From 'Tech Geek' to 'Happy Billionaire': What Exactly Makes Ding Lei and His Company NetEase So 'Cool'?

Prologue: The "Unchanged" Youth

In 2023, NetEase celebrated its 26th birthday.

In the ever-changing "vanity fair" of the Chinese internet, 26 years is enough to turn seas into fields and silence countless once-famous star companies.

But NetEase has always been there. It may not be the fastest runner, nor the loudest, but like a long-distance runner with great stamina, it has always maintained its own pace, crossing one industry cycle after another.

Its founder, Ding Lei, has also transformed from the passionate "tech geek" who smashed his "iron rice bowl" to the "happy billionaire" with a net worth of hundreds of billions who smiles at the changing tides.

Time has changed his appearance and wealth, but it has not changed the core temperament in him—a child-like curiosity and creativity born from passion.

He still argues with engineers over product details until he is red in the face; he still, like an ordinary "tap water," relentlessly recommends products he likes on social media; and he is still the one among all of China's top business leaders who looks the least "tired" and the most "happy."

What exactly makes Ding Lei and his NetEase so "cool"?

Act I: A Believer Against the "Trends"

If the Chinese internet of the past two decades has been a grand "trend-chasing movement," then Ding Lei is undoubtedly the most determined "contrarian."

He seems to have a natural "immunity" to all the hottest "trends."

When Chen Tianqiao became the richest man with "The Legend of Mir," and everyone frantically rushed into game agency, he chose the most difficult path—independent research and development; when BAT fought fiercely over O2O and mobile payments, he "unseriously" went to raise pigs; when everyone thought the music market was settled, he created NetEase Cloud Music out of "passion"; when short videos and live streaming became the ultimate traffic harvesters, he was still unhurriedly polishing his e-commerce and education products.

These "counter-intuitive" choices have often made NetEase seem somewhat "out of place" and have caused it to miss many "get-rich-quick" opportunities.

But Ding Lei doesn't care about this at all. At his core, he is a "product fundamentalist." He believes that the essence of business is not to chase trends, but to create value.

He would rather spend ten years polishing a truly fun game than three months creating a "blockbuster" built on subsidies and marketing.

This adherence to "long-termism" is particularly valuable in a fickle business environment. It has given NetEase a powerful "anti-fragile" ability to cross cycles.

Act II: The Defender of "User Value"

"User" is the word Ding Lei mentions most frequently on all occasions.

Unlike many CEOs who see "users" as "traffic" and "data," the "users" in Ding Lei's eyes are living, breathing "people" with emotions and tastes.

His starting point for making products is always: "Can this thing solve a real pain point for users? Can it bring users real happiness and value?"

To solve the problem of garbled text in emails, he could lock himself in a small dark room and write code for days and nights; to give players the best experience, he dared to promise Blizzard to build top-tier servers and operation teams; to let users eat safe pork, he could endure seven years of loneliness and ridicule; to let music lovers find like-minded people, he brilliantly turned the "comment section" into the soul of the product.

He has always placed himself in the position of "chief user" and "chief customer service." It is said that even today, he still spends a lot of time personally experiencing his own products and reading user comments and feedback.

This almost obsessive defense of "user value" has ultimately won NetEase the most precious "return" from its users—trust.

Among all the internet companies in China, NetEase is one of the companies with the best user reputation and the highest brand loyalty. "A NetEase product is a quality product"—this sentence is still an unbreakable "belief" in the hearts of countless users.

Epilogue: Leaving Behind Something That Makes People "Smile Knowingly"

"The meaning of life is not how much wealth you have, but what you leave behind for this world."

Ding Lei's entrepreneurial journey is perhaps the best interpretation of this sentence.

He is undoubtedly a successful businessman, but he is even more a great "product manager" and a happy "creator."

He has proven with his life that business success does not have to have only one grand narrative. Returning to common sense, returning to users, and returning to the origin of making a good product and a good company can also, and even better, achieve a great cause.

When we open "Fantasy Westward Journey" today and see that the familiar world is still running; when we put on our headphones and find emotional resonance in the comment section of NetEase Cloud Music; when we use NetEase Yanxuan's slippers and marvel at their simple yet excellent quality...

Perhaps in these small moments, we can understand the most precious value that Ding Lei and his NetEase have left for this era.

It is the ability to make us occasionally stop in our busy and noisy lives and "smile knowingly."