West coast

An invitation email to hold an all-hands meeting was sent to all Unicorn employees at ten o'clock in the morning, reminding everyone that the meeting will be held at three o'clock in the afternoon, all staff are required to be present, and all work items arranged during this period must be fully Cancel.Everyone looked at each other after reading the email, feeling uneasy.Meetings of this size and poise seldom happen, so there must be something big to announce.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, everyone went to the lobby to gather on time, and the employees who couldn't be there all logged in to the live broadcast of the meeting remotely.

Standing on the podium is the CEO named Adam.He looks young, about 30 years old, wearing glasses and dressed in an ordinary code farmer's clothes, simple cardigan and jeans, it can't be seen that he has a net worth of more than [-] million.Standing on the stage with a microphone in his hand, he didn't look like a boss at all, and even seemed a little stage frightened.

When everyone was almost here, he raised the microphone and began to speak:

"Thank you for taking the time to attend this all-hands meeting, and thank the employees in every position for their contributions and efforts to the company.

I believe you have heard all kinds of rumors recently about the future direction of the company.In line with the principle of openness and transparency, I would like to give you a unified response here today.

Yes, we did receive a letter of intent from a major manufacturer. Regarding the conditions they offered, I think it would be difficult for any start-up company with a similar scale to us to refuse.This matter has also been the focus of discussion on our board of directors recently. "

He paused and collected his thoughts.

"Five years ago, my college classmate and then roommate Jake, I started this company together in a rental house.

We had actually failed four times before starting this company, so we had a hard time raising money for the company at first.I still remember that the two of us drove the 2001 Honda car, took the PPT presentations showing the products, and went to one investment company to lobby, but was rejected again and again, and our noses were ashamed.

I told myself at the time that if I didn't succeed this time, I would go back to my hometown of North Carolina and work as a small employee with peace of mind.

However, no one expected that the company would have such potential. In just five years, we moved from the small shared house to this magnificent office building, and suddenly transformed into a company with thousands of employees worth More than a billion unicorns.This result is something we did not expect.

Of course, the road to entrepreneurship is not smooth, and it can even be said to be full of thorns. In the past five years, everyone has witnessed the blood and sweat along the way with me.

Although there have been countless nights of insomnia and anxiety, watching the company grow step by step, this feeling is like being with your own child, watching him from falling to the ground, practicing crawling with difficulty, and finally waiting until he learns to walk and run. "

Having said this, the young entrepreneur was a little choked up. He sorted out his emotions and continued.

"Everyone knows that the most difficult part of starting a business is to ensure that the cash flow does not break. CashisKing. So, when we received the acquisition agreement from a big factory and saw the numbers on it, we were all very excited. This is undoubtedly a temptation. However, when the initial excitement cooled down, I felt mixed feelings these days. For me, even if its future is uncertain, I would resell the company I founded and supported under the name of a big factory. No questions allowed. It definitely felt like a parent buying and selling their own flesh and blood.

During this period of time, the board of directors has been having heated discussions, and I have also been under pressure from all sides.I have to admit that I struggled with it for a long time and suffered endlessly.Just today, I finally made my final decision.

Now, I solemnly announce to everyone that we will reject the acquisition agreement of the big factory, and will maintain the previous listing plan unchanged.We also promise that everyone here will not lay off employees in any case, and keep your current positions.I hope everyone can understand my decision and help me in the same boat! "

There was thunderous applause from the audience.Most people were encouraged after listening to it, but a few people said they could not understand and left quietly.

-------

Co-founder Jake was not present today because he just finished negotiating with Dachang.

Just half an hour ago, he showed Dachang the recent significant growth in software daily active users, click-through rate, and dwell time. Taking this as an opportunity, he signed a secret agreement with Dachang, raising the purchase price to another level.

Half an hour later, he sat contentedly on the return private plane, shuttling among the clouds.

He turned on his tablet to watch Adam's all-hands speech, and was surprised to find that his partner had publicly announced his decision to reject the acquisition without informing him.His dream of getting rich overnight was shattered by Adam.

"The bastard! The stupid geek!!!" he growled angrily.

Jake was so angry that he slammed the tablet on the floor, knocked his elbow on the red wine that was just served, and shattered the glass.

Emily, sitting nearby, was startled when the wine splashed onto the season's couture dress.

Emily has bleach-dyed blonde hair and a model-size body.The experience of participating in beauty pageants in the early years made her develop the habit of not easily showing people without makeup. Even Jake, who has been dating for many years, has never seen her without makeup a few times.But time is not forgiving, and upon closer inspection, her skin has visibly slack to the naked eye.She was looking through the advertisements of the top plastic surgeons in the United States just now, and wanted to change to a more reliable one to get some Botox, but she was splashed with red wine.

Emily walked up to Jake and rubbed his shoulders: "What made you so angry?"

Jake replied: "Adam announced in public today that he rejected the big factory's acquisition agreement!!! Does he still think of me as a co-founder?! He said that this company is his child, and he doesn't want to sell the child?! Nonsense! It’s ridiculous! This is obviously a profitable business! If we don’t sell it now, we will be unable to fight it when the big factory turns around to deal with us. When the market value plummets, we will sell it again. Can't ask for a price!"

Emily comforted him and said: "Oh, why are you so angry? Don't forget, you all hold the same shares. Now we just need to get rid of a few board members who also support him. Once we support the sale of the company The number of votes has the upper hand, and there is no room for him not wanting to sell."

-------

As soon as he arrived at the company in the morning, Lin Nan found that people in the entire department were not working on the desk, but were all blocked at the door of the "Hell" office and looked inside.Lin Nan had a bad feeling.

After a while, the boss of the department who had been in a hurry came out of the meeting room of hell.Everyone immediately greeted him and asked what happened.

Lin Nan remembered that Matt said that as long as the head of the department is there, they will never be hurt by the unicorn's office struggle.But now, the head of the department was the first to enter the hell meeting room and was fired.

Matt was talking to the boss next to him, shaking his head from time to time, putting his hand on his forehead, showing a disappointed and incredible expression.The boss patted Matt on the shoulder to express his relief.Seeing Lin Nan coming, he took the initiative to say goodbye to Lin Nan.

Lin Nan: "Are you...?"

The boss of the department: "I'm really sorry, we haven't had a chance to sit down and have a good chat, and I'm about to leave. My future tasks will be handed over to Matt. I believe that his ability will definitely lead the department to a higher level."

Matt hugged his chest and said sullenly, "I don't want it, you've been squeezed out, and I don't want to do it anymore, can you take me away too."

The head of the department: "Don't be angry. This department was created by you, and I have been just talking about it all the time to help you deal with it. I believe that you can do it without me."

Matt was deflated.

The boss of the department: "I have almost packed my things. I will formally bid farewell to everyone today. Silicon Valley is a small place, and the future is long. See you in Jianghu."

Matt was reluctant and insisted on sending the boss downstairs.

Lin Nan looked at Eric suspiciously, and asked, "What's going on? Why so suddenly?"

Eric sighed: "Oh, I offended the wrong person."

Lin Nan frowned and asked, "Who offended?"

Eric: "Who else could it be? It's Emily from the marketing department. It is said that Emily called the boss at two o'clock in the middle of the night last night and yelled that things were not done well here, and she didn't like that there, and asked him to call us immediately. The people in the department got up to change. The boss disagreed, saying that he would never let the employees work overtime at such a late hour, and hung up on Emily's phone. As a result, he was fired as soon as he came this morning."

Lin Nan was surprised: "Huh? Two o'clock in the middle of the night? Isn't Emily just in charge of marketing? Does she have so much power?"

Eric quickly put his index finger to his lips: "Hush! Keep your voice down! Do you know what Emily's full name is?"

Lin Nan: "Um, I don't know, I'll check." After checking his past emails on the computer, he replied, "Her full name seems to be Emily Elwood."

Eric asked: "Well, what about the second founder's name?"

Lin Nan: "Jake Elwood. Ah...", he suddenly realized, slapped his head and said, "Fuck, they are from the same family?!"

Eric: "Yes, Emily used to be a beauty pageant lady, married Jake a few years ago, and became the head of the marketing department as soon as she joined the company. She doesn't know much about technology, and because her husband is the second partner, Commanding everywhere. Although everyone in the office doesn't say it publicly, they hate her secretly."

Lin Nan: "Oh, no wonder the marketing department is so huge, with more people than other departments, just like an army."

When Matt came back, he turned on the computer dejectedly, and immediately received a dozen emails from Emily, each of which used a bunch of exclamation points, the tone was high and bossy, and all the orders ended with ASAP (as soon as possible).

Matt sighed after watching it, found Cool Brother, and asked, "Is the AI ​​chat robot you made to deal with your ex-girlfriend still there?"

Brother Ku took off the earphones: "It's still there, what's the matter?"

Matt: "I can't stand this Emily anymore, you can install a chatbot for me too..."