Top of the big era

Tang Binchen came to Silicon Valley to organize the team, adjust the business, merge the two teams of YikYak and UCgram, and put them under his own responsibility.

At the same time, he also wants to convey the product concept of the new version of UCgram, as well as some of his ideas and experiences in mobile Internet product development.

Zhou Buqi came forward in person and stayed by his side like a follower to help him control the situation.

To be honest, it was at this time that Zhou Buqi really saw Tang Binchen's capable and powerful side, as well as his strong personal ability and charisma.

In the past, the two of them interacted more in private, and Tang Binchen would not talk to Zhou Buqi in a me-centered manner, and he still couldn't feel it.

Attending the product conference this time, I really felt it.

Not to mention anything else, just from his understanding of mobile Internet products, it can be seen that he is already a big step ahead of the world and has entered the mobile Internet era early.

Just like a teacher giving lectures to students, facing these industry elites in Silicon Valley, he showed no stage fright at all. Many of the product ideas he proposed were refreshing to Zhou Buqi, as if he was being taught, such as——

When designing products, we never consider the web form, all considerations are based on the App;

In the selection of product priorities, fun is higher than functionality, functionality is higher than interaction, and interaction is higher than UI;

The product page must always be one-dimensional and allow users to solve specific problems in one dimension. Once the product appears in two dimensions, it will increase the user's understanding and cause product disaster. To this end, he cited two examples, saying that Twitter's App is a good example, and Facebook's App's slide-out menu is a disaster-level design.

In addition, there are more than a dozen more.

For example, don’t let users choose. Within the same page, there can only be one entrance to the same function, and there can only be one display method on the same page. Users would rather take a long and fixed path of repeated operations than use changing shortcuts. For this reason, he criticized MSN emphatically.

For example, if you want to hide technology, here he criticized Google by name. Products should always show simple, user-friendly interfaces that are in line with human intuition. Development should not display functions for the sake of showing off skills, and products should not be stacked with functions for the sake of showing off.

For example, we should always design around functions and never do it the other way around. For this reason, we took out several Google products and criticized them again.

For example, a product must, to a certain extent, satisfy the greed, anger, and ignorance in human nature, which is a pain point for users. By grasping human nature, product managers can transcend it and become the gods of users, using products to help users liberate themselves.

For example, refuse personalization.

Personalized designs like QQ that change skins have no value other than giving product managers the illusion that they have done a lot of work and are self-satisfied. It can only prove that product managers are not confident in their own products, because confident product managers rely on The default skin can satisfy all users.

By extension, the functions of a good product should meet the needs of all users around the world, without the need for special customization for regions.

This is a bit much.

Zhou Buqi has some different opinions.

Tang Binchen's general logic is correct, but it is too absolute. In some special and important markets, there should be some personalized designs to cater to the local cultural and social background.

For example, after Helo on the mobile phone is launched to the world, it can have a "circle of friends" function for socializing with acquaintances. This circle is smaller than Facebook's circle and has more acquaintances. However, Japan needs special treatment. Japanese users prefer Twitter and YikYak. That kind of open social platform for strangers should use "circle of attention" instead of "circle of friends".

Another example is Hollywood movies. Most of the world has one version. However, when it is released in China, it is also necessary to launch a customized version for the domestic market to meet the laws and regulations and the needs of movie fans here.

However, Zhou Buqi did not raise any different opinions at the meeting, nor did he openly question him, he just gave him a look.

Tang Binchen seemed to have come to his senses and felt that he was having a little fun this time. Not only did he criticize the products of almost all the technology giants in the world, but he also expressed some highly subjective and unproven product concepts.

I quickly restrained myself and focused on the new version of UCgram, focusing on picture social networking. Then, he unceremoniously criticized many of the product designs of the English version of Helo, and said that the number of users of UCgram should try to catch up with Helo within two years!

After blowing hard, these Silicon Valley elites were calmed down.

Then start the deployment task.

Zhou Buqi accompanied him throughout the whole process and hardly spoke much. The meeting lasted for three hours and was not finished yet. He had lunch at noon and continued the meeting in the afternoon.

Originally, Tang Binchen meant to order takeout and just order some KFC. This proposal was blocked by Zhou Buqi. This is not Asia, and the oppression cannot be too strong.

Take a two-hour break at noon.

Zhou Buqi took Tang Binchen to a delicious Italian restaurant 25 kilometers away to eat noodles. It was a high-end restaurant and relatively quiet.

"Aren't you afraid of passing this blow?"

"Don't be afraid!"

"What should I do if I pass?" Zhou Buqi was actually a little worried, "I'm just counting. You criticized many well-known products of a number of Internet companies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Baidu, Alibaba, Penguin, and Facebook. I tried it again, and the effect was indeed very good, and it suppressed these Silicon Valley guys. But what if UCgram fails to do a good job, and it is not afraid of the collapse of belief? Authority largely comes from belief."

Tang Binchen did not raise his head, stirred the noodles with a fork, and said casually: "I have two words. First, leave no escape route, only success, no failure. I have never considered the failure of UCgram. As long as I succeed, everything I said this morning will be engraved in their hearts and establish my...faith in Silicon Valley."

"How awesome!" Zhou Buqi shook his head, "Is it necessary to be so cruel to yourself?"

Tang Binchen was a little surprised and looked up at him, "Are you cruel? I think this kind of courage and courage can qualify you to become a real decision-maker. Just like you, I have never seen you consider the consequences of failure in any decision-making. "

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I've thought about it."

Tang Binchen said: "That's different. What you consider is whether the company can afford this failure, not the individual. These are two different things. I will also consider the success or failure of UCgram, but this is from the perspective of the company, more importantly It’s more about financial and resource investment. It has nothing to do with personal retreat and maintaining personal authority.”

This style of fierce fighting without regard for personal safety has only been seen by Zhou Buqi in Zhang Yiming, Guo Pengfei, Shi Jinglin, Liang Rubo, Ji Zian, Meng Houkun, Fu Sheng, Chen Dong and others.

Zhang Yiming, Guo Pengfei, Ji Zian, Chen Dong and others are important shareholders of Ziweixing. This is not surprising. However, Tang Binchen, Liang Rubo, Fu Sheng, Fu Hongliang and others do not hold too many shares. They rely more on their own demands based on personal pursuit and self-belief.

How can such a person who is fighting on the front line for the company's interests regardless of personal safety not be reused?

Zhou Buqi nodded, "What about the second sentence? What is it?"

Tang Binchen said calmly: "You can only do three things. After continuous failures, you will basically lose the trust of the team, and it's time to quit."

The industry is basically the same and doesn’t give too many opportunities for trial and error.

Whether it’s Silicon Valley or Hollywood.

When Wu Yusen was at his peak in Hollywood, his films were the global annual box office champions, and he was one of the only directors in Hollywood with final editing rights.

Then, he took over the filming of MGM's war film "Windtalkers", which failed miserably, and MGM went bankrupt because of this movie.

After this failure, Hollywood gave him another chance. It was a medium-investment action film. If it succeeded, he would be able to successfully turn over and get another chance to helm a top Hollywood blockbuster.

It's a pity that if he failed, he would have no chance.

He could only return to China in despair to film "Red Cliff".

Zhou Buqi did not respond to Tang Binchen's statement.

He didn't approve of it in his heart.

No matter what, he couldn't let Tang Binchen really leave. If the global business fails, the worst case scenario is that he will return to the Japanese market, and he will go to Japan to become the local emperor.

The Japanese market has also made mistakes one after another, and in the worst case, it will be returned to the domestic market.

This is like a soldier who goes abroad to fight for the country. If he is injured and disabled, he must be brought back to the country and the country will support him for the rest of his life.

Tang Binchen has made great contributions to the expansion of Ziweixing's territory. Even if he really encounters Waterloo in the future and cannot survive overseas, Zhou Buqi will definitely give him a decent and appropriate arrangement.

"By the way, have you read the data from South Korea?"

"Chen Dong seemed to have sent me an email, so I just glanced at it without reading it carefully."

Zhou Buqi has strategically laid out the Korean market, reached cooperation with Hyundai, selected the most suitable candidates, and taken South Korea's national character into consideration, so there is no possibility of failure.

He has so many things to focus on every day, so there is no need to focus on the inevitable victory.

Tang Binchen said with a smile: "The data is quite impressive. The Korean version of Helo is called kakaotalk. It has only been 5 months old and the installed base has exceeded 5 million. This is equivalent to 10% of the people in South Korea becoming kakaotalk users."

Zhou Buqi said: "There are big differences between countries. South Korea and Japan are similar. The mobile Internet infrastructure is very advanced. Smartphone users are not only young people, but many middle-aged and elderly people will also follow the trend and buy smart phones. But Europe and the United States are different, mainly young people."

Tang Binchen said: "Yes, smartphones in Korea and Japan are mainly used by users aged 15-45; in the European and American markets, they are mainly users aged 12-35. In the domestic market, I estimate that they are college students and white-collar workers, 18-35 Between the ages. Chat software based on smartphones must first focus on the consumer group of smartphones."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Of course, this is the difference between Helo and QQ that we pursue when we compete domestically."