Reborn: Billionaire in College

"Lao Lu!"

Dongjiang International Airport.

Zhu Jun successfully received Lu Yu and walked up to greet him cordially.

"Welcome back home."

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Lu Yu asked, "Does this count as your official employment? Will the team continue to work in Shanghai, or move to Dongjiang?"

"As we said before, we won't move for now. I'm just afraid that we'll lay off these people later."

"That shouldn't happen, at least not within half a year. A big company still has to save some face." After leaving the terminal, the two got into a taxi. "Mr. Zhu, how do you feel now? I feel very complicated, I can't explain it. I feel a little unhappy, a little relieved, and a little expectant."

Zhu Jun smiled and sighed: "It's about the same as yours. My ambition has not been fulfilled!"

The two had communicated online before, and because of the time difference, many things were not discussed thoroughly.

It happened so fast that neither of them could react, and their identities had not yet changed.

Two days ago, they were the co-founders of Musical.ly. Two days later, Musical.ly was fully integrated into TikTok. The two felt lost and confused about what to do next, and at the same time, were confused about the future.

Zhu Jun continued, "Now that things have come to this, don't think too much about it. My family members support this matter, and the employees below are also looking forward to it. They don't have so many ideas, and it's best to just take the money and run. Maybe they are right?"

"I've been thinking a lot these past two days. Maybe this is the best option? Facing such a giant, the survival space of a small company like us will be squeezed to the limit. If we can't find investment, we will end up losing both our money and our people."

Lu Yu nodded: "Of course I know the truth, but I just feel a little unwilling. Forget it, let's not talk about this."

Then there was a long silence in the taxi.

When they were starting their business, they always talked about everything when they met. Now, times have changed and when they meet again, they are full of things and seem to have less to talk about.

After speeding through the urban area of ​​Dongjiang for half an hour, the taxi took the two people to the Renren Office Park in Wujiang District.

The towering buildings in the park can be clearly seen from a distance.

Among them, the two big words "Tik Tok" are hung on the roof of the tallest building.

After getting off the car, the two walked slowly in the park dragging their suitcases, feeling quite shaken in their hearts.

Even though they all have work experience in large companies and have worked in Silicon Valley, they still feel like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden when they see the Renren campus with its vast area and magnificent buildings.

"After spending a few years abroad, are domestic factories so advanced? How did that guy just pay for the vending machine?"

"It should be facial recognition." Zhu Jun also noticed that this park is very special. There are many high-tech applications that are not yet popular in the outside world.

"Facial recognition is not uncommon, but it is scary to combine it with payment. And I think the recognition is quite accurate and fast."

"This is not surprising. Renren is the best in China in terms of artificial intelligence, machine vision and big data support. In some areas, it even started earlier than foreign countries. It has been reported in the news before, and I have also studied it. Through technologies such as deep learning and machine learning, the system can recognize and analyze facial features and perform identity verification, which improves the security and convenience of payment. By projecting specific patterns of light to form a three-dimensional image, the accuracy of recognition is improved. Cloud computing and big data provide powerful data processing and storage capabilities to ensure the efficiency and accuracy of the processing process." Zhu Jun paused and continued: "It is said that it can also detect whether the body is alive. A photo alone cannot pass the test. Of course, it doesn't matter if the person is thin or fat, because the database is constantly updated..."

Before Zhu Jun finished speaking, Lu Yu beside him widened his eyes, his gaze fixed on a small car.

This small car doesn’t even have a front windshield. It is square in shape like a box, with the three Chinese characters “Express Delivery Vehicle” written on the side.

Everyone else around was used to the driverless delivery vehicles, but Zhu Jun and Lu Yu were surprised and wanted to see how they worked.

The unmanned delivery vehicle maintained a speed of about 30 yards at all times, with the radar on its head continuously running and flashing, and it would stop when it detected pedestrians ahead.

"How is it? Autonomous driving is a rare thing. In recent years, it seems that technology has exploded. Scenarios that we didn't dare to imagine before have been applied in real life. There are too many people in our group, and we must have a unified express dispatch, otherwise the express delivery guys will run back and forth to death, and the company's operational safety cannot be guaranteed. This unmanned transport vehicle can achieve precise point-to-point transportation, and it can go back to the charging station to charge when it runs out of power. There are a total of 20 transport vehicles in the entire park, covering multiple office locations in the park."

Zhu Jun and Lu Yu were just wondering when they heard a middle-aged man's voice coming from behind them.

Zhu Jun turned around and saw that it was an old acquaintance.

"Mr. Zhang, why are you so troublesome to come pick us up in person?"

"Haha, no trouble. Besides, if I don't come, you can't get on the elevator. Is this Lu Yu?"

When Lu Yu heard that it was the CEO of ByteDance, he was shocked and hurried over to shake hands.

"The company's headquarters is so tall and huge that Lao Zhu and I are dazzled by it."

Regardless of whether the other party was complimenting him or not, at least Zhang Yiming was very satisfied with the company's headquarters. He smiled and introduced: "Many functions of our Douyin headquarters are advanced, and a lot of black technologies are used, which have not yet been circulated in the market. All our employees enter the building by scanning their faces, and after entering the elevator, they will be automatically assigned to the floor where the office is located. Only two of the elevators have physical buttons, and the other elevators have even cancelled the floor buttons. In addition, the elevator uses a destination floor control system, which is linked to the lobby gate to intelligently allocate elevator resources and reduce waiting time. I am very satisfied with the green energy-saving design. The lighting system automatically adjusts according to the intensity of natural light."

Hearing Zhang Yiming's tone that sounded like he was showing off or offering a treasure, Zhu Jun and Lu Yu smiled apologetically.

"I called you here this time to discuss several aspects. The first is naturally the integration of the resources, data and manpower of the two companies; the second is the promotion of the new app in North America and even the global market."

As they were talking, the three of them had already reached the conference room on the 32nd floor.

Zhu Jun asked: "Will Mr. Chen Pingjiang come today?"

"Why do you want to see him?"

"Who working in the Internet industry doesn't want to meet and learn from him?" Zhu Jun laughed and did not deny it.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yiming shook his head.

"Then you'll be disappointed. Mr. Chen will not attend such a low-level meeting. Otherwise, with so many group companies under Shanhe Holdings, all of them will come to him, and he will be too busy to handle it. However, our meeting will be recorded in full, and then backed up in ByteDance's archives, and a copy will be sent to the Strategic Decision Committee for review."

Lu Yu, who was walking behind without saying anything, clicked his tongue in his heart.

This big company has so many rules and regulations, and they are really strict.

Although he had worked in Silicon Valley, they were all small and medium-sized companies, and he had no experience in large multinational groups.

In order to avoid disappointing the two, Zhang Yiming encouraged them: "But as long as you achieve success overseas, Mr. Chen will see it, and he may meet you in person at that time."

As they were talking, Liang Ruobo came over and they exchanged greetings and introductions.

Soon, after all the leaders of the group arrived, the meeting officially began.

"After the company's decision and approval by Chairman Chen and the Strategic Decision-making Committee, TikTok's overseas expansion strategy has officially begun."

"These two are the co-founders of Musical.ly, which was newly acquired by the company, Zhu Jun and Lu Yu. Welcome everyone."

“We need to merge Musical.ly and Douyin in the shortest possible time and launch the overseas version of Douyin - Tiktok!”

When Zhang Yiming said this, everyone in the audience looked over at him, curious about the meaning of this name.

"Tiktok, I'm not good at English, so is there any explanation for this name? But you know what, it sounds nice and easy to pronounce." Human Resources Director Meng Qionggui said with a smile.

"It should be an onomatopeia for the sound of a ticking clock, right? In English, it's called ticktock."

"I think it's good. Tiktok also implies the short duration of short videos and the experience of users quickly browsing content on the platform."

"It has the same name as Kesha's English song. Is there any connection between the two?" Lu Yu, who was attending the conference for the first time, also raised the question curiously after a brief adaptation.

Zhang Yiming smiled and shook his head: "It's just a coincidence. Actually, what you said is both right and wrong. Everyone knows that I am from southern Fujian. In our southern Fujian dialect, we often say "tiao da" in daily colloquial language for playing and entertainment, which is homophonic to: clear and iron peach. The name was proposed by Mr. Chen, and Lao Liang and I thought it was good at the time. It's catchy and easy to remember."

When they heard that the name was given by the big boss, everyone's expression changed.

"No wonder, it was Mr. Chen who came up with it, it's a nice name."

“It sounds good and is easier to remember, and it has a good meaning.”

……

No matter whether Chen Pingjiang himself is there or not, everyone is praising him one after another. It doesn't matter whether he can hear it or not. We still have to show our attitude.

Besides, to be honest, this name is indeed good.

After deciding on the name of the new app, Zhang Yiming changed his tone and looked towards Zhu Jun and Lu Yu.

"You two need to go overseas to open up markets first and report to me and Lao Liang. Lu Yu is tentatively appointed as the president of Tiktok North America, and Zhu Jun is tentatively appointed as the president of Tiktok Europe. We will announce other regional presidents later. When the global president of Tiktok takes office, you will report to him."

“But there is one job that is top priority.”

At this point, Zhang Yiming laughed and asked Zhu Jun and Lu Yu with a mysterious and playful expression: "Do you know why Musical.ly has always been tepid? It is obviously very popular among young people in North America, and all data indicators are good, but the user growth rate is slow."

This sentence hit the nail on the head for Zhu Jun and Lu Yu, as this was a question they had been wondering about for a long time.

They considered the problem from various angles but could not find an answer, so they finally attributed the problem to promotion.

"Of course it's because of lack of money. The growth rate of Musical.ly's data will always make the next round of investors hesitate, and if we can't get the money, we won't be able to advertise or promote it. We have discussed this issue internally more than once." Zhu Jun frowned.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Yiming laughed, and he seemed to recall Chen Pingjiang's words that day.

"You are blind to the truth. Although lack of money for advertising is one factor, it is not the decisive factor."

If Zhang Yiming didn't know the answer in advance, he wouldn't have believed that this was the reason.

After hearing what Zhang Yiming said, Zhu Jun and Lu Yu felt curious but also somewhat unconvinced.

The two thought to themselves that no matter how dumb they were, they would not overlook the most basic situation. We ourselves don't know, but you, an outsider, know it?
What is the darkest place under the lamp?

After whetting people's appetite, Zhang Yiming said, "In fact, if Musical.ly repositions the logo in the video to ensure that the Musical.ly logo will not be cut off when users share the video, the problem of slow promotion efficiency can be greatly improved."

Zhu Jun: “?”

Lu Yu: “…”

The two looked at each other, you looked at me and I looked at you.

"Is there any necessary connection between them? Mr. Zhang!"

"Of course! Now is the Internet age, and the efficiency of communication is very fast. Musical.ly is also a good product, but the natural growth is obviously not in line with objective factors. When users share videos on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, they can only see the video, not even the Musical.ly logo or any other identification. Don't you think there is a problem? The promotion of Musical.ly depends entirely on word of mouth from users, and any Internet attributes can be used."

Zhu Jun: “…”

Lu Yu: “…”

After hearing what was said, the two men's eyes widened and their facial expressions changed in complexity.

Sudden realization, helplessness, regret, hesitation and so on.

I was hesitant, was what Zhang Yiming said true? But after thinking about it carefully, it seemed to be true.

Suddenly I realized, no wonder the data has been showing abnormal increases!
Unfortunately, it was too late to find out. Musical.ly had already been sold! It would be better if I didn’t know now!
Looking at the series of strange looks from all around, it was as if knives were being shot at them, making Zhu Jun and Lu Yu wish they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

If what Zhang Yiming said was true, they would slap themselves to death.

The two of them are simply hopelessly stupid.

It was obvious that Musical.ly's data could grow explosively by simply changing the position of the logo watermark, but the two of them were like thieves standing in front of a mountain of treasure, and ultimately returned empty-handed.

But it's too late to say anything now.

Seeing that the two of them looked a little broken-hearted, Zhang Yiming had no choice but to wave his hand quickly.

"This is not your fault, nor is it just your problem. Didn't so many people in your team not notice it? Don't be afraid of you laughing at me, but I only found out about it after someone told me. Lao Liang and I have discussed this issue before, but we couldn't figure it out. We thought it was because you didn't have enough funds and the North American market was special, but we didn't expect the location of the logo to have such a big impact."

Liang Ruobo also smiled and nodded: "Don't take it to heart, because we also understood it after Mr. Chen explained it." (End of this chapter)