The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

"So how many users did you have in the past month, and what is the approximate daily active users?" When the investor asked for further details, the founding team began to talk about it.

In fact, the initial value is too small, so I recently started to put ads to attract traffic, and found that the traffic drainage effect is good, and the number of users finally increased explosively, and then I hope to attract investment from outside to further advertise to attract traffic.

Of course, Silicon Valley's financial services are too mature. Not only companies but also individuals can make venture capital. Many programmers who were employees of a start-up company and later achieved financial freedom when their companies went public will make some venture capital.

In fact, this type of venture capital does not have much ability to identify projects, and they will not delve into data such as the number of users. This type of investment depends more on people, whether I am familiar with the founder, and whether the product is imaginative enough.

When Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin raised $1 million in investment, the Google search engine demo had not yet been written, let alone users.

Now mobile Internet investment has initially shown the momentum of the Internet wave. As long as your resume is convincing enough, even if you have nothing, investors will dare to invest.

The companies founded by some middle-level managers and entrepreneurs within Matrix are even more popular because the middle-level managers hold some power, such as the recommendation position in the Mphone app store. This kind of resource is the best evidence.

This is just like the years when Taobao was rising. Any Taobao employee could enjoy the dividends of the times. Now Matrix has begun to show its prowess, and some of its middle-level employees have enjoyed the dividends brought by power.

After the start of the mobile Internet wave, electronic payment took over Amerikan. While other electronic payments were still making web payments, NewPay, the only one with QR code technology, was killing everyone in the offline payment field.

All traditional consumer companies that want to make electronic payments can only choose NewPay as their partner.

X.com has launched an electronic payment function based on infrared pulse technology, the predecessor of NFC technology, but large-scale promotion of this function is much more complicated than QR codes.

First of all, you must purchase a special device that supports NFC function, and secondly, your mobile phone must also support NFC function. In later generations, until 2016, there were many smartphones that did not support NFC function, let alone now.

It is almost impossible to roll out this solution on a large scale. A few retail giants deeply tied to X.com also gave up the idea after doing cost calculations and only tried to promote it in a few supermarkets.

This also requires the cooperation of both consumers and mobile phone manufacturers. Only a few companies on the market have launched smartphones that support NFC functions. To be precise, only two smartphones support NFC functions. Secondly, the market share of these two mobile phones Poorly low.

Within the retail stores that support X.com offline electronic payment, the number of consumers of these two mobile phones is very small. At the same time, they are customers of X.com and are willing to pay through X.com, so the number is even greater. not enough.

The cruel reality made Musk realize that NFC is not something that X.com alone can promote. This can only be driven by the power of the state or the industrial alliance.

“This is completely unrealistic. We need to convince a large number of traditional enterprises to spend high costs to transform their payment equipment, and there is no guarantee of much profit.

The companies under Newman have formed a supporting strategy. The benefits of cooperation with NewPay are visible to the naked eye. The benefits of cooperation with X.com only remain in imagination. We have spent one billion US dollars to subsidize offline merchants and let them carry out NFC transformation. It's totally worth the loss.

It is better to use this money to lobby in Washington and let Washington pass an executive order to force NewPay to open their QR code patent. This is much more realistic than us rebuilding a system. "Musk is very realistic.

The supporting strategy formed by NewPay, Tencent and Alibaba can be called a dimensionality reduction attack in this era.

Tencent's office software has evolved from just instant messaging software at the beginning, to office software and office sharing, and now to data analysis.

Using Tencent's complete set of solutions can help enterprises mine the value of data, and NewPay can be connected with Tencent's data analysis software through interfaces, and the data can be updated in real time. For enterprises, they can grasp the latest business status in real time, and at the same time Analyze the future.

For retail companies, the biggest benefit of this combination is that it speeds up the turnover rate of goods. In the past, the inventory turnover rate might have been 300 days, but now this time has been shortened to 180 days.

This is a qualitative leap for them.

In addition, Alibaba provides online shopping solutions, and data can also be integrated into Tencent's data analysis software to provide enterprises with a large number of valuable analysis conclusions from a data perspective.

Compared with this later Internet supporting strategy, X.com is somewhat vulnerable.

Musk plans to put pressure on Washington, and Microsoft wants to acquire X.com.

"X.com is currently the second largest electronic payment software on the market, accounting for more than 10% of the market share."

Microsoft executives in charge of strategic acquisitions are reporting to Ballmer that Microsoft has internally positioned entering the smartphone field as the most important strategy. In order to realize this strategy, hardware-level acquisitions are far from enough.

Microsoft acquired Plam, a handheld computer company, and then reached an agreement with BlackBerry to acquire BlackBerry. With Mphone in the lead, BlackBerry was far less famous and popular than later generations.

Of course, for Microsoft, a company the size of BlackBerry is just right. It has a certain number of die-hard users, and it has no historical baggage. The debt is also within a completely controllable range, and it will not put any burden on Microsoft's financial situation. .

Ballmer also wants to acquire software companies, and the electronic payment field is Microsoft's target.

Microsoft has internally studied the Mphone ecosystem and learned about MOS's built-in software. The instant messaging software includes MSN, and Microsoft in the community also has benchmarking software.

Only in the field of electronic payments, Microsoft was blank, so Ballmer asked the strategic acquisition department to do market research.

Ballmer interrupted: "More than 10 percent? Is X.com's market share so high? Why don't I see anyone around me using X.com? Everyone is using NewPay.

Or is it that X.com is focusing on the lower market? "

The executive murmured: "The statistical caliber here is the number of users. X.com has completed the accumulation of original users with the help of a series of incentive plans. If the caliber is changed to the payment amount or the number of payments, X.com's market share The rate is around five percent.”

Ballmer complained: "What are the federal courts doing? Haven't they seen such obvious monopoly behavior?

When Microsoft's market share was 80%, it had already been sued twice by Colombia. "

Seeing that the pressure was wrong, the executive whispered: "The federal court has also sued NewPay, but NewPay won the unanimous approval of the jury on the basis that electronic payment is only a supplementary part of traditional payment.

If traditional payments are included, NewPay's market share is less than 20%. "

Ballmer was shocked: "Including traditional payments, does NewPay's market share exceed 10%?"

Electronic payment is a new thing. In just over three years, electronic payment has captured more than 10% of the traditional payment market share. This is a quite exaggerated figure.

The executive nodded: “Because NewPay not only occupies an absolute dominant position on the personal side, but also has advantages in some subdivided commercial fields.

For example, in foreign trade, because NewPay has electronic payment licenses in both China and Amerikan, they occupy the largest market share in the credit guarantee business. This area is not small.

NewPay also occupies a place in the foreign trade between us and Maple Leaf Country, between us and Neon, and between us and Europe. It is these foreign trade transactions that make NewPay’s annual transaction amount reach a very exaggerated level.

The industry currently describes NewPay as America's fifth largest bank. "

After hearing this, Ballmer was not discouraged because he realized that the potential in the field of electronic payments was far greater than he imagined.

It’s beautiful to think about how much potential it has to be able to reach the size of NewPay and how much growth it can bring to Microsoft.

"Has X.com been involved in the foreign trade industry?" Ballmer asked.

The executive replied: "We also engage in foreign trade, but because the proportion is too small, it is not included in the statistical caliber of professional organizations. Because X.com is not a listed company, we cannot see public data.

I only know that they have business, but the specific volume and scope of radiation are not clear. When we have subsequent business negotiations with X.com, we can ask them for data, including external audits before the formal acquisition, and we can also focus on this area. Check. "

Ballmer nodded: "It is impossible to acquire NewPay, we can only consider the second-ranked company.

X.com is also good. Since they can achieve the second position, it shows that they still have strength.

Let's get ready to negotiate with them. "

"Boss, the only problem is that X.com has huge disadvantages in offline payments. Their offline payment technology is not based on QR codes, but a very complex technology. The patent for QR code payment has always been NewPay is not open to the public.

X.com's technology has led to their slow promotion in the mobile Internet field. In the words of a technology commentator: If NewPay does not open up its technology, X.com will have no hope in the offline payment field.

Therefore, the acquisition of X.com may not be so consistent with our mobile Internet strategy. "

Ballmer asked: "Is it possible to force NewPay to open up its patents?"

The executive replied: “X.com, Amazon, and Ebay have been trying, but so far they have not succeeded.

However, according to our sources in Washington, financial institutions have loosened their tone. After some banks tried to enter the field of electronic payments, they also found that it was difficult to move forward without QR codes.

If there is no QR code, the bank's mobile application can only be used as a record-type application and cannot make offline payments, which will be particularly useless.

Therefore, according to our judgment, even if there are a number of financial institutions behind NewPay, they will still be unable to withstand the pressure sooner or later, and will disclose the QR code technology to other companies for use, at least in the form of patent authorization.

So I think the acquisition of X.com is not a big problem. We can also take the opportunity to lower the price of X.com. "

Ballmer nodded: "Talk to them."

As discussed within Microsoft, NewPay is facing tremendous pressure. Washington has repeatedly used regulatory measures to talk to NewPay executives to find out their views on open patents.

At the same time, banks that do not hold shares in NewPay are trying to form public opinion and let NewPay open up its QR code patent.

Zhou Xin and Peter Thiel reached an agreement:

"In November, we will first talk about opening up the QR code patent internally, and then we will discuss opening up the QR code patent to the outside world about a month later.

As for some security prevention technologies, there will be charges.

Regardless of whether it is a bank or an electronic payment institution, when talking to us, we must make it clear that you only need to seek more internal opinions on the payment method. "

week Technology disclosure.

This is like the Neon of later generations holding a bunch of technologies related to hydrogen energy. The technology is not open to the public, so no one can play with its system. It is impossible to develop the technology by itself, so it can only watch as it invests resources. The technology developed lies moldy in the patent library.

The logic of QR codes is different, but the core is the same. Sometimes technology sharing is to better achieve strategic goals.

Tesla's announcement of patents follows a similar logic. The more electric vehicles there are, the more valuable Tesla will be. Being the first in the mass field is far more valuable than being the first in the niche field.

Even the top ten in the popular field are more valuable than the number one in the niche field.

Of course, Zhou Xin would not sit still. After deciding to open up the QR code technology, he approached Pony: "WeChat Pay can be launched."

Pony is a little excited because he knows what payment means to Tencent's ecosystem, which means it will become more complete.

After doing data analysis, Pony deeply realized that data is value. When WeChat and payment are combined, WeChat can have more and more valuable data.

At the same time, WeChat can also launch some unique paid functions to generate revenue.

For example, WeChat has already thought of paying for articles on public accounts. This revenue point has long been thought of, but by that time Zhou Xin had already asked Pony to do WeChat payment, so they never turned on this function.

It can be opened without WeChat Pay. It is nothing more than a payment switch and switching to NewPay to complete the payment. However, WeChat will make its own WeChat Pay in the future, so WeChat would rather not have this function than switch to NewPay to complete the payment.

Pony nodded: "Okay, I will make preparations here. Whether it is security, stability and stress testing under high concurrency, we have done very well internally.

WeChat currently has close to hundreds of millions of users, and we can guarantee that there will be no problems. "