Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

After some time, a tall, roguishly handsome young man in a dark gray suit walked in.

Seeing him, Liang Changlin immediately rose to his feet and went to greet him, his assistant in tow.

Although it was their first time meeting, he had seen Chen Yansen’s photos online.

Chen Yansen stood where he was, watching Liang Changlin hurry over. A hint of a smile appeared on his face as he extended his right hand. "President Liang, a pleasure to meet you! Welcome to Xucheng."

"President Chen, I’ve heard so much about you! Seeing you today, I finally understand why our friends in the industry call you the most handsome entrepreneur in the country."

Liang Changlin said, gripping Chen Yansen’s hand tightly as he lavished on the praise with a wide smile.

"Let’s go upstairs and chat. I hear you’re from Luzhou, President Liang. As it happens, a friend gave me two canisters of Baiyun Chunhao Tea a while ago."

Chen Yansen said casually, gesturing toward the elevators.

"Then I’m in for a treat. Thank you, President Chen," Liang Changlin responded at once.

"This way."

Chen Yansen gestured with his hand, and the two of them took the elevator together to the office on the top floor.

After Liang Changlin was seated, Chen Yansen retrieved a canister of tea leaves and unhurriedly boiled water to brew the tea. Billowing steam rose and diffused throughout the room.

Liang Changlin appeared calm, but inside, his mind was racing.

’Judging by my observations, Chen Yansen isn’t an arrogant person. Otherwise, with his wealth and status, I wouldn’t be worthy of drinking tea brewed by the man himself.’

’But he’s only twenty and already this composed. It just goes to show that amassing a fifty-billion-US-dollar fortune in just two short years was definitely no fluke.’

"President Liang, Pei Yi has mentioned Dingdong Community to me," Chen Yansen said, holding his teacup and taking a light sip. "To be blunt, even without Kuai Pao’s involvement, Dingdong Community’s business model would be difficult to sustain. Relying solely on users from the communities around your stations, there’s simply no way to be profitable."

"You’re absolutely right, President Chen. I oversimplified the problem before. I thought that in big cities like Hu City, Yanjing, Shencheng City, and Jinling, I could replicate Nextdoor’s successful model, but I overlooked fatal flaws like vague positioning and a lack of unique features."

Liang Changlin gave a bitter, frank smile.

Even though he was being shot down to his face by a young man twenty years his junior, he wasn’t angry. He just nodded silently.

Like Ma Wenteng, Ma Liyun, and Li Yanhong, Liang was also a master transporter of ideas. Dingdong Community was his creation, a combination of Kuai Pao’s front-end warehouses and Nextdoor.

Nextdoor is the largest neighborhood social app in the Lighthouse Country, covering over 3,500 communities in 48 states. It had just secured a round of financing at the beginning of the year, with a post-money valuation exceeding 1.1 billion US dollars.

This was also the main reason Liang Changlin was able to secure 100 million in angel investment.

But due to vast cultural and social differences, communities in the Lighthouse Country and in China are completely different things.

For example, Dingdong Community’s "Neighborhood Chat" feature seemed practical, but in reality, it could be perfectly replaced by a WeChat group chat.

Besides, who wants to idly chat with their neighbors online, other than Old Wang next door?

Services like housekeeping, nannies, tutoring, and appliance repair all had their own established and dedicated platforms in China.

Important community announcements, including water and power outages or parking fee payments, were also handled by property management staff.

As for having residents swap unused items to promote resource recycling, that was even more ridiculous. Who would appraise the value of second-hand goods?

How was Dingdong Community supposed to profit from that?

"Actually, in my opinion, Dingdong Community does have some commercial value in areas like at-home cleaning, dry cleaning, and meal delivery. But the scope of business is too narrow, there are too many substitutes, and it’s difficult to achieve scale. You should know that this type of software can only hope to be profitable by leveraging economies of scale."

"The big fish eat the small fish. The winner takes all. The Matthew effect is especially pronounced in this space."

Chen Yansen analyzed, his logic clear.

"President Chen, I’ve been thinking recently... perhaps directly copying Nextdoor’s product model was a poor cultural fit. But I believe the core business concept of Dingdong Community is sound. If we approach it from a different angle, it might just have what it takes to become a unicorn company."

Liang Changlin said ambiguously.

"Entering the food delivery industry? Or perhaps imitating Kuai Pao’s front-end warehouse model, starting with a single category to provide delivery services? Like fresh produce, poultry, and meat?"

Leaning back on the sofa, Chen Yansen cut right to the heart of the other man’s unspoken idea.

’Dingdong Community is a combination of Nextdoor and front-end warehouses. If the first path is a dead end, it’s only natural to try the second.’

A chill went down Liang Changlin’s spine. He hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to guess his thoughts so directly.

It was just that his goal was even smaller than Chen Yansen had predicted.

What Liang Changlin wanted to do was create a fresh-produce e-commerce platform, using the front-end warehouse model to offer same-day delivery.

"President Chen, what do you think of that business model, then?" Liang Changlin asked tentatively. He wanted to hear Chen Yansen’s opinion; this was one of the main goals of his trip.

"Take a guess why I’m spending a fortune to set up several thousand front-end warehouses all over the country?"

Chen Yansen set down his teacup and asked in return, a smile on his face.

’Just dealing in digital products, home goods, and a few food categories could never satisfy President Chen’s appetite.’

Liang Changlin fell silent. He understood. Whether it was fresh produce, seafood, poultry, milk, or snacks—it was all likely within the scope of his business plan.

Just because he wasn’t doing it now didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it in the future.

If he hadn’t come for this visit and had instead just forged ahead on his own, he most likely would have been crushed.

Going up against an O2O behemoth like Kuai Pao, what chance of survival did Dingdong Community have?

After all, even Meituan, Lashou, and Dianping were no match for Kuai Pao.