Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 509: Just Take a Look at the View from President Pei's Height, and You'll Understand
'Hmm... I'll analyze this using the method Director Lin taught me.'
'This concerns OTTO Technology's future direction. The smartphone industry changes in the blink of an eye. One wrong step leads to another. I absolutely can't be careless.'
If this had been the Chang You who had just joined the company, he probably wouldn't have given it much thought. He would have simply delegated the task to his subordinates and told them to complete the requested features with good quality and on schedule.
But after six months of experience, Chang You felt that he had learned a great deal from President Pei.
One of the most important lessons was vision and direction.
A famous entrepreneur once proposed the theory of "the pig standing in the path of the wind."
The idea was that for a top entrepreneur to succeed, the most important thing was finding the right trend at the right time.
The smartphone industry was undoubtedly one of the biggest opportunities of the mobile Internet era.
But not everyone had the ability to become that pig riding the wind.
If you were squeezed off your position for even a moment, you would come crashing down into complete ruin.
In other words...
Hard work determined your lower limit.
Vision determined your upper limit.
Chang You had once believed that he possessed excellent foresight—among the best in the industry.
But after meeting President Pei, he realized he had been nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well.
He's far too arrogant.
The opportunities he could see were the ones everyone else could see as well.
They were still opportunities, but they were also fiercely competitive.
Fall one step behind, and the entire game was lost.
President Pei, on the other hand, saw opportunities that no one else could even perceive.
Those opportunities were incredibly valuable.
Once you firmly seized one of them, there was no need to rush at all.
Because there would be no competitors.
Therefore, after the success of the OTTO E1, Chang You had become convinced of one thing:
Since President Pei possessed such extraordinary foresight, the smartest thing to do was simply abandon his own views of the industry altogether and fully embrace President Pei's.
If you can win while lying down, why exhaust yourself fighting tooth and nail with all the other mediocre manufacturers?
The only problem was...
Geniuses always had their quirks.
President Pei's particular quirk was that he loved giving employees riddles to solve.
It seemed to be his way of training their independent thinking and analytical abilities.
As a result, not everyone could decipher President Pei's puzzles, distinguish themselves from the other employees, and leave a lasting impression on him.
Fortunately, Director Lin had taught him a method for analyzing these puzzles.
Chang You frowned deeply and sank into thought.
'Director Lin said that the key to analyzing a problem is to focus on what's most illogical about it.'
'And the most illogical part of this situation is why President Pei is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.'
'Developing a gym app would obviously be more appropriate for Moyu Delivery.'
'So why insist on assigning it to us?'
Chang You opened the document Guo Licheng had submitted.
The entire document was astonishingly crude.
There were only a handful of sentences.
If he were grading it by a professional product manager's standards, he wouldn't even give it three points, and it's out of a hundred.
Of course, that wasn't really Guo Licheng's fault.
He was a fitness coach, after all.
How could he possibly know the standards expected of a product manager?
Chang You carefully reread the listed requirements.
'This Guo Licheng is in charge of the shared gym, but the requirements he's submitted are extremely simple.'
'That's understandable.'
'He's new and still doesn't fully understand President Pei's way of thinking.'
'He needs more experience.'
'If President Pei only wanted these basic features implemented, he could have simply assigned the project to Moyu Delivery.'
'Besides, these requirements are far too vague.'
'Someone would have to rewrite and expand them completely, redesign the entire product, and only then could the programmers begin implementation.'
'Design…'
'Could it be…'
'President Pei values our design ability?'
'Hmm... that's certainly possible.'
'The product managers here are obviously much stronger than the ones at Moyu Delivery.'
'In other words, President Pei must actually have many hidden requirements for this software.'
'He knew Moyu Delivery wouldn't be capable of fulfilling them, and that's why he handed the project to us instead.'
'Yes, that makes much more sense.'
'So then… What are those hidden requirements?'
Chang You felt as though he had finally grasped the edge of the mystery.
He stood up and began pacing back and forth.
'As a utility app for a gym, these requirements are already sufficient.'
'If President Pei wants more than this, then that must mean that the gym is only the starting point. President Pei's real objective is to break through the limitations and boundaries of the gym itself?'
'That's why he assigned the project to us—to have us fill in everything the gym project's manager hadn't thought of, and use mobile Internet thinking to comprehensively plan this app?'
'Yes, that must be it!'
'But… If President Pei wants the smartphone to work together with the gym app, why specifically forbid us from pre-installing it on the phone?'
Chang You pondered for a moment.
Then, he suddenly crossed the final hurdle.
A look of realization spread across his face.
'I understand now.'
'President Pei believes this app will eventually contain many features and be difficult to design well, so he's concerned about its quality.'
'Bundling it with the phone would only make the download numbers look impressive on paper.'
'But then we'd never know how the app actually performs in the real market, which could lead us to make incorrect judgments and hurt future optimization.'
'At the same time, if the app isn't good enough, it would also damage the OTTO phone brand.'
'So why isn't the app pre-installed on OTTO phones?'
'President Pei didn't say, 'Don't install it.' He said, 'Don't bundle it.''
'He wants the app to undergo the full test of the market first, and only after proving its value should every OTTO phone user voluntarily choose to install it themselves!'
The puzzle was solved.
After carefully reviewing his entire line of reasoning, Chang You realized that everything now fit together perfectly.
Every detail that had previously seemed illogical suddenly had a flawless explanation.
No wonder everyone loved solving President Pei's riddles.
Successfully deciphering one of them brought an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Chang You immediately left his office and found the manager in charge of developing the Managed Fitness app.
"The plan has changed."
"The previous requirements were only the bare minimum."
"We're going to expand them."
"Besides meeting the gym's day-to-day operational needs, we're going to give this app many more capabilities."
"For example, we can build an algorithm that uses the user's height, weight, and body-fat measurements collected at the gym to generate a personalized training plan for the coaches to use as a reference."
"Beyond appointment scheduling, the app can also send scheduled reminders—for workouts, meals, and rest periods."
"A coach obviously can't stay with a client twenty-four hours a day, so the phone can intelligently handle all those reminders."
"We can also create a dedicated knowledge section containing articles and tips about training and nutrition."
"That way, customers will better understand the philosophy behind the Managed Fitness model."
"A lot of people don't understand why they need to book workouts in advance or why fitness meals are bundled with the program."
"That's why they don't accept the Managed Fitness model."
"If we continue educating users, public acceptance of the Managed Fitness concept will steadily increase."
"In addition, we should leave room for future expansion."
"Later on, we can upload instructional videos demonstrating proper exercise techniques, helping users correct their form—or even train at home."
The app manager hurriedly wrote everything down.
After recording all of it, he looked somewhat confused.
"General Manager Chang..."
"This goes way beyond the original requirements."
"The initial request was just for a gym reservation app, wasn't it? Is that really appropriate?"
"Won't the client be unhappy when they receive something completely different?"
Chang You smiled.
"What?"
"If they ask for a simple feature, and we not only deliver it perfectly but also include a whole package of genuinely useful functions for free, why would they be upset?"
"They'll probably be thanking us instead."
The app manager scratched his head and muttered quietly,
"But... it doesn't really seem necessary..."
Chang You smiled knowingly.
"Oh, it's necessary."
"Very necessary."
"When you've climbed to my position, worked alongside President Pei for a few days, and seen the view from higher up, you'll understand why."
"You still have a lot to learn."
...
...
Wednesday, May 4.
It was a little after ten o'clock at night.
After seeing off the last group of guests, Lin Canrong watched as the waitstaff and cleaning crew finished tidying up Mingyun Private Kitchen.
Only then did he prepare to leave.
Strictly speaking, Mingyun Private Kitchen's operations had already become highly stable.
As the restaurant's manager, it wouldn't really matter if Lin Canrong occasionally took it easy.
However, he still came to work every single day without fail, carrying out his duties with meticulous care.
After all, he had once been nothing more than a chef with a modest reputation in Jingzhou.
Ever since he had earned President Pei's recognition, however, he had served as the manager of Moyu Internet Café, later become the head of Moyu Delivery, and now, as the manager of Mingyun Private Kitchen, he had the opportunity to build relationships with many of Jingzhou's influential figures.
His career had been steadily climbing upward.
Lin Canrong treasured this opportunity immensely.
He was constantly thinking about how to make Mingyun Private Kitchen even better—not only to repay President Pei's trust, but also to take his own career to the next level.
Some time ago, he learned that Rui Yuchen's Moyu Delivery had been expanding at a breakneck pace.
Naturally, he couldn't help feeling a little anxious.
He had proposed opening a branch of Mingyun Private Kitchen.
President Pei had rejected the idea outright.
Lin Canrong couldn't understand why President Pei was so firmly opposed to opening another location.
After several days of careful thought, he finally began to understand.
The reason Mingyun Private Kitchen had become so popular was twofold.
On one hand, its chefs and ingredients were among the very best in the country, resulting in truly outstanding cuisine.
On the other hand, its unique dining atmosphere, the rule prohibiting photography, the long waiting lines, and the enthusiasm shown by high-profile customers all combined to create a powerful psychological appeal.
In other words...
Its rarity was what made it valuable.
It was just like luxury brands that never sell their limited editions in unlimited quantities.
The moment you make them widely available, they stop being valuable.
The chefs at Mingyun Private Kitchen had been recruited from all over the country.
Each one possessed their own unique culinary specialty.
If they opened another branch, how could they possibly guarantee the same quality?
And if the food became even slightly worse, if customers' perception of the restaurant also changed, wouldn't that amount to destroying the prestigious reputation that Mingyun Private Kitchen had worked so hard to build?
Even if opening another branch generated more profit, so what?
Would President Pei really care about that little bit of extra money?
Obviously the brand was far more important.
Once he understood this, Lin Canrong completely abandoned the idea of opening another location.
Instead, following President Pei's instructions, he focused on thinking about how to use the restaurant's profits to improve Mingyun Private Kitchen in other ways.
At the moment, he already had several vague ideas in mind, they simply hadn't been finalized yet.
Lost in thought, Lin Canrong walked toward his car.
As he drove out through the northwest gate, he noticed that one of the storefronts nearby was still brightly lit despite the late hour.
People were busily moving about inside.
A moving truck was parked out front, and workers were loading various pieces of fitness equipment into it.
Ever since Mingyun Private Kitchen had become famous, property values throughout Mingyun Villa had risen dramatically.
People had even begun referring to the area as "Jingzhou's New Commercial District."
Investors flocked to the neighborhood, and more and more shops opened.
Of course, not every business managed to make money.
The brightly lit storefront caught Lin Canrong's attention.
If he remembered correctly, it was an upscale gym that had originally targeted the affluent clientele living around Mingyun Villa.
He had assumed it would enjoy booming business and be packed every day.
Instead, its situation had only gotten worse over time.
No matter how many flyers they handed out, business never improved.
Judging from what he was seeing, had they finally reached the point where they couldn't keep operating anymore?
Lin Canrong pulled over to the side of the road and decided to take a look.
After all, they had been neighbors for quite some time, so the two of them knew each other.
Going over to offer a few words of comfort seemed only appropriate.
He saw the gym's former manager standing outside, smoking a cigarette while directing workers as they loaded exercise equipment onto the truck.
Surprisingly, there wasn't the slightest trace of sadness on his face over the gym's closure.
When the former gym manager spotted Lin Canrong approaching, he waved cheerfully.
"Hey, Manager Lin! Just got off work?"
Lin Canrong nodded.
"Yeah, just finished."
"So... you're closing down?"
The former gym manager burst into laughter.
"Closing down? Nope."
"Someone's taking over!"
"I've finally managed to dump this mess on somebody else!"