Tencent Five Tigers will introduce

Ding Lei's success has given many people the power of example. Such as horses. One of the most popular versions is that it was because Ding Lei succeeded in attacking the city and pulling out the village with free e-mail, and because he had a friendship with Ding Lei on CFIDO, the horse with a telecommunications background had a ripple in his heart, so he decided to establish Tencent.

There is another version about why Tencent was founded 1998. At least the first company that Ma worked for after graduation, Runxun, had a rumor circulating inside: At that time, Ma's proposal about QQ-like software didn't arouse any interest of Runxun executives, because they didn't see any prospect in this little thing. According to a middle-level cadre of Runxun, "In the discussion at that time, some people said,' Is this thing charged or not? If I don't accept your money, what shall I do with it? At that time, many people didn't see that customer information was more important than cash income. Especially loyal customers, businesses often have money and can't buy them. After that, Ma Hua Teng disappeared in Runxun and founded Tencent. However, this rumor only stays in the hearsay stage. Ma is not an impulsive person, and Ma himself may not be optimistic about the future of QQ. Otherwise, there will be no stories of subsequent sales. But one thing can be confirmed, that is, during the warm season, the horse did not show any special after-the-fact performance.

When many former employees of Runxun recalled their former colleague Ma, they used words that were unexpected in those days, but actually insignificant. Their unified description is that the pony was not obvious at all, but today, it seems that no one can say the word pony.

Ma 1993 entered runxun after graduating from Shenzhen university, and his salary at that time was 1 100 yuan. Anyone who knows the paging industry must know Xunxun. In the early 1990s, it was a special era for the paging industry, and enterprises engaged in this industry generally had relevant backgrounds. Due to the relative monopoly, the earliest paging enterprises in China lived a paradise. And as one of the leading bosses, Runxun paging was also quite special at that time. At its peak, Runxun had a revenue of 2 billion a year and a gross profit of over 30%. Runxun Company was the best welfare unit in Shenzhen at that time, providing a real' free lunch' for its 20,000 employees every day. Although Ma is only a very ordinary engineer of Runxun, it is the most brilliant year of Runxun myth in his Runxun period. Therefore, Runxun undoubtedly improved the horse's vision and gave the horse the necessary enlightenment in management.

There are rumors that Ma's start-up funds came from stock trading, saying that a handwriting was once fried to 65,438+10,000 yuan to 700,000 yuan. In this regard, Ma himself did not respond positively, but Ma admitted that he had made a small fortune by developing stock monopoly cards.

Although Ma is rich, his venture capital comes more from his own accumulation. He started his business with 500,000 yuan because it was the lowest threshold for starting a company at that time.

Ma named his company Tencent, which is very meaningful. On the one hand, his name has the word Teng, and the company has a lot to do with him. On the other hand, Teng also means take-off and development. As for the suffix Xun, it is more because of the influence of his old club Runxun on horses.

Technical genius Zhang Zhidong

When Ma founded Tencent, there were two people at first, besides himself, and the other was his classmate Zhang Zhidong in Shenzhen University, both of whom were computer departments.

After graduation, Zhang Zhidong went to South China University of Technology to study for a master's degree in computer science. After graduation, I returned to Shenzhen and joined the famous Liming Computer Company in Shenzhen at that time. Liming Computer was once very popular because it provided securities trading software to Shenzhen and Shanghai, and it is still alive today, and it has been invested by Walden Venture Capital represented by Mao Daolin. Nhat Minh Dang, the founder of Shuguang Computer, is also one of the biggest names in Shenzhen IT industry. Later, Liu Xiaosong, an angel investor who helped Tencent find money and became one of Tencent 12 individual shareholders, also worked in Shuguang Computer.

Zhang Zhidong is a computer genius. In Shenzhen University, both Zhang Zhidong and Ma are top-notch in computer technology, but Zhang Zhidong is one of them. Zhang Zhidong is one of the leading figures even if he zooms into the whole computer enthusiast circle in Shenzhen.

Zhang Zhidong is a workaholic and has no business interest. His only interest is playing chess, and he will take time off to go online to kill a game. Zhang Zhidong worked very hard in front of the computer at dawn. He often works overtime until late, and it is not uncommon until two or three in the morning the next day. A colleague of Liming Computer in Zhang Zhidong once told a joke that they played a prank on Zhang Zhidong. At that time, they could ask for leave and be late as long as they went to work the next day. These brothers saw Zhang Zhidong working late. They called Zhang Zhidong at dawn the next morning and chatted with him. After chatting with Zhang Zhidong, they told Zhang Zhidong that they had all asked for leave and would not go to work today. In this case, they encouraged Zhang Zhidong not to go to work either.

Zhang Zhidong is not tall, shorter than Ma and Du. He has a Zhang Yuanyuan face and always talks with a smile, but he is paranoid when discussing technical issues, and sometimes he blushes and has a thick neck. People who are familiar with Zhang Zhidong are all called Zhang Zhidong's winter melon. Taking Zhang Zhidong's Dongzi homonym also coincides with his figure. However, with the growth of Tencent, Zhang Zhidong gradually gained a high status, and others gradually changed his name to Guage or called his English name Tony to show respect.

Zhang Zhidong is also worthy of respect. First, he is technically perfect, and even his political opponents or opponents admire this. The architecture design of QQ originated from 1998. 10 years later, the number of users has increased from one million in the previous design to hundreds of millions now. The whole architecture still applies, which is really commendable and even incredible. Another reason why Zhang Zhidong deserves respect is that his pursuit of material things is extremely low. Zhang Zhidong has been driving more than 200,000 mid-range cars under the situation that the founders of Tencent all bought villas and yachts in Australia and the executives collectively bought BMWs.

In this regard, Zhang Zhidong's close friend for many years explained that Guage did not rely on these to prove himself. Zhang Zhidong really doesn't need these to prove himself. Zhang Zhidong is the second largest individual shareholder of Tencent. At the beginning of its listing, he held more than 6% of the shares. According to Tencent's highest market value of HK$ 65.438+02 billion, Zhang Zhidong's worth is close to HK$ 7 billion in theory (it's actually impossible because he keeps cashing in, but it's still HK$ 65.438+00 billion). Even if it is not in Tencent, measured by the products with hundreds of millions of users in Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Zhidong is worth at least 10 billion in the headhunting market, but I really can't think of anyone who can afford this price.

Ceng Liqing, the market wizard

A month after Ma and Zhang Zhidong founded the company, the third founder of Tencent joined in.

Ceng Liqing is occasionally mentioned in the first few chapters of this book. He is one of the pioneers of Shenzhen Internet. Ceng Liqing is the promoter of the first broadband community in Shenzhen and even the whole country. This project is a simple English system integration project. On the one hand, it buys equipment and then sells it to real estate developers at a higher price. This project almost died, because the telecom equipment vendors wanted the same money as the real estate developers could afford, which was1.2000, but Ceng Liqing tried to make it, and finally made it. In order to pass this project, Ceng Liqing convened people from finance, administration and procurement departments. Ceng Liqing calculated an account for everyone at that time, saying that we signed an agreement with the equipment supplier to pay according to the progress of the project and the equipment price at that time within one year of implementation. He reminded everyone that this project will take one year, with 6.5438+0.2 million equipment, and a maximum of 800,000 in one year. Moreover, we will sign an agreement with the real estate developers to let them pay first, and we will earn 654.38+0.2 million first, so that this project will make a steady profit. At that time, it was the mid-1990s, and people had to admire Ceng Liqing's method of system integration in a way similar to futures.

Ceng Liqing, who later became the chief operating officer of Tencent, once invited his old colleague Zhang Chunhui to Tencent to discuss a project. During the meeting, the network was suddenly blocked, and no one came to call. Although a table was full of his own people and invited customers, Ceng Liqing bent down alone, got under the table and changed the route. Zhang Chunhui, who witnessed this scene, remembered Ceng Liqing and his scene of helping people debug equipment in Shenzhen Telecom Room. Zhang Chunhui thinks that Ceng Liqing is a man who can really do great things.

Ceng Liqing middle school studied in affiliated high school of south china normal university, and undergraduate studied in xidian university. This school has produced Liu Chuanzhi. Ceng Liqing University majored in communication, so it is logical to be assigned to Shenzhen Telecom after graduation.

Ceng Liqing is the third largest individual shareholder of Tencent except Ma Hua Teng and Zhang Zhidong. The media's statement about the five former partners of Ma or middle school students or college students is a rumor; Hema is neither a middle school classmate nor a college classmate. Their intersection is that Ma's sister is a colleague in Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and they have been friends for many years.

According to the descriptions of several Tencent employees, Ceng Liqing is the funniest, most open, most passionate and most appealing of the five founders of Tencent. Compared with gentle horse and Zhang Zhidong who loves technology, he is another type.

However, in the autumn of 1998, the enthusiastic Ceng Liqing was depressed. Long Mai Company, which was jointly invested by Shenzhen Telecom, SEG Group and SEZ Development Group, came to an end. As a marketing manager in Long Mai, Ceng Liqing experienced the lowest point in his life. After careful consideration, he decided to go to Xu Wenyan, then director of Shenzhen Telecommunications Bureau. He wants to ask Xu Wenyan to help him advise whether to go back to the station or leave the telecommunications bureau for the sea. Ceng Liqing felt that there was no future in returning to the station, and he didn't want to leave. Xu Wenyan helped Ceng Liqing make up his mind. With Ceng Liqing's arrogant personality, it is inappropriate to return to the station. Let's go to the seaside for free. Also recommended to find a horse.

I knew horses before that. They have a common bridge-Aunt Ding, then president of Shenzhen Computer Association. Aunt Ding has a good relationship with her. They often ask Shenzhen Telecom for funds and resources to support their activities. Whenever this happens, Xu Wenyan will send Ceng Liqing. Aunt Ding's husband and Ma's father are colleagues, both of whom are executives of Yantian Port. Aunt Ding's daughter is also a classmate of Ma and Zhang Zhidong from middle school to college. Among them, Ma and Aunt Ding's daughter belong to childhood friends, and everyone often plays jokes on them. They also get along very seriously for a long time, and the story after that is ellipsis; Gong Haixing, the son of Aunt Ding, also joined Tencent after graduating from Shenzhen University. He is an entrepreneurial veteran of Tencent and one of 12 individual shareholders. Therefore, Ma He and Zhang Zhidong are often dragged by Aunt Ding to "catch young men". So, all three people are familiar with each other.

Ceng Liqing remembers that the three of them met for the first time in his small office of Shenzhen Telecom, which was about the establishment of the company. They simply got off work, Ma was in charge of strategy and products, Zhang Zhidong was in charge of technology and market.

Li Hua, who graduated from the Computer Department of a university in Hunan in 2000, entered Tencent, and was the first foreign college student recruited by Tencent, with the internal number 18. When he first came to Tencent to meet Ma, he was surprised. In his opinion, the boss of the company he will join is more like one of his predecessors. He even thinks that Ceng Liqing, another founder of Tencent, is the boss. Of course, this is only Li Hua's first impression. The fact is that Ma and Zhang Zhidong are both bosses, and Ma is the biggest boss.

From the appearance, they are indeed more like bosses than horses, and there is no difference in height between them, but they are much richer than horses, and their clothes are obviously more commercial, and their language expression and interpersonal communication are much better. Therefore, every time two people go out to talk about business cooperation, they will always be mistaken for the big boss, while Ma, with his handsome appearance, gives people the impression of a college boy and always thinks that he is the operation assistant or secretary of the company.

Ding Zhifeng, an Internet veteran in South China and then a senior manager of Guangdong Telecom's 2 1CN business unit, once recalled with the author the scene when Tencent requested 2 1CN in the most difficult time: at that time, Tencent wanted 2 1CN to acquire QQ, and Ding Zhifeng remembered that the quotation was RMB 3 million (instead of1million), and it was Ma and Tencent who came to talk about it. When two people walked into the conference room, everyone in 2 1CN recognized it as a horse, obviously because it was more stylish. Even in the discussion, he is more aggressive than Ma Hua Teng, and more like a determined person.