After graduating from college, I worked in two places: one is Microsoft, and the other is now Baixing.com. My role has also changed from the initial professional manager to the current entrepreneur. The Internet has many opportunities and is developing rapidly, but the elimination rate is relatively high. Its development is “dramatic” beyond ordinary people’s imagination. For example, in 2005, we first tried to build a classified information website in China. In the second year, 3,000 similar websites popped up in China, but now, most of them have disappeared.
As an entrepreneur, what should you do in such a complicated situation?
Focus on limited things
A person can do many things, but spending 5 or even 10 years doing one thing is relatively rare. I have been blogging for 9 years. Except for one month when I stopped writing due to poor health, I insisted on blogging every day. Because I believe in the power of persistence and implement it in the company's operation and management.
In the six years since the establishment of Baixing.com, the company's main business and structure have not changed significantly. Even when financing, we will not make changes due to the injection of capital. We will always focus on the development and operation of classified information. We will not engage in popular business types such as group buying, and the main business will not undergo essential changes. This is the bottom line for our cooperation with investors and an important factor in attracting investment from investors.
My request to Baixing.com is that we should do a good job in classification; my suggestion to Yiyan is to do a good job in translation; my suggestion to friends to run together is to do a good job in organizing a run together; Kuwo Music Box’s suggestion is to make the music box well.
Focusing on one thing is both the easiest thing to say and the hardest thing to do. I believe many friends who have started a business for more than three years will smile knowingly. People are so weird. Unless they have made the same mistake, they really can't remember these principles.
Simplify what you have to do
Everyone is greedy. They think that by expanding the size of the company, they can achieve the goal of "bigness" or "power" faster, but this is not the case. Adding the cost of one person is definitely not one person's salary. Even after adding benefits and amortization of office costs, it is only a small part of the real cost. The communication costs, management costs, and even the CEO's time and attention brought about by adding people are all huge costs. The cost of adding a feature is by no means the development cost of this feature, but involves the operating costs of subsequent series. For example, an engineer can come up with a reply function for a post in one day, but the subsequent cost will not be known until it is implemented.
For another example, if there is a message function, there must be an anti-spam function; if there is a message, there must be someone to review it; if there are reviewers, it will involve all the people's office, welfare, salary, and management issues; A team requires someone to set targets, produce reports, read reports, and modify reports; as long as there are people, it will involve recruiting, hiring, team building, etc.
Functionally speaking, if you can write a message and someone will ask to delete the message, you need to have the concept of user. Once you have a user, you have a password. You also need to develop password changes and password retrieval. With password retrieval, it involves sending emails. Or text messages, there are issues with the arrival rate of emails or text messages, timeliness of arrival, etc.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. With the deepening of functions, a small message may cost the company several months of development and accumulation without everyone knowing it. Once this situation occurs, it will either spread the pie, do more and more, and get further away from the core functions, or it will not be done well, half-finished products will be online, maintenance will be neglected, and garbage will be piled up.
Even if these costs are small, the larger cost is the opportunity cost. In fact, we do this not at the cost of this "small function" itself, but at the cost of improving another function, and that function takes the same time to improve, and the profit it brings is far greater than even the smallest function. Exaggerated accounting costs. This is the real cost. That's why people, functions, and business need to be simplified.
Keep an eye on cost control
After several rounds of ups and downs in China's Internet industry, many entrepreneurs have understood another very simple truth, which is: "Profit = Revenue - Cost."
This is another question that seems so simple but is most easily overlooked. In good times, it is easy for people to forget to pay attention to costs and pursue income one-sidedly, with little regard to the cost to achieve this income.
At that time, many entrepreneurs or VCs would make a calculation. For every 1 yuan of revenue increased, maybe 20 yuan could be added to the valuation. For the 20 yuan increased by leverage, let alone spend one yuan or ten cents. The cost of money, even if it costs 18 yuan, someone will do it. That's why there are so many stupid things to do to spend 18 yuan and earn one yuan.
If there are no more 20-yuan buyers, each company will go back to the essence of a business of earning one dollar for every dollar it spends. This is a good thing and a good thing for everyone. In short, focus on very limited things, simplify the things to be done, do limited things, and at the same time keep a close eye on cost control. Only in this way can you succeed in starting a business and be proud of the Internet world. (The author is CEO of Baixing.com)
Editor in charge: Chen