Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 416: Products are selling well, and competitors are taking action
The day after the press conference, Chen Pingjiang felt busy.

From 7 in the morning to 11 at night, without stopping for a moment, the person worked like a machine and emitted smoke.

We can’t refuse an interview with an important official media, right?
Foreign media and other media with less weight and status were relegated to the back.

We can’t refuse to receive the leaders from the city and ministries when they come to inspect, right?

As for the heads of various companies who want to come to us to seek cooperation, they can only arrange another time.

The influence of the press conference gradually spread, beyond Chen Pingjiang's imagination.

In just one day, the recorded video of the press conference was played more than 200 million times.

The hot search has never been removed.

Orange S4 still maintains its strong stance, with sales of nearly 24 million in 400 hours, which is exaggerated.

When the sales volume was announced, Samsung and Apple were both speechless.

The Xiaoju speaker is priced at 899 yuan and is also selling like hot cakes because it has no competitors.

Many young people have the habit of listening to music.

The Xiaoju speaker can be used to listen to music, serve as a smart home control unit, and even chat with people.

Technology enthusiasts and Orange fans are the ones who pay the most.

There are endless unboxing videos on the Internet.

Once the concept of AIOT was introduced, many manufacturers saw the trend of AI Internet of Things and came to seek cooperation, wanting to join Orange Technology's ecological chain.

DJI’s Phantom 1 drone was a huge success in its global launch, also receiving 24 orders within 10 hours.

That’s nearly 8 million in sales, in just 24 hours.

After all, unlike mobile phones, drones are not a rigid demand, and currently only a small group of people actually purchase them.

In the meeting room, Wang Tao said with some concern: "Mr. Chen, just as you said, many customers who bought Phantom 1 are obviously not ordinary consumers. They are generous and buy several units at a time. And their expressions are serious and fierce. I guess it's..."

Chen Pingjiang laughed: "How can we not sell if others want to buy? Besides, you are selling globally, so you can't control the final destination of the product. We can't identify the work and identity of each buyer one by one. Have you added the backdoor I mentioned?"

Wang Tao nodded and said, "We have added it, but since the product has just been launched, it is not easy to make it too obvious. Currently, we have only restricted some functions and added information collection for drones sold to specific areas."

"That's enough. Future drones can be upgraded slowly. Do you have an idea for the next generation of products?"

"We have had it for a long time. The next generation of products is divided into two types. One is to make it smaller and lighter based on the DJI Phantom 1, upgrade the flight control system, and develop our own sports camera; the second is to develop a cross-country drone."

Chen Pingjiang nodded: "OK, I think the direction is fine. But try to diversify the products, such as large drones suitable for aerial photography, agriculture, and transportation. At the same time, you should cultivate the domestic industrial chain, expand the manufacturing scale, and in turn reduce costs."

"Okay." Wang Tao nodded in agreement with Chen Pingjiang's instructions.

After a long period of contact with Chen Pingjiang and watching the entire press conference, Wang Tao, whose previous idol was Tesla, now has Chen Pingjiang, feels that Chen Pingjiang is fully capable of creating a new era of AI.

If Chen Pingjiang wants to be the chairman of DJI, Wang Tao will agree.

At this time, Chen Pingjiang looked at Lin Bin and said, "Old Lin, DJI is in urgent need of money to develop multiple drones. We also need to support the local supply chain and increase recruitment efforts. Please shorten the payment period and ensure weekly settlement."

Lin Bin hadn't spoken yet, but Wang Tao hesitated: "This... isn't good. The industry rule is that the payment period is one month, and we're not really in a hurry."

Chen Pingjiang smiled and waved his hand: "Let's do it this way for the early stage, and change it back when DJI has sufficient cash flow."

Chen Pingjiang has done his best to win people's hearts and minds. He fully believes that if DJI wants to raise funds again in the future, Orange Technology will be the only investor.

Lin Binbin also nodded: "Okay, Mr. Chen."

DJI Phantom 1 domestic sales can barely be settled on a weekly basis, but overseas sales are naturally impossible. If this were to be done, Orange Technology would have to rely almost entirely on its own cash flow to cover the cost.

Fortunately, Orange Technology is a large company with a large business, so it is not a big problem.

With the successful launch of Orange S4, the introduction of the third generation of PAD, plus Bluetooth headsets, smart watches, and Little Orange speakers, Orange Technology has made a fortune, with gross profit estimated to be over billion in a single quarter.

However, the bulk of this money will be used for research and development and to support the development of the industrial chain.

For example, it has invested in BOE, Goertek, Ofilm, and Longsheng Technology.

So in the end, we are not very rich.

This is Chen Pingjiang's plan. He has been too high-profile recently and it is unknown when he will be sanctioned. It is better to make plans early.

Once these domestic supply chains mature, the benefits will far outweigh the returns.

It is worth mentioning that the remaining money of Orange will be used to support Pangu AI. Of course, the other groups will also have to pay money in proportion, and all of it will be counted into the financing.

Even so, Chen Pingjiang still has to pay some money out of his own pocket to barely support AI.

Without expansion in application, Pangu AI will obviously have no choice but to bear the losses.

This is not something that an ordinary small company can handle.

Besides, Jiuzhou Automobile can only survive well because of its two financial backers, Chen Pingjiang and BYD.

This is sometimes the case in the technology world, where input and output are linked.

Why can't some car companies make better products and why are they gradually marginalized? It's not because they are bad, but because R&D is really expensive.

Huawei's automotive BU has 7000 R&D personnel, and they are simply a bunch of people and money.

In comparison, traditional car manufacturers spend more than one billion yuan on the research and development of smart cockpit autonomous driving every year. How can you compare?
What makes Chen Pingjiang stronger than other groups is not actually his management ability.

The secret to success is to never take detours and to have more knowledge and foresight.

With the scale and industry that have already been established, all that is left is to rely on money and people.

If Chen Pingjiang had not made some money in the stock market last year, it would be a different question whether he could continue to support Huaxin in the future.

He is just waiting for the rice to be cooked.

No matter what level of leaders came to inspect and visit, Chen Pingjiang always complained about being poor.

When your leaders ask you with a smile if you are still crying poor.

Chen Pingjiang counted on his fingers and told his leader.

Anyway, it is better to give the subsidies to Chen Pingjiang than to foreign companies or those junk companies. At least he can really see the returns.

When the internal situation of each group was relatively stable, the outside world was already in turmoil.

The news about the leader's inspection broke out in the news that evening.

All kinds of product unboxing videos went viral, and many people had already received their "family photos", leading to a show-off on WeChat Moments and Weibo. "I lined up 13 hours in advance, brought my own tent, and ordered takeout when I was hungry. Finally, I was among the first to receive the Orange S4, Xiaoju Speaker, and DJI Phantom 1. [Picture] [Picture]"

There were four or five rows of likes in the circle of friends, and a bunch of people were still asking questions.

"Quick, quick, tell me how it feels. I didn't queue up, and I didn't get one online."

"I envy you. This set costs nearly 20,000 yuan."

"Brother Luo, are you home? Can I come and play with you now?"

"..."

Alibaba has also obtained the Xiaoju speaker through personal channels.

Jack Ma called a group of people to try it out on site.

"How about it, can we do it?" After a while, Lao Ma looked around and asked.

The vice president in charge of technology nodded and said, "The general principle is not difficult. It can definitely be done. The difference is the degree of intelligence."

What this means is that anyone can copy homework, it just depends on how well you copy.

Lao Ma nodded and said, "We have to hurry up. Everyone has seen the press conference. AI is indeed the future. If we don't change, we will die. Take Nokia as an example. We should not engage in fancy projects, but I think intelligent voice should be the baton for us to start the Internet of Things."

It seems that an e-commerce and payment company has little to do with AI, but Ma has a long-term view and does not think so.

"Our product is called 'Tmall Genie', and we will immediately start to build an AI laboratory. I'm not sure whether smart speakers are a rigid demand market, but I can firmly say that voice interaction is definitely a rigid demand for us."

"In addition, I would like to remind you that Tmall Genie was not created for e-commerce. Don't think of this product as a 'transaction' product. Instead, it is a consumer-grade hardware developed to improve the next generation of human-computer interaction. Alibaba must be at the table of the AI ​​ecosystem."

There are many companies that share the same idea as Lao Ma.

If AI is the future, then everyone must embrace it, otherwise we may be eliminated at any time.

It’s fine if you haven’t seen it, but it would be stupid if you saw it and didn’t do anything.

In just two or three days, many companies began to recruit relevant talents.

The companies that have been revealed to be planning to get involved in voice interaction and smart speakers include Xiaomi, JD.com, iFlytek, Baidu, Tencent, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple.

Some are self-developed, and some are cooperatively developed.

Without exception, all of them are Internet companies that have never played with hardware.

Everyone has found the right entry point.

Speakers are the easiest to make, and voice interaction itself will also become the entrance to the ecosystem.

Xiaomi also holds the same idea.

Lei Jun looked at the Xiaoju speaker on the left and the DJI Phantom 1 on the right.

I want to do both, but that would mean a big investment.

Not doing it means giving up the future and the market.

"If we don't have money, we'll have to raise funds. Anyway, we can't not do it. Not only do we have to do it, we have to go all in." After Lei Jun got angry, he gave a death order.

Li Wanqiang frowned: "The factory in India also needs a lot of money. Now the launch of Orange S4 will affect our sales, and Mi 3 still needs to be developed..."

All the executives present heard the hidden meaning in the words.

Hong Feng asked tentatively: "I agree with Xiaomi speakers and the AIOT ecosystem, but do we really need to follow up on the drone project?"

There are many executives who hold this view.

At least in the first two projects, Xiaomi had accumulated some experience and many employees could be directly transferred to them, but they were completely new to drones. Moreover, the technological content of drones was obviously high, which was definitely a tough nut to crack. Was it necessary to risk financial pressure to try it?

Although Lei Jun is the chairman and major shareholder, he has to appease so many partners who have complaints.

"Then let's analyze the current environment of Xiaomi. First of all, the low-profit nature of mobile phones and the rapid expansion of scale require us to find new business areas to improve our valuation. In China, not to mention that Orange, Samsung and Apple have divided up most of the market, we also have to face the siege of Huawei, VIVO/OPPO and ZTE. Everyone knows how we are doing, which is why our valuation has never increased. As a highly valued industry, drones, everyone has seen that DJI, which has only released one drone, has already become a unicorn. This provides us with a reference. Even if Xiaomi's market share in the drone field is far less than DJI, as long as it can reach half of DJI, it can also bring significant benefits to Xiaomi's valuation in the next round of financing."

"In addition, we start with hardware prices, so we also have advantages in drones. We will continue to play an important role as a 'price butcher' and quickly seize the market with strong cost-effectiveness. This strategy has been verified in many market sectors, so I am confident that we will also succeed in the drone market. DJI focuses on mid-to-high-end products, and Xiaomi focuses on cost-effectiveness. Through this new business area, the company's overall valuation and market influence will be enhanced."

"Finally, consumer drones are generally used for aerial photography and toys. The market has just opened up, but the development potential is amazing. With only one unicorn, DJI, and no patent barriers, these things are a blue ocean."

What Lei Jun said was powerful and meaningful, and it was very touching.

After listening to this, the executives present frowned and thought for a moment, and then had to admit that Lei Jun was right.

It not only analyzes the current environment of Xiaomi, but also introduces Xiaomi's advantages and the fact that the drone market is a blue ocean.

There's really no reason not to go in.

"But we don't have the technology or the research. How long will it take to start research and development now?"

Lei Jun shook his head and said: "Let's go the acquisition route and first acquire a company with technological background."

Lei Jun also considered this problem and gave the best solution at the moment.

No one spoke for a moment.

As a major shareholder and chairman, Lei Jun has the decision-making power, and what he said now is indeed reasonable.

The competition in the mobile phone market is fierce, but in the blue ocean market for drones, taking the cost-effective route does seem to have the prerequisites for success, so why would anyone oppose it?

Before the meeting ended, Lei Jun added: "I wanted to visit Dongjiang several times, but was rejected for various reasons. In this case, I will recruit some people through a headhunting company. No matter if they are from DJI, Pangu AI, or Orange Technology, technical backbones and middle-level management are preferred."

The HR director nodded repeatedly and asked, "But they basically have non-compete agreements."

Currently, non-compete agreements have spread to all walks of life in China. A few years ago, they were only exclusive to the pharmaceutical and Internet industries, but now they are very common.

The leading Internet companies generally set the non-compete period for departing employees at around 1-2 years, and the non-compete compensation is generally 30% to 50% of the average monthly salary before leaving.

Even the companies under Chen Pingjiang are not immune.

No one wants the technology they have worked hard to develop to be taken to a competitor by a former employee, only for the competitor to develop it effortlessly and then bring them down with a low-price strategy.

Lei Jun thought for a while and said: "Then we should recruit key people, give them more signing fees, and keep it confidential. A big reward will attract brave men, but what if someone is stubborn? Besides, the legal department of Orange Technology may not have clairvoyance."

Chen Pingjiang’s technology blockade is too severe. If Xiaomi wants to join in and improve its R&D progress, this is the fastest shortcut.

As for the reputation issue, Lei Jun smiled contemptuously. After all, they were people poached by a headhunting company. What does it have to do with Xiaomi?
It’s not like Xiaomi went to dig it himself.

Even if the poached personnel have a non-compete agreement, it is not Xiaomi that will be sued in the end, so what is there to be afraid of?
(End of this chapter)