Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

October 31st. The autumn chill grew stronger.

The sky was overcast, and a light autumn rain drizzled outside the window. Inside Building Three of Hang City’s Shuyuan Software Park.

Hu Weiyi had just finished a product development meeting when she pulled Wang Zihao aside to discuss the pre-launch hype for OFO Bike, the resource allocation for its first day online, and the marketing plan for the App Store, Android app markets, Wandoujia, and the Orange Application Mall.

Wang Zihao sat in his chair and glanced out the window, sighing to himself. He couldn’t quite understand Chen Yansen’s reasoning. He’d been doing a perfectly fine job as the director of marketing at Pinbei, so why did the man have to kick him all the way out to Hang City to be Hu Weiyi’s COO?

’Do I know anything about bike-sharing?’

’Nope.’

’Do I understand overall project operations?’

’Not a clue.’

Yet when he had voiced his doubts to Chen Yansen, the man had simply said, ”If you don’t know, then learn. We need one of our own people watching over the OFO Bike project.”

Those words had made Brother Hao happy for a long time. By the time the full implication sank in, he was already in Hang City.

”President Wang, you’re the most familiar with the heads of projects like Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, Gaode Map, and Kuai Pao. From here on out, all our cross-platform collaborations will be in your hands.”

Hu Weiyi said softly, a smile on her face.

She didn’t dare object to Chen Yansen’s arrangement. After all, OFO Bike was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Senlian Capital. Just like Wang Zihao, she was just an employee.

In reality, Wang Zihao’s unofficial standing was much higher than hers.

Although he might not be ready for the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role just yet, Wang Zihao had previously served as the director of marketing for both FoxTao and Pinbei Mall. His industry connections were terrifyingly strong; he could easily secure promotional spots on major web portals and social media apps.

With Wang Zihao on board, OFO Bike would never be short on user traffic.

Besides, Hu Weiyi wouldn’t dare claim her own abilities were particularly strong compared to those of a seasoned professional manager.

She needed time to settle into the CEO role, and so did Wang Zihao.

To ensure complete control over the OFO project, Chen Yansen had not only temporarily transferred a team from Gaode and Fast Taxi to support development but had also installed his own people in the HR, finance, and legal departments.

Hu Weiyi only had operational authority and partial decision-making power!

Her level of authority was comparable to that of Liao Wei at Cloud Speed Express and Zhang Yiming at Byte Technology.

Chen Yansen couldn’t be bothered to test people’s character. He preferred to start directly with HR and finance, bringing them under the unified jurisdiction of the headquarters. Only then could he rest easy.

People are fickle!

”No problem, President Hu. Brother Sen gave instructions beforehand. Once OFO Bike goes live, our daily impressions won’t drop below thirty million for the first week.”

Wang Zihao responded with a smile.

Others might not have the confidence to make such a promise, but he did!

The Orange Application Mall, Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, and Gaode Map alone could provide OFO Bike with around 20 million impressions.

Furthermore, Penguin had originally intended to invest in DiDi Bike. But after learning that Chen Yansen had launched the OFO bike-sharing project, Liu Zhiping had Lin Chenfeng immediately cancel those plans. Now, they were preparing to participate in OFO Bike’s Series A funding round.

’Thirty million?’

Hu Weiyi chuckled softly, marveling to herself. ’It feels great to have a powerful backer. They give you money when you need money, people when you need people, and resources when you need resources.’

’So this is how easy starting a business can be!’

Her own magazine, *Geek Auto*, had been around for three years and had never really taken off. It had been barely staying afloat, surviving on advertising revenue from car manufacturers.

It didn’t make much money, and life hadn’t been particularly comfortable.

After deciding to take over the OFO Bike project, she sold *Geek Auto* magazine to Li Bin of Yiche Network, and it was now in the process of being integrated into his company.

”I heard from my investment banking friends in Yanjing that Cheng Wei from DiDi Bike has been meeting frequently with investors. I’m afraid he’s looking to expand their rollout again.”

With the work talk out of the way, Hu Weiyi started making small talk with Wang Zihao.

”The bike-sharing market is huge, but the profit margins are low. Having DiDi Bike cultivate the market for us beforehand actually saves us a ton of manpower and resources. A head start doesn’t guarantee a win. President Hu, you need to have faith in our product.”

Wang Zihao said dismissively.

He had been with Chen Yansen for over two years and had been through his fair share of business battles, big and small. He wasn’t the least bit concerned about Cheng Wei.

He knew perfectly well that besides DiDi Bike, a whole slew of competing apps would eventually pop up.

The only way to win would be to do what Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache did: burn through cash to conquer the market, offering insane benefits to new and old users alike. They offered discounts of up to 14 Hua Yuan that refreshed three times a day, creating a competitive bloodbath so intense that no one else dared to even enter the ring.

No entrepreneur and no venture capital firm would dare to match the speed at which Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache were burning through money.

Just as the two were talking, hundreds of kilometers away in Yanjing...

Li Yanhong stared at DiDi Dache’s financial reports, remaining silent for a long time. His brow was deeply furrowed.

In just one month, DiDi Dache had burned through over ninety percent of the 1.2 billion Hua Yuan from its Series E funding round. Now, only 50 million remained in its accounts.

Three days ago, Xiang Hailong had already canceled the subsidy programs for existing users in the North China and East China regions. The per-order subsidy for drivers had also been cut from 5 Hua Yuan to 2 Hua Yuan. All that remained was the first-order discount for new users.

Seeing this, Cheng Weixing at Fast Taxi changed the discount for existing users back to the old ”lucky draw” red envelopes. The amounts ranged from 5 to 12 Hua Yuan, with existing users typically receiving 5 to 8 Hua Yuan and new users getting 9 to 12 Hua Yuan.

The driver’s per-order subsidy was lowered to 3 Hua Yuan to prevent a counter-offensive from DiDi Dache!

The two sides had reached a tacit understanding, pausing the subsidy war!

From October 1st to October 27th, Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache had burned through a combined total of 2.2 billion Hua Yuan, single-handedly forging the public’s habit of hailing rides through an app.