2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 345 "We can't wait any longer!"

The first person to try something new may not necessarily make a fortune; they might even be poisoned.

Innovation can be very valuable to internet companies, or it can be worthless. You explored a new profit model for social networking sites by embedding Flash games into web pages, right? Then I'll just copy you.

Essentially, everyone is copying each other, so no one should criticize anyone else.

The venture capital firms did not approve of Orange Technology's offer of less than 100 million RMB for Kaixin001. They even felt that Tan Jincheng was too arrogant. "Does someone who runs a physical business understand the internet?"

Since you won't let me invest, I'll find someone else or create my own website platform and try copying your model, okay?
Building upon innovation, you need to continuously iterate and innovate, allowing the market to see your new highlights—the kind that even copying can't match—so that institutions will recognize your capabilities.

This is why investment institutions like to use the phrase "investing in startups means investing in the founders" to describe their investments.

In fact, less than half a month after Kaixin.com was launched and attracted the attention of investors, other websites had already started copying the social networking site + flash game model.

After being rejected multiple times, some investment institutions turned to other social networking sites for cooperation.

Kuang Ping also contacted some other websites that imitated Kaixin001, but he continued to pay attention to it and did not give up on it directly like other venture capital firms.

From July to September, Kaixin.com integrated MSN data and launched a one-click sharing function, which can be seen as a way for Kaixin.com to accumulate users.

Before accumulating 500 million users, Kaixin.com didn't make any major moves or launch any new features.

Refusing to engage in dialogue with institutions, raising the valuation to over 1 million, and focusing wholeheartedly on accumulating users, Kuang Ping originally thought this situation would continue for a while. Who would have thought that Tan Jincheng, the sixth-ranking official, would launch a surprise attack on the market during the National Day holiday?
Unlike previous viral marketing campaigns, Kaixin.com's promotion of Happy Farm this time was aboveboard. Taking advantage of the high visitor traffic during the National Day holiday, they placed large-scale advertisements at bus stops and subway stations in major cities and popular tourist destinations across the country.

Meanwhile, the online promotion remains as sharp as ever.

With its social features and mini-games, Kuang Ping used multiple accounts to play Happy Farm for two whole days in the office.

Weeding, killing insects, watering, and stealing vegetables—this style, which is close to life but difficult to experience in daily life, coupled with social attributes, is truly addictive.

Kuang Pingnong's accounts were self-planted and self-stolen; he couldn't even imagine what it would be like if these accounts were on his real friends.

In addition, the shop also sells decorative items that players can buy to decorate their farms. These decorative items are time-limited, and some are currently free while others are paid.

Aside from decorative items, there's nothing else, but it's clear that Happy Farm's game mode is quite mature, with paid items already designed.

After playing for two days and calculating the crop maturity time, Kuang Ping's main account land area has increased from the initial six plots to the current eight plots, and his level has been raised to level 7.

Of course, he couldn't have leveled up so quickly with just his own account. The main reason was that he stole crops from other accounts and then sold them for game coins.

"We can't wait any longer; we must contact the actual controller of Orange Technology as soon as possible."

Based on his intuition, Kuang Ping believed that Happy Farm was bound to be a hit, as it completely exploited the weaknesses of human nature. All you had to do was remember when the crops matured and harvest them at the right time.

This is perfect for Kaixin.com, which targets white-collar workers, as it provides entertainment without taking up work time.

Regardless of what Tan Jincheng might do next, the three mini-games alone—Friends Trading, Parking Wars, and Happy Farm—can accumulate a large number of users for Kaixin.com. Furthermore, if paid items are introduced later, Kaixin.com could even directly generate profits.

On October 3rd, during the National Day holiday, there were only three days left until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But Kuang Ping couldn't wait any longer. If he didn't want to miss this investment opportunity, he had to act quickly.

"Mr. Cheng, could you get in touch with your boss for me?" Kuang Ping called Cheng Hao early in the morning.

It's really frustrating. After contacting Kuang Ping several times, I still couldn't get Tan Jincheng's contact information. The people I contacted most were Cheng Hao and Gu Qingqing.

Compared to Gu Qingqing, who was brought to the forefront by Tan Jincheng, Kuang Ping preferred to spend more time with Cheng Hao.

On the one hand, Cheng Hao understands the internet; on the other hand, it's also about building a good relationship with Cheng Hao, in case the investment fails, to see if we can poach Cheng Hao to start our own business and replicate Kaixin001.

Cheng Hao was still asleep when he received the call, half asleep.

The whole company, including him, has been quite excited these past two days. In just two days since Happy Farm was launched, the revenue from farm decorations and props has already reached 527 yuan.

The 527 yuan made the whole company extremely excited. Don't underestimate 500 yuan. In an era when topping up was inconvenient, this 500 yuan was of great significance to Happy Farm.

Strictly speaking, this 527 yuan is Orange Technology's first revenue since its establishment.

The marketing plan we gave to Zhongtai before doesn't really count; that was the boss's personal achievement and had nothing to do with the company's business.

"Mr. Kuang, isn't this a bit too early? Besides, it's the National Day holiday now, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is just a few days away."

"What holiday? You're at work too. Can you get in touch with your boss, or give me his phone number?" "I can get in touch, but our boss is in his hometown right now; oh, right, our General Manager Gu is with the boss too. They're visiting their elders in their hometown."

“It’s fine at home. It’s just Yicheng, not far. I can go there.”

Is there such a rush?

"If you're in a hurry, just tell us if you can get in touch with them. Consider it a favor, and I'll remember it."

"Okay, but we'll have to wait a bit. It's not even eight o'clock yet, and our boss might not be up yet."

"Okay, I was in a hurry. I'll go get some breakfast first."

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Hao slowly got out of bed. He was wide awake and very excited.

Happy Farm has only been online for two days, and investors are already getting restless. It seems that this round of financing is secure, and no one will question the owner's valuation anymore.

Now the investors are anxious, but Cheng Hao isn't anxious at all.

Cheng Hao got up, ate breakfast, and went to the company as usual. It wasn't until 10 a.m. that he called Tan Jincheng, who was accompanying Tao Qinian on an inspection tour of Xinba Township.

Tan Jincheng gestured apologetically and walked to the corner to answer the phone.

"He's coming to my hometown? That's a bit much, isn't it?"

Cheng Hao on the other end of the phone laughed and said, "It's not just that. Assistant Gu also received several calls this morning, all from investors. However, only Mr. Kuang from Qiming expressed his desire to meet with you, even though he knew that the boss was in his hometown."

Tan Jincheng laughed and said, "Alright, I'll send you my home address in a bit. It's time to start fundraising; if we keep burning through cash, we won't have enough money."

These investors are really interesting; they're like cats that smell fish—their sense of smell is incredibly sharp, but at the same time, they're extremely greedy.

The initial valuation of 100 million was not unacceptable to investors; on the contrary, many people did accept it. However, they immediately demanded 30% of the shares. Who could agree to that?
Some of them didn't ask for many shares, but they couldn't offer anything except money, so Tan Jincheng didn't even bother to talk to them.

Since you're so rich, we'll give you a big surprise. Happy Farm chose to launch during the National Day holiday, not only to promote the offline tourism season but also to give investors a warning shot.

The gameplay and underlying logic of the farm are not difficult to understand. The combination of social interaction and flash games has been proven through friend trading and parking space grabbing. What really attracts investors is the farm's item shop.

Although there are only some simple skins available at the moment, and they are not expensive, no investor would be foolish enough to think that new items will not be released in the future.

With this item shop, Kaixin001 found its own profit model and gained the confidence to refuse investment.

I can survive without investment.

This is why Kuang Ping and other investors were anxious; if they wanted to get on board, they had to do it as soon as possible, or the bus would leave.

"Mr. Tan, are you busy? If so, we can end this early."

Seeing that Tan Jincheng had put away his phone, Nie Yunlai walked over and asked softly.

Xinba Township has no industry whatsoever. The so-called inspection was just holding a meeting in the town and visiting a nursing home. The schools are also on holiday right now.

There is some involvement in aquaculture, but it has no connection with Tan Jincheng's business. Aside from being deliberate, Tan Jincheng has no interest in visiting and inspecting it.

Tan Jincheng didn't want to send any bad signals to his relatives. Besides the hard work involved, this job was entirely dependent on the weather. If there was heavy rainfall in the Yangtze River basin, it would wash everything away, leaving nothing behind.

"It's alright, an investor is coming over, he should arrive in the afternoon or evening."

Tan Jincheng said as he walked toward Tao Qinian.

Tao Qinian, who had been watching this closely, immediately brightened up when he heard the word "investor": "Investor?"

“It’s a venture capital firm that wants to invest in my girlfriend’s internet company,” Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

"Oh, it's Kaixin Internet Cafe. I've been hearing about it a lot lately." Tao Qinian nodded upon hearing this, but immediately lost interest.

In the minds of their generation, they only feel truly at ease when they see factories springing up and the employment and income of the people in their jurisdiction improving.

For Wangjiang, which isn't even a third-tier county, the internet is still too far away.

It's not that people don't realize the benefits of the internet, but the infrastructure is inadequate. My family uses Taobao and other online shopping services regularly, but if we want to develop an industry in a small county, the delivery aspect alone will be difficult to solve.

(End of this chapter)