Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Yanjing, Digital Valley, the DiDi Dache workshop.

Cheng Wei picked up a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Li Guangping, who was sitting across from him, a hint of embarrassment on his face.

The place was utterly spartan. Cheng Wei knew that if it weren’t for the novelty of the ride-hailing model, plus the explosive popularity of Fast Taxi attracting investment bank attention, the Vice President of Today Capital would never have deigned to visit his workshop-style startup.

”President Cheng, your conditions here are certainly harsh,” Li Guangping said with a teasing smile as he took the water, his gaze sweeping over the small, cramped space.

Previously, Today Capital had missed the opportunity to invest in Fast Taxi. Now, Fast Taxi’s valuation had already exceeded 600 million US dollars.

The big boss, Xu Xin, believed that rather than investing in the already-established Fast Taxi, it was better to turn their attention to DiDi Dache.

This way, Today Capital’s potential for profit would be much greater.

Cheng Wei gave an awkward laugh. Although Li Guangping’s words stung, he didn’t dare refute them.

This was the first—and only—venture capital firm to proactively show interest in investing in DiDi Dache since the project’s inception.

When you’re out of money, you can’t speak with confidence.

Seeing that the balance in his account was nearly gone, he knew that if he couldn’t secure funding, he would have to tuck his tail between his legs, declare his startup a failure, and go back to being an employee.

”President Li, this is DiDi Dache’s business plan. Please take a look.”

Cheng Wei pushed a thick document across the table to Li Guangping.

Li Guangping gave a faint smile, opened the business plan, and began to read it as if no one else was in the room.

In Cheng Wei’s vision, there were 1.3 million taxis in the country with daily operational revenues as high as 300 million, which translated to over 100 billion a year. Even if DiDi Dache took just a 10% commission, its annual revenue would be 10 billion.

At that point, DiDi Dache’s valuation would exceed 100 billion!

”When can DiDi Dache go live?” After a long moment, Li Guangping put down the document and looked up at Cheng Wei, his gaze sharp and piercing.

”By the end of the month, at the latest,” Cheng Wei said through gritted teeth.

In reality, he had realized long ago that the outsourcing company he’d spent ninety thousand on was completely unreliable.

He couldn’t say for sure whether they would be able to launch on schedule at the end of the month.

But in order to secure funding, Cheng Wei had no choice but to bluff.

”That’s too slow! Fast Taxi has already entered the Luzhou market. Including Hang City and Jinling, they have a potential user base of 20 million people within their operational range. DiDi needs to speed things up.”

Li Guangping shook his head, his expression grave.

’I want to be fast, too!’

’But I’m fucking broke!’

Cheng Wei gave a bitter smile, screaming internally.

He had suffered immensely lately. Most of his team members were originally from the business side of Wealth Treasure’s B2C division and knew absolutely nothing about technology.

The slow pace of R&D made him so anxious he couldn’t sleep, night after night.

On one hand, there was the powerful rise of Fast Taxi, which had secured 90 million US dollars in funding and was aggressively seizing the ride-hailing market in places like Hang City and Jinling. On the other hand, the nightmare of his startup failing constantly haunted him.

He had resigned from his general manager position at Ah Li. If he failed to produce results, not only would his old colleagues mock him, but even his parents and relatives would question his decision.

Cheng Wei took a deep breath. ”President Li, I know that compared to Fast Taxi, DiDi Dache is at a disadvantage in terms of technology and funding. But I firmly believe that a domestic ride-hailing market this large can support at least two or three unicorn companies.”

The implication was: ’Even though I have no money and no tech, if Today Capital invests in me, I can leverage a first-mover advantage to secure second or third place without much difficulty.’

Li Guangping smiled freely. He appreciated Cheng Wei’s honesty.

In his view, DiDi Dache was not without its merits. The entire team, including Cheng Wei, consisted of core members from Wealth Treasure’s sales team. When it came to market development, they were absolute experts.

It was like when Ah Li invested in Meituan and sent Shan Jiawei, the head of the Huagong Iron Army, to help Wang Xin manage the ground promotion team and accelerate market expansion.

In less than a year, Meituan’s market share had surged to second place in the industry.

While Wang Xin’s operational skills were certainly a factor, Shan Jiawei’s contributions were equally indispensable.

This was another major reason why Xu Xin chose to invest in DiDi Dache.

”How much money do you want? What do you think DiDi Dache is worth? And what percentage of equity are you willing to give up?”

Li Guangping watched Cheng Wei with a half-smile, firing off three consecutive questions.

Cheng Wei was taken aback for a moment. He only wanted 5 million—enough to get the app built and move to a more comfortable office.

As for what DiDi Dache was currently worth, he hadn’t really given it serious thought.

Cheng Wei fell silent. After a good while, he finally answered, ”Eight million, and I can give Today Capital 15% of the equity.”

”Three million for 20% equity, but you have to guarantee a launch before the end of the month.” Li Guangping didn’t even bother to refuse the offer. He simply stated his terms in a flat tone, leaving no room for negotiation.

Faced with the domineering Li Guangping, Cheng Wei had intended to use his extensive negotiation skills, but when he met Li Guangping’s teasing gaze, he immediately swallowed his words.

’Losing a piece of the equity is better than losing the project’s right to exist.’

Following his gut, Cheng Wei stood up, shook Li Guangping’s right hand, and, with words of gratitude, happily accepted Today Capital’s investment.

He was just too desperate for cash!

His old colleague, Wang Gang, had put up his entire life savings to support his venture. If DiDi Dache went under, Cheng Wei really wouldn’t know how to face him.

He couldn’t very well say that the 800,000 couldn’t even produce a single app, could he?

Thankfully, Today Capital had solved his most pressing problem!

After seeing Li Guangping off, Cheng Wei excitedly called Wang Gang. ”DiDi got the funding!”

「Meanwhile.」

At 18 Changsheng Road, over twenty kilometers away from Digital Valley, a radiant Xiao Jun strode into the Gaode Map Headquarters.

A year ago, he had been conspired against by Cheng Congwu and Hou Jun, forcing him to dismally leave Gaode Map’s management. Now, he was back.

At this moment, Cheng Congwu sat in his office with a sour expression, waiting for Xiao Jun to arrive for the handover.

Three days earlier, Senlian Capital had sent an appointment email: effective April 10th, Xiao Jun would officially assume the role of CEO of Gaode Map.

Cheng Congwu didn’t believe in such coincidences. He was certain that this Xiao Jun was the same old friend and former subordinate he had kicked out.

But on second thought, Cheng Congwu shrugged nonchalantly.

Gaode Map was in the past. His and Hou Jun’s focus would now be on the cultural tourism development project in Phoenix Ancient City.

Having sorted out his thoughts, Cheng Congwu put on a smile and walked out, planning to bury the hatchet with Xiao Jun.

As he approached the office area, he saw Xiao Jun walking toward him.

A constant stream of compliments could be heard from all around!

”President Xiao? It really is you! We thought it was just someone with the same name!”

”With you here, Gaode Map will definitely crush Qian Du!”

”President Xiao, I’ve booked a private room at Jingzhao Prefect for tonight. We should all get together and catch up.”

As Xiao Jun walked past, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the people greeting him. Among them were old employees who had always supported him, as well as subordinates who had parted ways with him to side with Cheng Congwu.

No one had expected that Xiao Jun would have quietly cozied up to the new boss and secured the CEO position.

”Congratulations!”

Cheng Congwu stopped in front of Xiao Jun and extended his hands, a brilliant smile on his face.

It looked like he wanted to give Xiao Jun a hug, like old friends.

Xiao Jun let out a wry laugh. His previous anger, grievance, and confusion all vanished in that instant.

In a daze, he recalled many years ago, when the three of them were crammed into an office with only a single electric fan, studying how to create electronic maps and navigating the application process for surveying qualifications. They had trusted each other and worked hard together.

”President Cheng, when I left Gaode last time, I forgot to say goodbye. I suppose it’s not too late to make up for it now, is it?”

Xiao Jun said with a calm expression.

”Not at all! The founding idea for Gaode Map came from you. It started with you, and I’m very happy that it can be returned to your hands.”

Cheng Congwu replied with a smile.

Xiao Jun nodded and began to applaud in agreement.

Led by his example, the surrounding Gaode employees all began to clap enthusiastically, witnessing the handover of Gaode Map’s top leadership.

In the end, Xiao Jun managed to restrain himself, swallowing all the questions he wanted to hurl at Cheng Congwu.

That afternoon, a spokesperson for the Gaode Map Market Department announced to the public: effective immediately, Gaode Navigation would completely eliminate its paid subscription model.

Both the electronic maps and the navigation services would be completely free!

This move caused Gaode Map’s downloads to skyrocket on the App Store, various Android app markets, 91 Assistant, Wandoujia, App Treasure, and the Orange Application Mall.

In just one hour, downloads surpassed 4 million!

It was as shocking as if, a decade or so later, Penguin Video were to suddenly announce it was going free and completely abolishing its membership system.

When Qian Du Map and Cld received the news, they were instantly stunned!

They had seen price wars before, but they had never seen anyone go with a completely free strategy right out of the gate.

Cld was in a better position, as its business was primarily in pre-installed navigation systems for automobile manufacturers; it didn’t have a B2C division.

Qian Du Map, however, immediately went into panic mode!

The person in charge, Huang Wei, whipped out his phone and called Cheng Congwu, yelling, ”What the hell are you doing! Gaode doesn’t want to make money, and it doesn’t want Qian Du to make money either?”

”Mr. Huang, please don’t misunderstand! I’m not the CEO of Gaode Map anymore. This new policy has nothing to do with me,” Cheng Congwu quickly explained.

”Xiao Jun? You mean Senlian Capital is pulling the strings from behind the scenes?” Huang Wei asked suspiciously.

He knew that Senlian Capital had acquired Gaode Map, but he didn’t know that on their very first day of taking over, they had replaced the CEO with Xiao Jun.

”Perhaps,” Cheng Congwu said with a light chuckle.

Full of doubt, Huang Wei knocked on the door to Li Yanhong’s office.

”Robin, Gaode is the number one electronic navigation product by market share, and now they’ve announced they’re going free. We need to follow suit as soon as possible. The faster, the better,” Huang Wei said in a serious tone.

Once he fully understood Gaode Map’s free-to-play strategy for the B2C market, the last shred of hope in his heart was shattered.

Li Yanhong didn’t say a word after hearing this, his brow deeply furrowed and a hesitant look on his face.

Although the B2C business accounted for a small percentage of their profits, it still brought in a guaranteed thirty million in revenue each year.

Previously, whenever he heard the name Senlian Capital, he had always thought Chen Yansen was astonishingly gifted—to have amassed a fortune of tens of billions by the age of twenty was a testament to his breathtaking business acumen.

But at this very moment, the names Senlian Capital and Chen Yansen had instantly become utterly detestable.

Li Yanhong was indecisive.

”Robin, if we’re even one step too slow, all the individual users will flock to Gaode! Once they establish an advantage of scale, the difficulty for us to surpass them will multiply several times over.”

Huang Wei urged anxiously.

”Have the Market Department issue an announcement,” Li Yanhong sighed, waving his hand dismissively.

Seeing his boss take his advice, Huang Wei couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. After acknowledging the order, he hurried out to find the product and marketing staff to first disable Qian Du Map’s paid features before issuing the announcement.

The news that the two major electronic navigation map services had successively announced they were going free immediately shot to the top of the trending topics.

This single move practically changed the travel habits of ordinary people in Hua Country. Many who couldn’t tell north from south no longer got lost, thanks to navigational guidance.

The countdown to the obsolescence of physical maps had begun!

At 10:00 PM that night, an even more explosive piece of news broke: Lashou Network was suspected of financial fraud, and its IPO plan had been shelved.

”Who sent the whistleblower report to the Securities Association? Find them!”

At the Lashou Network headquarters, Wu Bo was about to lose his mind. They were just one step away from their IPO. ’Who the fuck would pull such a dirty trick?’