To NetEase: Why is it that Tang Yan is only being paid today after leaving the company for so long?

This morning, NetEase chose to issue a statement when everyone was asleep. One month after Momo chose to go public in the United States and made public its prospectus, NetEase stated that Momo's founder Tang Yan violated NetEase's non-compete clause, stole company secrets, and was detained during this period for his lifestyle. NetEase also stated that it reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility for this issue.

As far as I can remember, NetEase has never done anything like this.

During the years when NetEase portal lost the most talent, batches of people left the portal, with different positions and departments. Most of them started their own businesses. iMeigu, Momo, Chunyu, Fanbi.com, Dakele Mobile... These companies did not form a "Ding Lei system" or "NetEase system". Their connections were relatively loose. Not only did they basically have no business connection with their old employers, but some of them were direct or indirect competitors.

The reason may be that when these people in the portal decided to start a business, they always had a hope - to break the old thinking framework, to live an extraordinary life, and to live a different life. And their decisions have never been compromised or changed because of any NetEase senior executives, including Boss Ding.

But despite this - it is the first time that non-compete clauses and company secrets have been used as an excuse. You may have thought that these entrepreneurs who left NetEase only received a farewell letter containing blessings.

All along, the new entrepreneurs from NetEase have reached a consensus on NetEase's tolerance and relaxed atmosphere, and are grateful for it. If they have any dissatisfaction with NetEase, it is definitely not because of office politics or personal grudges, but only because they disagree with the overall strategy of the portal, and by extension, the entire portal model.

Over the past few years, the model of portals has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the operating mechanism has been eroded bit by bit from the bottom. If there is any lesson to be learned, it is at most that "the operating model of the entire portal industry has encountered a crisis": the framework restrictions of portals forced Fang Sanwen to create iMeiGu; the lack of social networking prompted Tang Yan to create Momo; and the observation of user needs and mobile Internet trends prompted Chunyu Doctor and Yuantiku.

In previous interviews, entrepreneurs lamented that their past work allowed them to observe industry problems and opportunities. This should be normal. If their old employer was perfect, why would they leave to start a business? The phenomena they observed and the factors that prompted them to leave, I believe these people would feel the same if they were working at Sina, Sohu or Tencent. It is not that NetEase's uniqueness gave them any inspiration, nor is it that they have any commercial secrets worth stealing during their work.

In addition, the love for the work environment, colleagues and team at that time cannot be offset by the entrepreneurial enthusiasm, nor is it something that can be easily forgotten. In this case, the so-called theft of company secrets or accusations of his lifestyle problems show that he has a grudge against the people or things in the company, showing the pettiness of "not criticizing the person but the matter".

To be honest, when they first started their business, in addition to senior executives, some grassroots employees would follow them. This is not unique to NetEase entrepreneurs, but because there are too many people who start their own business and do not care about their old employers, it has caused an impact that cannot be ignored. Public information shows that Tang Yan wanted to leave because of Fang Sanwen's demonstration. Generally speaking, the impact of a leader leaving a team is that he may take away a group of employees, but everyone has the right to freely plan and choose their own career without violating the agreement.

If there was a clause in your employment contract that prohibited you from joining a company founded by a former NetEase employee (or a senior executive) before the end of your contract or after you leave, I think everyone would have noticed it. But I don't think any company would dare to make such a non-compete agreement.

If we must find something different and special, then the reason why NetEase employees leave is not because of the company's environment or even the overall strategy, but because they have established a corporate culture that is unique, dares to disobey, dares to find new highlights and break through. Even if a person is as ordinary as a blank sheet of paper, after being immersed in such a culture for many years, he will form the idea that starting a business is his best way out.

NetEase portal attributed this idea to having an attitude, but for a long time, there was no unified standard in the minds of employees on how to interpret the three words "having an attitude". They interpreted this attitude as: disobeying the official stereotyped explanations of news events; disobeying the one-sided and easily influenced social public opinion; and also evolving it into disobeying authority. It is better to say that these former employees who ended their NetEase careers by starting their own businesses are the ones who truly understand NetEase's corporate culture the most thoroughly.

If there is a lesson to be learned, this should be one of them - the purpose of formulating corporate culture is to improve the cohesion of the entire enterprise, so it must incorporate elements of loyalty to the enterprise, and even allow a certain degree of brainwashing. A corporate culture that encourages innovation but does not impose restrictions will eventually lead employees away from the enterprise, and they may think that this enterprise is not the ultimate platform for their development.

Anyway, seeing that NetEase is still able to settle accounts after such a long time, it reminds me of the student who was exposed a few days ago, who carefully planned and prepared to pour a cup of hot water on his teacher's head because he was scolded. This makes all the employees who left NetEase seem to have a sword on their heads, which may fall at any time.

I sincerely hope that NetEase will not do this. These excellent people who originally conform to the spirit of NetEase could have been the most useful allies and external aids of NetEase. Their gathering should be an irreplaceable boost for NetEase in future competition.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.