The weather in the Imperial Capital in February was somewhat similar to Yongcheng's weather in December, with a large temperature difference between day and night.
It was already February 20th when Tan Jincheng landed.
The highest temperature during the day could reach around five or six degrees Celsius, while at night it could drop to minus three or four degrees Celsius.
In just over a week, Tan Jincheng had traveled across north and south, from Beihai, warm as spring, stopping in Yongcheng, and then arriving at the Imperial Capital, which was like winter.
Physically, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.
"I need to exercise, otherwise this kind of business trip will be a bit too much,"
Tan Jincheng thought to himself.
Alas, it was actually the weekend that was a bit excessive.
Even with a young body, one can't handle several times a day; moderation, definitely moderation!
Hailing a taxi, Tan Jincheng went straight to the research institute.
This time, his visit to the Imperial Capital didn't come with the same good treatment as last time.
"Regarding intellectual property protection and personnel with commercial secrets, a non-compete agreement needs to be signed. So, before you start your employment, please sign this agreement. Let's be blunt first, then agreeable, is that okay?"
"Understood, these are all necessary, we understand these rules."
"Haha, General Manager Tan, that's interesting to say, being blunt first, then agreeable; but there's nothing wrong with it, that's how people should be, clarify the risks first."
Tan Jincheng replied with a smile,
"Then please sign these two agreements. Don't worry, if there's anything unsatisfactory, everyone can sit down and negotiate."
After the weekend, Tan Jincheng immediately rushed to the Imperial Capital to form Flashy Tech's lithium battery team.
The first thing was to discuss contract and compensation issues with the team members led by Engineer Lu.
Compared to renting houses or anything else, talent is the most crucial for the breakthrough in lithium battery technology.
The research results of the technical team belong to Hang New Energy Technology, so clauses like non-compete agreements and confidentiality agreements all need to be signed in advance.
Fortunately, these experts from the research institute are quite knowledgeable about this aspect.
Furthermore, their discipline is not comparable to those loosely managed employees of private enterprises.
Once discussed with the team members, everyone had no objections.
After all, they are only considered "seconded," and their affiliations are still with the research institute.
It's just that for the next few years, they will be serving Hang New Energy Technology, which means serving Tan Jincheng.
What remained in the Imperial Capital was Hang New Energy's R&D department, responsible for the research and development of new products and the improvement and optimization of existing products.
The first batch seconded from the research institute consisted of 10 engineers, including positions such as R&D engineers, electrochemical engineers, materials engineers, data analysts, environmental experts, and so on.
Still led by Chief Engineer Lu, Chief Engineer Lu also concurrently served as the Deputy General Manager of Hang New Energy.
These 10 senior engineers were only working for Tan Jincheng, but also bore the task of helping Hang New Energy cultivate talent.
Starting this summer, Hang New Energy will cooperate with the research institute to recruit fresh graduates from universities.
The future social affiliations of these graduates will belong to Hang New Energy, becoming Hang New Energy's first batch of talent other than those seconded from the research institute.
It can be considered a "borrowing a hen to lay eggs" process.
Not only that, some equipment is temporarily provided by the research institute.
The investment in lithium batteries is enormous, and some high-end equipment is not easy to buy and cannot be bought in a short time.
This is the advantage of cooperating with state-owned units.
During the honeymoon period between both parties, they won't be too particular about some minor details, especially departments like research institutes that are technologically oriented.
In fact, some high-end research institutes are not short of money.
Among the first 10-person team, besides Chief Engineer Lu Ruifeng, there was also a Deputy Chief Engineer Hu Huaizhong, whose main job was to assist Lu Ruifeng in managing the R&D team.
Additionally, he was also a data analyst.
Lu Ruifeng directly reported to Tan Jincheng, while the R&D department directly reported to Lu Ruifeng.
Besides this, departments such as finance, legal, sales, etc., were also being set up simultaneously.
Except for the R&D department, other departments were located in Yongcheng.
A 10-person R&D team is naturally not enough for an enterprise committed to lithium batteries, but it doesn't matter.
This is just the most basic framework in the initial stage.
Once there aren't enough personnel, Lu Ruifeng will naturally find a way to solve it.
Tan Jincheng only needs to prepare enough money.
Hang New Energy offers generous compensation to these engineers.
The lowest-level position also has an annual salary of over 150,000 yuan, Lu Ruifeng's annual salary is as high as 800,000 yuan, and Hu Huaizhong also has an annual salary of 600,000 yuan.
A 10-person team, with annual salary expenses alone exceeding 3 million yuan, not to mention various performance bonuses, the expenses just to maintain this team would consume half of Flashy Tech's profits from last year.
What level was this income at in 2006? In 2005, the average annual salary in the Imperial Capital was 32,800 yuan, the average housing price within the Second Ring Road was around 9,500 yuan, many housing prices on the city's outskirts hovered around or below 3,000 yuan, and the average price within the Fifth Ring Road was around 3,500 yuan!
Even the housing prices near Zhongguancun were only a few thousand yuan, and the average price for commercial buildings was less than 16,000 yuan per square meter.
Lu Ruifeng's annual salary of 800,000 yuan could buy a small three-bedroom apartment within the Second Ring Road.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it "spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones."
Of course, high-end talent deserves such treatment.
Besides, anything that can be solved with money isn't a problem.
Before coming, Tan Jincheng specifically researched the real estate market trends in the Imperial Capital.
Speaking of which, he was quite lucky.
In previous years, housing prices in the Imperial Capital had risen too quickly, so control policies were introduced accordingly.
Coupled with the construction for the 2008 Olympics, "land kings" rarely appeared.
This led to a slight overall downward trend in housing prices in the Imperial Capital from the second half of last year to the beginning of this year, especially at the beginning of this year.
The second-hand market for commercial buildings was active, with many sellers looking to sell.
Judging from news interviews observed online, ordinary people were firmly convinced that housing prices would fall, which was very interesting.
Taking the very famous Zhongguancun as an example again, Huaqing Jiayuan, a development famously dubbed "Cosmic Divine Property" that went on sale in 2000, its first phase started at around 4,000 to 4,500 yuan, with an average price of around 5,000 yuan, and the second phase priced at around 7,000 yuan.
Apartments near Huaqing Jiayuan, such as those in Wanliu, were generally only around seven or eight thousand yuan, but in later generations, housing prices in this area were even speculated to skyrocket to 100,000 yuan per square meter, especially for small-sized school district apartments.
In fact, the reason why housing prices in Zhongguancun were not high was also somewhat related to the current public opinion environment.
Public opinion was not very friendly towards Zhongguancun's housing prices.
Articles often appeared such as "Zhongguancun is declining, companies are fleeing," and "High housing prices are driving away high-tech enterprises, where does Zhongguancun go from here?"
These articles put the leaders of the Science Park and Haidian District in a passive position and to some extent also prompted the regulatory authorities to depress housing prices.
So, Tan Jincheng was relatively lucky.
Originally planning to rent, after seeing such a situation, he decided to buy property, and Hang New Energy's base location was also set in Zhongguancun.
Lithium battery enterprises are unequivocally high-tech enterprises.
Conveniently, they are not far from the research institute.
Buying an office building and then a residential building means he wouldn't need to stay in a hotel when he comes over normally.
Perfect!
It can be said that as long as these two properties exist, even if Lu Ruifeng's team doesn't come up with anything significant, Hang New Energy's investment in the research institute won't be a loss.
In 2006, the housing purchase (residential building) policy for non-locals in the Imperial Capital was relatively lenient, only allowing the purchase of one new commercial residential unit, and the purchase area could not exceed 90 square meters.
Additionally, besides requiring proof of work and residence and requiring the purchase funds to be deposited in a bank account in the Imperial Capital, the loan amount was restricted.
For Tan Jincheng, the General Manager of Hang New Energy, none of these were issues.
He only planned to buy a small unit, convenient for his business trips.
Furthermore, smaller units are easier to sell.
As for the loan amount, that was even easier to resolve.
A full payment for 90 square meters would be within 1 million yuan, so he could just pay in full.
Commercial buildings were even simpler.
"I'm setting up a high-tech company in Zhongguancun in the Imperial Capital, which counts as an investment. And I can also leverage the name of the research institute; maybe there will even be some preferential policies."
"Engineer Lu, let's go check out Zhongguancun. I plan to select an office building there to be used as the R&D department's office. What do you think?"
After everyone had signed the contracts, Tan Jincheng had no intention of hiding anything and directly stated it in front of everyone.
Another benefit of settling in Zhongguancun is being close to the internet magnates.
Besides the internet magnates, there are also many listed companies near Zhongguancun, and maybe with good luck, they can gain some advantage.
"That's great then! General Manager Tan is setting up the office in Zhongguancun; this is taking care of us,"
Lu Ruifeng hurriedly replied with a smile.
The other nine people in the office also showed delight on their faces.
Who wouldn't want their workplace to be closer to where they live?
Especially in big cities, commuting time is the most troublesome.
"Engineer Lu, you're joking, it's not about taking care of you. If you're in a good mood at work, your work efficiency will naturally be higher. Furthermore, wasting commuting time is also a torment."
"Who's to say it isn't? I often heard before that some people commute for two hours to work. Alas, how high can their work efficiency be then?"
Hu Huaizhong also sighed.
"It's all because of housing prices. With average salaries of three to four thousand yuan, and housing prices of seven to eight thousand, nearly ten thousand, what else can people do but live further away?"
"Exactly."
They say Imperial Capital guys are good at talking.
Tan Jincheng didn't expect that a single mention of commuting would lead them to complain about housing prices.
He quickly interrupted, saying,
"I don't have much experience in R&D. Engineer Lu, what size office do you think would be suitable for us?"
Lu Ruifeng thought for a moment and said,
"We only have about 10 people, and some experiments still need to be conducted at the research institute, so the area doesn't need to be too large; around a hundred square meters would be enough. However, to prepare for future expansion, renting a larger one, two to three hundred square meters, would also be fine."
"Alright, then let's go with a standard of 500 square meters or more. Let's go. Engineer Lu, please accompany me on this trip. Engineer Hu, if you're free, you can also come along to take a look,"
Tan Jincheng said decisively.
What a joke.
I can't afford lithium mines, but I can afford to buy an office building.
Rent? No way!
(End of chapter)