NewPay can play a bigger role than banks.
From regional banks to large banks, users have many options. Electronic payments are different. NewPay is almost the only option.
Other electronic payment companies have too few users and support too few scenarios. Users lack trust in these electronic payment software.
Founded by Musk, it received investment from EBay after the bubble burst, and EBay held about 30% of the shares.
The one backed by EBay can only be used on EBay and cannot be used on Amazon, which means that the payment scenarios it supports are very limited.
The limited payment scenarios lead to a low willingness of users to use electronic payments, which in turn makes electronic payment software less attractive when discussing cooperation with other companies. This is a knot that is difficult to break.
I also tried using incentive payments to attract customers, but it stopped after a while.
Musk discovered a desperate thing from the incentive payment promotion, that is, the incentive payment can only allow users to download, and the proportion of them continuing to use it after receiving the incentive payment is less than 10%.
In addition to the incentive payment plan, it didn’t take long for the Nasdaq bubble to burst. For a time, the financial community was euphemistically calling Silicon Valley Internet companies spending money indiscriminately after receiving financing. Financing is used to acquire customers. In fact, even if customers are acquired, it is difficult to realize their value.
Wall Street has found that after Internet companies invest in advertising, if each customer costs an average of $20, the customer acquired with $20 cannot create even $2 in value.
This also led to the incentive bonus plan being urgently stopped by investors not long after it started. They thought it was meaningless.
When electronic payment was not yet popular, you still had a chance to play this way. Now that NewPay has firmly occupied the top spot in electronic payment, you will get twice the result with half the effort.
If WeChat Pay had not found a way to connect social attributes with traditional Chinese customs like WeChat Red Envelope, no matter how much money was spent, it would not have the desired effect.
The average expenditure on user subsidies for Cloud Quick Pass is much greater than that of WeChat Pay and Alipay, and the cost of acquiring a single customer is sky-high.
Playing this way when the market is flooded may also fool investors, who are willing to give you money to test the market. From last year to this year, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates six times, and the capital market has dried up. Investors are still willing to let Musk do this. It’s weird to burn money.
So sometimes it's fate. NewPay occupies the right time and place. Later competitors want to spend money to compete with it. At least for a year or two, Wall Street capital is unwilling to spend this money.
In addition, NewPay looks extremely strong, backed by Zhou Xin, as well as two top investment banks and top banks. Not to mention that investors don’t think other electronic payment software can beat NewPay. Even Musk himself doesn’t think it can beat NewPay.
Bill Gates said: "Your point of view is right. This is indeed an area that requires high corporate influence, which is completely different from pure e-commerce.
This is more suitable for the approach taken by retail giants in traditional industries during the Internet transformation process.
Newman, congratulations on finding a new e-commerce method, but Amazon and eBay may not be too happy.
Walmart has brought too much pressure to Amazon and eBay. "
Bill Gates thought for a while and decided to remind the other party: "eBay and Amazon need to rely on NewPay now. Their own electronic payment software is not mature enough. When their electronic payment software matures enough in the future, it is very likely that NewPay will be removed from them." removed from payment channels.”
What Bill Gates can think of, Zhou Xin has no reason not to think of. He can't even imagine why Amazon didn't use its own electronic payment back then, but let PayPal occupy their electronic payment channel.
If it were Taobao, PayPal would have gone as far away as possible.
“I also have such worries, so I will cooperate deeply with Walmart, whether it is providing new business models to Walmart or selling part of my shares to Walmart.
Including Wal-Mart, which specifically targets my investment institutions, it has done a round of private placement, which is expected to raise US$500 million.
These are all aspects of in-depth cooperation with Walmart. Even if Amazon and eBay kick NewPay out, I will still have offline channels like Walmart. "
Private placement is a type of additional issuance of shares of listed companies. Shares are issued to a limited number of investors, and the issuance price is determined by the bidding of investors participating in the additional issuance. Only one institution can participate in the private placement of U.S. stocks.
As a retail giant, Wal-Mart is not short of money at all, and there is nothing that requires special spending. Therefore, when Zhou Xin's private placement was reported to the Americen Securities and Exchange Commission, it was in the name of introducing strategic investors.
Wal-Mart also claims to the outside world that Zhou Xin is Wal-Mart's strategic partner. Wal-Mart has not reached a strategic cooperation with NewPay, but with Newman. Further verified the rumors in the capital market.
If Zhou Xin hadn't taken the job, Walmart would have wanted Zhou Xin to serve in a position similar to their chief product manager.
Before Bill Gates could answer, Zhou Xin stared at him: "Bill, isn't there Microsoft? NewPay will cooperate with Xbox, and NewPay will also become a payment channel for Microsoft products sold online in the future, right?"
Being backed by Wal-Mart and Microsoft, to use a Chinese proverb, means you can sit back and relax. "
Bill Gates gestured with his hands in front of his chest: "So you can cooperate deeply with Walmart, why can't you cooperate deeply with Microsoft?
We have more foundation for cooperation, and Microsoft also hopes to have cross-shareholdings with NewPay. Not to mention our personal friendship.
For example, for enterprise QQ, you can definitely cooperate with Microsoft and we will do this together. Microsoft's MSN has a stronger influence in America.
Promotion in the early stage is far less troublesome than corporate QQ. "
Since Tencent landed in Silicon Valley in June of this millennium, first Zhou Xin's companies, then Wal-Mart, and then other traditional companies, more and more American companies have begun to use enterprise qq as an internal communication tool.
By the time Internet giants such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL in Silicon Valley reacted, it was already October.
Microsoft launched the instant messaging software MSN last year, and AOL acquired ICQ in 1998. Yahoo has also been considering launching an instant messaging software internally, and they later did create an instant messaging software - Yahoo Messenger.
These companies have the ability and willingness to make enterprise instant messaging software.
Although in the strategy formulated by Zhou Xin and Pony, the development goal of Enterprise QQ is mainly traditional manufacturing, it cannot be promoted in Silicon Valley Internet star companies such as Riot Games and NewPay.
Employees of Riot Games and NewPay will share it with their friends who work at other Internet companies.
Then some companies will consider purchasing.
Enterprise QQ was officially launched on Amerikan in July, giving Enterprise QQ and Tencent only three months of buffer time.
Within three months, these giants realized that enterprise instant messaging software had great potential and began to enter this market one after another.
The fastest mover is MSN. The card MSN has always hoped to play is differentiation. We want to be the instant messaging software that understands the most about enterprises, replacing email as the main communication tool between workers and between superiors and subordinates of the enterprise.
As a result, an unknown player like Tencent got in first. By the time the department responsible for MSN within Microsoft learned about Enterprise QQ, Enterprise QQ had already negotiated several large orders.
MSN obviously cannot accept it. Group creation, file transfer, announcements, and group file sharing are not very difficult to develop. Just copy them and you will be done. Who is afraid of who?
After later generations of MSN entered China, they also focused on business and competed with QQ on the instant messaging software battlefield. However, MSN's cross-border operations and chaotic management system were a disaster. A good hand was completely destroyed because of management.
The marketing department and the R&D department have to report to two different bosses respectively. MSN does not have an overall person in charge of the Chinese market. Microsoft China hopes to vigorously promote MSN. The management in Seattle does not think so. They were facing Google at the time. The war with AOL, while China’s business only accounts for 2% of Microsoft’s global business. Any MSN project larger than $500,000 needs to be reported to Microsoft's global system.
This system made MSN vulnerable when competing with QQ in China, and Wang Zhao's start was a mess.
It's different now. The war between QQ and MSN is now in Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in America.
When Internet companies began to pay attention to Enterprise QQ, Tencent stopped hiding it and directly announced that we are a company controlled by Newman, and Enterprise QQ is a product designed by Newman.
Internet companies in Silicon Valley go to Riot Games, NewPay and other companies to find out that they are all using Enterprise QQ, and then the Wal-Mart supermarkets around them start to attract you to join the group.
Wal-Mart's advertisements to attract people to join the group are everywhere, and under every payment receipt is the group number of the local life group.
When users who shop online go to pick up the goods offline, Walmart clerks will tell them: “Sir, after you join the group, we will send product discount information and new product information to the group every week.
We will also distribute some coupons through the group, and you can use the coupons when you pay through NewPay next time you shop. "
Wal-Mart heavily advertises on television and magazines around its customer base and electronic coupons.
Coupled with the news that Walmart and Zhou Xin have reached an in-depth cooperation, Internet companies in Silicon Valley believe that the company behind Enterprise QQ is controlled by Zhou Xin, and this whole set of gameplay is also very similar to Zhou Xin's style.
Zhou Xin's product design is definitely not an isolated product. It forms coordination in unexpected places and creates barriers for other Internet manufacturers.
Under the aura of Newman, many major Internet companies choose to purchase enterprise qq.
After the launch of MSN and Enterprise ICQ, Internet companies still prefer Enterprise QQ. This imported product from China is considered so cool by Silicon Valley companies because of its Newman halo.
The cooperation between Enterprise QQ, NewPay and Wal-Mart is a complete set of linkages. It is too difficult for MSN and ICQ to find a retail giant similar to Wal-Mart in a short time. Even if they find it, it will not be so fast to make this set of products and then promote them online. Able to land.
If the group cannot issue coupons, its appeal to users will naturally be weaker. If the group can issue coupons, offline shopping obviously does not support NewPay payment and can only be made online, which means retailers must have wired connections. Go to shopping store.
If you want to build an online shopping store, you also need to update the information about shoppable products in offline stores in real time, which places too high information requirements on traditional retailers.
Millennial Amerikan retailers have only figured out the ERP system. How can this e-commerce system that has been in existence for more than ten years be so easy to use?
With a model project like Wal-Mart in hand, other consumer brands will not consider MSN and enterprise ICQ at all. The consumer brands here are not just retail giants, but also include luxury goods manufacturers, cosmetics manufacturers, home appliance supermarkets, etc.
The market that MSN and enterprise ICQ can expand into is very narrow.
Regarding Wal-Mart's gameplay, MSN is very eager to wait until the user base and online coupons are launched. This is a long-term enterprise application service.
It is ready to compete with enterprise management software giants like SAP. In 2000, SAP's annual revenue reached 6 billion euros.
Not only Microsoft and AOL are coveting enterprise qq, but also SAP. SAP has talked to Pony Ma several times and expressed its hope to acquire Tencent, at least the enterprise qq business.
Zhou Xin pretended to be stupid: "Does Microsoft also have instant messaging software? I never knew about it before."
Bill Gates was suspicious in his heart and did not know whether Zhou Xin's words were true or false. The communication between Zhou Xin and him was either via email or phone call, and no MSN communication was used.
What he doubts is that MSN is not only an instant messaging software, but also has a long list of functions such as portals and mailboxes. Everyone who uses the Windows operating system knows MSN.
Bill Gates said Zhou Xin really didn’t know about MSN: “Well, Enterprise QQ is a very creative product. We have never been able to find the profit point of instant messaging software before.
Like MSN, Microsoft also treats it as part of Microsoft's overall software services, and has never thought that it can provide some special functions and sell them to enterprises. "
Zhou Xin said: “I think there are historical reasons behind this. Sending emails at Amerikan has become a habit for everyone after entering the workplace.
Emails are so common. The quality of the email is related to whether you can leave a good impression on the other party. Email has become a culture in Amerikan.
With communication methods such as email in internal management of enterprises, there is naturally no need for other communication methods. "
Zhou Xin was understatement. The quality of your email can even determine whether you can be promoted.
Bill Gates said: "No, this cannot be a reason. If this can be a reason, then the same paid Q&A in China should not be done by you. You must know that China does not have the habit of paying for knowledge."
Zhou Xin could not refute the other party's secret accusation. He could not possibly say that it was because of Microsoft's connivance that Chinese users did not use genuine Windows.
This is not a reason that can be stated openly.
week There are more and more genuine Windows users.”
Bill Gates: "I'm not blaming China, I just found an example, and I didn't specifically mean the Windows operating system.
I have been to China many times. China has been making progress in intellectual property protection, but as you said, it cannot be done in one step due to objective conditions.
I have talked with Microsoft executives in China. Chinese people lack awareness of payment for knowledge. It is very difficult for you to make a payment for knowledge product like Quora and make it so commercially perfect. .
So I say that the MSN team cannot ignore the help of instant messaging in business management just because Amerikan's email culture is developed.
In fact, not all situations are suitable for sending emails. Instant messaging software can be a good complement to email.
With mobile phones, any future communication can be done through the phone, in just a few sentences. Apart from the phone, face-to-face communication has the least information loss.
Why even have email?
There are various communication methods between people, and enterprise instant messaging can well make up for the missing parts of email, such as communication between multiple people.
Emails can only be sent one-to-many, which is extremely inefficient, and online chat rooms or BBSs are not rigorous enough. Group chat can perfectly solve this problem. "
MSN copied the Enterprise MSN beta version from Enterprise QQ. After it was launched within Microsoft, Bill Gates also tried it.
He believes that group chat is a good way to communicate, especially for projects driven by multiple people.
Zhou Xin said: “Enterprise QQ is doing very well in China and has many enterprise customers.
Enterprise QQ had been in China for about half a year before coming to Americen, and enterprise customers in China gave it high praise.
It is precisely because it has been proven by the market that we came to Amerikan.
But because of Americen’s email culture, we were worried about whether this product would be adaptable to American.
That’s why I specially designed a whole set of mechanisms such as the corporate QQ group to be opened to customers, as well as online shopping, offline pickup, and electronic coupons.
Even if Enterprise QQ has a poor reputation among other Americen companies and does not achieve the results we expected, it can at least bring value to consumer companies.
The results are pretty good, and employees from both Riot Games and NewPay said they had a good experience using it.
Later, we felt free to promote it to other companies. "
Bill Gates smiled and said: "Newman will sometimes worry that his products will not be popular. It is difficult to see you having such worries."
Zhou Xin said: "For example, because of the mandatory punch-in and read functions of Enterprise QQ, I am worried that employees will feel offended and their hidden benefits will be affected. They could originally arrive at the company at 9:30, but now with the mandatory check-in, they need to arrive at the company at 9:00. .
While employees are negatively affected, management is unaware of the benefits.
This is the contradiction of enterprise software. In many cases, if it is not done well, employees will complain and management will not see the value. "
Why DingTalk was criticized in later generations is because its existence seriously occupied the original time of the workers.
There is no such thing as 955 in China, let alone 996. You can be @ at home after get off work, or get called by your boss at any time. As soon as the news comes, you have to get to work immediately. There is no such thing as a boundary between work and life.
DingTalk and WeChat are just accomplices in fueling this trend. In the mobile Internet era, if you say you don’t check your phone, the probability that your leaders will believe you is lower than if you say you didn’t hear the phone call.
WeChat and DingTalk simply provide no way for migrant workers to survive.
Bill Gates said: "This is not only a problem faced by enterprise QQ, but also a common problem faced by many enterprise software. For example, human resources consulting and reforming the original salary system are, to put it bluntly, reducing employee wages and saving costs.
It requires employees to put in more effort to get their original salary, but at the same time it cannot affect the overall efficiency and the enthusiasm of all employees. After the salary reform, more output is needed. Human resources consulting firms rely on this ability to dance on the tip of a knife to survive.
Enterprise instant messaging software doesn't have any sense at this level. Human resources consulting can live a good life if it touches the fundamental interests of employees. "
Bill Gates continued: “But this time Walmart’s online shopping system has made many people, including me, shine.
More and more people are realizing the power of NewPay.
There are two opinions. One is that electronic payment software itself is powerful and can bring huge room for growth to Internet companies. The combination of traditional industries and electronic payment can find new space for online transformation. "
This is brought about by coupons, which revitalize the "dead" customers in Wal-Mart's regional customer base.
“Another way of saying it is that NewPay can only exert such great power in the hands of Newman.
If it were any one person in charge of NewPay, it would be impossible for him to find so many areas for product innovation like Newman.
NewPay's value is nowhere near as great as Newman's.
When I went to Europe for vacation, I heard them saying that European retail companies are also pushing for the liberalization of electronic payments in Europe. They also want to create a business form similar to online Walmart. Carrefour wants to issue some additional shares to you at a price of 50% and introduce you as their strategic investor. European entrepreneurs agree with the second statement.
But I want to give you some advice, that is, the value of electronic payment software is indeed too great. I suggest that you should change to a girlfriend.
If you find a white person or a Jew, it can help you avoid unnecessary troubles to a great extent.
This is a little suggestion I give you as a friend. I am not asking you to break up with your current girlfriend. You can have many girlfriends. It is best that the girlfriend on the surface is not Chinese. "
Zhou Xin knew that Bill Gates' last suggestion was really heartbreaking. He thought to himself, it must have been after so many years of dealing with each other that this was the reason for the other party's suggestion.
The greater the value of NewPay, the more likely it will be accused of monopoly similar to Microsoft.
Monopoly is obviously the best way to break up NewPay.
Zhou Xin is skeptical that finding a white girlfriend can ward off monopoly accusations, but it can ward off some political risks.
"Bill, I will seriously consider your suggestion." Zhou Xin would not accept such a suggestion, because he knew that he would have to return to China in 2008 at the latest. He continued: "This is New Year's Day, the Matrix conference. Invitation card."
The internet at home has been disconnected since we moved. I don’t know why, but I still used the mobile hotspot to send this chapter.
(End of chapter)
