Chapter 19 Birth of Ma Huateng's first pot of gold

"Many software technicians are often very confident in their own intelligence, making software is just a way to compare with each other, but I hope that what I have created will be used by more people, and I am willing to play a small role in bringing technology to the market." Role." This is Ma Huateng's personal experience after working for five years in China Runxun Communications Group Co., Ltd.Run Xun Company was established in 1990. At the beginning, it mainly engaged in the paging industry. It was a fast-growing high-tech company. Well-known enterprises. After graduating from the computer department of Shenzhen University in 1993, Ma Huateng joined Runxun as a software engineer with his excellent computer technology, and was engaged in the research and development of Internet paging system.The weak-looking Ma Huateng embarked on the first stop of his career.And this year, Huang Guangyu, Ma Huateng's Chaoshan fellow, was still on the road. He later founded the country's largest home appliance chain company, Gome Group.

Ma Huateng did his due diligence in his first post, and his excellent business level made him quickly promoted to department head.One thing that needs to be explained is that before entering Runxun, Ma Huateng showed a great preference for computer technology. In 1984, Ma Huateng, who was only 13 years old, followed his parents from Hainan to Shenzhen.In Shenzhen, Ma Huateng spent his middle school days. During the college entrance examination, at the suggestion of his parents, Ma Huateng chose the computer major on the volunteer form.Four years in college, Ma Huateng's "idol" is a master programmer in UNIX and C language.In Shenzhen University, Ma Huateng's computer skills have reached the point where teachers and classmates are impressed, and he has provided many pretty good solutions for the school's computer maintenance.He often exchanged time on the computer on the condition that he cleared all kinds of viruses in the computer room. Sometimes, in order to gain more time on the computer, he would do some pranks of locking the machine, which once made the school computer room administrator dumbfounded.

In the stories told by the media, Ma Huateng is a computer genius, but computers are actually his second hobby.In the memory of Ma Huateng's father, Ma Chenshu, before going to university, Ma Huateng liked astronomy and geography very much, and there were magazines about astronomy and geography everywhere in his home. After Ma Huateng came to Shenzhen with his parents in 1984, he took a fancy to an astronomical telescope, but the price was more than 900 yuan. At that time, his parents' monthly salary was only more than 100 yuan. His son's request was not approved by his parents.Later, mother Huang Huiqing accidentally saw Ma Huateng's diary, which read: "I want to buy an astronomical telescope, but my parents won't let me, and the future generation of scientists will be strangled by my parents."This diary allowed Ma Huateng to get the astronomical telescope worth more than 900 yuan.Once, Ma Huateng took an astronomical telescope to the rooftop on the fifth floor to watch a meteor shower, but he was not seen coming down in the middle of the night. When his father came to the rooftop, he found that Ma Huateng had fallen asleep on the ground.As the college entrance examination approached, Ma Huateng became more and more interested in astronomy. He told his parents that he wanted to apply for the astronomy major, but his parents thought that "astronomy can't go up to the sky, and you can't go down to the ground." Good job professional.Under the persuasion of his family, although Ma Huateng's 1989 college entrance examination score was 100 points higher than the key line, he finally applied for the computer major of Shenzhen University.Since then, Ma Huateng has formed an indissoluble bond with computers.Ma Huateng was always ranked in the top five when he was studying in the computer department of Shenzhen University. He gradually found joy in writing software and researching computer networks.

In Shenzhen, Ma Huateng also met his good partners in future entrepreneurship - Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye and Chen Yidan.During the 9 years from Shenzhen Middle School to Shenzhen University, the four of them are very familiar with each other. Ma Huateng graduated from university in 1993, and the four of them did not work together.Zhang Zhidong chose to study computer and application at South China University of Technology. After obtaining a master's degree, he worked in Shenzhen Liming Network Co., Ltd., responsible for the research and development of software and network application systems.Like Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong is very obsessed with technology and feels that the technology he provides can better change the lives of others.After graduation, Chen Yidan entered the Shenzhen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, and at the same time began to study economic law at Nanjing University. Three years later, he obtained a master's degree and a lawyer qualification certificate.Xu Chenye, who was in the same class as Ma Huateng University, was admitted to Nanjing University as a graduate student majoring in computer application after graduation. After graduation, he worked in Shenzhen Data Communication Bureau.

Time slipped quietly amidst the busyness of the four people.After Ma Huateng joined Runxun, his obsession with computers continued unabated.He really touched the Internet in 1995, which is the third year after he joined Runxun. In 1995, after more than half a year on Huiduo.com, Ma Huateng invested 50,000 yuan, got four telephone lines and 8 computers at home, and assumed the role of the Shenzhen station manager of Huiduo.com.Recalling his life at that time, Ma Huateng is extremely proud, "On the Internet, I can get complete excitement, and it has not changed so far." At that time, installing a phone cost more than 4,000 yuan for the initial installation fee. Fortunately, Ma Huateng's sister and several relatives Worked for the phone company and applied for half price installation.At that time, Ma Huateng asked his mother to help him manage the website whenever he was on a business trip. Every time before leaving the house, he had to write a note to his mother, telling her that if a netizen called and said that the network was not available, he should follow the steps on the note to troubleshoot and ensure the network connection. unobstructed.It is precisely because of this that Ma Huateng had the opportunity to attend the first and second National BBS Webmaster Conference.

Ma Huateng did not find a breakthrough point on Huiduo.com. During that time, he was the department manager of Runxun Company at work. In his spare time, he devoted almost all of his efforts to the Shenzhen website of Huiduo.com. "Growing fame on the Internet.In the year when Ma Huateng was enjoying the fun of the Internet, Wang Zhidong, the first big name in China's Internet industry, went to Wall Street again. There, Wang Zhidong accidentally ran into Morgan Stanley Bank, which listed Netscape, but he still couldn't figure it out. . As for why Ma Huateng spends so much financial, material, and manpower on the Internet, we must start with Ma Huateng's sideline stock trading.

1992 is a year worth remembering. In that year, Deng Xiaoping, who was already 88 years old, left Beijing, traveled south, and talked about his own thoughts.Two days later, he delivered his famous southern tour speech in Shenzhen, which created a huge storm in the minds of all Chinese people.He pointed out, "To develop faster, the economy must rely on science and technology and education. Science and technology are the primary productive forces. We must promote science and rely on science to have hope." In the years after 1992, the stock market became a hot spot in China's economy. In Shenzhen, stock trading has almost become a national "sport". "Stock Crazy" starring Pan Hong reflects this madness.Someone once described it like this, "There is a business hall downstairs in a company. When I watched the market in the business hall, it was still 5 yuan a share. When I went upstairs to find someone to buy stocks, it had already risen to 6 yuan. When I went downstairs, it was 5 yuan a share. It became 7 yuan, and there were hundreds of thousands more on the account in one morning, and I didn’t know what the food tasted like, so I was just picking up money.”

Under such circumstances, Ma Huateng, who has only worked for more than a year, also joined the stock market.This young man who is very talented in technology discovered that there is a board installed on the computer that can display the stock trend in real time through the network. "Others can do it, why can't I do it myself?" Ma Huateng and several friends analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of various stock boards in the market, and imitated related products to develop the popular stock board card. Pony Ma Huateng made a small fortune easily with the stock card card. Since then, his reputation in the whole circle has greatly increased. In the eyes of everyone, he is a rare computer expert.Because of work, most of the people Ma Huateng knows are small bosses with some strengths. Ma Huateng writes some practical small programs for these small bosses from time to time. These small and long-term extra money allow him to quickly accumulate some savings and live a good life. .Through the stock card, Ma Huateng quickly discovered another opportunity - stock speculation. He quickly set a record of speculation from 100,000 yuan to 700,000 yuan, and then had millions of funds on hand, which made him complete a one-time investment. Leap, laid the foundation for independent entrepreneurship.At this time, Ding Lei of NetEase was living on the streets of Guangzhou, still complaining that "life is like a box of hand grenades".

While earning money, Ma Huateng has been thinking about a problem - the value of information will gradually be recognized by people and will also become an important factor of productivity. How to convert it into real commodity value? "Believe what you wrote Things can be sold for money." The concept of practical software has cultivated Ma Huateng's keen sense of the software market; through the development of the stock card that can display instant information online, he has realized the value of information, so he began to turn his attention to the Internet. During this period, Ma Huateng, who has become a little rich, still stayed in Runxun without showing his face, and he stayed for five years.He needs to find a suitable opportunity.

In 1997, Ma Huateng came into contact with ICQ and became its user. He personally felt the charm of ICQ and saw its limitations: one is the English interface, and the other is that it is quite difficult to use and operate, which makes ICQ popular in China. Although the use of .