On May 31, 2004, Zhao Yao appeared at the entrance of Jiangnan University. After returning home that day, he asked his father's opinion, and his father clearly told him that he must go, even if he wasn't paid!
"Why?" Zhao Yao asked, confused by his father's affirmative answer.
"Because of the first-mover advantage!" Zhao Yao's father said. "In the business world, there are two types of advantages: one is called the first-mover advantage, and the other is called the late-mover advantage."
"The benefit of the first-mover advantage is to occupy the market one step ahead. By the time everyone rushes in, they have already secured the most crucial resources!"
"The late-mover advantage means entering last. They can stand by and watch the competition among the first movers, observe all the problems exposed in the entire industry, and then continuously refine their products and plans."
"By the time those who entered the market first are fighting to the death, and their resources are depleted, the late movers can then enter with perfectly prepared products and resources, instantly crushing many exhausted opponents and rising to the top."
"Dad, aren't you stating the obvious? You've covered both first-mover and late-mover!" Zhao Yao rolled his eyes.
"Incorrect. First movers and late movers are not everyone. First movers refer to the very first one or two to enter the market, and late movers refer to the very last one or two to enter. These two groups might only constitute about 1% to 5% of all competitors. The remaining 95% are those who enter in the middle. Those who don't lead and don't trail will surely perish!" Zhao Yao's father said calmly, and Zhao Yao nodded in agreement.
"Furthermore, regarding first movers and late movers, you definitely cannot be a late mover. Firstly, time does not permit. You are already at the forefront of time; there's no need to wait for several years to be a late mover."
"Secondly, for late movers to win, they must carry massive resources. Because late movers want to crush the market with their late-mover advantage, they must carry a torrent, meaning extremely large amounts of various resources, to completely wash away the markets painstakingly occupied by those in the middle."
"Simply put, late movers need a lot of money. Therefore, late movers are often large enterprises."
"Conversely, first movers are very suitable for the poor. They don't need many resources; they can even go it alone. Because the entire market is empty, they have no competitors and don't need to engage in any fierce battles, allowing them to occupy the market single-handedly."
"If you look at real-world business wars, whenever a new market is opened, the first to rush in are always individual entrepreneurs with limited resources."
"Just like the internet industry back then, the first to enter the internet industry were teachers like Brother Ma, students like Brother Xiao Ma, and a large number of people who started their ventures with only tens of thousands or even a few thousand yuan."
"And indeed, these people occupied the market at the beginning, building a vast empire with their skills."
"Then, the late movers with strong backing entered after observing the changes and patterns of the entire market. For example, Huang He, who brought the Jiangnan Group, SoftBank Capital with billions of dollars, and PCCW, Hong Kong's richest man, and so on. These late movers with immense influence entered and crushed the first movers!" his father said wistfully.
[PS: A more fitting analogy would be the online gaming industry. The early entrants, the first movers, were games like Stone Age, Legend of Mir, and Fantasy Westward Journey. The later entrants, the late movers, were Tencent, bringing massive resources and traffic. Among them, early movers like Shanda were eliminated, while early movers like NetEase survived, eventually forming a two-power standoff with late movers like Tencent.]
"Dad, according to you, I should be a late mover, since Boss Huang won!" Zhao Yao said with a grin.
"But your father doesn't have money!" Zhao Yao's dad patted his son's head. "Your dad still owes several million yuan in debt. Our family depends on you, so you can only be the first mover!" Zhao Yao's father's expression changed, becoming extremely serious. "Listen, my good son, your father is not joking."
"When you go to school this time, you must be proactive and cooperate with all the teacher's requirements. You should even apply to voluntarily take on many tasks that don't originally belong to you!"
"Your father has been investigating and contemplating this Jiangnan University matter these days. The speed at which the Jiangnan Group established Jiangnan University is too fast and too urgent; this does not align with the development rhythm of a normal entity. Therefore, the Jiangnan Group must have a very large project requiring a large number of researchers, hence the need to recruit extensively!"
"This is clearly evident from the fact that Jiangnan Group is directly integrating production, learning, and research, having you engage in research from the moment you enroll, and even paying you a salary. The Jiangnan Group must have a very large scientific research project this time. Although I don't know what this project is that requires high school graduates like you to engage in scientific research, such a project must be special and achievable by people like you, and this is your best opportunity for a rise!"
"By entering Jiangnan University three months in advance, you will inevitably enter research ahead of time, giving you three months of experience compared to students who will enroll in September!"
"So, when all students are organized for research, I believe any normal management personnel will promote early enrollees like you to be group leaders, class monitors, or leaders of small projects, or even dormitory leaders."
"Because this is a newly established school, you have no senior students to help you. With three months of experience, you can guide the incoming students to adapt to the learning and research environment. The school will definitely assign you minor positions!"
"Of course, this is just a minor position. If you don't work hard, in a few months, this position might not be yours. But if you work hard enough, utilizing the three-month first-mover advantage, continuously grow, become more outstanding, and become the most experienced and mature among all classmates."
"In this way, even if you are not the strongest in research ability, the school will surely appoint you to management positions, or student union president roles, thereby consolidating your first-mover advantage."
"Then, through continuous effort and consolidation, by the time you graduate, the Jiangnan Group will definitely not let people like you down. Once all students enter the Jiangnan Group and become official employees."
"The vast majority of students will definitely start as ordinary employees, but you will start as a middle-level manager within the group. And as far as I know, the average age of middle-level managers in all large enterprises is over 32 years old. You, a 22-year-old student, will gain a starting point more than 10 years ahead of others. Do you think this first-mover advantage is insignificant?"
When Zhao Yao's father told him all these things, Zhao Yao was stunned. He had never thought about so many complex matters in his life.
But undeniably, his father's words were very reasonable. Thinking about the millions of yuan in family debt, Zhao Yao felt he had to shoulder the family's burden. So, he nodded vigorously and arrived at the school entrance on May 31st.
Unfortunately, having a smart father like Zhao Yao was rare. People willing to voluntarily give up a precious three-month holiday to attend classes were even rarer. So, when Zhao Yao gathered in the classroom that evening, there were only 43 students who had arrived early.
Among them, 80% were wearing clothes that, while not tattered, were very simple or even shabby. Their faces were dark, filled with the marks of life. Their hands were calloused, and their faces clearly showed they were from poor families who often worked. For them, receiving a monthly salary of over ten thousand yuan three months earlier was simply the most wonderful thing in the world.
In fact, children from poor families accounted for over 60% of the students who took the entrance exam. However, the number of children from poor families who could achieve excellent scores under the most adverse educational conditions was very limited, likely only around thirty-something people.
A 60% application rate created only a 3% acceptance rate, demonstrating how expensive education is.
Next, their homeroom teacher appeared, first encouraged all the students, then explained the general school rules, after which the homeroom teacher generously invited all the students to eat at a nearby restaurant, allowing everyone to have a very comfortable evening.
However, the comfort only lasted for that one night. For the next month, everyone studied diligently.
One or two teachers would come to give them lessons every day. However, Zhao Yao could feel that these individuals did not seem to be professional teachers, and their teaching level was quite limited. Fortunately, the content they explained was easy to understand, starting from the emergence of computers, then diodes, the principles of five-进制 operations, and the architecture of computer chips, step by step unveiling a mysterious world of computers for everyone.
Since everyone was a top student carefully selected from across the country, even Zhao Yao, who was near the bottom, had exceptional intelligence and had no problem understanding this knowledge.
However, they were unaware that most computers in the world use binary systems, and they all assumed that computers in the world operated on a five-进制 basis.