Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Zhitong Company is established
Unlike the IT industry that followed, at this time in China, the most famous IT figures were not the owners or CEOs of those companies, but individual programmers, such as those who would later be known as the 'Three Gentlemen of Zhongguancun' and the 'Five Great Programmers of China'.
Some of them, such as Pak Kwan Kau of Kingsoft, were also the idols of many young people. I remember that at the turn of the century, Feng Yiping managed to get a ticket and went to an auditorium to listen to him give a speech. I can't remember the exact content now, but the main purpose was actually to observe an entrepreneurial idol.
Influenced by them, many people in China have followed in their footsteps and become programmers over the years. Although only a few dozen people, represented by the 'Three Kings' and 'Five Heroes', can remember their names, there are of course many other master programmers among them, but they just didn't manage to come out on top in the competition.
Hong Haoran is one such person. After majoring in computer science at Stanford University, he worked in Silicon Valley for a while, quickly paying off the debt his family had incurred to support his studies and saving some money. Two years ago, with the dream of serving his country, he was ready to start a business back home.
However, the domestic infrastructure at the time was far from ideal. Adopting a wait-and-see attitude, he applied for a high-paying job as an advisor to the general manager of a large state-owned enterprise, mainly to coordinate the introduction of an ERP system from the German company SAP.
After working hard for almost a year, he was surprised to discover that the system, which had cost a lot of money and involved huge investments of human and material resources, was more often than not used as a window-dressing project and not even one-tenth of its functions were being used.
After the former general manager was promoted to the municipal state-owned assets supervision and administration commission, the new leader, although still paying the original salary, made him responsible for this area of work. However, he himself could not continue, and he thought that if he wanted to make money, he should just stay in the United States, so why had he returned?
He is a programmer with feelings. After resigning, he set up a software company with his own funds. After a year, he developed several applications with a small team and frugal living, but he could never find a buyer. The company could no longer sustain itself, and today, he used his last savings to dissolve the company with tears.
His wife is having a cold war with him over business matters, and she has gone back to her parents' home. He looks at the deserted room, sighs, and goes into the study. Maybe he still has to find a job.
He clicks on the BBS of his alma mater at random, and suddenly sees a job ad: a programmer with management experience and familiar with enterprise management software. Is this not talking about me? He looks at the salary, which is negotiable, but the qualified person can have company shares.
He decided to give it a try.
He made an appointment and went to the provincial capital, only to find that the person he was talking to was not Feng Zhanchang, who he had spoken to on the phone, but a child who still looked like a student.
Feng Yiping sized him up. He was a man in his early thirties with fairly thick hair, wearing jeans and a jacket. He could be considered a young man, but for some reason, he didn't know if it was because he had been on the train for dozens of hours or what, his face didn't look good.
Feng Yiping first asked about his experience, and couldn't help feeling a little sad. At this time, Stanford graduates who stayed in Silicon Valley and did well could really become famous in the future. Sometimes, emotions are really a harmful thing!
However, Feng Yiping was quite happy. He didn't expect that in the end, the free advertisement on the BBS worked, and they managed to catch such a big fish that seemed to have been tailor-made for them.
Hong Haoran was originally quite disappointed, letting Feng Yiping, his student, talk him into it, thinking that this trip was a waste of not only time but also travel expenses.
However, as Feng Yiping delved deeper into the conversation about ERP, he slowly put aside his contempt. The person who could say such things definitely had a deep understanding of enterprise resource planning, and in some ways was even more insightful than Feng Yiping, who had been involved in the whole process.
Feng Zhenchang did not participate in the conversation, but he could always tell when someone was good at what they did. Watching Hong Haoran talking with his son, he felt a sense of mutual admiration and was proud of himself.
However, Hong Haoran was not optimistic about this. Having just experienced a failure, he advised, 'This is not a small project, it is a system project. We are trying to do it from scratch, and it is not a matter of one or two days. The investment is even more of a bottomless pit. Therefore, I would advise you to be more cautious.' freewёbnoνel.com
He didn't want to see the child in front of him, who also had some feelings, follow in his footsteps.
'Don't worry about it, I've already thought about it very clearly. Besides, we don't need to be perfect from the start. Let's start with financial software, which everyone values nowadays. Once we've got the financial management down, we can sell it as financial software, and then move on to procurement management, inventory management, human resources management, and so on, one module at a time.'
That's how domestic ERP software came about later. First, a module was developed and sold as a standalone software product. Of course, the excuse was that it had to be developed in advance. In the end, all the modules were integrated to form a complete system.
'That's a good idea,' Hong Haoran agreed. That way, even if it doesn't work out in the end, at least a few products will make some money.
'So Mr. Hong is willing to accept the position?' Feng Yiping was also very satisfied with him. Hong Haoran had just persuaded him to think about it more, which obviously showed that he was thinking about Feng Yiping's interests. He was a pure and kind person.
'There's only one problem. Will the company still be here?' Hong Haoran asked.
'You can make all the other decisions, except for the location of the company, which must be in the provincial capital,' Feng Yiping patiently explained to him. 'It is impossible to build a system like this behind closed doors. It must be based on reality. Our family's noodle shop and decoration company can just happen to be the place where you can do your experiments. If it was somewhere else, there would be no such conditions.
In addition, this also takes into account the issue of future sales. We have some connections locally, and in the future, these can all become a help. What do you think?'
'I accept in principle, but I need to consult my wife.' Feng Yiping was indeed reasonable. ERP was originally created in the process of organising production, and it would be a pipe dream to try to create such a system behind closed doors.
'No problem, don't worry about your living problems, we will match the house, and we can also solve the problem of the children going to school.'
'Oh, I don't have any children yet!'
After returning to Shanghai, Hong Haoran found a way to convince his wife. In fact, his wife was very supportive of him for returning to China from the United States with him, and she didn't really care about going to other places in the country. The reason she had a falling out with him was simply because he didn't have a clear profit plan, and was just making software for the sake of making software.
After obtaining his wife's consent, Hong Haoran set about recruiting staff. Feng Yiping, through Li Jia, who was already working for a foreign company, persuaded her senior colleague, who had a certified public accountant certificate, to join them at a high salary.
She not only did accounting, but the company that had just been set up would mainly be spending money in the short term, so there was no need for such a big name as a certified public accountant. Her main job was actually to give advice on the financial management module.
Of course, Li Jia herself also really wanted to come. She knew that Feng Yiping would not do any business that would lose money, and that was what convinced her senior sister. However, Feng Yiping thought she was a rookie with no work experience, and heh, that really made her angry at the time!
After more than a month of preparations, Zhitong Company, with Hong Haoran as the technical director, was finally established in the provincial capital. Its establishment and success laid a solid foundation for Feng Yiping's future career.