Since they are reborn, they must be supported by the school beauties.

Chapter 220 The plan cannot keep up with the changes

When Li Dong contacted Chen Cheng, he had just finished discussing all the details with Ding Yuan's team.

As soon as the call connected, Li Dong smiled and said to Chen Cheng, "Congratulations, Mr. Chen! QQ Alumni Directory crashed as soon as it was launched. No one will be able to compete with Renren.com in the future."

Chen Cheng asked curiously, "How did Manager Li determine so quickly that the company had collapsed?"

Li Dong said seriously, "The information left by the users is all fake. Half of the ten people are graduates of Tsinghua and Peking University. Tsinghua alumni have suddenly increased by millions. With this kind of community atmosphere, it's impossible for the alumni directory to turn the tables."

Chen Cheng wasn't surprised that Li Dong and his boss's team had always invested in internet projects.

However, anyone can say such things, but he can't. It's not that he needs to be humble; it's just that Murphy's Law is sometimes surprisingly accurate. The more confidently you proclaim something, the more likely you are to be proven wrong. For example: "I've never lost my phone," "I'm fine, I definitely won't catch a cold," or "He definitely didn't score as high as me."

So he humbly said, "QQ has great potential, but the alumni directory was launched too hastily. If we hadn't rushed to launch it, and had properly sorted out the product logic internally and polished it carefully, it would definitely have posed a great threat to Renren.com."

Li Dong laughed and said, "Let's not be so polite between us, Mr. Chen. I called to tell you that our boss wants to get in touch with you to see if we can finalize some financing."

Chen Cheng said, "We don't plan to push for financing yet. To be honest, Xiaonei.com has already found a way to monetize, and I think we can support ourselves without much problem at the moment."

Li Dong couldn't help but advise, "President Chen, to be honest, sometimes you have to buy time with money. Xiaonei.com's revenue is definitely good now, and it can certainly meet Xiaonei.com's current funding needs. But have you thought about what direction Xiaonei.com should take next? If you want to occupy the entire domestic market in the shortest time, without the help of capital, it will probably take a long time."

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "Manager Li is right, but to be honest, Renren.com is currently facing a major bottleneck. My target user base is still somewhat narrow. Before finding a way to break through this bottleneck, blindly expanding is not very meaningful."

China has a large number of internet users, currently exceeding 100 million. However, the number of internet users who are currently attending or have attended university may only account for 15% or even less.

QQ is a large social network that can reach all Chinese netizens.

However, since Renren.com originated on university campuses, its target users were likely only 15% of QQ's users before it found a breakthrough.

The number of users on Renren.com has now exceeded six million, and it is still growing by hundreds of thousands every day. It is not far from the upper limit of 15 million users, and it may cover all 15% by the end of the year.

Once this 15% coverage is achieved, Renren.com will lose its competitive advantage for future development. The biggest problem then will be how to attract netizens who have not attended university to Renren.com.

However, the name "Xiaonei.com" itself has a very clear target audience. For people who have no connection with university campuses, this name will not only not interest them, but will also give them a natural sense of rejection.

The Renren website experienced a similar awkward situation in its previous life.

However, Chen Cheng still chose this name for the sake of rapid development in the first phase. If it weren't for this name, Xiaonei.com wouldn't have developed so quickly.

But that's life. If you find a way to cheat in the first half of your life, you'll likely have to pay a higher price than others in the second half.

The next step is to figure out how to make Renren.com's transformation smooth, rather than as abrupt and unsuccessful as its transformation into Renren.com in the previous stage.

This isn't a problem that can be solved with money; it's a problem that requires using your brain.

Therefore, whether or not to raise funds is not very meaningful now.

If we find a solution to the problem and can jump from 15% of the audience to 100% in one go, that's when we really need to raise funds and push forward desperately.

It was at this moment that Chen Cheng realized what it meant for plans to fall short of changes.

When I was building Renren.com, I thought I shouldn't be greedy. If I could make Renren.com reach the peak it once did in my past life, I would be able to achieve financial freedom.

However, after getting started, I discovered that the development speed of Renren.com far exceeded my expectations and even the pace of Renren.com in my previous life.

The overly clear situation made him change his initial ideas. He felt it was time to think about how to make Renren.com bigger and stronger.

But Li Dong didn't quite understand his thoughts.

He spoke frankly to Chen Cheng: "Mr. Chen, let me be frank with you. The pace of Renren's launch has been perfect, but you can't think too far ahead right now."

"You should position Xiaonei.com as a website that serves college students and graduates. We'll give you some funding, and together we'll figure out how to make it bigger and stronger. We'll also help you raise more funds later."

"You may not have the opportunity to cash out in the first and second rounds, but you can talk to the investors about cashing out in the third round."

"If they value you at 3 billion, and you use 10% to raise a third round, you can ask them to cash out at least 100 million of that 300 million into your own pocket. Then you can take 100 million away in one go!"

“If Renren.com can be listed in Hong Kong or the United States and its valuation reaches several billion US dollars, you will never have to worry about anything for the rest of your life.” Chen Cheng understood that Li Dong was not fooling him; he was analyzing the problem from the perspective of most entrepreneurs.

Financing is for the purpose of quickly expanding the scale. When more and more money is raised and the scale grows larger, you can communicate with investors to cash out a batch of shares. After the company goes public, you can gradually reduce your holdings and cash out. As long as the company is well managed, you will definitely be worry-free for life.

But in his previous life, he was in business, a business that ensured he would never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of his life.

He not only had enough cash to last a lifetime, but also a company with stable cash flow and a stable profit margin that continued to generate revenue. So he settled down at that stage. As long as the company's business could maintain its current status, he didn't have much motivation to move forward. He lost the fighting spirit to expand his territory and spent his days indulging in spending money and enjoying himself.

He never wanted to live like this again in his life.

Those kinds of days become incredibly boring after a while; it feels like you're just wasting your life.

Having been reborn, I am still young, and Renren.com is developing so smoothly. I shouldn't give up too early. I should at least work hard for another ten or eight years and see what state I can reach.

The internet is unlike any other business. It's difficult for the economy of physical industries to create magic, but the internet is the real magic economy.

Whether it's Tesla, the leader in the automotive industry, or Nvidia, the leader in the chip industry, their profits come from the cars that roll off the assembly line and the chips that are packaged one by one, which they exchange for in the end market. You can see the goods going from here to there, and you can also see the money coming back from there.

Such an industry can never incubate a behemoth in a very short period of time, because its entire industrial scale is built brick by brick, little by little.

It takes at least 8 to 10 years for a period of exploration, a period of robust development, and then a period of explosive growth before it can truly take off.

The internet industry is like a magician. If it has enough power, it can cast spells on people all over the world, taking money out of everyone's pockets in the void, and the money will converge into your account at the speed of radio wave transmission, that is, the speed of light.

Facebook became the largest photo-sharing website in the United States in just two years, and Pinduoduo went from its founding to its IPO in just two years and ten months. Such rapid development can only happen in the internet industry.

Since that's the case, let's take some time to reflect and plan for a brighter future for Renren.com.

Having made up his mind, Chen Cheng told him, "Manager Li, my previous promise will remain valid. As long as I am preparing for financing, and as long as you are still working at IDG, the first investment institution I will negotiate with will definitely be IDG."

Upon hearing this, Li Dong knew that Chen Cheng had made up his mind to temporarily refrain from seeking financing.

However, receiving Chen Cheng's promise again brought him considerable comfort.

So he sighed and said, "Alright, Mr. Chen, since you've made up your mind, I won't waste any more words. I look forward to our cooperation in the future!"

"no problem!"

Chen Cheng readily agreed and then hung up the phone.

Just as Chen Cheng was about to return to school, he suddenly received a call from Liu Shiyu. On the phone, Liu Shiyu told him, "My resignation date is confirmed, next Friday. I need to hurry up and finish recording all the songs before I leave. Do you have time today? The instrumental tracks for 'Lonely Patient' and 'Long Time No See' are also ready. If you're free, how about we go to the music academy to record the songs?"

"Okay."

Chen Cheng said, "I don't have anything else to do, I'll go over now. Has Teacher Liu arrived yet?"

Liu Shiyu said, "I've been waiting for your message. If you can come, I'll head out now. They said a graduate went back to school to record a song. They're using the recording studio this afternoon, but it should be finished soon."

Chen Cheng then said, "Alright, see you at the music academy then!"

Afterwards, Chen Cheng hailed a taxi and headed to Jiangcheng Conservatory of Music.

He waited for Liu Shiyu at the school gate for a while. After they met, they went straight to the music academy's recording studio.

When we arrived, the recording studio was still in use. Outside, a young man in his twenties was hunched over the recording console, fiddling with something. Behind the soundproof glass window, another chubby young man was talking into the microphone, saying, "I'm almost done. One more take and we're done!"

Chen Cheng hadn't taken it seriously at first, nor had he paid much attention to the person inside, but when the music started, his eyes widened instantly.

He then looked toward the soundproof glass window and immediately recognized the other person.

At that moment, the other person closed their eyes and sang into the microphone: "I hear your voice, and it gives me a special feeling that makes me keep thinking about you and dare not forget you..."

(End of this chapter)