Interview Thunder CEO Shenglong: The most reliable mode of charge to users

Absrtact: What does absolute monopoly mean in the Internet industry? Mainstream user groups, mass flow, business model clear, corporate brand loud, it can be said that in the Internet industry, monopoly can solve all operational problems. Thunderbolt in the download market has an absolute monopoly,

 

What does an absolute monopoly mean in the Internet industry? Mainstream user groups, mass flow, business model clear, corporate brand loud, it can be said that in the Internet industry, monopoly can solve all operational problems.

Thunderbolt in the download market has an absolute monopoly, and was once seen as Tencent, Baidu, Ali after the most likely to become a giant enterprise, but the Thunderbolt because too much emphasis on "technology gene" weakening business and lost the best opportunity.

2013, the Thunder of a series of actions by the external interpretation of the arrival of the "attack" in the 2013 Internet Conference, the Thunder launched the "cloud acceleration" strategy. In the outside world, this is the signal of the Thunder re listing.

2012, the Thunder to Nasdaq submitted an IPO application, but because the whole capital market cold but not fruit. After the Thunderbolt launched the Thunder router, formally from the past simply software service providers, to the Family entertainment center in the direction of transformation.

At the same time, the Thunder's competitors from the previous download field of a single large, into the pan-Internet entertainment of the Red Sea. 360, Millet, Tencent no one does not challenge it.

As usual, the Thunderbolt is still very clear on its own development goals, the key question is how to no longer miss the opportunity. To this end, "China business newspaper" reporter interviewed the Thunder company CEO Shenglong.

No more.

"China Business newspaper": From the download side of the market share, the Thunderbolt is no competitor. In fact, the characteristics of the Thunderbolt in the membership system and Tencent is particularly similar. But why not seize the best time and expand more users like Tencent?

Shenglong: I think the company such as Tencent is very rare, over the past decade, the growth of hundreds of years, is the vision of each company to look forward to an example. Each company is willing to become Tencent, but there are many factors of success, such as opportunities, the company's genes, which is the most basic, coupled with its talent structure, management and so on together after the fulfillment of such a company.

Many people ask why the Thunderbolt does not do a particularly great game company, or why the Thunderbolt does not go to make a particularly great video portal. These things, we also do, not did not do. But these dishes are not our main course, our main course is in the field that we are particularly familiar with, match our competitive genes, involving the spread of mass data, this is our dish, we are best at doing this thing.

In the past 3 years, I think the most successful is the user-oriented fee, in the domestic market is not easy to charge to the user side, the development of user pay habits. It makes me feel proud that a company must consider the problem from its own starting point and advantages. Like Google, Facebook, Tencent, these companies are role models, but you can't learn to do it step-by-step because its genes are different from yours.

"China Business newspaper": Many Internet companies are doing the whole industry chain, but a little attention will be lost, Thunderbolt also developed video, game business, too dispersed will affect the main business?

Shenglong: A slightly larger company, will do the whole industry chain. Thunder also makes games and videos. In the game we also do client-side games, web games, mobile phone games. After entering this era, everyone is doing the development of the whole industry chain.

However, how can you ensure that you are in the process of the whole industry chain development in an invincible position, or go back to the fundamental, you are particularly good in the market, can always have a group of people like you, can find a way to enable these users to help you continue to develop the business model, I feel that the essence to see this problem. This is the real transition channel, the company can enter a virtuous circle.

"China Business newspaper": Thunder very early proposed charging mode, but the internet industry has been free for the king, whether this gave the Thunderbolt a great deal of pressure? Is there really no free internet industry?

Shenglong: In fact, there is no absolute sense of free. We have two major business models. One is to provide users with free value-added services. This block is primarily provided to users of cloud accelerator services. Extension look, Thunder today do is mainly digital express things. Perhaps you will think, since do express, why not to do the physical electricity quotient, the express things quoted. We have to do the cloud first, then do the electrical business. Amazon is the converse, the first to do the book of the electric dealer, and then do the cloud. But the same way, the content and channel to do first, the end will be in the content and channels involved, this is what we will consider doing.

The second model is the advertising business we do now, mainly the video advertising business. In addition to the video advertising business, there are user-paid models. There is a particularly good company in the United States, called Netflix, a paid video provider, so there is still a lot of room for imagination, taking stock of assets on a corporate basis and thinking about how these assets can be better represented in the new business model. We spend a lot of money to buy content, after buying content, we must through the existing business model to cash out.

Thunderbolt also has a large number of data mining and digital content distribution capabilities, of course, need to be in the cloud acceleration and other cloud services to carry out new attempts.

Listing signal?

"China Business newspaper": 2013 Internet Conference, you specifically proposed the cloud acceleration, because the Thunderbolt is a technology-driven business model of the company, which is also the Thunderbolt's products have been the reason for the user to pay. But there are many media that the Thunderbolt launched new technology will herald a restart of the listing?

Shenglong: Now the Thunder 60% revenue is from the cloud to accelerate the business, but with the listing is not necessarily the relationship. Before we go public, we all want to make our income a little better. I think any business can be listed if it is done well. Listing needs two elements, one is the development of enterprises to do well, the other is a good market environment.

Cloud acceleration is a typical application in cloud computing, we are more familiar with cloud storage, cloud security, and so on, but involve capacity data, such as entertainment data, video, software, entertainment, music. There are two applications that can be implemented, one is cloud acceleration and the other is cloud storage. In contrast, cloud storage is more appropriate for small-capacity files. In the face of large-capacity files, users need more cloud acceleration services, so cloud acceleration is a service for users to download large files.

The core technology behind cloud acceleration, one is large-capacity data mining, a distributed distribution network that can quickly deliver these high-volume data to users, which is the two typical technical essentials of cloud acceleration.

"China Business Daily": Where the recent network and 58 of the city are in the IPO, but the valuation is not too high, how do you evaluate the current capital environment? For the Thunderbolt, what values do you value most in the listing?

Shenglong: Purely from the capital environment, I think the main reason is that the overall capital environment is cold, coupled with the capital market generally biased in stocks, the IPO value is underestimated. For the Thunderbolt, the most practical significance of the listing is to reflect the enterprise value of Thunderbolt, of course, can also bring a long-term, stable financing channels, to help enterprises achieve leapfrog development. When the capital environment improves and can correctly reflect the value of the Thunderbolt, we will consider the IPO restart.

China Business newspaper: What is the current income structure of thunder? What are the input-output ratios and previous changes?

Shenglong: Over the past 3 years, our biggest change has been to turn a tool into a user-oriented service, which we called the Cloud Accelerator service. In the past three years, most of the revenue from the video-related advertising business, but now has turned around, the main income has become the Thunder cloud accelerated inside the client-side of a business.

Cloud acceleration of the investment is quite large, this is a hybrid cloud structure, the so-called hybrid, including the national key cities in the deployment of cloud Accelerator servers, our company probably has tens of thousands of cloud accelerator servers in the national cloth point, this is the first. Second, we call it the user to participate in the terminal mode of cloud services.

Healthy business model

"China business newspaper": compared to other similar business internet companies, Thunderbolt has been in a profitable state. So the Thunder will now reach a lot of areas previously not involved, do you have confidence in it?

Shenglong: All companies need to go through two important stages, first, internet companies to find users. The second stage is to find excellent business models that meet their own characteristics in the vast amount of user traffic.

In these two stages, the enterprise still has to adapt to the competition from the industry, even the opportunity that the industry upgrades brings, this is every enterprise must experience. When you mentioned thunderbolt for ten years, we were also looking back at what we were doing in the past ten years and what we would do in the future. We always remember the first time to start a business, want to through technological innovation to the Internet this free enterprising spirit to play to a maximum. The current business mainly involves the distribution and distribution of digital content.

Now looking back over the past ten years, I feel that in the perspective of technological innovation, the thunderbolt through its own particularly innovative algorithms, some product models, basically subvert the very traditional approach. Then through this subversion, a very large user base, subversion of the user experience.

During the second half of the 10-year period, our main profit model was internet advertising. But the Internet advertising model itself, especially in the Chinese Internet, is a much weaker model than user-facing charges. For example, the growth of the network space, advertising mode of cash flow management, and then to the first service, and then charge a commission, and the account period and so very complex things.

The user-oriented service is relatively simple and controllable. The user has paid for the service before it is provided to the user. The way a user pays may be to buy a service this month, but he pays you for a few months. So from the point of view of cash flow, this business model is very healthy, take a lot of cash first, basically no bad debt problem, business model is very good.

"China Business Newspaper": The thunderbolt gradually get rid of the internet companies rely on advertising revenue homogenization of the competition, but now the competition is very fierce, coupled with several major internet giants "snake swallow Elephant" mode, so many small and medium-sized enterprises encountered a lot of crisis, thunderbolt in the prevention of user turnover rate will do?

Shenglong: This piece has done a lot of concrete work. We called the whole process the life cycle management of the member user, which is a very complete system, which is divided into two phases. The first phase, the user will use your product, and then some users slowly transition to become your pay group, from the user into the system that moment when not paid, to follow his behavior. To help him when he encounters a problem, even after he becomes a paid user, he can offer him better and more attentive service.

Therefore, a user from the use of free products, to become a paid user, or even to the user a certain time to terminate, the user's loss, recall, in fact, is a set of very complete system. This system is very different from our previous functional products, functional products more emphasis on providing users with functionality, and now this system more emphasis is to provide users with services.

Boss Cheats

Stir up your best dishes

Our main course is in a field that we are particularly familiar with, and match our competitive genes, involving the spread of mass data, which is our dish, and we are best at doing it.

Listing embodies enterprise value

The most practical significance of listing is to embody the enterprise value of Thunderbolt, of course, can also bring a long-term, stable financing channels, to help enterprises realize the leap-forward development.

Finding the healthiest business model

The Internet advertising model itself, especially in the Chinese Internet, is a much weaker model than a user-facing charge. For example, the growth of the network space, advertising mode of cash flow management, and then to the first service, and then charge a commission, and the account period and so very complex things.

Boss Profile

Shenglong, CEO of Thunder Company, graduated from Duke University, USA, and obtained master of Computer science. The end of 2002 began in the United States Silicon Valley to create Thunder, 2003 Home development. Thunderbolt Company mainly in the Internet domain to provide users with multimedia download services, its products are the most popular Internet applications in China one of the software.

The ideal world for technical male Shenglong

Lu Jing

Shenglong is a special case in the Internet circle where profits are earned and money is made fast. After all, even Baidu CEO Robin Li, Tencent CEO Ma Teng these weekdays are not the words of the technical men out of the big talk about the company strategy, Shenglong the starting point of each topic, still fall in the technology.

By focusing too much on technology and ignoring commercial development and corporate branding, it misses the best chance of becoming a giant company like Tencent. It is reported that until the 2008, the Thunderbolt's corporate philosophy from "Change mankind" into "business model inquiry", and then, some unknown internet companies have landed on Nasdaq.

But it is precisely because of technology, the Thunderbolt has not yet a real competitor in the domestic market, and it is also the second largest paid user platform in China. Even many people in the industry evaluation, Thunder is to train domestic internet users pay habits originator.

In fact, internet companies ' sense of crisis is a common problem. Free product is the most companies for the sense of crisis to find exports. 360 of products covered with free method, but also caused a lot of discussion. Many people also understand that the original free is not the best.

The concept of the Thunderbolt is very early formed, good service and user pay in proportion, which is clearly more in line with the market economy.

According to Shenglong revealed that the download tool is not the first direction of thunder, at that time he wanted to do a similar Gmail distributed to the system to meet the needs of large-capacity mailboxes, but at that time the general mailbox capacity is not very large, do the distributed system of the market is not mature enough.

After, to download the main line of the Thunderbolt set up, but because there is no promotion of the reason, until the Thunderbolt 2, the installation of users less than 400 per day.

"Looking back, we agree that Peer-to-peer technology has played a key role, the speed of the Thunder download, for people to save time, this is the value of the Thunderbolt." "Shenglong said.

Shenglong began to plan for the enterprise a can make money at the same time embodies the "Thunderbolt value" road. "Digital distribution will become an important direction of the future Internet." Digital distribution includes the following aspects: Software, video, music, literature. When starting a business, this is how we give investors such a ' pie ' and get the favor. "Shenglong said.

Thunderbolt is the first to do copyright transactions, as early as 2007, the Thunder and the mainstream of the content of the company holding hands, and "Guaranteed + divided" way to cooperate. 2009 years later, with the international capital market on the Internet video business has a clear understanding, and then a large number of hot money began to pour into the market, the direct result is the price of copyright soaring, two years soaring dozens of times times, the Internet video turned into a game of burning money.

But the thunderbolt in this time to keep the "cool", in the video site a large number of purchases of copyright, but the Thunderbolt did not shot, but the majority of the funds used in technology upgrades, in other video sites close to closure, the Thunderbolt instead by virtue of user pay, advertising mode in the profit.

Shenglong Heart is very clear, the main selling point to the copyright of the video site is the main source of revenue is advertising revenue, and this is the source of profit for the portal site. "It must be a red sea." Shenglong thought.

The "Blue sea" site is apparently charging the client here. But compared to mature domestic Internet users, domestic users of the Internet habits are still in the early stages, there are many dozen free internet spoilers. "It is not difficult to make the user pay the bill, it is the key to provide users with services that others cannot." "Shenglong said.

But it is also because the focus is too concentrated, and missed the listing opportunities.

Thunderbolt in 2011 to apply for an IPO, from 2009, the Thunderbolt has realized the profit, 2010, the Thunder net profit reached 8.47 million U.S. dollars. In other words, even if not listed, the Thunderbolt can survive. "It is also because of this thinking, we have high expectations of the IPO, and the time node repeatedly dragged, think of themselves and those who need to go on the market blood transfusion." "Shenglong said.

But precisely at that time, the southeast financing scandal broke out, the Alipay event sparked a credit crisis, the confidence of the U.S. investors in the stock was greatly hit. Despite the Thunder repeatedly compromise, but the capital market to give the financing limit has been reduced, completely penetrated the Thunder bottom line.

Shenglong said: "I am constantly looking for such a balance, and sometimes I will think that the Thunder missed those opportunities and nodes, really and my character has some kind of subtle connection?" ”

In the nearly two years after the IPO, Shenglong began to look at the Thunderbolt and try to make some changes outside of the technology, after all, in an era of all-round competition, perhaps technology is only an important aspect of enterprise competitiveness, but not all.