Rebirth 07: Start adding points from elementary school students

Chapter 401 Different ways do not work together

From the state Liu Liwei was in when he entered the door, Li Yan knew that he was not in a good state.

His body language was very depressed, but he seemed to be pretending to be in good condition.

"Mr. Li, good morning."

"Good morning, please sit down." Li Yan stood up and walked towards the sofa for meeting guests.

"Mr. Li, just stay at your workstation. No need to drink tea. I just..."

"I don't have anything to do right now, let's chat for a while, your work is also important."

Liu Liwei immediately showed a joyful expression.

This boy always gives Li Yan a simple feeling, and he doesn't look like a person who has entered society at all.

In fact, that's true. When he was in college, he was devoted to studying his own software. He was a bit romantic and had a childlike heart. After his failure, he was noticed by Dong Zhenchang and immediately came to Future Technology.

Liu Liwei is a person who only wants to prove himself with projects. Li Yan recently recruited someone and adjusted the salary structure to give him a raise to 13,000 yuan. He is very grateful...

In fact, his abilities are relatively average, and his technical level is not enough to provide high-level guidance. Fortunately, he has enough ideas, can easily understand Li Yan's ideas, and has strong execution ability.

This is why Li Yan was confident in letting him lead the team out.

Think about it, Liu Liwei is only 26 years old, and Li Yan is older than him in the 24 years of his previous life plus the three years since his rebirth.

Xiao Liu doesn’t have a system, so he has to gain life experience bit by bit.

Just like his twisted look now, you can tell what the topic is as soon as you hear what the food delivery software is for.

Bread was still ideal.

This is a problem that almost all students who have some ideas and aspirations will struggle with when they enter society.

Li Yan resonated with this, as he was trapped in this idea in his previous life.

"Tell me, what did you talk about with Mr. Wang that made you so entangled in this issue."

Liu Liwei opened his mouth for a long time but didn't know how to start.

What is the purpose of making a food delivery app? It can't be charity, right? Li Yan must be doing it to make money, but he is making money in a way that will be remembered by history, as a founder, and at the same time satisfying both material and spiritual needs.

This is a truth that everyone can understand, and asking this question means that Liu Liwei is not satisfied with the preset answer.

Will Li Yan feel like a troublemaker? Will she get fed up with her own "idealism" and fire him?
Liu Liwei was very nervous.

"Since I asked you to come and talk, I'm curious about your thoughts. There's no need to be nervous. It's just a communication." Li Yan thought for a moment, "I'm just a minor."

These words really comforted Liu Liwei, so the young man began to tell his even younger boss about his trip to Beijing.

"In fact, the previous communication was quite pleasant," Liu Liwei pursed his lips. "I was really excited when Mr. Wang came to talk to me in person. He has a lot of ideas and also wants to do food delivery business. Just like what you said, they have accumulated considerable merchant resources through group buying and have the ability to directly launch a food delivery pilot."

"Well, continue."

"However, Mr. Wang had many concerns about food delivery and was relatively lacking in technical means. When he learned that we had already started software design, he expressed strong interest in cooperation. He was very optimistic about the Jiaolong phone."

"But." Li Yan smiled.

Liu Liwei also laughed. Indeed, there would be a "but" here.

"But after roughly understanding our current thinking..."

“Did you mention the takeaway order distribution algorithm and the cooperation with Wei De Map?”

"No...no." Liu Liwei thought he had done something wrong. "I think Mr. Wang has a very positive attitude. For the time being, I will just explain our ideas and discuss cooperation with the electronic map company in the future."

"very good."

Eh? Liu Liwei straightened his back.

"After understanding the ideas, Mr. Wang was very excited. He invited us to visit the orchestra company and took us out for dinner. During the visit, he kept expressing his ideas." Liu Liwei's tone became serious. "It was these ideas that made me feel uncomfortable."

"Oh?"

"He has several concerns about the food delivery business. One is that it is not replicable. Once a viable model emerges, there will definitely be a large number of imitations. Mr. Wang believes that the key to food delivery is still user and merchant resources. As long as you get them, you can still become a winner even if the mechanism is not excellent. He believes that this step must be strongly intervened by capital."

Li Yan nodded, but he clearly saw that the light in Liu Liwei's eyes became dimmer.

"The second point is the route planning problem for food delivery, which is actually the algorithm. I did not tell him the progress of the algorithm, but Engineer Li still talked about the idea. Mr. Wang expressed some affirmation of this idea, but immediately moved on to the third point."

Liu Liwei paused here, obviously coming to the point. He even took a sip of tea.

You have some negotiating potential, young man.

"Mr. Wang mentioned an issue we haven't considered before, management. If there is a problem with takeout, how do we establish a responsibility system?"

"Have you ever thought about this question yourself?" Li Yan asked.

"I'm ashamed," Liu Liwei scratched his head, "We just had the idea, but we didn't think about it in depth or systematically."

"Then tell me what Mr. Wang thinks."

"He gave a lot of examples. Let me start with a simple one. I also want to hear your opinion." Liu Liwei's eyes were filled with anticipation. "For example, if a consumer buys spoiled food from a food delivery platform and gets diarrhea after eating it, what should they do?"

"If a merchant sells spoiled food, it is natural for the platform to give the merchant sufficient punishment."

"What if the merchants protest and say there is nothing wrong with their products? Do consumers need to prove it themselves?" Liu Liwei answered immediately. It seems that these are also the issues he has discussed with Mr. Wang.

"Merchants are also people." Li Yan said slowly, "I run this platform, so I have to guarantee everyone's rights and interests." This sentence made Liu Liwei's eyes light up, but he still threw out the follow-up question:

"It is very difficult for consumers to prove that their food is problematic. Inspection agencies are not widely available now. And unless the food is obviously smelly, most unclean food will not react until a long time after consumption. If the consumer eats something else during this period... In short, most of the time, the situation is really unclear."

"You know it yourself, and most of the time you can't explain it clearly." Li Yan smiled, "First of all, you have to be clear that my country has its own set of regulatory mechanisms in the field of food safety. If consumers are sure that there is a problem with the merchant, they can go through official supervision. We are a platform that provides convenience, and we should not do qualitative things."

Liu Liwei sighed imperceptibly.

"So, if I were a consumer and ordered a meal through a certain platform, and suffered a loss due to diarrhea after eating, I wouldn't say the loss is huge, but is that the only way to get by?"

"Giving a bad review to a business means that you feel uncomfortable after eating the food. The more evidence you provide, the more people will believe it, and the business will not be able to continue."

Liu Liwei felt that Li Yan didn't understand what he was struggling with. "Mr. Li, bad reviews... Mr. Wang, those who do group buying know it, including those who do online shopping, bad reviews can be faked! Sufficient evidence is not a big deal. If you buy someone's meal and then attach a medical record of a stomach upset that you don't know when, the merchant will suffer a loss in silence, right?"

Li Yan smiled and said, "I thought you were always considering things from the perspective of the consumer, but now you're thinking from the perspective of the merchant."

"And the riders." Liu Liwei answered immediately. "If I add one more condition to the previous question, it will become extremely complicated. If the rider is late in delivering the goods, for example, in the middle of summer, the merchant says that the goods were spoiled during the delivery process, or the rider was contaminated during the ride, what should I do?"

"Did Mr. Wang propose this or did you propose it?"

"I mentioned it."

"What's Mr. Wang's answer?"

Liu Liwei sighed deeply, "I asked this question more than once, and he answered it more than once."

"Talk about it."

"I asked what to do if there are problems with the items sold by merchants, and he said to punish the merchants. I asked what to do if the rider delivers the goods late, delivers the goods to the wrong place, or even loses the goods, and he said to punish the rider. I asked him what the responsibility of the platform is, and he laughed and said that the platform only provides a place for business exchanges, and as long as there are no data errors, there is no responsibility."

Liu Liwei said excitedly, "He even said that even if there are problems with the goods sold by the merchants or the delivery drivers are not good, to put it bluntly, it is just a business behavior. Those who do well will stay, and those who do not will leave. 'Customers have the responsibility to distinguish between good and bad', and the fittest will survive."

"That's why you asked, what is the purpose of making this food delivery software?" Li Yan said, then made a cup of tea and pushed it to Liu Liwei.

"Yes. Mr. Wang said that it was to make money. He said this is a blue ocean, and if we can successfully occupy the market, the potential is unlimited." Liu Liwei sighed again, "He has a lot of ideas, many of which surprised us, such as asking customers to pay extra for on-time delivery services, and losing money if we fail to deliver..."

"He's right," Li Yan said. "No one does a project for charity. Making money is a must anyway."

Liu Liwei had no expression on his face, and he didn't drink the tea that Li Yan pushed over. After a long while, he said, "Yes, my position is still not as high as the bosses. It's easy for me to focus on some too small problems and get entangled in some too small interests. That's why I always don't understand the so-called business rules... Survival of the fittest, that's probably it."

Seeing that Xiao Liu was about to sink into the sofa, Li Yan finally expressed her opinion:
"If Mr. Wang follows this path, the final outcome will not be survival of the fittest, but rather bad money driving out good money."

Liu Liwei sat up as if he was suddenly energized.

"Let me answer your question. What is the purpose of making this food delivery app?" Li Yan picked up the teacup and took a sip. "I don't want to make money from it. I really consider the convenience of human life. Human beings include consumers, deliverymen and merchants."

Liu Liwei's eyes lit up completely.

"Since the platform provides services, it naturally has to bear some regulatory responsibilities," said Li Yan. "It is easy for the platform to pile all the conflicts on the merchants, delivery personnel and consumers, and only be responsible for imposing penalties and taking a commission. This is the way of people who are only interested in making money."

"Then, how do you want to solve the problems I just mentioned?" Liu Liwei asked sincerely.

“It’s always better to deal with it beforehand than afterward.”

"I... don't quite understand?"

"Raise the entry threshold and force all stores to upload sufficient store photos, stove photos and food supervision and inspection records; open up communication channels between merchants, delivery personnel and consumers, and provide sufficient platform customer service to intervene in conflict events; establish food inspection centers in cities with qualified coverage, conduct regular anonymous order spot checks on safety and make them public, and provide consumers with a quick inspection channel; the algorithm should try to provide delivery personnel with sufficiently convenient and easy delivery routes..."

Although Liu Liwei was very happy to hear this, the happier he was, the more uncertain he felt.

"The high entry barrier will make it difficult for us to capture market share, and the costs of such merchants are also relatively high... plus the platform takes a cut, I'm afraid the price won't be low, and not many consumers will choose it? Will it fall into a vicious cycle? Setting up a testing center requires investment on the one hand, and on the other hand, it imposes requirements on merchants. I'm afraid that not many people will be willing to join by then."

"Why don't we just make concessions?"

This sentence made Liu Liwei confused. Boss, how do you want me to respond to such a question?
"Anyway, there will inevitably be a capital subsidy war that President Wang mentioned, so let's do it, who's afraid of who?" Li Yan drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, drinking with the spirit of a hero.

"But I still... Mr. Li, after all, if the takeout industry wants to be large enough, it must go down to the grassroots level. A fast food meal that costs a few dollars will definitely attract more people than a fancy stir-fry that costs more than 20 dollars."

"You're right." Li Yan nodded in affirmation.

"Even if you are willing to make concessions, many small stalls selling fried noodles and noodles, or small shops specializing in takeout that will inevitably appear in the future, which are not qualified to join the platform, will naturally be absorbed by other platforms. In terms of quantity, I am afraid we cannot compete with them..."

At this point, Liu Liwei suddenly slapped his head and said, "I understand! Mr. Li, I didn't see it clearly enough. You never said you wanted to monopolize the market, and no one said only one food delivery platform could survive. We can definitely differentiate ourselves!"

"We want to monopolize it." Li Yan said.

Liu Liwei, who had just made an impassioned speech, was stunned again.

"Of course I want to monopolize. The purpose of my monopoly is to cut off the path of those who are only interested in making money."

In fact, it is also a form of self-protection. On the same battlefield, others must be forced to abide by the same set of rules. Otherwise, nobility will only be the epitaph of the noble.

"But we..." Liu Liwei wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it.

At this point he understood that the phrase "the height is not high enough" had changed from a polite remark to a sincere one.

"Who says that only bad money can drive out good money?" Li Yan turned off the kettle and heated it. "I want good money to drive out bad money."

Liu Liwei's eyes were shining. What Li Yan said was actually not just about the food delivery software, but the entire software and even the Jiaolong phone itself.

The boss has already said that he would give concessions, so what is there for him to worry about?

"Then, what about Mr. Wang?" Liu Liwei asked tentatively.

"Different road non-phase plan."

(End of this chapter)