The Western Mustang Fund's novel approach to fund management instantly became the focal point of the entire American financial world. This trading model, where funds could be bought one day and sold the next, mirroring the stock market exactly, was unprecedented in the United States and globally. No one knew what outcome this mode of operation would bring, nor whether Western Mustang Fund's method of selling funds directly online would be successful.
Therefore, even Goldman Sachs Group, which was very optimistic about this and even boasted about launching similar products ahead of Western Mustang Fund, remained inactive. Instead, they chose to be silent observers, intending to first assess the sales performance of Western Mustang Fund before making any decisions.
The fourth phase of the Western Mustang Fund, and the first online fund, officially commenced sales. It seemed that only after September 1st would the prospects of this new financial product be known.
However, the trajectory of this sales situation could be gauged as early as August 25th, before September 1st.
This was because on August 25th, Western Mustang Bank's online banking officially opened for business, and their online center went live across the entire internet. Any location with internet access could log in to this online banking center.
Therefore, by observing the new user registration numbers for Western Mustang Bank, one could roughly predict the outcome of the fund sales. After all, all users who wished to purchase funds were required to first register and obtain a Western Mustang Bank account.
Of course, this data was meaningless to most financial institutions, as they simply could not access it. The new user data was clearly a closely guarded secret of Western Mustang Bank, and no one outside of Western Mustang Bank's internal staff had access to the detailed information.
Goldman Sachs Group, however, was an exception, thanks to their mole, Hao Jianguo.
Although Hao Jianguo was the overall head of Jiangnan Group in North America, Western Mustang Fund was not affiliated with Jiangnan Group. Instead, it was an enterprise under the personal umbrella of Boss Huang. Therefore, Hao Jianguo had no jurisdiction over Western Mustang Fund and, theoretically, was not authorized to view this data.
However, Hao Jianguo had previously been an employee of Swift and also served as Boss Huang's representative in the United States. He had greatly assisted Western Mustang Fund during this particular operation.
Thus, when Hao Jianguo visited Western Mustang Fund a few days later, not only did no one stop him, but Little Swift himself enthusiastically introduced him to the latest data.
"The situation is excellent! We are destined for success this time!" Little Swift exclaimed excitedly. "In just three days, our bank has already acquired 2.68 million accounts."
"Although 1.28 million of these accounts were transferred from existing customers in the third phase, the number of new users still reached approximately 1.4 million, which is more than the previous existing users."
"I estimate that by the time sales officially begin, we will have over 4 million accounts, meaning four million people will attempt to purchase our fourth phase fund! My good brother, we have succeeded again!"
"This is all your achievement!" Hao Jianguo said with emotion. He then proceeded to thoroughly examine all of Western Mustang Fund's backend data and dutifully continued to report the situation to the elder.
"This is what I expected. I initially thought they would have at least 5 million accounts, but it turns out the estimate is only 4 million! I overestimated them!" the elder grumbled. "I thought with the immense reputation Little Swift had built up in the first three phases, acquiring 5 million users would be a given. It's quite interesting that it's only 4 million now!"
"Yes, according to some investigations conducted by Western Mustang Fund, at least another 4 to 5 million people also wish to purchase their Western Mustang machines. However, they either are not yet aware of the news, do not have internet access nearby, or simply do not know how to operate computers. For these reasons, they are temporarily unable to apply for accounts. These individuals will gradually join their bank over time to open accounts."
"Be that as it may, regardless of the reasons, having 4 million people open online banking accounts in just three days indicates that selling funds through online banking is indeed a sensible approach. We can no longer wait. We must also immediately establish our own online banking system!" the elder quickly made his decision.
This decision was quite significant. While others were still observing Western Mustang Fund and waiting for results in September, Goldman Sachs would become the second player to enter the market and the most important one by starting to build their online fund operations now.
Based on the elder's years of experience, in any field, the second entrant has a much higher probability of achieving ultimate victory than those who follow.
While it might seem that the first entrant has the advantage of being first to market, it's akin to Russia and the United States paving the way, and China learning from their experiences.
The first person to enter is the one who first steps on the mines. They will actively trigger all the traps in this new field, get severely wounded by these traps, and ultimately perish.
There are countless such examples. Take rebellions, for instance: whether it was Chen Sheng and Wu Guang of the Qin Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the 72 rebel kings of the Sui and Tang periods, Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Red Turban Army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, or Li Zicheng at the end of the Qing Dynasty, none of these individuals who rebelled first met a good end.
It was ultimately the second wave of entrants, such as Liu Bang, the Tang Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, and later the Jurchens, who benefited.
As for the last wave of rebels, they were truly courting death... Some might cite Zhao Kuangyin as the last to emerge, and the Sima clan appearing when all the brilliant strategists and generals of the Three Kingdoms era had died, suggesting these were the successful last rebels.
This statement is actually inaccurate because one must understand the essence of the matter. The earlier ones were those who raised banners and fought their way to establish empires. Zhao Kuangyin and Sima Yan, on the other hand, were powerful officials who usurped power, seizing empires from the hands of widows and orphans and flaunting their dominance over the corpses of others. Can this be considered rebellion?
This also determined the fundamental fragility of these two dynasties. They were adept at internal struggles, but when faced with external enemies, they were easily defeated by foreign powers, leading to periods of disunity.
To return to the main point, the elder, relying on his many years of rich experience, believed that being the second entrant was the best option. It allowed one to gain the benefits of being an early mover while also learning from the opponent who was ahead. This timing was perfect. Therefore, upon learning that Western Mustang Fund's online approach had been validated by the market and had indeed acquired 4 million new registrations, he decided to immediately copy it... or rather, pay homage to it.
The elder then stated his requirements: "I need a list of Western Mustang Fund's employees, including the importance and role of each employee in this operation, their specific responsibilities, and preferably, their personality analysis and detailed resumes!"
"Ah... Sir, are you planning to poach employees directly from Western Mustang Fund?" Hao Jianguo asked, startled.
"There's no other way. Time is of the essence, so we can only poach some people from them to meet our immediate needs!" the elder nodded. Although Goldman Sachs Group had unparalleled experience in the financial industry, they had never dealt with online funds. They weren't even entirely clear on how to start building such a platform.
Of course, as long as they were willing to spend money and time, these were not insurmountable issues.
Goldman Sachs had plenty of money, but not enough time, and no interest in starting from scratch. It was far more appealing to directly poach key personnel from another company!
Although Goldman Sachs' most desired target was Little Swift himself, in fact, Goldman Sachs had approached Little Swift numerous times. However, Little Swift's attitude was very firm. He considered Huang He his savior. Without Huang He, he would still be a small-time gangster, perhaps even an addict who only knew how to do drugs, with no future.
Therefore, he had rejected all job offers and clearly stated that unless Huang He no longer wanted him, he would never leave Western Mustang Fund. Given this stance, Goldman Sachs had no choice but to settle for poaching other individuals from Western Mustang Fund.
Upon hearing his boss's request, Hao Jianguo seemed to recall something. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Sir, I've always had a suspicion, and I don't know if it's true."
"What do you suspect?"
"I suspect that Little Swift is not a financial god at all!" Hao Jianguo stated.
"..." The elder rolled his eyes and replied, "Many people have such suspicions now. Are you trying to tell me that his achievements are merely due to luck?"
"No, I suspect that Little Swift's operations are not his own; rather, he has stolen the achievements of others and attributed them to himself!" Hao Jianguo said with a frown, his voice deep.
"Oh! What makes you say that?" The elder's eyebrows twitched as he immediately inquired.
"Sir, I worked with Little Swift for a period. During that time, I was always working within Western Mustang Fund. However, I noticed that Little Swift never performed any direct operations. He merely conveyed some macro-level instructions!"
"Moreover, he is ignorant of much financial common sense, and even the most basic knowledge is vague to him. I have seen him reading introductory financial books several times!" Hao Jianguo said.
"This can also be explained. Little Swift was originally a hoodlum who never even graduated from high school. He has no financial foundation whatsoever. All his operations might rely on his own intuition. He doesn't need to know any financial operations; he only needs to tell his subordinates when to sell and when to buy! I have seen such geniuses who operate solely on intuition!" the elder said dismissively. "Geniuses always have some special qualities! They have a natural talent for numbers!"
"A talent for numbers? But Sir, if I were to tell you that when I first met him, he didn't even know basic arithmetic?"