis is excellent and insightful."

"Our main competitors right now are Lashou.com and Tuanbao.com, but those two are easy to deal with."

"Their advantage is their capital. If we have more capital than them and burn money against them, they will be defeated immediately. No matter how much capital we have, it is not unlimited."

"This time, the advantage is on my side!"

"We at Sentinel Technology are determined to win the group-buying business. We hope everyone will work together to secure this key future business for the group!"

"Now it's time to brainstorm. Everyone is welcome to offer various suggestions and opinions. Feel free to speak your mind about the group-buying business. As long as it helps the company, you will be rewarded handsomely."

"Take these materials back and review them for reference." Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, and his assistant distributed a large stack of materials to everyone present. "If you have any ideas, you can email me, create a PPT, or meet with me in person." As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present became eager to try.

Qin Shaoyan has always been generous to his employees, never stingy with material rewards, making him one of the most generous people in China's internet companies.

He said there would be a hefty reward, so the reward must be quite generous.

While it is true that a generous reward will surely attract brave men, what President Qin needs now is a strategist, not a brave man.

After the meeting, everyone took their materials and went back to prepare their PowerPoint presentations, determined to make a good impression on Qin Shaoyan.

……

Two days later, Yang Ke was notified by the president's office that President Qin wanted to see him.

Yang Ke was somewhat surprised, and then wondered if President Qin had taken a liking to her report, which made her feel excited.

Upon arriving at the CEO's office, Yang Ke pushed open the door and found that in addition to Qin Shaoyan, Vice President Zhang Pingyi and Zhou Yuan were also present.

Yang Ke suppressed her doubts and said, "President Qin, I'm here."

"Please sit down." Qin Shaoyan said while flipping through the documents, "I've read your report, it's well written. I called you here today to have a detailed discussion with you."

"You should first present your report to General Manager Zhang and General Manager Zhou."

Yang Ke perked up, picked up his report, and began his presentation.

After listening to the report, Zhang Pingyi nodded. "The logic is rigorous, and the plan is very detailed. It's clear that a lot of effort has been put in."

Zhou Yuan echoed, "Although there are some flaws, it's very good overall."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and looked at Zhou Yuan, "What aspects do you think are flawed?"

Zhou Yuan hesitated for a moment, but Qin Shaoyan encouraged him, saying, "Just say whatever you want. Mr. Zhang and I would also like to hear your thoughts."

“Then I’ll speak.” Zhou Yuan hesitated for a moment. “Regarding the ground promotion, Manager Yang overlooked quite a few things. He doesn’t know much about this area and has never been involved in it before, so I think that’s understandable.”

Yang Ke nodded, "I am indeed lacking in this area, and President Zhou's criticism is very correct."

"It's not really criticism," Zhou Yuan waved his hand. "After all, I've always done on-the-ground promotion, so I know a lot about this."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "That's exactly why I called you over. Group buying business can't do without on-the-ground promotion. You could say that the core of the competition is on-the-ground promotion."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan felt invigorated, wondering if President Qin was going to entrust him with an important task again.
Qin Shaoyan turned to look at Yang Ke, "Your report is good, but it's not enough."

"Please give me your guidance, Mr. Qin." Yang Ke immediately adopted a humble and eager-to-learn expression.

"Your understanding of industry trends and the market is excellent, especially your insight into the weaknesses of your competitors," Qin Shaoyan said.

Yang Ke's analysis of several competitors was very insightful; in his report, he listed the biggest problems of each of the three competitors.

Manzuo.com only focuses on major cities where competition is extremely fierce, making it unsustainable to burn money on advertising.

Tuanbao.com aggressively expanded in all directions, from large to small cities, but its lack of funds made it unsustainable.

Lashou.com, which poses the greatest threat, has ample funds and is expanding rapidly, but its business model is unsustainable because it cannot continue to generate profits and will become unsustainable in the long run.

“But you lack understanding of on-the-ground promotion, and your on-the-ground promotion plan is too crude,” Qin Shaoyan said. “You also lack sufficient knowledge of the market and customers.”

"Since we have chosen to become the industry leader with a 70% market share, we need to seize the national market. However, there are more than 350 prefecture-level cities (states) in the country, and we cannot take care of every single one of them."

"Even with abundant funds, there are limits. How can we make the best use of them?"

"We need to clearly define the path and strategy for achieving this."

"First, the countryside surrounds the city." Qin Shaoyan raised a finger with a serious expression. "Of course, the countryside here doesn't refer to actual rural areas, and the city refers to first-tier cities. Everything else is the countryside."

"Top-tier cities have better conditions in all aspects, making them a battleground for competitors. Companies like Manzuo.com, Lashou.com, and Tuanzuo.com have invested a lot of resources in fierce competition, but none of them have been able to achieve absolute victory."

"Therefore, our strategy is not to strive for first place in first-tier cities, but to compete for second or third place, and to focus our main resources on provincial capitals or sub-provincial capitals and second-tier cities."

"For third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier cities, the competitors will be many small local companies. The strategy for this market is just one word: wait!"

"Once these small companies have nurtured the market to maturity, and we have gained an absolute advantage in first- and second-tier cities, we will then go and reap the rewards in that market."

"Secondly, we need to focus on two key elements: location and people." Qin Shaoyan then raised his second finger. "Location refers to local businesses, such as restaurants, cinemas, amusement parks, and KTVs."

"People refer to consumers. To seize the market, you need to burn money on subsidies. Other group-buying companies focus on subsidizing consumers, while ignoring merchants."

“We not only need to subsidize consumers, but also merchants, binding them to our group-buying platform and establishing exclusive partnerships with high-quality merchants, thereby indirectly binding customers who like the product. This strategy is called ‘cutting off the fuel supply.’”

"For consumers, the approach of using whichever company offers subsidies or offers the lowest subsidies will not create a competitive moat for businesses. It is simply too expensive and unsustainable."

"Thirdly, when expanding into new cities, you must be selective in finding partners, rather than blindly seeking out all businesses."

"The group-buying business we offer must include profitable products, rather than trying to be all-encompassing and all-encompassing."

"In the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside, we must ensure that the cities we capture achieve overall profitability within a certain period of time; otherwise, we should simply abandon the city and cut our losses in time."

Yang Ke was shocked after hearing Qin Shaoyan's words. President Qin's thinking was so comprehensive, compared to her own plan, it was child's play.

“You’re an expert in market operations; this is your forte.” Qin Shaoyan looked at Yang Ke seriously. “I’m thinking of entrusting you with the group-buying business. What are your thoughts?”

Upon hearing this, Yang Ke was filled with enthusiasm and immediately stood up, saying, "I am willing to do anything for President Qin. Thank you for your appreciation. I will do my best to do a good job in the group buying business."

"Okay." Qin Shaoyan nodded. "Go back and think carefully about what I told you today, rewrite a report and submit it, and then I will have a meeting with the other directors."

"Yes, President Qin." Yang Ke understood that his appointment still needed the approval of other directors, but this was just a necessary procedure.

At Sentinel Technology, President Qin's opinion is the most important.

After Yang Ke left, Qin Shaoyan looked at Zhou Yuan, who seemed a little dejected, and said, "The group-buying side needs an elite ground sales team. Pick a few capable people to go and help Yang Ke build up the ground sales team."

Zhou Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly nodded in agreement.

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "Actually, you are more suitable to handle the group buying business. The reason I entrusted it to Yang Ke is because I have a more important business to give you."

Zhou Yuan, who was initially feeling down, immediately brightened up upon hearing this.

(End of this chapter)