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Company Introduction#

Entrepreneurial management should meet the following four requirements: First, it must focus on the market. Second, it should have financial foresight, especially in planning for cash flow and future capital needs. Third, it is essential to establish a senior management team early, before the new enterprise genuinely needs and can afford one. Finally, it requires the founders of the new enterprise to define their roles, scope of work, and relationships with others within the company.

An enterprise is an organization that invests human resources, capital, technology, and other resources to generate income and profit by producing products and providing services. Employees invest their time, skills, experience, and creativity in the workplace to complete work tasks and provide management services, receiving compensation and returns from the enterprise.

The strategic means of entrepreneurial spirit (Entrepreneurship) are multiple.

It varies with time, place, and enterprise. There has never been a specific strategy that can revive two failing enterprises; nor is there a specific means that can repeatedly lead two enterprises to sustained, stable, and rapid development. Different enterprises, different capital, different structures, different products, different technologies, and market prospects require the selection of different strategic means; the same enterprise must also choose different development strategies at different growth stages and production scales.

Money is just one sign of success; loyalty and responsibility to one's career are the "peak experiences" and inexhaustible motivation for entrepreneurs.

Many times, we see some enterprises decline not because the market has shrunk, but because the original entrepreneurs have become complacent. Some enterprises, after achieving minor successes, find that the owner is no longer as dedicated as when they started, instead indulging in pleasures, extravagance, and a hedonistic lifestyle.

Entrepreneurial spirit is the soul of a company, the spiritual force that sustains its existence.

When entrepreneurial spirit is vigorous, the enterprise is full of vitality and energy;

At its simplest, an enterprise is about two words: people and things. This is a dynamic match.

Whether in strategy or management, one must seek a dynamic balance.

At the beginning, an enterprise may not find the right people, but once things are done well, it can attract better talent. When better people come, larger things can be accomplished. This is itself a process of gradual ascent.

An enterprise will inevitably face contradictions between the old and the new, as it is impossible to have talent in place all at once. The balance between people and things is dynamic. Having said this, I want to emphasize that if it is possible to proactively equip talent, it is certainly beneficial. This proactive equipping is not attracted by money, but indeed comes from mission and vision.

Mission, vision, and values are indeed the keys to attracting talent. If you want to attract people when the structure is not in place, relying on money and business will not work; you can only rely on ideals.

1. Strategy is based on judgments about the future. Vision is the premise for formulating strategy. If the vision is wrong, the strategy will certainly be wrong.

2. How to form a vision? How can it be better than others' visions? There are methods, but no shortcuts. Because it is all about trying; in essence, it is all about trying. Just like everyone looking for martial arts secrets or Buddhist scriptures, it is all about trying.

How to implement a vision?

1. You must be at the forefront. If you want to see the future clearly, you must swim at the forefront. Only at the forefront can you have a vision of the future. If you are not there, you cannot feel the future. The early bird catches the worm; only by being in the water can you feel it. So you must be at the forefront. The first step is to charge ahead. Only by charging ahead can you have this experience. The second is to think more; do not just act blindly.

After acting, you must also think about what it means. Why are others doing this? What is behind it? Do not tell me that they did it, so I must do it; you must tell me why you want to do it. You need to think about the underlying reasons; thinking is also a manual task. The more you think, the more you will gradually think more than others, and then you will see things that others cannot see. You need time to think.

Strategy itself is abstract; otherwise, it would not be called strategy. Strategy is not just the thoughts in the chairman's head; it is the picture that at least the VP can articulate. Strategy is different from ideas. The chairman often has ideas, but they have not turned into a strategic consensus with the team.

Reaching a strategic consensus with the team is very important. Who participates in the company's strategic meetings? The world is fair; if you do not let them participate in the discussion, it will take a lot of time for them to understand; if you let them participate in the discussion, it will take a long time, but later there will be no need for further communication, and they can execute it themselves.

So, where you spend time will determine the results later. In the process of strategic thinking, the first important thing is the long-term vision; the vision gives you a crystal ball, and the important thing is to act and think.

Thinking while doing, seven parts strategy, three parts tactics; without these three parts, you are nothing. Another important aspect is to have a certain breadth and depth. Ultimately, entrepreneurs often talk about vision and pattern when discussing strategy. How does vision come about? It comes from seeing deeply; how does pattern come about? It comes from seeing broadly.

When people generally talk about strategy, they seem to treat it as a simple definition. Everyone should realize that as enterprises develop to different stages, the demand for strategy is completely different. Strategies can be divided into experimental strategies, mature strategies, and expansion strategies. These three strategies are completely different.

Some may ask: Do small enterprises need strategies?

In fact, at different stages, their characteristics are different, and the strategic approach is also different. The experimental strategy phase must allow for some chaos. At this time, chaos rules everything; do not be afraid. Because many attempts are being made, many experiments are underway. Often, it is grassroots growth in a wild manner.

At this time, how to avoid chaos relies on vision, bringing everyone together to say that the goals are consistent, the direction is clear, but how to do it is unknown. How to do it? Try. Allow for trial and error, trying this and that. When the day comes that everyone says this is okay, it has basically started to take shape. At this point, control must be established; chaos cannot continue, and it must begin to consolidate. At this time, what is needed is a consensus that must be implemented into strategy.

It is no longer a vision or a thought; it can become a system, a clearly articulated business model.

The three stages of strategic development: experimental phase, mature phase, and expansion phase.

When people generally talk about strategy, they seem to treat it as a simple definition, but I later realized that the demand for strategy is completely different at different stages of enterprise development. I divide it into experimental strategies, mature strategies, and expansion strategies; these three strategies are completely different. Sometimes people ask whether small enterprises need strategies; in fact, at different stages, their strategic characteristics are different, and the required strategic approaches are also different.

It relies on vision to bring everyone together on the same path; the goals are consistent, and the general direction is clear, but how to do it is unknown. How to do it? Just try, try this, try that. After trying, it is found that this direction is probably correct, and then it is time to control the chaos and begin to consolidate; what is needed is strategic consensus. Originally, three teams were trying three directions; at this time, it is necessary to tell the other two teams that we will not take this path; you should turn back; the other path is correct.

There will definitely be different opinions; it is necessary to guide everyone in one direction; this is a consensus period. At this time, it is necessary to establish a strategy that senior executives generally agree upon and write it down; this is no longer a simple thought; it must begin to be systematically articulated: What is my business model? How do I do it? What are the key points?

The gradual decline of entrepreneurial spirit means that the enterprise is getting older.

The stages of enterprise development are divided into three: the first is the enterprise 1.0 stage, such as those greedy profit-chasing "sweatshops," when capitalist business was just emerging, like the phenomenon of child labor in the 18th century. Afterward, the deteriorating conditions and the need for labor rights improvement pushed society to develop enterprises to the 2.0 stage, Do well to do good, which is the well-known CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility); enterprises are expected not only to make profits but also to take on social responsibilities. However, Drucker said that enterprises also have a third stage, Do well by doing good, which is "social enterprises," the "S" in SG. Organizations (countries, enterprises, non-profit organizations, families) are metaphorically likened to the "organs" of society, while society is like a body. Drucker insisted throughout his life on "managing with the left hand, believing with the right hand." What does this mean? Management refers to the effectiveness of the organization; otherwise, there is no reason for the organization to exist. Belief refers to the organization having the correct mission. Belief concerns the social (S) goals of the enterprise. Advanced enterprises must have the correct mission, aiming to solve social pain points, and must adhere to conscience.

As the saying goes: "Merchants travel, doubling their paths, working day and night, covering a thousand miles without straying, for profit is in front. Fishermen enter the sea, where the depths are ten thousand fathoms, against the waves and currents, risking a hundred miles, and not returning at night, for profit is in the water. Therefore, where profit lies, even the highest mountains cannot be avoided, and even the deepest sources cannot be entered."

To make a profit, the storms are the loneliness and destiny of the merchant class. From this perspective, the so-called entrepreneur can perhaps be simply described as someone skilled at navigating the tides while not forgetting to row together with those around them and distant guests; someone who enjoys a lavish life but also strives to ensure that silk farmers can wear fine silk and that wanderers know the beauty of perch. It all originates from a flow of the heart, a yearning, an impulse. Essentially, strategy is a dream, and life is a longing.

Product Introduction#

1. Different management objects. Entrepreneurs manage economic organizations, while government officials manage administrative organizations;
2. Different management functions. Entrepreneurs undertake forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling functions for the production and operation activities of enterprises, while government officials execute administrative management functions;

3. Different specific goals pursued. The primary goal of entrepreneurs is to maximize profits, improve economic efficiency, expand market share, and enhance competitiveness; government officials pursue the sustainable and coordinated development of society as a whole, which includes not only economic development but also political, educational, cultural, technological, democratic, and legal development.

4. Different management methods. Entrepreneurs have a unique set of values and methods for managing enterprises; government officials primarily use administrative means, administrative regulations, and administrative orders to implement management activities and execute management functions.

5. Different generation mechanisms. Entrepreneurs emerge from market competition and are reasonably allocated through market mechanisms; government officials are mostly appointed through administrative means, and their appointments, transfers, and promotions are organizational arrangements.

6. Different quality requirements. As entrepreneurs, they should primarily possess knowledge and experience related to enterprise management, while government officials should mainly have knowledge and experience related to administrative management. Although there are some overlaps between the two, each has its own independent knowledge and experience system, and they cannot be completely equated.

Scene Application#

Some markets for production factors, property rights trading markets, financial markets, and labor markets have been opened to some extent. Companies can seek to absorb and recombine production factors suitable for their own conditions in the domestic market to adapt to the exchange activities of various interest subjects under market economic conditions, communicating and adjusting economic activities and interests from all sides. At the same time, to operate a modern enterprise system well, there must also be a unified, open, and smoothly functioning market system, which is a prerequisite for the existence and development of market competition and spontaneous price adjustment, forming the basis for optimizing the role of market mechanisms.

Principles of Efficiency#

Establishing a modern enterprise system must prioritize efficiency. Undoubtedly, all activities of the corporate entity must achieve the maximum return with the minimum economic input; this is the fundamental goal of enterprise system reform. From a micro perspective, only when the production input returns of the company reach their maximum can the enterprise ensure its invincibility in the fierce market competition. Improving micro-efficiency is a necessary condition for the survival of enterprises, and it is also a sufficient condition for improving and enhancing the macroeconomic efficiency of the state. Therefore, it is the basic goal of the operational mechanism.

Principles of Effective Resource Allocation#

The rational restructuring of social resources and various production factors is a favorable guarantee for conducting socialized high-efficiency production and operation, and it is also the foundation for establishing and operating a modern enterprise system. The efficient and rational allocation of resources is a problem that the national macro-industrial policy must address, and it is also a problem that the modern enterprise system must study and pay attention to.

Ultimately, resource allocation is a macroeconomic structural issue, but it is closely related to the immediate interests of companies. If enterprises violate market laws and improperly utilize market resource endowments, blindly expanding the production and operation of long-term products, even if they perform well in the short term, it will be difficult to maintain long-term invincibility. Once faced with changes in the macroeconomic environment, enterprises may very likely fall into a state of stagnation.

Goals can be expressed with three A's:

The first is Affordable, meaning it should not be too costly, like spending tens of thousands on sequencing.

The second is Accessible, meaning it should not create a scarcity marketing situation; children are born every day, and cancer patients are discovered daily, so convenient methods for prevention or treatment must be provided. The third is Achievable, meaning the goals must be attainable, useful, and effective, without being flashy but useless. Today, genetic technology is driving a massive revolution in healthcare, and taking on these responsibilities is our mission. Of course, we also need to continue improving our ability to generate profits, and we are willing to contribute more taxes to society and create more jobs. Sociologist Weber believes that the determinants of social stratification are the trinity of wealth, power, and prestige. Since ancient times, people have been concerned about seeking explanations from above, whether for benefits, rights, reputation, or a combination of these. Various "workers" in the company, returning to the essence of humanity, are driven by the intrinsic motivations of wealth, power, and prestige, each with its own emphasis. A reasonable value judgment and incentive mechanism that balances efficiency and fairness is key to forming an orderly, effective, and vibrant organization. A good system means that everything has an explanation, allowing employees to feel satisfied, and through institutional rules, employees have a clear path to follow, igniting their inner fire and fueling their work passion and creativity.

The "how" refers to how to implement the aforementioned "ideas" and "statements," mainly referring to the construction and operation of the company's product and service system.

The core of the "how" is to create exquisite, efficient, and differentiated products and services centered around user needs and pain points. In doing so, while satisfying users, it also fulfills employees' sense of achievement.

Things have their priorities, and matters have their beginnings and ends; knowing the order of things brings one closer to the path. The "how" must be reasonable and approach the principles and essence of things.

The entrepreneurial focus and management emphasis should revolve tightly around the three laws of "ideas, statements, and actions." A consistent element is people; enterprise management is also about managing people. The development of people drives the development of the organization. In summary, entrepreneurs should lead people with advanced concepts, drive them with effective mechanisms, and serve them with high-quality products.

From the perspectives of cost and capital, resources, technology, and products, understanding enterprises is crucial to their material foundation.

This is the basic environment for enterprise operation: the physical world.

In this world, entrepreneurs are the creators. Everything has a spirit; products reflect the character of people.

Ultimately, entrepreneurs must let their products speak for themselves; only by painstakingly creating good products can they win the favor of the market and customers.

Creating good products is a trait and duty of excellent entrepreneurs. According to Marx's theoretical framework, the production process of an enterprise is essentially the process of laborers using tools to transform labor objects. Among them, laborers are the most critical. Without the initiative of laborers, production cannot be discussed. From the perspective of the enterprise 主体，besides entrepreneurs and employees, there are also investors and consumers. In the relationships among employees, customers, and shareholders, different enterprises have different emphases. For a long time, Wall Street has focused on shareholder interests, Huawei has always emphasized "customer-centricity," and Kazuo Inamori summarized that Kyocera's existence is for the material and spiritual happiness of all employees. Regardless, inspiring the poetic, aesthetic, and noble aspects of labor, and activating the spiritual and meaningful values of products, is a compulsory course for enterprises.

Key Points:

1. The most important ability of a product manager is the ability to define, which is essentially an insight into the market, leading to a positioning ability.

2. Product managers have five tasks (three definitions and two focuses): defining the market, defining opportunities, defining product forms, focusing on customer experience, and focusing on customer mindset.

3. The difference between products and goods: those that provide utility are called products, while those that provide transactional value are called goods. The larger the scale of goods transactions and the faster the transaction frequency, the higher the value of the goods, or the higher its valuation.

4. From products to goods, attention must be paid to pricing, marketing, and operations, and channels must be established.

5. When technology is scarce, it becomes a competitive advantage; when technology is not scarce, it becomes just a workload.

In the early days of the internet, search companies quickly crawled the information and web pages on the internet through spiders. Web pages and information are considered assets for search companies; they have hundreds of billions of pages in their databases, which are called assets.

If someone today creates a search engine with excellent crawling technology and good search and indexing technology, they will find that there is nothing left to crawl. Therefore, this is not a matter of technological superiority but an issue of assets.

Ultimately, competition is between assets, competition in asset scale, and competition in asset quality. The brand war also has some strategies, which must be fought through positioning. Apple's battle against IBM is a classic case, demonstrating how a small brand can take on a large brand. Jobs positioned IBM as a large, bloated, and outdated image, while he positioned Apple as a symbol of trendiness and leadership. Today, we continuously see new brands succeed; the initial design of the business model may be more critical. Ultimately, brands bring incremental value; if successful, you hope to achieve a higher premium through branding.

• When technology is scarce, it is a competitive advantage; when technology is not scarce, it is just a workload.

• Finally, let's talk about technology. When technology is scarce, it becomes a competitive advantage; when technology is not scarce, it is just a workload. At this point, there is no need to discuss technological competitiveness, as it no longer exists.

Customer Cases#

"User growth" revolves around enabling users to utilize core product functions, rather than merely acquiring new users or activating existing ones. Even if many users are attracted through channel distribution or user subsidies, if their behavior only stops at downloading and registering the app without further visits, such efforts cannot be considered true "user growth." In other words, this kind of "user growth" work is ineffective.

Rather than overly emphasizing new user acquisition, it is more important to focus on whether users have generated HVA (High Value Action) and whether the user LTV (Lifetime Value) is healthy. This evaluation standard actually raises higher requirements for "user growth" efforts. The reason for this is that the internet has entered a stage of a saturated market, where traffic is becoming increasingly expensive. Relying on large-scale advertising, buying traffic, and CPM/CPT methods leads to higher costs and makes it difficult to evaluate effectiveness accurately. Blindly buying traffic may disrupt the product's lifecycle.

How to carry out "user growth" work?

The complete path for advancing "user growth" consists of goals, projects, organizational support, long-term objectives, and reviews, including:

1. Determine the phased growth goals based on the company's strategy.

2. Combine industry characteristics and think deeply to reverse-engineer the path to achieving goals and corresponding growth projects.

3. Consider organizational support based on projects, establishing closed-loop teams or tightly coupled FT that break down departmental walls.

4. Balance long-term growth objectives and think ahead about how to cross the growth curve and initiate the second curve of user growth.

5. Under the assumption that individual growth projects are likely to fail, design and execute specific growth projects.

Phased Goals: The goal of "user growth" is to enhance users' HVA, but depending on the product's lifecycle, HVA may have a gradual process or change. Conducting user growth and selecting company strategies are somewhat similar; the biggest challenge is not how to do it but where to prioritize resources. At this point, it is essential to clarify the strategic goals of the current business stage. If the strategic goals of the business are unclear, the goals for user growth can only be set as vague indicators like "increase registered users" or "increase MAU." My experience is that if such vague goals are set without evaluating HVA, the biggest problem is resource waste, false prosperity, and obscuring the validation of core product functions. The phased goals here are essentially consistent with the "North Star Metric" in growth hacking, such as the number of playlists created on NetEase Cloud Music, the number of ride orders on ofo, or the number of questions/answers on Zhihu...

Defining Growth Projects: What qualifies as a "user growth project"? Points redemption malls, red envelopes, coupons, and similar "user growth projects" are typical examples. The most important aspect of a "user growth project" is "guidance," guiding users to make decisions that lead to HVA in the direction we expect. In "I Work on User Growth," the author also cites many principles for guiding user psychology, such as evoking strong emotions, default option guidance, triggering loss aversion, and creating cognitive attraction. Many books, such as "Influence," "Thinking, Fast and Slow," and "The Power of Habit," discuss methodologies for influencing brain decision-making.

Executing a "user growth project" requires considering many details, optimizing and guiding each process, and shortening the path to core function usage as much as possible. For example, merely "issuing red envelopes," which sounds simple, requires careful consideration of "red envelope amount control strategies," "integration with core functions," "anti-cheating measures," etc. For instance:

• The red envelope strategy must be adjustable, distributing different amounts based on user activity frequency.

• Users may not initially know about the red envelope feature, so a promotional budget must be allocated.

• After receiving a red envelope, users should be encouraged to share, so a feature for doubling the red envelope upon sharing is needed.

• Identify KOL users who frequently share through data, increasing their chances of winning big.

The success of growth projects requires collaboration among various personnel, such as growth project managers, product managers, developers, data analysts, marketing/PR/offline teams, etc. If any link in this chain fails, the project will not achieve the expected results.

A reasonable organizational structure to ensure this: Establish a dedicated project growth team, with support from product, development, operations, marketing, PR, and other teams, excluding BP (Business Partner) support for the user growth team's work. The performance of these BPs is determined by the user growth team leader or primarily based on the user growth team's opinions, forming a growth FT. If a product lacks a dedicated user growth team, many people from different departments may think they are responsible for user growth. If growth does not meet expectations, those claiming to be responsible for user growth will not feel accountable, leading to situations where "everyone claims credit, but when it comes to responsibility, they all pass the buck." Therefore, for a company to effectively achieve user growth, it must have a reasonable growth organizational structure to ensure it.

In summary, "user growth" is advanced through clearly defined goals, relying on various "user growth projects." These projects require suitable personnel to form a user growth team to provide support. "User growth projects" may be effective in the short term but may become ineffective in the long term. Achieving user growth also requires exploring new growth curves. Ultimately, "user growth projects" do not guarantee 100% success; their effectiveness can vary. At this point, it is necessary to "use the redundancy of testing to exchange for the certainty of growth."

Product, operations, user growth, data analysis... It seems that the PM industry is becoming more segmented, but in practice, I believe this raises higher demands for the capability model of every PM. After gaining a deeper understanding of "user growth" work, my biggest takeaway is the ability to better judge and differentiate my current work, adopting different thinking methods and action paths when planning core product functions and user growth functions, and better grasping the rhythm of cooperation between core product functions and user growth: user pain points - seeing the big picture, insight, and digging into core product functions - coordinating growth functions - driving more users to use.

• The construction of internet business models is based on the ability to quickly accumulate our assets and rapidly expand our user base.

• The fundamental meaning of the existence of relationships lies in the social value brought to each other through interaction, whether it is emotional value, economic value, power value, or other values; essentially, it is based on continuous interaction. "Online socializing" means that this interaction can only be achieved through internet media. It is not possible for both parties to always be on a video call, so a significant portion of the interaction is realized through "text messages." So, how do "text messages" facilitate effective interactions?

• As the party initiating the message, it is generally based on a certain scenario (such as seeing a beautiful landscape, learning about news, doing something interesting, or thinking of a viewpoint), which triggers their desire to share or express, leading them to open the message receiver's dialogue box—edit and send the message—receive a reply from the other party—enter the conversation. In this process, the initiator receives effective feedback and fulfills their needs; the receiver also gains the value of being needed. This is a positive feedback interaction.

• Liking something and creating new art requires emotion; however, solving problems must rely on rationality.

• Vitality lies in courage and resilience. Courage is used to break through the constraints of reality, while resilience is used to shatter idealistic illusions.

Product Competitiveness

The depth of problem-solving + cost incurred + efficiency of problem-solving + process experience Two products solving the same problem create a competitive relationship;

• 58.com and Ganji.com both solve the problem of users seeking local life service information (direct competitors);

• Newspapers and today's headlines both solve the problem of users obtaining news information (substitute competitors);

• WeChat and SMS both solve the problem of users exchanging information (substitutes);

What determines the strength of competition between products:

• The target users that the product is positioned for

• The methods used to solve problems

• The value concepts advocated by the product

• The target audience of the company's values and corporate culture

1. The target users that the product is positioned for

The scale of the target audience is dynamically static; it remains unchanged within a certain time frame, so the demand released by this market is also limited. If two competing products select the same target audience, it will significantly increase their competitive intensity. For example, both the Xiali and BMW solve the problem of user transportation, but the competitive intensity between BMW and Xiali is relatively weak because they target different audiences. However, BMW and Audi are in fierce competition because their target audiences overlap significantly.

2. The methods used to solve problems

The methods used to solve problems largely determine the performance of the product; the more similar the methods, the less likely they can coexist. Newspapers satisfy users' news information needs through printed paper, while today's headlines achieve this through an app. Different methods of solving problems provide users with a broader selection space; convenience may make newspapers far less comparable to today's headlines. However, if Yidian Zixun and today's headlines satisfy users in the same way, even with similar methods, it increases their competitive intensity because the range of choices for users becomes narrower, ultimately leading to a choice between the two. Therefore, when you have today's headlines on your phone, you might still subscribe to newspapers, but Yidian Zixun would find it hard to coexist on your phone (assuming all three meet the same demand).

3. The value concepts advocated by the product

The value concepts advocated by a product influence users' sensory and spiritual experiences when using the product; this is what people now refer to as sentiment. When two products use the same method to solve the same problem for the same users, the value concept may be the last differentiating factor, which is perhaps why excessive competition has made sentiment so popular.

Products are fundamentally the result of human output; marketing battles make users aware of products. Therefore, we cannot simply summarize and compare but should break down competitiveness in detail and strengthen each aspect. Only in this way can we clearly understand the differences and advantages between our products and competitors, allowing users to naturally recognize the products and related companies during promotion.

The number of people in the Yuque team is far fewer compared to DingTalk documents or Feishu. DingTalk should have one or two thousand people, while Feishu is rumored to have several thousand. Returning to Yuque, we also had this anxiety at the time, but later we found that a smaller team size is actually an advantage.

The biggest advantage is that it forces us to make choices and pushes us to clarify product positioning early on. Currently, we have a clear understanding of product positioning; Yuque's core competitiveness lies in its knowledge base, not in online documents. This saves us a lot of manpower. The basic premise of Yuque is to ensure that the document editor is user-friendly while innovating to create distinctive competitiveness at the knowledge base level. Yuque's product positioning becomes more precise, and we grow increasingly confident.

Looking at team size through the lens of product positioning is quite interesting. If you seriously examine DingTalk or Feishu, they also have knowledge bases, but if you ask how many people are genuinely dedicated to developing the knowledge base, you will find that DingTalk has single-digit numbers, and Feishu's numbers are not many either. In contrast, Yuque has a nearly tenfold overwhelming advantage in terms of investment in the knowledge base. DingTalk documents, Feishu documents, and Tencent documents have broad positioning, which limits their investment in the knowledge base. The reality is that they need to allocate a lot of personnel for Office compatibility, and then they have to create suites to align with Office, consuming 90% of their team. However, Yuque does not have this concern; Office compatibility is not Yuque's specialty. For Office compatibility, we only do previews and import/export. We found that many users upload Office files to Yuque, and most subsequent actions involve reading. By providing previews, we allow users to read files online, addressing most of the needs for document online access.

The competitive strength of an enterprise comes from the combination of human resources, with the lower limit being product strength (i.e., the combination of R&D investment and talent) and the upper limit being iteration capability (i.e., meeting human needs and keeping up with media). Companies possess competitive sources from the lower limit of leadership and talent reserves to the upper limit.

1. Funding Aspect: It is necessary to determine how much support can be obtained. The amount of funding will affect product progress; more funding can bring in more resources, while less funding requires careful usage. Although product managers generally do not pay much attention to funding, I still suggest that everyone consider the use and allocation of resources, including funding, as if they were starting their own business.

2. Channel Resources: Which sales channels can be utilized for the product? Different sales channels will have different impacts on the product and the entire service system. For example, e-commerce channels and distributor channels differ in sales models, payment cycles, and after-sales services. E-commerce channels require building e-commerce sales personnel to sell one order at a time, and the payment cycle is generally longer. Distributor channels require large customers or a channel promotion and management team; these channels usually require payment upon order, leading to a faster payment cycle.

3. Marketing Resources: To gain more user recognition and contact, marketing promotion is an essential step, especially for to-C products. Therefore, planning must also determine how much marketing resource can be allocated to the project and through which marketing channels to promote it. The product plan should define what kind of marketing resources and channels to invest in at what stage.

4. After-sales Resources: After a product is sold, it must provide after-sales service to users. The product plan should also clarify when to involve the after-sales team and how the product development team collaborates with the after-sales team.

5. Scenario Method: Assess which needs are essential based on user demand scenarios. Which needs can be postponed or not addressed? This method requires standing in the user's perspective to feel their real needs and purposes, as well as observing from a god's perspective what truly valuable needs users have. This avoids being misled by superficial demands, such as the often-told story of the Ford Model T.

6. Positioning Method: This refers to evaluating based on the company's strategic planning, product positioning, and objectives. There are many high-value user needs, some of which align with the company's strategy and product positioning, while others may not. When evaluating user needs, priority should be given to those that align with the company's and product's positioning, followed by other high-value needs. For example, if your company and product aim to provide customer acquisition and retention capabilities, then needs related to internal employee management should not be prioritized.

7. Expert Method: The expert method evaluates the value of needs based on the perspectives of industry experts and whether they are worth meeting. The benefit of this approach is that if the expert truly understands the users, they can provide valuable advice, such as Steve Jobs. It is important to note that many so-called "experts" view issues from their own expert perspective rather than using their knowledge to see problems from the user's perspective. Caution is needed with such experts' advice, as their value viewpoints often do not represent the needs of the majority of users, so it is necessary to avoid being misled by such experts.

8. AB Test Method: For some needs evaluation, the AB test method can be used. This is a comparative evaluation method that assesses value based on user feedback comparison results. For example, if the value of two needs or functions is difficult to assess in absolute terms, we can present both needs or functions to users and let them vote with their feet.

Product Positioning The process of clarifying product positioning is essentially a process of constraining and converging the product. By clarifying product positioning, further clarification can be made regarding which groups the product serves and how to impress users to accept the product and become your users.

1. User Group Positioning: User group positioning refers to selecting a certain type of user or demand group as the target audience for the product through market analysis and other means. Why is user group positioning necessary? This is because each customer group is different; no single product or service can satisfy all groups. Only by accurately positioning your users can your product or service become more targeted and closer to the core needs of users.

2. Target Market Capacity: Target market capacity refers to clearly defining the size of future target groups and their market value. Target market capacity is a key factor in user group positioning, and positioning user groups usually chooses those with large market capacities. Of course, a large market capacity will inevitably encounter more competitors, so some products choose relatively niche user groups. Achieving stable entry through niche markets allows for deep cultivation in niche markets or gradual expansion into larger markets.

3. Product Competitiveness: Product competitiveness is a comprehensive analysis based on user needs and the capabilities of competing products. It highlights the distinctive features or capabilities designed for one's own product. Determining product competitiveness is an important task for product managers and a key focus in product planning. Both product planning and product requirements need to be designed based on product competitiveness, and a clear product competitiveness often becomes an important goal and key milestone in product planning. Porter's Five Forces Analysis Model is a commonly used model for product competitiveness. This model analyzes product competitiveness based on the competitive capabilities of competitors, the ability of potential competitors to enter, the substitutability of substitutes, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of buyers; we will not elaborate further here.

4. Marketing Strategy and Pricing: Different product positioning leads to different marketing strategies, sales channels, and product pricing. If it is a niche market, the product pricing is usually higher; thus, the user group in a niche market is small. If the product's profit margin is too low, it may not sustain the company. Similarly, there are differences in marketing promotion for niche and mass markets; marketing channels for niche markets are usually more vertical, such as communities and other gathering places for niche users. In contrast, marketing for mass markets typically uses more accessible channels, such as elevators, television, and online media.

Positioning What is product positioning? Real estate products possess not only financial product attributes but also consumer product attributes. Based on consumption content, amount, and frequency, resident consumption naturally forms a consumption ladder, referred to as the "consumption ladder theory." Consumption at the hundred-yuan level mainly involves "food," while consumption at the thousand-yuan level mainly involves "clothing," which are both low-value, high-frequency consumptions. Consumption at the hundred-thousand-yuan level mainly involves "cars," while consumption at the million-yuan level mainly involves "houses," which are both high-value, low-frequency consumptions. The above four categories cover the usual consumption of clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Except for a few niche markets, they are generally in a state of oversupply and fierce competition, known as the "red ocean." The ten-thousand-yuan consumption market includes health care, entertainment, leisure, and cultural education, which fall under medium-value, medium-frequency consumption.

Let’s take a look at several internet products we are familiar with and the impressions they leave us.

Why do these products leave us with such impressions? This brings us to product positioning. In Trout's book "Positioning," positioning is described as the effort you put into the minds of potential customers, essentially placing the product in the minds of future potential customers.

This means that the reason we associate these products with certain characteristics is that these products have long permeated our perceptions. Moreover, it is crucial that once this perception is formed, it is challenging to change. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Coca-Cola: Most of us know it as a cola brand, but we find it hard to associate other beverages produced by the Coca-Cola Company (which are actually many, such as Fanta and Sprite) with Coca-Cola. Therefore, the competitiveness of Coca-Cola's other sub-brands is far less than that of the cola category.

• Pinduoduo: Pinduoduo leaves us with an impression of low quality and low price. Although Pinduoduo has been working on branding in recent years, this impression is difficult to erase in a short time.

• Meituan: A few years ago, Meituan invested heavily in food delivery, leading people to directly associate Meituan with food delivery. In reality, Meituan initially focused on group buying and now offers many life services. Recently, Meituan has also promoted a new positioning as a "lifestyle assistant," with considerable advertising, but many still equate Meituan with food delivery.

Thus, we see that once product positioning casts a solid impression in customers' minds, it enhances customers' associative thinking during decision-making, leading them to think more about our products. However, the downside is that this mindset is difficult to change, requiring significant costs to cultivate new brand impressions, and it may not necessarily succeed.

Excellent Examples of Brand Positioning

Having discussed the definition and methods of product positioning, let’s share a few classic product positioning cases. The first is Procter & Gamble. P&G was the first company to invent the role of "product manager," and its product positioning is quite distinctive. Unlike many companies, P&G does not brand itself as a company but has developed many independent brands. Moreover, most sub-brands are quite successful, thanks to the positioning advantages of these sub-brands. Taking shampoo as an example, let’s look at the impressions given by P&G's shampoo brands.

• Rejoice: Makes hair smoother.

• Head & Shoulders: Excellent anti-dandruff effect.

• Pantene: Healthy hair care.

• Shiseido: Hair care and styling.

Each product has similar basic functions, but due to different positioning, products in the same category do not compete much and instead occupy different segments of the market. This is P&G's independent brand positioning strategy.

Conclusion

Product positioning is something that must be done from the beginning, and it has far-reaching effects on product development. As product managers, when designing a product, we must not only consider demand, functionality, and interaction design but also think about positioning—how to deepen users' impressions through our product design and occupy the top position in users' minds within the same category. This is why we say we need to design the "delight points" of products; through "delight points," we can connect with users emotionally, ignite their flow state, and strengthen the product's presence in users' minds.

Brand value is the soul of an enterprise. Building a good brand takes years, while a light asset model can make a company widely known in a short time. However, brand awareness does not necessarily mean that the product has high brand value.

The company's vision and goals combined with individual career paths form a shared vision, inspiring morale through this spiritual value system,

stimulating a sense of belonging to the organization and the desire to contribute to organizational goals, and motivating organizational members to seek innovative opportunities for the enterprise's development. The belief system addresses the organizational barrier of "without clear organizational goals, people do not know how to contribute to the enterprise," helping further motivate the realization of the company's strategic plans and contingency strategies.

The belief system can be used in the board of directors' system to disseminate the core values and mission of the enterprise among board members and management,

allowing board members and management to find clear goals to strive for while establishing a common foundation for strategic understanding.

When the enterprise is developing smoothly without issues, the belief system can motivate board members and management to seek new business models and new paths to create greater value.

When a crisis occurs in the enterprise, the belief system can help board members and management analyze the root causes of problems and find solutions. In this way, the belief system can effectively promote the realization of the company's established strategies and contingency strategies.