rebirth from small pockets

Chapter 554 Free is a double-edged sword

"Brother Lei~ What are you talking about!"

"We, the little red pony, have a small family and a small business. We did one trick for free before, but we had no choice but to do it."

"After all, we have just entered this industry, so we can only be tough on ourselves, otherwise it will be difficult to establish ourselves."

"As for the next step, it is naturally impossible to do anything for free."

"If we continue this, we won't even be able to afford food."

Faced with Rebus' questioning, Chen Li gave the answer.

He was actually quite curious~ Would the famous Rebus be worried about the red pony using the free move?

You know, in the past life, there were so many free office software popular on the market, but large companies in the software industry such as Yinshan were still making a lot of money.

So he was a little curious~ Is "free" really that powerful?

There is no way~ In his previous life, Chen Li was just a nightclub director, and the "free" he usually had access to was actually not as good as he imagined.

Isn’t there a saying that goes well? Free is actually the most expensive.

In Chen Li's view, even if Red Pony Technology's future office software is free, logically speaking, it will at most have a certain impact on Yinshan Software, but the impact will definitely not be that big.

But Chen Li didn't know that the free he knew was only for the individual in his previous life.

If the same strategy is applied to business operations, it's another story.

Of course, in fact, for industry giants like Yinshan Company, if it is normal market competition, there is no need to worry.

Even though Yinshan Drug Tyrant was defeated by Red Pony Technology in the previous security software industry, business competition is inherently life-and-death.

One defeat is not that serious at all, but if you lose all the games, it will be life-threatening.

For Yinshan, the software industry is their basic board, and a small number of wins and losses are of no consequence to the entire chessboard.

So what is Yinshan Software worried about? Of course, it is worried that the red pony, this troublemaker, will directly mess up the entire chessboard.

Especially if Red Pony is willing to offer free software at every turn, if Red Pony even offers free office software, then Silver Mountain Software will not be completely defeated, but it will definitely be broken.

As for the company, let alone hurting its muscles and bones, even if it only makes a little less money, it is estimated that those shareholders and investors will fall out.

After all, money is yours only if you earn it in your own pocket.

Therefore, as the general manager of Yinshan Company, Rebus naturally has enough reasons to worry about the red pony coming out to disrupt the situation.

Moreover, Rebus and Yinshan's worries are not unreasonable, because Red Pony Technology really planned to use the free trick from the beginning.

Although this free move can damage the enemy by 800 and damage yourself by 1,000, it is really easy to use!

Especially when competing for market share, this move can be called a killer weapon.

As long as there is nothing wrong with the product itself, then it will be free of charge. No matter who you are, the leading overlord will be killed by your horse.

After all, it’s free stuff~ It’s really delicious!

Even if there is a certain gap between the two products, as long as the gap is not big enough for companies and individuals to cope with corresponding office operations, then the free product must be more popular than the paid one.

In other words, as long as Red Pony Technology really takes this move, it will definitely have an advantage in the next battle for office software market share.

Unless other manufacturers follow Red Pony's lead and implement free services, it is basically a certainty that the market share will be taken away by Red Pony Technology.

So here comes the question~ If the red pony keeps doing this, where is their profit point?

This has to mention a newly formed department of Red Pony Technology

Advertising Business Department!

As we all know, most Internet companies these days make money through advertising revenue.

For example, those portal websites, including hao123 under the name of Chen Li, almost all their revenue comes from advertising business.

But to be honest, the effect of Internet advertising was actually very weak in 2000.

Therefore, except for those advertisers involved in violations of laws and regulations who are willing to pay large prices, other advertising costs are generally relatively low.

This has also resulted in a situation where the operating income of these Internet companies is very low, and most Internet companies cannot achieve a balance between operating income and expenses.

As a result, many small websites had to face bankruptcy and site closure after burning all their money.

So so far, except for a few top portals, most small websites are either operating with debt, or they are marginal or even illegal.

There are even some websites that are simply illegal. Their website pages are full of viruses, Trojans and other programs. As long as you click on them, you will be infected.

In the final analysis, it is still a problem of insufficient traffic. Those large portal websites eat up almost half of the traffic, leaving only a small part for other small websites to compete for.

But in the software industry, no one has yet thought of starting an advertising business.

Of course, this sentence is not necessarily true. There may be some, but definitely not many, and the scale of the other party is definitely not large.

But the red pony is different. Just a free security guard is enough for the advertising business department to temporarily flex its muscles.

Yes ~ It's just temporary, because as a reborn person, Chen Li is very aware of the double-edged sword of free advertising.

Advertising can be placed on the security guard, but it must not be excessive. Once it is excessive, sooner or later the security guard will become the 3721 of the previous life.

Speaking of which, Chen Li was shocked by this incident at first. After all, this trick was too similar to the rogue software in his previous life.

But it’s not surprising when I think that the current chief engineer of Red Pony Technology is Zhou Hongyi and Chen Li.

Later, Chen Li hurriedly found Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi and informed them of the pros and cons of the matter, which served as a wake-up call for them.

But he didn't stop the other party from doing so.

Because from the very beginning, he said that he would never interfere with the management and operation of Red Pony.

He can give Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi a warning, but he will never ask them to change the company's decision.

Anyway, based on the achievements of these two people in their previous lives, although I can’t say how high they can bring Red Pony Technology to, it shouldn’t be too low.

Therefore, it was precisely because of the creation of this new department that when they first planned office software, both Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi thought about continuing to implement the free strategy.

After all, the free effects of Security Guard are there, so everyone is more optimistic about continuing to do so.

But at a critical moment, Chen Li raised an objection.

There is a big difference between Red Pony's office software series and Security Guard.

Security Guard is an active defense software that can proactively discover and alert potential dangers without the user having to operate them themselves.

But office software is different. This thing is made for users to actively use.

At present, the one that everyone is more familiar with on the market is naturally Microsoft's office software series. Even when many people learn computers, they learn this series of software.

It is precisely because of this reason that the operation interfaces and methods of office software developed by many other companies are similar to Microsoft's office software series.

But this is not the case with this set of office software newly developed by Red Pony Technology. After two magical modifications by Xiaomeng and the Red Pony R&D Department. Although the Red Pony office software series has more complete functions and is more convenient to operate,

But it has nothing to do with Microsoft's office series.

In such an environment, the Red Pony office series software naturally needs to be put online for testing for a period of time.

But if the free card is played from the beginning, then the so-called test will be meaningless.

And the most critical point is that if you play the free card from the beginning, your competitors will naturally react accordingly.

Although Red Pony Technology is not afraid of any competitors, this is definitely not how it works!

What's the best way?

Of course, you should test it for free first, and then wait until the office software series has accumulated a certain number of users, and then make adjustments based on the reactions of competitors.

This free killer move should definitely only be used as a final trump card, rather than thrown out from the beginning.

To put it bluntly, if Red Pony really does this, other competitors may give Red Pony the title of "malicious competition."

In the previous life, Qihoo 350 produced free security guards and anti-virus software, but at that time Zhou Hongyi was almost hacked by competitors.

Of course~ Zhou Hongyi at that time was not actually a good person.

After all, according to what was said at the time, he was known as the father of rogue software.

But what about in reality? At that time, almost all Internet companies on the market were making similar plug-ins, but Zhou Hongyi’s was bigger.

This guy first made rogue software and offended users, then he created a security guard and removed almost all the plug-ins on the market at that time, and then offended his peers again.

So Zhou Hongyi became the one who was not human inside and out.

Users scolded him, peers scolded him, and even investors didn't like him because his free strategy caused Qishion 350 to lose a large amount of profits every year.

But what about the end?

While the user was scolding Zhou Hongyi, he was using the free 350 Security Guard and anti-virus software.

While their colleagues scolded Zhou Hongyi, they followed 350's operating strategy closely. They would do what 350 did.

After all, it’s just about profit!

Another point is that when 350 was free in the previous life, the Internet market at that time had become more and more mature.

But in 2000, if you blindly pursue free money, the final result may not be so good!

Because the current Internet market is not that mature, if you keep using the double-edged sword of free to open the way, you will hurt yourself sooner or later.

This was actually Chen Li's view, and he told Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi this idea.

So after some discussion, Red Pony Technology finally gave up the strategy of continuing to be “free” for the time being.

To be honest, the biggest reason why Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi are always thinking about offering free products is the "trust" from shareholders!

The reason why I put the quotation marks is because even if the shareholders of Red Pony don’t trust it, there is nothing they can do about it!

Because from the very beginning when Red Pony started to introduce venture capital, it was certain that investors or institutions had no right to interfere with the management rights of the company.

In other words, no matter how many rounds of investment Red Pony Technology will make in the future, the management rights of the company will always be in the hands of the three founders, Ma Xiaoyun, Zhou Hongyi and Chen Li.

Such a shareholding structure is not surprising. The founders of many companies often only own a very small number of shares, but their right to speak in the company is "absolute".

In addition, Chen Li doesn't care about anything, so the whole red pony is actually decided by Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi.

As for Chen Li, he basically holds a positive attitude toward all decisions made by Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi. Only when he feels something is wrong, he will give Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi certain suggestions.

Yes ~ Just a suggestion, if Ma Xiaoyun and Zhou Hongyi insist on a certain issue, Chen Li will often retreat.

But there is a premise for this, that is, Chen Li's personal interests cannot be harmed.

Otherwise, it will be like the time when Ma Xiaoyun brought investors to put pressure on Chen Li and wanted to make the security guards free.

In fact, it was that time that made Chen Li even more reluctant to interfere with the management of the red pony.

The reason is also obvious. In the beginning, the relationship between Chen Li and Ma Xiaoyun was actually very good.

But when it came to the company and related interests, Ma Xiaoyun stood on his opposite side.

Of course, this may be a little over the top, but that’s what it means.

If Ma Xiaoyun had come to Chen Li to discuss the matter in advance, then Chen Li would certainly not have made the matter so tense.

But at that time, Ma Xiaoyun showed his "great wisdom". This guy first convinced Zhou Hongyi, and then brought investor Xu Xing directly to find Chen Li.

This relationship has changed!

From discussion to pressure, Chen Li naturally couldn't bear it.

And the most important thing is that if this kind of thing happens for the first time, it will happen a second time, a third time or even the Nth time.

Chen Li didn't believe that people like Ma Xiaoyun would always live under his influence.

Yes~ Don’t look at it. The CEO of Red Pony Technology is Ma Xiaoyun, and the chief technical engineer is Zhou Hongyi. They have the final say on almost everything in the company.

But in fact, all the senior people in the company know that Consultant Chen, who doesn’t talk much on weekdays, is actually the big boss in the company.

Such gossip was circulated to a limited extent among the company's elders for a while, but then some people were dealt with and nothing spread anymore.

But even so, Chen Li also knew very well that people like Ma Xiaoyun would not do anything unless he was not given a chance.

Whenever he has a chance in the future, or when his wings are full, he will jump out on his own.

Chen Li is already prepared for this!

(End of chapter)