Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Late March flew by in the blink of an eye.

After joining the company, Wang Teng communicated the requirements with Chen Yansen and immediately began drafting the product documentation.

He also pulled in the system architect to optimize and restructure the hardware abstraction layer, kernel, system service layer, application framework layer, and application layer, all to ensure the system’s stability and scalability.

On the last day of the month, the R&D team for what was tentatively named Aurora OS had expanded to 39 people.

Sixty percent of the engineers had been recommended by headhunters, a testament to how aggressively Chen Yansen was poaching talent. The other 23 were still in the process of resigning from their old jobs. With this, the core of the Aurora R&D team was essentially complete.

Meanwhile, Zuo Hongyu sent Chen Yansen a list of electronic components used in phones currently on the market in the 1,500 to 3,000 yuan price range, along with preliminary quotes.

He also informed him that the unit price and payment terms were negotiable. Once they scaled up production, there would be at least 20-30% more room for negotiation.

Chen Yansen made a quick mental calculation. ’Looks like Lei Yijun wasn’t bluffing. Xiaomi really doesn’t make money on its hardware.’ No wonder they later launched the Redmi series—it was all to capture market share and profit from software.

"Brother Sen, all the team leads are here. They’re in conference room 218," Hu Yun said, walking over with his laptop to remind him.

Chen Yansen glanced at the time on his computer: March 31st, 4:30 PM.

He acknowledged with a sound, then got up and walked toward room 218 with Hu Yun.

As the boss, he couldn’t very well miss FoxTao’s first quarterly financial meeting.

He pushed the door open and scanned the room.

Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Song Yuncheng, Chen Xu, Du Yaoyao, Zhuang Rui, Yuan Wei, Li Hui, Wang Zihao, Meng Xibo, and the others took up most of the seats.

Du Yaoyao had been promoted to editor team lead in mid-March.

Li Hui had been promoted to Investment Attraction team lead thanks to his outstanding performance in Q1.

Chen Xu, one of the original category managers, had also been promoted to category team lead by Chen Yansen this month.

Aside from Yuan Wei, design lead Tang Qin, and promotions team member Wang Yunxia, most of these leads had been selected from the first batch of founding employees.

"We’ll save the team lead debriefs for after the holiday. Hu Yun, let’s start with the data."

Chen Yansen pulled out a chair and sat down, addressing Hu Yun.

"Alright, let’s start with traffic." Hu Yun cleared his throat, set up the projector, and clicked open his PowerPoint. "In January, our average DAU was 1.36 million, with new users making up 39.4%. In February, average DAU was 1.54 million, with new users at 40.7%. In March, average DAU was 2.07 million, with new users at 43.6%. Our total registered users are 98.47 million, quarterly active users are 59.42 million, and monthly active users are 31.09 million..."

"What about weekly and monthly retention?" Chen Yansen cut in.

"Weekly retention is 36.9%, and monthly is 14.5%." Hu Yun knew the numbers by heart and answered without hesitation.

"Much better than the Q4 numbers. Zhuang Rui, nice work."

Chen Yansen praised him by name with a slight smile.

"Thanks, Brother Sen. It was mainly due to great cooperation from the promotions team," Zhuang Rui said, deflecting the praise and giving a nod to Wang Yunxia.

"Continue," Chen Yansen said with a smile, gesturing for Hu Yun to go on.

"January’s performance target was 400 million, and we actually hit 430 million, an achievement rate of 107.5%. February’s target was 320 million, and we hit 290 million, for a 90.6% achievement rate. March’s target was 500 million, and we finished with 570 million, achieving 114%..."

Hu Yun continued his report.

The numbers in February were understandable, as business was impacted by the Spring Festival and courier service suspensions for nearly two weeks.

Judging by March’s sales, FoxTao’s daily sales were already approaching the 20 million mark. At this rate, even if they didn’t hit the 10 billion revenue target by year’s end, they wouldn’t miss by much.

After all, they still had the 618, Double Eleven, and Double Twelve shopping festivals, plus events for National Day, the new fall clothing season, and the home renovation season. An e-commerce company’s performance in the second half of the year typically accounted for over 65% of its annual total.

"January gross profit was 44.9 million, February’s was 30.8 million, and March’s was 61.7 million. The gross profit margin fluctuated between 10% and 11%. From a category perspective, food, digital appliances, home goods, and women’s apparel are our first-tier categories. Mother & baby, luggage, sporting goods, and auto supplies are in the second tier..."

Hu Yun said all this in one breath, paused for a moment, and continued, "Our total gross profit for Q1 is 137.4 million. Based on the first-half target set by Brother Sen and the finance department, we’re still short by 170 million."

After listening to Hu Yun’s report on the traffic and financial data, Chen Yansen slowly began to speak:

"I’ve reviewed the performance scores for everyone in each group and have sent them to Xu Dan and the finance department. After this meeting, team leads are to discuss the quarterly performance results with their members. I won’t say much else. I hope you all focus your energy on making breakthroughs in Q2."

"Yes, Brother Sen," everyone responded in unison.

"Next, let’s start with the front-end team. Talk about your Q1 project progress and Q2 plans. Each person gets three minutes. Stick to the main points."

Chen Yansen added the quiet instruction. He always prioritized efficiency in his meetings and had no patience for long, rambling speeches. They were pointless and, more importantly, a waste of time.

Zhang Wenbo gave a slight nod. Representing the front-end team, he briefly reported on Q1’s output and Q2’s development plan, finishing in under two minutes.

The following speakers were just as concise.

When it was Song Yuncheng’s turn, Chen Yansen finally looked up, his gaze falling on her.

He leaned back in his chair, a faint smile playing on his lips as he watched her.

’This feeling of personally grooming someone is pretty great.’ In that moment, he suddenly understood Ye Qiuping—why she had once personally taught him how to navigate social situations, the unwritten rules of the Business Community, and even how to legally and reasonably skim a little off the top.

’Someone who could both make her money and work their tail off for her.’

’Too bad Ye Qiuping’s plan backfired.’ Chen Yansen had been far harder to control than she’d imagined. He’d used her resources and connections to build his own successful startup, ultimately surpassing her.

In this life, however, he couldn’t be bothered to go after her. ’Reading a book that’s already been worn to shreds offers no new excitement.’

Song Yuncheng was different. Under his guidance, she was becoming confident, vibrant, and full of youthful energy. ’Now that’s the kind of person that suits President Chen’s tastes.’

"In Q1, the Key Account Investment Attraction Department onboarded 87 B2C platforms, completed 69 targeted brand campaigns and 13 integrated marketing brand projects. This generated 17.2 million in commission gross profit and 16 million in advertising fees..."

Song Yuncheng didn’t notice Chen Yansen’s particular focus on her. She kept her head down, her reporting pace steady.

Chen Yansen nodded slightly but said nothing, simply gesturing for the next person to begin.

The meeting ended at just a quarter past five.

Chen Yansen had Wang Zihao, Zhuang Rui, and Wang Yunxia stay behind. First, he needed to discuss the Q2 user acquisition strategy. Second, he wanted Zhuang Rui and Wang Yunxia to brainstorm from a promotions perspective on how to increase user retention and repeat purchase frequency.

It was after six when Chen Yansen finally left room 218.

"Class President, you were super sharp today!" Xu Xingxing sidled up to him, laying on the flattery a bit thick.

"Got your performance review email, did you?" Chen Yansen asked, his eyes narrowing as he saw right through her.

"Hehe, that’s our Class President for you. Sharp and smart." Xu Xingxing genuinely wanted to get closer to Chen Yansen but could never find the right opportunity, so she took every chance she got to flirt with him a little.

Chen Yansen glanced around. Everyone had a similar expression, like it was the holidays. They were all grinning from ear to ear, smiling like fools as they worked.

For the Q1 bonus, roughly 5% of employees received three months’ salary, 15% received two months’, and 80% received one month’s. For an editor making 4,000 yuan a month, a two-month bonus would be 8,000 yuan; anyone would be happy with that.

Chen Yansen was quite happy himself. The payroll would be processed tomorrow, which meant he’d receive at least a few hundred wisps of Human Dao Fire.

He returned to his desk and idly scrolled on his phone. He suddenly came across news of 360’s IPO. On its first day, the offering was oversubscribed by more than forty times, and its market cap was approaching 4 billion US Dollars.

’Heh. The day Lao Zhou and Lei Yijun have their falling out isn’t far off.’

’After a company goes public and gets a cash infusion, the common ailment of domestic entrepreneurs is to either invest everywhere or frantically search for new revenue streams. That’s because their original business has already hit its ceiling and won’t grow substantially just from the IPO.’

’For 99% of companies, their IPO is their peak. It’s followed by three consecutive years of losses, ending with them being slapped with an "ST" designation.’

’Looks like the domestic smartphone market is about to get even murkier.’

’In the future, Ah Li, Qian Du, Gree, and LeTV will all jump into the fray. Even a photo-editing software company like Meitu will end up making phones.’

’So why can’t he, Chen Yansen, make one too?’

After Wang Zihao discussed a performance review with a team member, the two of them called for Wang Teng and headed to the cafeteria.

...

...

「The next morning.」

Chen Yansen woke up and immediately called up the system panel.

The column for Human Dao Fire showed that he had accumulated 494 wisps.

Chen Yansen had never seen so much of it before. ’My kidneys are holding up for now.’ He didn’t hesitate, immediately focusing his thoughts on the Spirit column.

A wisp of white mist as thick as two fingers materialized from thin air and shot straight into the space between his eyebrows.

HISS!

In an instant, it was like a volcano erupting in his head. He had the illusion that his brain was being scoured by a searing flame, washed clean from the inside out.

In his daze, Chen Yansen felt like his brain was being cooked.

Then, a bone-chilling coolness surged from the depths of his mind, spreading throughout his body in an instant, as if awakening every single cell.

A few minutes later, everything returned to normal.

Chen Yansen slowly sat up. His body felt incredibly light. He glanced around the bedroom, and when he closed his eyes, he found he could recall the approximate position, angle, height, and shape of every object.

His Spirit stat had skyrocketed from 3.49 to 8.43!

According to the system, that was nearly three times the limit of a peak human.

After a few quick tests, he found his learning efficiency and memory had become astonishingly sharp.

’Fuck! If I’d been reborn a few months earlier, I could’ve had my pick of Tsinghua or Peking University!’

Chen Yansen couldn’t help but sigh at the thought. But then again, his current situation wasn’t bad either. ’I can still take my pick of the girls from Tsinghua and Peking University.’

He remembered Wang Teng saying last night that R&D progress was a bit slow. A thought struck him: ’With my current learning ability, it probably wouldn’t take that long to learn computer programming, algorithms, and hardware from scratch.’

Chen Yansen changed into casual clothes, headed straight for the library, found a copy of *Android Application Development Revealed*, and began reading with relish.

’In my last life, my entrepreneurial success and financial freedom were only possible because I never stopped learning.’

’If I don’t understand this stuff, how will I ever know if my engineers are dragging a one-week job out for two?’

After some consideration, Chen Yansen decided that while chasing girls, he might as well charge up his brain too.

As Chen Yansen was engrossed in his reading, the girl sitting opposite him stared, her mouth slightly agape. She never imagined she would run into Chen Yansen in the library.

After all, he didn’t even attend his major-specific lectures, let alone visit the library.