kvmb Chapter 39 Year-End Review
Chapter 39 Year-End Review
On November 29th, Zhou Ming rushed into Su Chen's office with a printed report in his hand.
"President Su! There's still one day left in November, but the data is already out—"
He slammed the report on the table.
The F2 working version and the standard version together sold a total of 2,037 units in November.
It has exceeded two thousand units.
Zhou Ming's expression rarely showed a hint of excitement. As an old man who had followed Su Chen from the very beginning, he rarely showed emotional fluctuations—but today was an exception.
Because he knew better than anyone else that six months ago, this company couldn't even sell thirty units a month.
Su Chen took the report, glanced at it, and then put it down.
"good."
Just two words.
Zhou Ming was used to Su Chen's reaction. He never got excited when he achieved a goal—he would quickly shift his attention to the next one.
"What mainly drove the breakthrough of two thousand units?" Su Chen asked.
"Distributors," Zhou Ming said. "Twenty-seven distributors started shipping from mid-month, contributing over three hundred units to the increase. On-the-ground sales are also continuing to grow, but distributors were the key factor in this month's breakthrough."
Su Chen nodded.
This is in line with expectations. On-the-ground sales form the foundation, while distributors act as a multiplier. When both systems operate simultaneously, sales growth will accelerate.
"What's the feedback from the dealers?"
"It's better than expected. The main reason is that the product's reputation has already been established in the areas covered by our on-the-ground sales efforts—distributors don't need to educate the market from scratch; many customers have already heard of F2 and are proactively seeking us out."
What new region is Meng Xiaoyi currently working on?
"East China and Southwest China. She plans to sign 15 more contracts by the end of the year, bringing the total number of distributors nationwide to over 40."
Su Chen did some mental calculations.
If all forty distributors are in place, and each distributor ships an average of fifteen units per month, the distribution channel alone can contribute six hundred units to monthly sales. Adding the more than one thousand units sold through on-the-ground promotion, maintaining stable monthly sales of two thousand five hundred units shouldn't be a problem.
By then, monthly revenue will exceed 4.5 million and monthly profit will exceed 1.2 million.
Annual profits will exceed ten million.
Ten million – exactly equal to the investment amount of Mingyuan Capital.
This means that if this growth rate is maintained, Hongyuan will be able to achieve full self-sufficiency next year—no longer relying on any external financing.
This is the situation Su Chen most wanted to see.
No more financing means no more dilution. No more dilution means the system gain halo is forever secure.
"President Su, there's something else I need to tell you." Zhou Ming's tone became somewhat cautious.
"explain."
"Skyhawk sent legal letters to three of our distributors last week."
Su Chen raised his eyebrows slightly.
"What's the reason?"
"They've accused our distributors of infringing on Skyhawk's product design patents."
Su Chen remained silent.
Do Tianying's Flying Eagle II and F2 share similarities in appearance? Yes—because quadcopter drones in the same price range often look quite similar; this is an industry norm and not patent infringement. However, Tianying clearly doesn't care about winning the lawsuit—it simply wants to use the lawyer's letter to intimidate Hongyuan's distributors and make them waver.
This is a new tactic after the failure of price wars—shifting from price wars to patent wars.
"Let Fang Xu handle it," Su Chen said. "I helped the dealers go through the process. I told them not to worry—the F2's exterior design has independent intellectual property rights registration, and Tianying's patent has no effect in the industry."
Zhou Ming nodded.
Su Chen added, "Also, have Fang Xu prepare a countersuit. If Tianying really wants to make trouble over this, let them make trouble to the very end."
December 31st, the last day of the year.
Su Chen sat alone in his office, with two stacks of reports on his desk.
One stack contains the annual financial summary. The other stack contains the annual summaries of each department.
He examined each item one by one.
Annual revenue: Over 35 million.
The second half of the year contributed more than 30 million – when the company was struggling to survive in the first half of the year, its revenue was almost negligible.
Full-year net profit: approximately 8.3 million.
Total sales for the year: F2 working version + standard version totaled over 10,000 units.
Team size: Over 300 people.
Production capacity: Five production lines, with a monthly output of 3,600 units.
Distributors: 42, covering 14 provinces.
Ground promotion team: 15 groups, covering 10 provinces.
R&D team: six people, including four newly recruited people who are already able to independently undertake the daily iteration work of flight control.
Agricultural protection line: The HY-AG prototype has completed three rounds of reliability testing and is undergoing final adjustments before small-batch trial production. The first batch of deliveries is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Su Chen put down the report and leaned back in his chair.
Outside the window is Shenzhen at the end of the year. Night has completely fallen, and the lights of Longhua District in the distance are flashing in a festive rhythm.
Today is the last day of 2016.
Nine months ago, he was reborn into this world.
Nine months ago, he stood in that small conference room signing the share transfer agreement, taking over a dying small factory with only 1.2 million yuan in cash. Fifty-two employees, zero products, zero customers, zero reputation.
Nine months later—
Annual revenue of 35 million. Cumulative sales exceeding 10,000 units. Over 300 employees. Tens of millions in funding secured. Agricultural drones are about to enter commercialization.
This speed of change is unprecedented in the drone industry.
But Su Chen knew very well that this was not because of his extraordinary abilities—but because he knew the future.
His 22 years of experience in his previous life allowed him to see market gaps, technological trends, and competitive urgency that others couldn't. The virtual disassembly lab enabled him to achieve technological breakthroughs that others would take years to accomplish in a fraction of the time. The industry-wide benefits aura allowed every employee to perform at an extraordinary level without even realizing it.
The miracle of those nine months was achieved by combining three "cheat devices".
But Su Chen also knew very well that miracles wouldn't last forever.
Memories of past lives will gradually fade as the timeline shifts. The level of the virtual dismantling lab will reach its limit. The shareholding limit of the system's bonus aura will be eroded with each round of financing.
Therefore, while these advantages still exist, he must lay a deeper foundation, build a stronger team, and widen the moat as much as possible.
Ultimately, a company's survival depends not on the founder's magic touch, but on the organization's own capabilities.
This was the most important lesson Su Chen learned during his fifteen years as a product manager in his previous life.
Su Chen stood up and turned off the light.
He didn't attend the company's New Year's Eve party. Zhou Ming did it for him.
He turned on the computer.
The interface of the virtual disassembly lab lights up on the screen.
There is a new disassembly task waiting to be initiated—the technical solution for the DJI Mavic Pro.
The Mavic Pro is DJI's next-generation foldable drone, which will be released early next year. It will completely change the product form of consumer drones—from "tools" to "portable electronic products."
Su Chen knew the significance of this product.
This means the consumer drone market is about to undergo another major reshuffle. DJI will use the Mavic Pro to further squeeze the survival space in the low-to-mid-range market—small manufacturers that are still using general flight control solutions will go out of business in droves.
Hongyuan will not fail. Because Hongyuan has self-developed flight control systems, a stable customer base, and a second growth curve in plant protection that is currently underway.
But Su Chen can't just remain "unfazed". He needs to become stronger through the reshuffling.
Therefore, he needed to study the Mavic Pro's technical roadmap in advance—not to imitate it, but to find market gaps that DJI might overlook.
Gaps will always exist. The bigger the giant, the more gaps there are.
Su Chen clicked "Start Disassembly".
On the interface of the virtual disassembly lab, a 3D structural diagram of the Mavic Pro slowly unfolds.
Outside the window, the sound of sporadic fireworks could be heard in the distance.
2016 has come to an end.
It began in 2017.
Meanwhile, Su Chen was already preparing for the next battle.