Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Before the end of the workday, Xu Dan brought over a few more resumes.

Half were for experienced hires, and half were for campus recruitment, mostly for Investment Attraction and operations positions.

"For the experienced hires, do a preliminary phone screening first. If they seem okay, schedule a second interview."

Chen Yansen took the resumes, placed them on his desk, and gave the casual instruction.

Xu Dan acknowledged it and returned to her workstation.

"Xu Xingxing, come over here!"

Chen Yansen glanced at the time and called out loudly.

"Coming, Class President!" Upon hearing him, Xu Xingxing trotted over.

"A new colleague will be starting in late December. He’s not a student, so talk to Director Cao and see if you can get him an access pass to make it easier for him to get on and off campus."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly, giving Xu Xingxing her task.

"You got it, Class President! I’ll go see Director Cao tomorrow." Xu Xingxing nodded slightly and readily agreed, not finding the task difficult at all.

"You did a good job last month. There’s another opportunity for a salary adjustment at the end of the year, so keep up the good work." Chen Yansen dangled a carrot.

"Class President, Zhang Wenbo said we just got a salary adjustment at the end of October. We’re getting another one in December?" Xu Xingxing asked back in surprise.

Her family was well-off. With a monthly allowance of 2,000 yuan, she was definitely considered a ’little rich girl’ at Xucheng Academy.

Coupled with her salary from FoxTao, she was living like a fish in water during her college years. The moment she got her paycheck last month, she bought a brand-new Apple iPhone 4.

"Besides the salary adjustment, there’s also a year-end bonus and an annual party. Remember to contact the Sky Garden in advance and book the banquet hall for December 31st."

Chen Yansen continued.

"The one that costs 800 yuan per person?" Xu Xingxing asked again to confirm, afraid of making a mistake.

"That’s right. And charter a school bus to make it easy for everyone to get there," Chen Yansen added.

"Don’t worry, I’m an expert when it comes to having fun. Leave it to me, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied," Xu Xingxing promised, patting her chest.

Chen Yansen smiled and headed downstairs.

’When December is over, I’ll throw the Q3 financial report at Penguin and ask for another hundred million. That’s not too much to ask, right?’

Chen Yansen mused as he walked.

The current problem was that he couldn’t buy traffic on a large scale for the "Bargain for Free" feature and ad placements. The main priority was to ensure a stable cash flow for user withdrawals.

If a cashback e-commerce platform couldn’t process withdrawals, it would easily lose its users’ trust.

Therefore, he would rather slow down the rate of traffic acquisition to maintain the project’s stable operation.

’If Penguin doesn’t invest, I’ll just find another venture capital firm,’ Chen Yansen thought to himself. ’Preferably one that focuses on the e-commerce sector, so they’ll have extra resources I can leverage besides just money.’

When he reached the intersection of Xue Lin Road and Xuehai Road, he snapped back to his senses. He called Meng Jie and asked her to have dinner with him, and perhaps take a stroll through the small woods afterward.

...

...

「The next morning.」

The moment Chen Yansen arrived on the second floor, he heard a heated argument.

He looked up and saw Li Bin and an Investment Attraction employee named Gao Yuxiang arguing, both red in the face.

"You’re just a junior editor, what’s with the attitude! You really think you’re the boss?" Gao Yuxiang’s words were nasty.

"There’s a problem with your product’s price, so don’t even think about putting it online!" Li Bin retorted, rolling his eyes, not backing down in the slightest.

Chen Xu, Hu Li, and others were trying to mediate on the side.

"What is everyone doing! Don’t you have work to do!"

Chen Yansen walked over steadily, looked at Li Bin, then at Gao Yuxiang, and snapped harshly.

"Brother Sen, among the flash sale products Gao Yuxiang is responsible for, there’s a Yu Zhaolin thermal underwear set. I checked with a price comparison tool, and its lowest price in October was 49 yuan. But for this Super Rebate event, our final price is 54.9 yuan. That’s a difference of 5.9 yuan."

"Gao Yuxiang insists that the material and style are different and that it’s just a new product using an old link. But I checked on Jingdong and found that the exact same product was also sold for 49 yuan on the same day. Moreover, the business licenses for both stores belong to the same company."

Seeing Chen Yansen, Li Bin explained everything in a clear and organized manner.

"Haven’t you studied the Investment Attraction regulations? For a flash sale product that a price comparison editor has rejected, you either take it down or adjust the promotion’s intensity. What gives you the guts to argue about it? Tell me."

Chen Yansen looked down at Gao Yuxiang and asked coldly.

"Brother Sen, I asked the merchant, and they confirmed it’s an old link. The product in the promotion is a new one."

Gao Yuxiang looked flustered and hurriedly tried to defend himself.

"Xu Kun, what’s your take on this?" Chen Yansen asked, turning to Xu Kun. Xu Kun was currently in charge of several smaller categories like underwear, bags, and accessories. Since the product had reached Li Bin, it meant Xu Kun must have approved it.

"Brother Sen, I did a price comparison. After a comprehensive evaluation based on the brand’s positioning, the materials used, and the rankings of best-selling underwear styles across the internet, I believe the final price of 54.9 yuan is reasonable," Xu Kun replied.

"Did the merchant send you screenshots? Did you look at the product editing pages for the new and old items? You just believe whatever they tell you? Are you an employee of the brand, or an employee of FoxTao?"

After hearing Xu Kun’s explanation, Chen Yansen nodded slightly, then continued to question Gao Yuxiang.

Xu Kun also bore some responsibility in this matter, but he hadn’t caused a huge scene arguing with people, so Chen Yansen directed his fire at Gao Yuxiang.

Gao Yuxiang was speechless. He knew his reasoning wouldn’t hold up, but for the sake of his commission, for the money, he took a chance and submitted the application form anyway.

He hadn’t expected it to pass the category review only to get stuck with a junior editor like Li Bin.

Seeing him remain silent, Chen Yansen became furious. With a grim face, he snapped, "First, make the merchant add a 10% commission. Second, apologize to Li Bin. Third, your commission for this month is cut by 1%. If you can do the job, then do it. If you can’t, then get the hell out!"

Gao Yuxiang’s face turned pale, then livid, but in the end, he nodded obediently. Dejectedly, he bowed to Li Bin and apologized, "I’m sorry. I spoke without thinking just now. I was wrong."

Li Bin snorted and grudgingly accepted.

"Yifeng, call all the Investment Attraction staff over!" Chen Yansen, his anger still simmering, beckoned to Zhang Yifeng.

The few people who had been watching the spectacle from Room 212 suddenly had a bad feeling. They quickly wiped the smiles off their faces and came out with their heads bowed.

"The Investment Attraction team doesn’t just accept whatever deal a merchant offers! If it were that simple, what would I need you for? I could just have the editors do it! All of you, go back and copy the Investment Attraction manual!"

"I’m only allowing this to happen once. If there’s a next time, you’re fired on the spot!"

After he finished, Chen Yansen looked at Li Bin and said, "Price comparison requires this kind of meticulousness. When you run into problems, don’t hesitate to consult your colleagues in the category teams. You have to understand the products better than the Investment Attraction team does to earn their genuine respect."

"I’ll give you a bonus at the end of the month. I have high hopes for you. Don’t limit your own development to your current position."

Chen Yansen said, patting his shoulder.

"Thank you, Brother Sen! I’ll definitely work hard." Li Bin was in high spirits. Gao Yuxiang had been chewed out and had his commission percentage docked by 1%, while he himself had been praised and was getting a bonus. Naturally, he was ecstatic.

The ten Investment Attraction employees hung their heads. Someone shot a vicious glare at Gao Yuxiang.

The first conflict between FoxTao’s price comparison editors and the Investment Attraction team ended in a crushing defeat for the latter.

Li Bin was the ’nail’ he had planted in the operations department. His purpose was to keep an eye on the Investment Attraction staff and make sure they didn’t pull any tricks, or conspire with merchants to pull tricks.

The ultimate value for money was the very foundation of Super Rebate.

If users discovered after placing an order that the final price was even higher than the merchant’s regular selling price, who would ever choose FoxTao again?

It was the first time many of them had seen Chen Yansen lose his temper, and they were so scared they kept their heads down, not daring to meet his gaze.

"Dismissed!"

Seeing them still standing there stunned, Chen Yansen said irritably.

He knew in his heart that most of them, whether in operations or Investment Attraction, were new and hadn’t been through much training. Once Yuan Wei was on board, he would have him start a training program.

Back at his desk, as Chen Yansen sat down, he noticed Song Yuncheng, who sat opposite him, hunched over her desk and staring at her screen. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and she had a troubled expression.

Chen Yansen didn’t bother her. He knew that lately, Song Yuncheng was completely focused on making money. She had to coordinate with B2C platforms and was also busy with Jingdong’s category day event, often so busy she would even forget to eat lunch.

Chen Yansen reviewed the data as usual.

FoxTao’s daily active users had stabilized at one million. The daily order volume was around 130,000 (with the 9.9 Yuan Channel accounting for 20%, the search page for 45%, mall rebates for 7%, and Super Rebate for 28%), and daily sales were steady at 13 million yuan.

Compared to October, the numbers had nearly multiplied several times over.

This was the transformation brought about by the brand-specific flash sale model!

「In the following days.」

FoxTao’s Super Rebate model completely set the e-commerce world abuzz. Many merchants who had participated in Super Rebate used the sales volume they accumulated from the event to turn around and sign up for Juhuasuan, earning another wave of profits.

Merchants who had previously complained about FoxTao’s high commissions were now also tempted, calculating which of their high-inventory, high-margin products were suitable for a promotion.

Soon, Double Twelve arrived.

For the first time, FoxTao’s homepage featured over 300 flash sale products. Moutai and wine from the Wine God Network were prominently listed. At the same time, they also added large home appliances from Jingdong to their categories.

For example, products like Aux air conditioners, Galanz microwave ovens, and Shuaikang range hoods. Although the cashback ratios were only between 20% and 35%, large appliances rarely went on sale, but buying them on FoxTao could save several hundred yuan.

Some users who were in the middle of renovating and buying homes chose to stock up without hesitation!

As a result, on the day of Double Twelve, FoxTao’s single-day sales easily broke 40 million yuan.

Cotton-padded jackets, winter quilts, water purifiers, air fryers, and braised snacks sold out in just a few hours.

Chen Yansen immediately had the business development team contact the merchants to relist the items as pre-orders, and they oversold by tens of thousands more units.

Although Taobao’s Double Twelve event was over, FoxTao’s brand group deals were valid for three days, and customers continued to place orders in a steady stream.

The next morning, while Chen Yansen was still sound asleep, he was woken up by a ringing phone.

"Mr. Chen, this is Zhang Jiancheng, a venture capital manager from Siwei Capital. Is this a convenient time for you? I’d like to talk to you about financing for FoxTao."

A gentle yet confident voice came from the other end of the line.

"It’s not. Call back in an hour."

Chen Yansen was still half-asleep and in no mood to deal with any venture capital firms.

His plan was to use the Q3 sales performance and the brand-specific flash sale model of Super Rebate to persuade investors.

It was only mid-December; he was in no hurry at all.

Whether or not to seek financing, and which VC firm’s investment to accept—that was for him, Chen Yansen, to decide!

"..."

Zhang Jiancheng listened to the dial tone, a helpless expression on his face. In all his years as an investor, this was the first time he had ever encountered a founder like this. He wondered in disbelief, ’Did I really just get rejected?’