From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 63 Each with their own ulterior motives

"Mr. Lin, Taobao is a large and powerful company, it doesn't need someone like you."

"When you're in that situation, do you often feel constrained and unable to realize your ambitions?"

"Are you interested in switching jobs to Youa.com? I can personally decide to increase your current salary by 100% and give you the authority to recruit. Within three years, we'll take down Taobao!"

puff.

Lin Mu finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. Mainly because he was thinking that three years later, Taobao was still doing well, but Youa.com had long since disappeared.

A puzzled voice came from the other end of the phone: "Oh? What? You don't believe me? Haha, actually I don't believe it either. But, aim high and you'll achieve something; setting ambitious goals gives you the drive to fight."

Lin Mu coughed, composed himself, and quickly thought of a solution.

Although it wasn't Paipai.com that was trying to poach him, but Youa.com, he still had to accept the invitation. It was an opportunity to connect with the investment community, and he didn't want to be labeled a "die-hard Alibaba fan."

However, there's a small pitfall here. He just made a high-profile announcement about switching to Taobao Mall, and then he secretly contacted Youa.com. If the other party causes trouble, he'll be in serious trouble.

Therefore, he had to report to his superiors first, and meet with Li Mingyuan under the pretext of gathering intelligence. It would be best to also buy a voice recorder and put it in his bag to record the whole process to prove his innocence.

This has three advantages.

First: Make contact with the investment community and let them know that he has value and can be won over.

Second: He was about to be transferred to a new position, and he needed to leave a good impression on the group of proud and capable people at Taobao Mall. This recording was his pledge of allegiance.

Lin Mu said, "Okay. But I'll choose the location. Let's meet in a private room at the Shangri-La."

After agreeing on a time and place, the two hung up the phone.

As soon as the call ended, Lu Hai asked, "What's wrong? Lin Mu, is someone trying to poach your boyfriend?"

Lin Mu recounted the whole story in detail, and added at the end, "Team leader, let me inform you first that I went to gather intelligence, not to actually switch jobs. You have to prove my innocence."

Lu Hai said solemnly, "You're about to be transferred to a new position. You should talk to General Manager Zhang and make sure to find a few trustworthy people in the Taobao Mall department and keep good records of your work."

Lin Mu nodded; he understood all too well the importance of leaving a record of one's work.

The farewell party thus came to an end.

Lin Mu, from the Taobao Mall department, informed Qiao Feng about this matter, and Qiao Feng immediately relayed it to Zhang Yong.

After receiving the intelligence, Zhang Yong fell into deep thought.

When Lin Mu wrote that post titled "Focusing on Strength to Fight a Battle," he had already informed him in advance.

He had considered whether posting this would attract similar posts from his peers, and whether they would need to concentrate their efforts on a campaign to address it. However, after internal team discussions, the final conclusion was: there was no need to worry about it.

Because the difference in size is too great.

Taobao currently holds an 80% share of the C2C market. If other platforms dare to compete with Taobao on the same day, their advertising focus will easily be completely taken over by Taobao.

After all, Taobao far surpasses its competitors in terms of the number of merchants, user base, and brand awareness.

Of course, we should despise the enemy strategically, but take the enemy seriously tactically.

Backed by Baidu, Youa.com controls the search traffic entrance, and its CEO is particularly aggressive, shouting the slogan "Destroy Taobao in three years".

Since Lin Mu volunteered, let's let this young man with so many clever ideas go and explore the way; he might just be able to produce some unexpected results.

Therefore, Zhang Yong approved the plan in an internal Alibaba email.

……

Inside a private room at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Li Mingyuan tapped lightly on the table, waiting for Lin Mu to arrive.

He has been riding high lately, with Baidu's 2008 financial report showing particularly impressive results and its Google Ads business generating huge profits.

There are also rumors that Google is experiencing severe internal strife and is considering withdrawing from the Chinese market.

At that point, the search engine market will be dominated by Baidu. The commercial potential of a single dominant search engine is immeasurable. After consolidating the domestic market, it might even be able to compete with Google in the international market.

Li Mingyuan is 32 years old this year, and at such a young age, he has already taken on the position of head of Youa.com. He is confident that, backed by Baidu's massive traffic portal, he can operate the e-commerce business with great success.

In fact, even he himself knew that his boast of "destroying Taobao in 3 years" was unreliable.

However, within the group, everyone treats e-commerce as a side business, a tool for monetizing traffic, and shareholders and executives don't really care about this business. That's why he made such a startling statement, just to attract attention.

A confident smile played on Li Mingyuan's lips, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of his upcoming plans.

It's true that he sincerely invited Lin Mu, and it's also true that he would double Lin Mu's salary and give him more stock options if Lin Mu was willing to switch jobs. After all, Lin Mu is now a big name in the operations industry, and he has announced his high-profile transfer to Taobao Mall. If he could poach him, he could create a lot of hype and attract another wave of traffic.

But he figured that Lin Mu probably wouldn't come to Youa.com.

It's alright, he had already prepared a backup plan for this situation.

In a restaurant downstairs from the Shangri-La Hotel, he arranged for a junior business reporter to be present. His only goal was to wait until the banquet ended, then go downstairs to "see off" Lin Mu, shake hands with him, and have the reporter snap a photo at that moment, and his objective would be achieved.

He'll use this photo to create a lot of hype.

Not only that, at the following banquet, he would also flatter Lin Mu in a friendly manner, encouraging this talented young man to reveal more secrets.

Young people, the more capable they are, the more arrogant they become. When praised by older, more respected figures, they tend to get carried away and say things they shouldn't. That's when he can extract some inside information about Taobao.

That's right, he also had the intention of gathering intelligence.

In his view, as long as Lin Mu dared to come, he would only have three outcomes: a small win, a medium win, or a big win.

Just then, the door to the private room was pushed open.

With the waiter's introduction, Lin Mu walked in slowly. In his briefcase was a voice recorder that was already set to record.

Lin Mu extended his hand and said with a smile, "President Li, I've heard so much about you."

Li Mingyuan also stood up and returned the handshake, beaming with smiles: "I should be saying that. Mr. Lin is young and promising. I admire you greatly."

After some pleasantries, Li Mingyuan got straight to the point: "Lin Mu, Youa.com is just starting out, and we are really eager to find talent. We need someone like you to join us."

"What's the point of you staying on Taobao? Taobao is an old platform with a mature business model, but it lacks a stable source of traffic and can only search for traffic all over the world."

He then changed the subject, his tone becoming more and more certain: "But I'll make a prediction here: internet traffic in China will only get more and more expensive in the future."

"As the cost of acquiring users increases, Taobao has to take increasingly harsher commissions from merchants in order to break even. In this vicious cycle, Taobao will eventually collapse."

"On the other hand, we have AhNet, which is completely different. We control one of the largest traffic entrances on the Chinese Internet to run a business model that has already been proven by Taobao."

"As time goes on, with more and more merchants and buyers, we will eventually surpass Taobao."

"Of course, when I said I would surpass Taobao in 3 years, it was indeed to attract attention. But 3 years is not enough. 5 years, 6 years, 7 years or 8 years at most, we will be able to catch up with Taobao's size."

It's obvious that Li Mingyuan is trying to elevate Lin Mu by putting him down, aiming to provoke Lin Mu's rebellious spirit and get him to say something meaningful so that he can take the opportunity to gather intelligence.