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ByteDance as an application factory on top of the Volcano Engine platform (Category BusinessStory)

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I used to. told About the attention factory from ByteDance, which created the news aggregator Toutiao, and then the short video service Douyin, which in the international market became known as TikTok. But if you get to know the company first hand, then the following points seem interesting:

  1. The sticky recommendation system is what everyone says, but I couldn't mention it.
  2. Engaging users through presets on phones when it wasn't yet mainstream in China (rapid growth 2014 This year was often due to)
  3. The company’s focus on the app factory, where instead of creating a Super App like Wechat from Tencent, the company is testing new ideas through the creation of individual applications. In fact, Douyin was one of three video applications that were launched at the same time. There was less faith in this app than in 2 The previous ones, but it won.
  4. In fact, they make order in the year. 10 new applications, but before the launch comes units. Traffic is poured into such applications and then every six months they pass gates, where you need to demonstrate the results. If there are no results, the application is closed, some employees are sent to the street, and some are rotated inside the company. If the results are good, you add resources.
  5. As a result, the company captures the attention of users with its applications, and then monetizes through advertising and a share of sales in e-comm. By the way, the Douyin 766mln DAU in China, and if you look at unique users in China, then everything will be there. 900+ mln DAU and here are the main applications of the guys (Notice how many apps for content creators)

1 Douyin 766 Short Video Platform 2 Toutiao 254 News & Information 3 Xigua Video 178 Video Sharing 4 Hongguo - Micro-Dramas & Streaming 5 Huoshan Video - Short Video Platform 6 Ulike - Beauty Camera & Photo Editing 7 Hypic - Photo Editing 8 Doubao - AI Chatbot 9 CapCut - Video Editing Tool

  1. BytaDance applications run on their public cloud Volcano Enginewhich is part of the group of companies (cloud was launched into 2021 year). Something like the emergence of tech companies from major players (We have named the entire group of companies. T-Technologies). In fact, the cloud is available publicly, but the maximum level of assistance and improvements is available to verticals that are responsible for individual applications - they have a separate budget and separate IT teams, but can ask for help from the Internet. ~~ByteDance Tech~~ Volcano Engine. By the way, it feels like this cloud is not public, but partly public - for companies within the group and partners:)

  2. The company recruits the best engineering personnel, paying them salaries above the market - this allows you to maintain a high level of engineering culture and result orientation. (taking into account the disbandment of commands, closed applications, as well as partial reductions in them). In 2024 The company's revenue was about 1.3 $ million per employee (146 BLN $ / 110k employees). ByteDance estimates the number of engineers in ByteDance at 12k WAU based on the article.BitsAI-CR: Automated Code Review via LLM in Practice"We'll get that the engineer's revenue is in order." 12 Milln $. This is what it means to have an app factory, an audience of over a billion users, monetize on advertising and sales commissions, and use your cloud platform and processing:) Company valuation of about $315 bln, if you focus on the recent buyback program.

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