The issue doesn't lie in the technical aspects; rather, the real challenge is not in knowing how to write, but in understanding how to create.

Friends often ask me: How do you write? How do you learn to write? The more I answer, the more I realize my mistake: The inability to write stems not from 'how to write,' but rather "how to create.”

Writing is just one form of creation; podcasts, videos, and photos are all creations.

Before discussing writing, one must first embark on the journey of creation.

Without creation, one cannot grasp the experience of bringing something into existence from nothing.

Creation is a process, regardless of the outcome. I must create something, and only after that can we discuss how to improve it and learn the necessary techniques. If you've consumed a bunch of tutorials and books and still haven't written anything, the problem lies in the previous step: Do you know how to create?

Creation is a process of finding direction. When you're idly distracted, something is diverting your attention. The direction of this distraction is the thread of creation.

To figure this out, your brain will have a lot of messy thoughts and consume a lot of information. Just making sense of that particularly messy, prickly thing in your mind is already very difficult. There's no talk of having a "great idea" to realize.

Sometimes, the audience may over-romanticize something they like too much. They think, "This is so profound; only enlightenment could produce this." But that's not reality. So, if you observe excellent creators, you'll find they have something in common: they are struggling with themselves.

Because creation is a process of playing hide and seek with oneself. That curious, expressive thing is there, but you don't yet know what it looks like. So as a creator, you want to figure out its specific appearance.

Thus, from another perspective, creation is not about seeking approval for your work, but about achieving peace of mind that allows you to sleep at night. Not bringing out what you want to write or shoot makes you annoying. Technique isn't the most important here because what we need is to not feel uncomfortable.

And when you have something, even if nobody else recognizes it, it's still your anchor. Because you have something tangible that you created. Creation is only related to what you care about, what's true, and what's tangible.

Back to the original question, why can't we write anything? This isn't a question about writing; it's about creation. Because you haven't discovered a truly captivating direction—something you're willing to pursue at all costs—you haven't begun to write.

So, how do you begin to write? It goes beyond learning more techniques or meditating at your desk; it involves experiencing the world, living, reading those timeless stories, facing the challenges common to humanity, and personally feeling joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness...

Until the thing that attracts you suddenly flashes by and then flickers in the distance. At that moment, you'll tell yourself:

"It's time, I'm starting."

And after that, it's a question of writing.

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The photo was taken by me in Hulunbuir.

In less than 200 days from its launch, Binance dominated as the world's largest crypto exchange. This rise challenges conventional startup wisdom, where an organization itself is often treated as a product, meticulously iterated and polished. Binance, however, bypassed this gradual evolution and surged in growth while still in its formative phase. 

Picture this: you’re steering Binance's ship, expanding from a modest crew to a massive 1,000-person workforce, all coordinated remotely. The key question then becomes: what's the secret to effective collaboration in such a fast-scaling, decentralized setup?

Conventionally, one might look to GitLab, the open-source software giant with over 2,000 remote workers and the author of GitLab’s Guide to All-Remote (probably the most comprehensive remote work guide out there), delineating strategies from non-linear working to assessing remote work outcomes. It's an obvious benchmark.

But the post-pandemic landscape offers a broader perspective. The remote work wave has buoyed a plethora of collaboration tools: Zoom with its 800 million monthly visitors, Microsoft Teams nearly doubling its daily usage in a year, and Linear, securing a significant Series B round of 33 million USD led by Accel in 2023. The consensus among these tech leaders is clear: if you desire efficiency in remote work, never scrimp on collaboration tools.

However, Binance's story diverges. It stands as a stark example that hyper-growth doesn’t correlate with the use of sophisticated collaboration tools. For a significant period, Binance’s operations hinged on something as simple as group chat. The mantra was straightforward: if you have something to say, drop it in the chat; otherwise, get back to work. Urgent matters? Just spin off a new chat group. All pertinent information was funnelled straight into online docs. During explosive growth, formalities were discarded. By 2020, with this no-frills approach of group chats and online documentation, Binance recorded a staggering three trillion dollars in trading volume.

The takeaway is almost counterintuitive: From zero to three trillion dollars, the journey might just hinge on the simplicity of Telegram chats and Google Docs.

Disruptive Collaboration 

Our previous article delved into Binance's globally dispersed workforce, naturally leading us to an intriguing question: How do they collaborate? Is there a unique Binance method powering its rapid ascent?

The answer is layered. Binance does possess a distinct work style, but it's less about meticulous people management and more about a free-for-all approach during its growth zenith. Imagine building a car from assorted parts, not caring much about the design as long as it races through uncharted terrain at breakneck speed.

In Binance's early days, a company-wide Telegram group chat was the communication linchpin. It was remarkably flat in structure. Take, for example, co-founder He Yi needing a poster designed — she’d simply tag the relevant person in the group, who'd then post the finished work there. Almost everyone's input and output were visible in this all-staff group, with Google Docs being the go-to for document sharing. Emulating Amazon's Jeff Bezos' disdain for slides, CZ has, since 2019, been advocating the use of Google Docs for internal collaboration, reserving slides only for conference presentations. 

An anecdote also echoes Binance's pragmatism: when jokingly asked about fears of potential surveillance through Google Docs, given US’s attention on Binance, a respondent quipped that Binance runs on AWS, so if someone wanted to, dismantling them would be straightforward.

Beyond the main group, Binance hosts numerous others, including language-specific and functional ones. Despite a significant Chinese-speaking contingent, English dominates the main groups, with WeChat reserved for more private, native conversations. However, WeChat isn't without risks, given its stricter surveillance and regulations on blockchain discussions.

For urgent matters, Binance forms ad-hoc groups, roping in relevant teams, including developers and legal, to synchronize and strategize. The "Telegram group collaboration model" is hailed internally for its efficiency. The ethos was simple: air your disagreements openly in the group, fostering a culture of transparency and directness.

During the interviews, an employee who joined Binance in 2019 was struck by this transparency and universal trust. From day one, they were privy to all departmental progress and unrestricted access to files. This open environment meant that once a directive from CZ or He Yi was issued, action was immediate.

This transparency is fascinating when viewed through Binance's dual identity: a two-year-old startup, yet by 2019, the world's largest blockchain exchange, with a presence in over 40 countries and serving 15 million users. This dichotomy reflects Binance's chaotic nature: part burgeoning giant, part evolving startup.

Despite its seemingly primitive group chat-centric model, this didn't equate to laxity. Employees often clocked 12-14 hour days, with the expectation of availability extending into late hours. This intense work ethic, coupled with a transparent and immediate execution culture, underpins Binance's unconventional yet effective approach to remote collaboration and rapid growth.

Across Time Zones

At Binance, the relentless pace of a fast-growing company means work schedules are heavily dictated by the demands of a global, decentralized operation. Employees’ wake-up times hinge on their first meeting of the day, which in turn is influenced by a complex web of time zones.

Consider the fluidity of their schedules: some start with meetings at 10:30 a.m. Chinese Standard Time (UTC+8), only to see this shift to 9:30 a.m. due to daylight saving changes, and then to 2 p.m. when managers travel to Dubai. Others might find themselves in cross-continental collaborations, necessitating a start at the crack of dawn. While daily meetings are typically brief for about half an hour, the workday stretches long, often concluding with the issuance of the daily report at 11 p.m. In this global setup, Europe and Dubai emerge as strategic time zone hubs, optimally positioned to bridge the gap between Chinese Standard Time and Pacific Standard Time, where Binance has a significant presence.

Remote work, devoid of commutes and with meals often reduced to quick deliveries, transforms almost every waking hour into potential work time. The infamous “996” schedule (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) doesn’t seem like an overstatement here. However, despite the efficiency of their group chat collaboration model, the reality of a large, scattered workforce is a calendar crowded with meetings. Some employees recall days filled with up to ten meetings, jokingly lamenting a whole day spent in discussion without tangible work done. Efforts to limit meeting frequency are in place for some teams, but they are exceptions rather than the rule.

Recognizing the potential productivity pitfalls of excessive meetings, CZ and He Yi, were very strict with meeting efficiency. CZ, in 2018, began instructing employees on streamlined reporting: key points should be succinctly listed in text, and meetings with him are capped at 30 minutes unless extenuating circumstances arise. His Quarterly Business Reviews (QBWs) with business unit heads are crisp, focused on results, progress, challenges, and high-level support needs. His approach is direct: if you don't get to the point immediately, expect interruption.

He Yi's leadership in marketing, known for its global reach, focused early on streamlining efficiency. They tackled the challenge of synchronizing information across a vast, international team with a disciplined approach to their weekly meetings. Held every Wednesday night at 10:00 pm, these sessions gathered over a hundred core members, with every project leader getting a moment in the spotlight. The rule was strict but effective: one slide, one minute. This slide was the essence of simplicity, detailing key achievements from the past week and outlining the next week's goals. Critical here was the emphasis on collaborative needs, flagging any upcoming tasks requiring cross-departmental support. Efficiency was paramount, with the entire meeting wrapping up in just 40 minutes – a brisk pace for a gathering of this scale.

Cross-cultural dynamics add another layer of complexity. Asian teams, typically less concerned about distinguishing between work and break times, contrast with European teams where such boundaries are more clearly defined. Remote work blurs these differences further, but there’s also a cultural exchange happening, a mutual adaptation of work styles. Employee development at Binance takes a backseat, with the company focusing less on training and more on deliverables. However, they do invest in their staff’s language skills, offering a $100 monthly stipend for English learning through a platform named “italki”. CZ's personal passion for reading has also significantly influenced Binance's corporate culture. In celebration of Binance's second anniversary, the company gifted each employee a Kindle, custom-designed with a Binance case, and a book allowance, encouraging employees to cultivate their reading habits. CZ even initiated reading group meetings for the leadership team.

An under-discussed challenge of this remote work paradigm is the lack of physical connection. The absence of face-to-face interactions, initially a non-issue for many, gradually manifests as a longing for real human contact. This sentiment underscores a growing realization in the remote workforce: digital connectivity doesn’t always fulfill the innate human need for physical presence and interaction.

Binance’s Way of Work

However, despite the intense work environment, Binance's impressive growth trajectory continues to draw talent. 

In its early stages, the company offered a unique opportunity for candidates to secure interviews directly with the founders, a window that many aspirants leveraged. The interview process at that time was a four-stage affair. Candidates would go through rounds with their prospective direct supervisor, a peer, and HR, in addition to either CZ or He Yi. Notably, HR at Binance didn’t wield veto power over hiring decisions, a policy very likely welcomed by many seasoned developers. In such a scenario, initial interviews with top executives like CZ or He Yi often set the tone for the subsequent rounds, which could sometimes feel more like formalities.

A fascinating aspect of these early interviews was their focus. Many who joined during this period recall that conversations with CZ or He Yi often steered away from work-specific topics. Instead, discussions revolved around life, ideals, patterns, or visions - topics that might seem abstract or vague  in a traditional job interview context. Post-interview, CZ was known to passionately share his perspectives on blockchain technology. Their approach  suggests a hiring philosophy that may resonate with that of Sam Altman: Value first, aptitude second, specific skill third.

By focusing on broader life views and visions, CZ and He Yi seemed to be seeking individuals who shared their ethos and enthusiasm for the blockchain space, rather than just those with a certain set of technical skills. This strategy, while unconventional, appears to have contributed to building a team that's deeply aligned with Binance's core values and vision, a crucial factor in its rapid growth and success.

Upon being hired, new recruits at Binance are equipped with a 13-inch MacBook Pro and offered a salary package that's generally more competitive than what they might find elsewhere under similar conditions. Many employees acknowledge that without Binance, their educational and professional backgrounds might not have landed them in such lucrative roles. The allure of Dubai is even greater, with higher salaries and additional monthly subsidies for those willing to relocate. However, there's a notable disparity in pay across different departments, with smart contract roles being the most lucrative, followed by technical teams, and marketing positions at the lower end.

Binance conducts a biannual review process. Performing well can lead to a bonus of four to six months' salary, while average performance might yield a two-month bonus. Consequently, many employees effectively earn the equivalent of a 20-month salary in a year, a significantly generous offering compared to the 14-16 month annual salary packages of rapidly growing companies like Temu. However, Binance later transitioned to an annual review and reduced the bonus size.

Performance at Binance is graded on a scale of 1-6, with 1-1.5 representing the 'superstar' tier, a rare accolade awarded to at most one individual per team. A score below 5 triggers a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with a one-month probation. Failure to improve results in termination, though such occurrences were rare for a long time.

Managers are responsible for evaluating performance, but in the early days, convincing higher-ups, including CZ or He Yi, was part of the process. He Yi used to personally oversee bonus allocations, and in a rather humane approach, bonuses weren't strictly tied to scores. Lower base salaries were often compensated with larger bonuses.

New hires undergo a probation period of 3-6 months, with longer tenures for executives. A unique onboarding practice at Binance is the requirement for those in leadership roles to spend two hours doing customer service every day for a period of time, reflecting a Chinese tech company management style akin to Jingdong's practice of having executives work as delivery drivers.

Once on board, employees are thrust into the whirlwind of Binance's rapid expansion. Unlike many startups that hemorrhage cash for market share, Binance stands out as a profit-generating juggernaut even during aggressive growth. In departments like marketing, strict ROI control is applied primarily to acquisition, not to branding, publicity, or community. Management isn't KPI-driven; rather, it mirrors the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) approach favored by Silicon Valley giants, focusing on broader goals and outcomes.

Beyond the Rulebook

Binance's approach to business growth suggests a bold deviation from conventional wisdom. For many companies, especially startups, management is often seen as the cornerstone of success. This emphasis on management has spurred the creation and adoption of various collaboration tools like Linear, Notion, Lark, and Slack, becoming a universal topic of discussion among entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley to Beijing to Bangalore. The quest for the optimal management model (and programming language) is a frequent subject in entrepreneurial circles, and management books prominently line airport bookstores worldwide.

However, Binance’s trajectory poses a provocative question: during times of rapid, almost epic growth, how crucial is the traditional emphasis on management? Binance’s reliance on a simple, Telegram-based group chat model challenges the perceived necessity of sophisticated management tools in driving company growth. The message seems clear: if such an approach does not impede growth, why not embrace it?

This perspective isn't unique to Binance. Pinduoduo (also known as PDD, parent company of Temu), a Chinese e-commerce giant and Temu’s parent company, also exemplifies rapid growth without the reliance on advanced management tools. A report from LatePost highlights that Pinduoduo, in its nascent stages, relied heavily on a company-wide group chat on QQ for internal communication. QQ, an instant messaging software by Tencent, is often regarded as China's copy of ICQ, which was initially developed and launched in 1996 by Mirabilis. This large-scale QQ group, encompassing several thousand employees, served as the primary conduit for information sharing and task assignment within Pinduoduo. Also, even at a staggering market capitalization of $30 to $40 billion post-IPO in 2018, Pinduoduo managed attendance records through a seemingly archaic process of manual data transfer from punch card machines to Excel sheets. This method, while primitive, was driven by a singular focus on survival and growth.

For both Binance and Pinduoduo, the prevailing attitude is that in the race to outpace competitors and navigate regulatory hurdles, survival and growth trump all else, including management sophistication. In an environment where staying afloat and thriving is challenging enough, the choice of management tools becomes secondary.

From Rebel to Ruler

The evolution of Binance's management style, as it scaled up, reveals the limitations of a highly informal and flat organizational structure. 

When Binance's workforce neared the 1,000-employee mark in the latter half of the year, the company embarked on a significant transition. It moved away from using Telegram, initially switching to Cisco's WebEx as a transition. However, this was only a stepping stone towards adopting Binance's proprietary internal software, Wea.

Wea bears a resemblance to Lark (the global version of Feishu developed by ByteDance), in terms of both user interface and logo. A key difference from the Telegram era is that Wea is exclusive to teams at Binance. Acquired entities, like Coinmarketcap, do not have access to it. This marks a shift in Binance's operational model, becoming less flat and transparent.

In prioritizing security and information control, Binance started phasing out company-wide group chats with the adoption of WebEx. CZ, the company's CEO, enforced a policy against large coworker group chats. Interest and hobby groups still exist,, but they are limited to small sizes. Meanwhile, larger WeChat groups among Binance employees were disbanded. This change meant that Binance employees could no longer freely communicate with each other, leading to instances where employees working together virtually would meet each other in person for the first time under the introduction of someone outside Binance at external events, like blockchain conferences.

Pinduoduo, similarly, underwent a transformation. Once reliant on a massive QQ group chat, it evolved into a company that tightly controls information. Employees are restricted from viewing the organizational structure outside their departments and are prohibited from forming WeChat groups.

This period also marked a shift in Binance's growth strategy. The company, previously known for its rapid and somewhat uncontrolled expansion, started to confront issues related to regulation and compliance.

As Binance matures, it's increasingly resembling other large corporations, marking a departure from its early, more unconventional days. The era when aspirants could directly contact the founders for job opportunities has faded. Now, Binance places greater emphasis on formal education and professional experience, making it challenging for those outside the major tech and finance firms to secure a position.

Within the company, employees have started to distinguish between two types of colleagues: the “Binance veterans'' and the ‘big tech people.'

Binance veterans are primarily early joiners, often with grassroots backgrounds, who embraced the cryptocurrency community and Binance from its inception. Many in this group hold substantial amounts of Binance Coins. In contrast, “big tech” individuals resemble the polished professionals seen in Silicon Valley and Zhongguancun, who had some years of experience at some tech giants. They typically don't engage in crypto and are quick to sell any crypto the moment they receive.

However, these corporate types, despite not being crypto natives, might now be more suitable for Binance's evolving needs. As the company faces challenges common to large corporations, hiring individuals with experiences in handling such issues seems prudent. These “big tech people”, with backgrounds in large companies and even government, bring valuable expertise. Their contributions have been instrumental in Binance's sustained success amidst the rapid rise and fall of many blockchain exchanges.

A Chinese proverb aptly describes this transition: You can fight and conquer on horseback, but ruling requires a different approach. Since the second half of 2020, Binance has been shifting from explosive growth to more sustainable development.

Binance’s current situation mirrors the trajectory of other fast-growing internet companies. ByteDance, for example, initially thrived with young, motivated employees from non-corporate or non-big-tech backgrounds. Post-2020, however, it began to recruit experienced managers, like Kevin Chen Xi (the former executive president of ridesharing at Didi) and Shou Zi Chew (the former global business president at Xiaomi), to bring more seasoned leadership.

This shift towards recruiting from big techs is seen as necessary but has caused some friction among the original Binance staff. Complaints have arisen about the new need for upward management, a concept previously alien to Binance's culture. In the beginning, under CZ and He Yi, the focus was solely on the user's perspective. Now, there's an added layer of considering how actions align with leadership goals and personal advancement. 

CZ, known for advocating a no-politics, conflict-free, and open communication culture, might not have envisioned these changes. However, the evolution into a large company inevitably brings with it the challenges typical of such entities. The phenomenon, often classified as the “Big Company Disease” or “Big Company Syndrome”, is seen as an unavoidable destiny for any growing giant, a challenge Binance now faces as it continues to evolve.

At the Crossroads of Change

The trajectory of Binance mirrors a common cycle observed in the tech industry: a period of rapid expansion and massive hiring, followed by a phase of contraction and layoffs. This pattern, which Binance experienced mid-year with a significant layoff, often serves as a critical juncture. The real test for a company's longevity lies in how it reflects and rebuilds post-contraction.

Rapid company growth often outpaces the learning curve of its founders. The extent and future of a company are significantly influenced by the speed at which founders adapt and evolve. Some founders, like Zeng Yuchun of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, a Chinese battery giant), bring a wealth of experience from previous ventures, shaping their approach without heavily relying on external models. Others, such as Li Auto’s Li Xiang, actively seek wisdom from experienced industry figures, like Zeng Ming, Chairman of the Academic Council of Alibaba, to understand organizational building and strategic planning.

CZ falls into the latter category, continuously learning from various sources, though he tends towards solitary learning through extensive reading. Following Binance's layoffs, he showed keen interest in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk, sharing his insights and encouraging others to read it. CZ resonated with Musk’s values and approach, particularly in driving teams efficiently, which seemed even more pertinent post-layoffs.

Yet, the challenges faced by CZ, He Yi, the new CEO Richard Teng and the rest of management at Binance are unprecedented: navigating regulatory scrutiny across multiple regions, maintaining the world’s largest exchange in a rule-deficient market, and managing a large remote workforce. These are unique problems that Binance must solve independently, as no ready playbook exists for such scenarios.

In a significant move on November 22, 2023, CZ stepped down as CEO of Binance. This decision aligns with a trend observed in Chinese tech firms, where founders often step back from primary roles during pivotal moments. Examples include Pinduoduo’s Huang Zheng retiring prior to the launch of Temu, Zhang Yiming stepping back from ByteDance as TikTok gained momentum, and Jack Ma famously exiting Alibaba. Such departures signal a new phase and set of challenges for a company, and Binance, already grappling with numerous complex issues, faces yet another.

This is not just the end of an era; it's probably the dawning of a new legacy. The questions Binance faces and the answers it seeks hold the potential to redefine the landscape of global tech leadership. Whether these answers will script success or lessons for posterity, Binance’s story is sure to be etched into the textbooks of future innovators, a narrative of ambition, adaptation, and the unyielding spirit of human enterprise.

Stay tuned for our following pieces on Binance as well as anything tech. If there's a topic you want us to explore, don't hesitate to DM @MornMushroom or ask me anything on AAAny. Cover Photo by Huan.

If you want to support me, there's no need to pledge on Substack because We don't have a SSN and cannot link an account. You can support us on Bodhi instead. It's a new content protocol created by my friend, quite interesting actually. It just launched yesterday.

Hanyang Wang (aka. MornMushroom), wearing more hats than there are in a hat shop. Serial entrepreneur, contributing writer at LatePost and host at LateTalk, host and producer of two other Chinese podcasts - MonsLog and techreview.social. Part-time photographer and hobbist herpetologist. At PicaPica, Hanyang interviews, probes, and tell stories in Mandarin.

Mavis Wang (aka. Huhu/糊糊), crafting lemonade from life's unexpected lemons after relocating to Toronto from Beijing. Growth and innovation strategist, content creator, MBA new grad. Host and producer of Casticle and one English show in the works. At PicaPica, Mavis edits, pivots, and channels thoughts in English.

The importance of Binance in blockchain becomes even starker, when drawn in parallel with Apple, the pacesetter of the smartphone market. According to Tokeninsight, in Q2 2023, Binance's share of the crypto exchange market reached 50.6%, overshadowing Apple's 24% across all smart phone brands in Q4 2022, Apple's best ever Q4 performance (as per StrategyAnalytics). Despite market volatility in 2022, Binance's spot trading volume soared to $5.29 trillion, whereas Apple's App Store ecosystem pulled in $1.1 trillion in turnover the same year. Binance benefited from a commission revenue model, but for Apple, a whopping 90% of sales incurred no commission at all. By this measure, Binance's dominion over crypto even outshines Apple's stronghold of smartphones.

Binance, with its impressive dominance and pioneering operational model, is undeniably one of the most successful companies of our time.

Yet, its success is shrouded in mysteries. Binance may well be the greatest mystery on internet. Few companies with such gravity in tech remain elusive to understand. The rise of Binance was astonishing: it broke into the world's Top 10 crypto exchanges in trading volume just 42 days post-launch. By Day 92, it claimed the fifth. By Day 165, the third. Since Day 156, it has reigned supreme.

So what's Binance's secret sauce?

The allure of solving Binance's mystery is irresistible. Having consumed nearly every piece of literature on Binance, I'm still left grappling with its peculiarities: what sets Binance apart? What fuels its meteoric rise? Driven by curiosity, I've set to fill in the missing pieces about Binance through meticulous interviews and investigations.

The data in this article was gleaned from a pool of 4,182 individuals who claimed to be current or former Binance employees. Given the inherent ambiguity of information on the internet, let's say we have fairly comprehensive, accurate data for 3,714 of them. Among these, 1,624 identified as full-time workers, the rest as interns, part-timers, or freelancers. Unless indicated otherwise, our following discussion pivots on the 1,624 full-timers.

Beyond Borders

By its very nature, blockchain transcends borders, yet most companies it birthed are still quite confined within geographical borders. However, Binance skewed this paradigm, racing closer to "borderless" than any of its peers. According to our data, the fabric of Binance is woven by people from an impressive 69 countries or regions, for instance:

Singapore: 176 individuals

United Kingdom: 78 individuals

United Arab Emirates: 75 individuals

United States: 27 individuals

India: 24 individuals

We can see Binance's significant Singapore presence fits the prevailing stereotype of Singapore as the crypto hub. What's also noticeable, is that there's even an employee stationed in the Cayman Islands, a locale mostly known for corporate registration purposes.

What about Dubai, given that Binance's co-founders CZ (Changpeng Zhao) and He Yi both operate out of this place. Dubai, while an economic hub of the UAE, is a city, not a country. If we focuses on cities, Dubai tops the list: Binance's workforce is distributed across 86 cities, the top three are Dubai (65), London (64), and Amsterdam (16).

Comparatively, Binance maintains a minimal presence where it was founded - China. Only one individual is based there. Still, we can't discount the likelihood that some employees in China intentionally may obscure their footprints.

Before Binance, GitLab was the poster child for remote work. Emblematizing open-source software, GitLab proclaims itself the world's largest remote company with 2,038 employees (and 358 pets) spanning 65 countries or regions.

Had we a richer data spectrum, Binance might well "usurp" GitLab's claim to the title of the "world's largest remote organization". This isn't just a "numbers game". The point here is to underscore Binance's commitment to a remote corporate structure, using GitLab as a benchmark. Binance's remote modus operandi elicits skepticism as well. Some suggest Binance may be leveraging "remote work" as a risk-averse strategy, or its distributed workforce doesn't differ from that of any typical multinational. That's a misread. Binance, like GitLab, embodies the ethos of a remote-first principle, setting the standards for remote work.

Of the 3,714 people linked to Binance, their roots span 114 countries or regions, dwarfing that of the Apple Store, which is present in just 26 countries. However, juxtaposed with Apple Music's presence in 167 countries, Binance's operations in 47 seems somehow modest.

Also, Binance's full-timers lack some educational diversity. Three of the top five universities attended are in Singapore, once again underscoring the city-state's stature as a crypto hub:

  National University of Singapore: 54 individuals

  Nanyang Technological University Singapore: 47 individuals

  University of London: 25 individuals

  Singapore Management University: 24 individuals

  National Taiwan University: 23 individuals

Interestingly, though, if we turn to see the profiles of all the 3,714 people associated with Binance, something intriguing emerges: a noticeable presence of individuals with study experience in the UK:

  University of Cambridge: 219 individuals

  National University of Singapore: 179 individuals

  Nanyang Technological University Singapore: 128 individuals

  Singapore Management University: 90 individuals

  University of London: 90 individuals

One hypothesis hinges on Binance's pronounced appetite for talent. For a fast growing organization, interns are pivotal. For a Chinese-led, globally expanding firm, bilinguals are gold. Given the challenge and risk of hiring such talent directly in China, overseas Chinese students are an attractive pool. The UK, boasting 170,000 Chinese students, naturally becomes a prime recruiting ground.

Moreover, my research suggests Chinese students in the UK face stiffer competition for internships and full-time placements compared to their counterparts in North America. This peculiar dynamic, as a result, could funnel more students towards blockchain firms that hire globally, including Binance. Anecdotal evidence also echos a gravitation of UK-based Chinese students towards the blockchain industry.

Compounding this is the UK's fairly stringent post study work policy. The majority of Binance's interns may inevitably have to relocate, primarily back to China, which leads to career pivots or the underplaying of their experience at Binance. Contrastingly, Singapore, with its 50,000 international students (of which a third are from China), offers a more modest intern prospect pool.

CZ at the Helm

In my interviews, a recurring narrative from Binance's former execs portrayed CZ as a bibliophile. In its early days, Binance had a core cohort of over 40 senior managers, who often found themselves receiving CZ's latest reads - a gesture intended to align their thinkings. Half-jokingly, CZ would warn his top brass of the potential peril if not keeping up with his reading list.

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The books were primarily on corporate management and business history. CZ favored the chronicles of Uber and Netflix, with Uber's regulatory battles echoing Binance's own challenges. He also drew actionable insights from his reading. A testament was his strategic hiring of quite some ex-Uber professionals. Crunching the numbers, we found 110 ex-Uber employees, making Uber the sixth on our list. The Top 5 companies that Binance hired from are:

  Amazon: 204 individuals

  Shopee: 153 individuals

  Citi: 134 individuals

  Agoda: 119 individuals

  Coinbase: 111 individuals

What exactly are these people doing at Binance?

  Business-related: 761 individuals (46.86%)

  Technical: 329 individuals (20.26%）

  Operational: 243 individuals (14.96%)

  Uncertain: 291 individuals (17.92%)

A significant 17.92% couldn't be determined in our analysis due to the constraints of our dataset. Yet, strikingly, nearly half of the positions are tied to the business aspect. This emphasis on business development, sales, marketing, and strategy might be viewed as Binance's vigorous chase of growth and market share expansion.

A relevant anecdote comes from an individual involved in rebranding CoinMarketCap (CMC) after Binance's acquisition. In a meeting, CZ scrutinized ads placements on the homepage, weighing the CPM outcome. His decision? To remove all major placements, save only a few minor spots. It was a move that prioritized user experience over immediate gains. Though ads were crucial to CMC's revenue, CZ saw the relationship between user experience and market share and refused to compromise the long-term for a spike in income. By realigning staff's KPIs accordingly, he proved his commitment to a broader, more strategic goal and earned wide praise for his overarching vision.

While there are countless stories to be told about Binance, our concentration in this article shall remain with our dataset.

Rising from Within

In my effort to identify the industries Binance primarily recruits from, tech and finance unsurprisingly topped the list. What caught my eye in our dataset was the promotion rate of around 26.46%, which shows an evident inclination to elevate from within, shifting employees across different teams or branches.

While analyzing how the employees describe their positions, I found a concentration on three core areas: cryptocurrency and blockchain knowledge, customer service skills, and compliance and anti-money laundering expertise - Binance seems particularly attuned to compliance.

Yet, Binance’s compliance is riddled with controversies. In many countries, it is, at best, contentious. The simmering tension with the SEC is yet to reach its boiling point. The fiercest battles, arguably, still loom on the horizon. It’s worth noting, though, this isn’t a side story - compliance remains central to Binance’s chronicle, which we will delve into later in this series.

The snapshot presented in this article is a mere glimpse into the intricate world of Binance. A tech superstar that navigates the volatile waters of blockchain, with an intrinsic leaning towards internal growth and an unwavering eye on compliance. Yet, beneath these surface observations lies a labyrinth of questions, challenging us to unravel the deeper truths. How does a globally distributed organization orchestrate its symphony of growth? What fuels its relentless pursuit of market dominance? What lessons and warnings are encrypted in its story? These questions are not merely the ending of an article but the opening of a broader inquiry—an invitation to explore the very nature of innovation, ambition, and the future of a digital frontier.

Stay tuned for our following pieces on Binance as well as the blockchain sector. If there's a topic you want us to explore, don't hesitate to DM @MornMushroom or email why@gailiuzi.xyz .

Special thanks to my friend Huan for his tremendous help collecting information on over 4,000 people working or having worked for Binance - he transcribed all this on paper with a pencil, which took me a while to digest and interpret.

Hanyang Wang (aka. MornMushroom), wearing more hats than there are in a hat shop. Serial entrepreneur, contributing writer at LatePost and host at LateTalk, host and producer of two other Chinese podcasts - MonsLog and techreview.social. Part-time photographer and hobbist herpetologist. At PicaPica, Hanyang interviews, probes, and tell stories in Mandarin.

Mavis Wang (aka. Huhu/糊糊), crafting lemonade from life's unexpected lemons after relocating to Toronto from Beijing. Growth and innovation strategist, content creator, MBA new grad. Host and producer of Casticle and one English show in the works. At PicaPica, Mavis edits, pivots, and channels thoughts in English.

Intro:

It is natural for people to gain trust in high places, but what if they are in low places?

Bin Li, the founder of NIO, looked at the sparsely raised hands in the conference room. The result was frustrating, but not unexpected. A few minutes earlier, he had talked about "believing" to the more than 100 senior and mid-level executives at the annual values seminar, saying that people should still do what they believe in.

Then he asked, "Have any of you bought a company car?"

And that's what happened, only 20 to 30 percent of the executives in the room bought an NIO car.

It happened in the second quarter of 2019. At that time, NIO's share price fell below $4 for the first time, less than 1/3 of its listing price, and will continue to fall in the coming months. The value of the stock in the hands of executives shrank dramatically. Over the next six months or so, a significant number of the senior and mid-level participants in that meeting, including the CFO, left the company.

That was what Bin Li called the darkest moment for NIO. Many entrepreneurs like to use the name of this World War II movie to describe their situation when they are coming out of a difficult situation, but the darkness of that time can only be experienced by the people involved.

When he started NIO in 2014, Bin rolled out in full force, compressing development time with seemingly unlimited capital investment, spending RMB 23 billion(3.5 billion USD) in the first four years. But his growth plan was interrupted by a series of events starting in 2018, and NIO's capital chain nearly broke.

A man who turned up tens of billions of dollars in capital almost lost his company because he ran out of money. During the most difficult months, NIO sold the production equipment it had ordered to Tesla's Shanghai factory, and Bin took stock of the cash situation every night with a few executives. Few investors were willing to come to the rescue, and some of the earliest investors in NIO liquidated their shares.

NIO's most committed strategic investors were also wavering. LatePost has learned from people close to the deal that Tencent, NIO's second largest shareholder, was hesitant in the second half of 2019. In the end, NIO issued $200 million in convertible debt financing, with Tencent contributing $100 million and Bin personally contributing $100 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, NIO's cash reserves were just 1 billion RMB. In the fourth quarter of 2019, NIO had only 1 billion RMB in cash reserves, but more than 8,000 owners "gave" NIO more than 3 billion RMB in cash by paying for their cars at the risk of no future aftermarket.

It's hard for outsiders to understand how invested NIO's customers are in the company at once. When it was hardest, some owners paid to rent booths for NIO to attend the Macau Auto Show, and others advertised NIO on large building screens.

After the Chinese New Year in 2021, LatePost interviewed Bin for the second time on the second floor of the NIO House in the Oriental Plaza along Chang'an Street in Beijing(like 5th Ave in NYC). Within 10 minutes of the interview, a car owner came over to greet Bin in a natural tone, as if he were an old friend. 40 minutes later, another car owner approached Li Bin for a photo, an assignment for a bar drink voucher. As long as Bin was present, he would oblige the owner's demand.

This is not the first big storm Bin has weathered. His first venture caught up with the bursting of the Nasdaq bubble, and at the age of 27, he was personally burdened with 4 million yuan of debt, and eventually turned his losses into profits to get E-Car listed in the US.

The world is used to judging heroes by their results. When NIO was one step away from breaking its capital chain, it was almost compared to LeEco. Earlier this year, NIO's market capitalization broke $100 billion, once surpassing BMW and Daimler, which produce and sell more than a million vehicles a year. Outsiders again began to explore how to replicate NIO's user-enterprise model.

But in the turnaround car-making business, calm is only temporary. Tesla keeps dropping its prices and several tech giants officially launch their car-making plans. NIO is coming out of a storm, but its future will not be calm.

李斌 Bin Li

Interview

Late Post(LP): Looking back now, 2019 was a very dangerous year for NIO. What do you think of that low period now?

Bin: 2019 was a "perfect storm" for us. We just finished the market, and the product was delivered for a period of time, a lot of pressure was released at that point in time, I call it the "extreme stress test". You survive, you will have stronger immunity. If you don't, it's over, and no one is coming to save you. Today, Late Post may have to write "How NIO is going to be finished step by step" later. In fact, many people have already written such articles in 2019.

LP: Why do you say "perfect storm"?

Bin: All the expected and unexpected things happened, and none of them did not happen. For example, the external relationship between China and the United States, the competition in the industry, the changes in the capital market, the internal battery; ES8 is still in the process of perfection in the early stage, suddenly there are so many users, and the pressure of service has gone up; furthermore, the team has gone through 5 years, and many internal management problems will be exposed after the listing. All aspects of things, indeed all at one point in time exposed.

LP: When did you first sense that you might be in trouble?

Bin: I think I'm still a person with a strong sense of crisis. When NIO went public on September 12, 2018, I came back and held a meeting with all the executives, saying that now is the most dangerous time for us, because an airplane is the most dangerous when it takes off. Once you stall, it's over, there's no chance at all, there's no way to taxi.

A very important reason, we did not raise so much money to go public. We had to raise $2 billion USD, but we were unlucky, and when we went to the roadshow at the end of August, Trump started to go crazy and American investors didn't care about you. In the end, the IPO raised a total of $1.1 billion, of which more than $900 million was given by two investors, one was Baillie Gifford, and the other was a Norwegian sovereign fund, and a little bit from Asia.

We had eight investment banks at that time, and all the big investment banks in the world were in it. It was supposed to be the most high-profile IPO of the year, probably the most financed, but it ended up being a few tens of millions of dollars stateside.

I had already figured out when and how much money. The troops had already been so organized, but the military rations were gone.

In 2010, 易车 Yiche($BITA) went public. How small the company, financing more than 100 million U.S. dollars, go to all places are welcome with a smile. In 2018, the situation was completely reversed, and the manager of a very large American fund, who is now our investor, said at the roadshow that you Chinese are all liars.

After the market, I was in my room at the JW Marriott in Central Park, New York, and I said to my wife, "An era is over."

LP: This could be a sign. Did you panic at the time?

Bin: I certainly knew there was something very wrong with this. Maybe the market didn't have the concept yet, but I already fully understood the situation. At that time, NIO went from 0 users to more than 10,000 users, there were so many orders to be delivered, the tram was going through the winter, and I had to protect the service. In those few months, the company went public and people thought you were booming, but I knew there would be a swamp soon. We had to think of a way, and we were already thinking about it at that time.

LP: find a way to find more money?

Bin: When I came back in September 2018, I knew I had to get the RMB market through, because it was no longer possible to go back to the US-China relationship. Before that, we were all taking dollar financing. For so many years NIO has created $10 billion in foreign exchange for China, financing from around the world to spend in China. Even if I fail, most of this $10 billion will be paid to Chinese people. This is certainly good for driving the industry forward, and even if we die, our bones are still nourishing a piece of land.

But after that, you can't rely entirely on the dollar market alone. The risk of being influenced by politics is too great for the company. We signed a contract with Yizhuang(Beijing E-town International Investment) at the time, and it went pretty well, but then a lot of things happened in the middle, like the battery spontaneous combustion, which was kind of the first domino. If there was no battery incident, Yizhuang's investment should also be promoted smoothly.

We can't be blamed for the battery incident, but it caught up with us. When we set up the project in 2015, we used Samsung's battery cells, and then we switched to CATL(Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,limited) when we caught up with the problem with South Korea and THAAD. Then it happened that the batch of spontaneous combustion, we can only recall.

This is how things are, every business is affected by the relationship between China and the United States. Our battery, financing, all of them are very deeply affected by this thing.

LP: After the "storm" came, what did you think of?

Bin: The money was not in place, so we had to slow down the construction of the Shanghai factory. As a result, the outside world interpreted that Shanghai did not support us. Shanghai has always been very supportive of us, and the policies we were given were better than Tesla. We had already ordered a lot of long-cycle equipment, and the stamping line equipment of Tesla's Shanghai factory was still sold to them, which was equivalent to selling weapons to competitors.

LP: Why did you sell to Tesla?

Bin: Only it is building the factory, it has to hurry. If someone else buys it, then I'm sure I won't sell it to them. This equipment is we paid half of the price of the reservation in early 2018, the reservation cycle of the equipment is 18 months, at that time has arrived at customs, immediately available. Tesla was taking a long time to book again, and I saved it at least six or seven months. So it bought away.

LP: How big a role did this money play?

Li Bin: Sold more than 100 million RMB. That equipment is more than two hundred million, we paid half of the money, and later sold to them cheap.

They also do not know the story. In fact, if Tesla did not give us this money, I might just fail. Help each other out.

LP: Later, Tesla's Shanghai mass production was faster, and the rise in share price also boosted the market's confidence in electric cars, making it easier to finance the whole industry.

Bin: So Tesla has certainly made a great contribution to the industry, no doubt. We still respect them very much.

LP: Which moment in 2019 was the hardest for you?

Bin: The battery recall was the most difficult for me at that time because it touched the interests of users and it was not something expected. To be honest, I never found anything difficult about what was expected. The following we reduce staff, shrink business, etc., these I knew that I need to do these things back to September 2018.

LP: There are some investors who have helped you, why are they willing to believe at this time? For example, Tencent, Lenovo.

Bin: I think it's because we're doing what we believe in. We're not doing anything bad, we're not doing financial fraud, we don't owe money to banks, and we're not running away. We are doing it in a practical way, just encountered difficulties.

LP: How are you sure you are right in the face of most people's doubts?

Bin: It takes determination to do more than the conventional perception and to give people time to understand you. You have to focus on the people who support you and listen to their needs.

There's an episode of Darkest Hour that I can relate to. Churchill comes out of Parliament and goes to the subway to talk to people and listen to their most honest thoughts. At that time I thought, I should go back to the users, because the people who are still willing to buy your car at such a time are your real source of spiritual strength.

In July and August 2019, I visited users in more than a dozen cities. Not first-tier city but Harbin, Hohhot, Taiyuan, Nanchang, Guiyang, Kunming, Nanning, these places. I was quite encouraged after I went there.

I found that there is really a lot of social pressure for users to buy our cars. One of our customers' friends broke up with him because he bought an NIO. Why? We believe different things at the bottom. After meeting the customers, I think that our difficulties are really nothing.

LP: You keep emphasizing that it was the users who saved NIO.

Bin: At the worst time, our finance department, supply chain team, and Lihong Qin and I were lining up cash plans at 10 pm every night, for a company of nearly 10,000 people, in units of 10,000 RMB(1.5k USD). We want to ensure three things, first, the car need to continue supply, do not deliver the car cash flow will be broken, everything is finished; second, must pay wages; and, to ensure that the supplier settlement.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, more than 8,000 cars were delivered, bringing more than 3 billion cash. At that time, we will fail if 1,000 units less, because the cash flow was strained to the extreme. If we had delivered less cars, we really wouldn't have been able to pay our salaries, and we might have lost our supply.

In 2019, I had a meeting with the director, and I said that if people bought the company's cars, they would raise their hands, and it would be 20-30%. Who do you think saved NIO?

LP: How did this experience influence the NIO?

Bin: I've wanted to make a new car brand since 2012. I think the business model of car brands and the way users interact will be different in the mobile internet era. And traditional car companies can't complete this transformation.

This is a very important starting point, if you want to do something, you have to know why you can do it and the traditional companies can not do it? You can't simply say electric, self-driving, that traditional car companies can also do.

But the way to interact with the user, the way to serve the user. The mechanism and culture of traditional car companies is very difficult to turn around. It's like building a 100-story building on a 50-story building is much harder than building a new 100-story building. And when you add a building, the people inside still have to work normally, profits can't fall, which is unlikely.

LP: Some people think that the ultimate goal of NIO is a utopia.

Bin: First of all, it's not a utopia. How our goal "sharing joy and growing together" is a utopia? Our car is not a fake story.

Today, the auto industry chain is much bigger than you think. Car companies sell cars to earn money, and then 4S stores, gas stations, insurance companies and so on, to earn money for the entire car market stock of users services. I just do all those services, but I don't make money from them, I make money from the front (selling cars). Now many people think that NIO's services lose more money, but that's because I don't have enough economies of scale.

Our business is very logical. I just make one thing more interesting, and it's good to buy a car from NIO that is more interesting.

I only translated part of it due to time constraints.

Top comments on the original Chinese article:

悟空：I love NIO and Bin. NIO has been integrated into my whole life

妞子馨月：As an NIO owner, I feel it's really fun to move forward with this business.

章文章Jason：On May 16, 2019, I ordered the NIO ES6 as a birthday present for myself, bought NIO stock shares in October, and started communicating with NIO's marketing development department about market expansion cooperation in November. On May 18, 2020, our investment in NIO Space Wenzhou store opened. As an owner and investor of NIO, I would like to say: NIO, it's really quite good.

hlc: It was also in September of 2019 that I picked up my second NIO, which was also the cheapest time to buy an NIO: 45,000 RMB in subsidies, three years interest free plus two service packs for re-purchase. Many people find it hard to understand why I would do a "double rip-off" when NIO is on the verge of collapse, but I think it's good to respect my own feelings, because I can't find a better car than it at this price point.

Screenshot of the original article with the editor's business card inside. Over 65,000 people have read the article in less than 24 hours.