Restart life

Chapter 167 0164 [Go check it out on Tudou.com] (Bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader, let's go eat instead)

Chen Guiliang stayed at Tao Chenggang's "Bailian Network Technology Company" for five days.

The financial and legal personnel he brought were responsible for checking the company's specific situation, mainly to see if there were any debts.

Chen Guiliang himself mingled with the game development team, asking them to modify anything he felt was wrong.

Furthermore, it was repeatedly emphasized that experience and equipment could not be sold directly.

Even if wealthy players spend a lot of money, they still have to level up by completing quests or fighting monsters. Although they level up faster, they can't create a significant gap between themselves and ordinary players.

That's how it appears "fair"!
Then there's equipment, which can either be obtained by defeating monsters or by collecting materials and crafting it yourself. Regular players have to spend time diligently gathering materials, while paying players can buy materials with real money.

We can't let paying players buy whatever they want, otherwise they'll get all the gear they need too early, which will make the big spenders lose interest.

Some materials must be obtained by completing quests or defeating monsters, or purchased from regular players. This enhances interaction between the two types of players and also generates revenue for regular players.

There are a few materials that you have to try your luck by opening boxes.

Strengthening or upgrading equipment is very resource-intensive, and paying players have to spend a lot of time and money.

Of course, more importantly, there are national wars, guilds, clans, rankings, PvP, quests, leisure systems, and so on.

Early July.

ByteDance invested 150 million yuan in Bailian Technology, acquiring a 25% stake in the company.

Tao Chenggang's shares were diluted to 45.98%, but he remains the largest shareholder and has veto power on the board of directors.

If you don't have enough funds in the early stages of game operation, you can borrow money from ByteDance. Of course, you'll have to pay interest.

Chen Guiliang did not invest more in order to protect the founder's equity and leave enough room for financing, making it easier to raise funds and go public in the future.

……

When Tao Chenggang first started making games, he followed Chen Guiliang's suggestion and kept updating posts on 17173.

"March 18, 2004. Brothers and sisters, for the sake of our dream, I'm going to make games. I've already registered Bailian Network Technology Co., Ltd. I have three entrepreneurial partners..."

"March 29, 2004. The game development team has been established, and we currently only have 15 people..."

"April 10, 2004. I sold an internet cafe. My start-up capital was almost gone, and I had to keep investing... My development team gained two more brothers..."

"June 21, 2004. I sold 'Legend of the Abyss' and two internet cafes. Making games is really expensive..."

"2004 years..."

Because of the "legendary refugee post" that was made back then, Tao Chenggang's account has always been followed by netizens.

When he first posted that he wanted to make games, some people laughed, some were skeptical, but many others supported him.

But as the "game development thread" continued to be updated, and as he sold internet cafes to raise money, the tone of the comments gradually shifted. Some people still mocked him for overestimating his abilities, but more netizens supported him, and many advised him to give up.

Finally, in the winter of 2004, Tao Chenggang began posting screenshots of the game.

Although they are all unfinished products, he has already proven to netizens that he is indeed making games.

"Brother Yijian Xilai, could you please give me your bank account number? Although my salary isn't much, I can still help you out with a few dozen yuan."

"No need, I make games for my dreams."

"OP is insane! I counted, you've already sold five internet cafes. How many are left?"

"I also own three internet cafes."

"Impressed."

"I'll definitely go and support the game once it's finished!"

"I advise you to quit as soon as possible; online games are not something you should get involved in."

"..."

After that, Tao Chenggang increased the frequency of his posts, appearing almost every one or two days.

Moreover, most of them are unrelated to games.

For example: "The power went out again today. This science park was recently completed, and there is still a lot of construction going on around it, so the power goes out every now and then for an hour or two."

For example: "A brother on the development team has left. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

More and more netizens are paying attention to "game development posts". Anyone who frequents 17173 knows that some people are working hard to make games.

Then one day, Tao Chenggang posted again: "Brothers and sisters, my internet cafe is sold out. Haha, the next plan is to sell my house..."

"Holy crap! I've been abroad for six months and I'm back, and you're still making games?"

"I was so moved I cried. Seriously."

"Brothers, I've seen a dreamer."

"I bet five cents that the poster will definitely lose everything."

"..."

A while ago, Tao Chenggang posted again: "I am very happy today that two more friends have invested, and they have invested a total of 40 yuan..."

Congratulations, OP!

"Two more suckers have fallen into the trap."

"If the game flops, will the poster jump off a building?"

"Come cheer for Yijianxi every day."

"..."

Now, Tao Chenggang has posted again: "July 3, 2005. Today I have some good news to announce: ByteDance has invested 1.5 million yuan in me. The game will be in closed beta testing in 60 days at most. I am now soliciting game names. The background of this game is... The netizen whose game name is adopted will automatically receive closed beta testing qualification for this game, and I will also give a small gift..."

"Which company is ByteDance? Are they really that desperate?"

"Upstairs, don't you know about Renren (校内网)?"

"I've heard of Renren.com. It was quite popular last month. It's about a 19-year-old billionaire."

"ByteDance is the parent company of Xiaonei.com."

"Haha, a 19-year-old company boss, a hothead who's willing to sell everything he owns to make games. They're a perfect match."

"I've looked at the game's story background. How about calling it 'King of the World'?"

"What the hell is this?!" "I suggest calling it 'The Legend of Divine Martial Arts'."

"..."

There are still plenty of jokes, but more and more people are helping to come up with game names.

This is so engaging! Even the game's name was chosen by the netizens themselves!
Once the game is officially released, I expect a lot of enthusiastic fans will come out to help promote it.

Chen Guiliang scanned the posts for a while and said to Tao Chenggang, "We can build the game's official website now. Continue posting on 17173 to drive traffic to the official website. Keep updating the game information on the website and list the alternative game names for netizens to vote on."

“That’s the same idea,” Tao Chenggang said with a smile.

Chen Guiliang continued to offer suggestions: "After the game is launched, use the website's traffic and voting data for promotion. While advertising on other websites, use this data to negotiate partnerships with internet cafes. If the data isn't good, make it look better. Also, you can contact that editor from 'Popular Software' magazine again. This kind of thing is novel, and he'll most likely be willing to report on it for free."

Tao Chenggang said, "I've kept in touch with that editor, and he often encourages me."

"That would be even better."

Chen Guiliang left Hangzhou and headed straight for Shanghai.

It wasn't to attend the writers' forum of "Mengya" magazine, but to meet Wang Wei from Tudou.com.

ByteDance's business empire needs to be built up piece by piece, and the investment required now is very small.

……

Tudou.com's domain name was registered four months earlier than YouTube's.

However, development did not begin immediately, resulting in its launch being a month later than YouTube.

Wang Wei's previous position was CEO of Bertelsmann Online China.

At the beginning of this year, he took out 100 million yuan of his savings, gathered four friends, and rented a three-bedroom apartment in Shanghai as an office.

One day in early July, Wang Wei was eating instant noodles.

They're too lazy to go downstairs, so they often eat this stuff.

Tao Pei, who is in charge of advertising, answered the landline: "Hello, this is Tudou.com... Not for advertising? ByteDance wants to advertise... Wait a minute!"

Tao Pei rushed up to Wang Wei in a few strides: "ByteDance wants to invest in us."

Wang Wei swallowed the instant noodles in his mouth, put on a pair of slippers, and slowly walked over to answer the phone: "Hello, I'm the founder of Tudou.com... Okay, I'm available anytime... My address is..."

After hanging up the phone, Wang Wei noticed that his friends were all looking at him.

Wang Wei laughed and said, "ByteDance said they want to invest, and they'll fly over to meet us in a couple of days."

"yeah!"

The crowd cheered.

They are confused right now.

All of Tudou.com's funds consisted of Wang Wei's 100 million yuan savings.

More than two months after its launch, user growth has been slow, but money has been burning through more and more, and only two or three ads have been received.

If another six months pass, Wang Wei's 100 million yuan startup capital will be almost gone.

Then IDG invested $50, acquiring a 33.33% stake in Tudou.com. This resulted in an extremely complex equity structure for Tudou.com after its Series B funding round!

There was no other way for Wang Wei to accept it at the time, otherwise Tudou.com would have had to shut down prematurely.

In this particular timeline, Chen Guiliang arrived ahead of time.

"Boss, shouldn't you take better care of your appearance?" a colleague reminded him.

Wang Wei said, "It's okay, it's all the same."

This guy is a slipper warrior; he even wore slippers when he met with IDG's investors.

Now, when I see Chen Guiliang, he is also wearing slippers.

"Hey, I'm at the entrance of the residential area."

Which door?

"The main gate."

"Wait a moment, I'll be right there."

Chen Guiliang offered cigarettes and chatted with the security guard at the community gate, and waited for more than ten minutes before he saw a young man come over.

He had a buzz cut, wore a T-shirt, shorts, and slippers, and his hands were empty, making him look like an unemployed young man going out to buy cigarettes.

The only one who didn't seem like a founder coming to discuss fundraising was him.

Chen Guiliang quite liked his work "The White Snake," but "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" was a bit of a mess.

"New Gods: Yang Jian" is even less satisfactory.

However, Wang Wei's company name is particularly good: Light Chaser Animation.

Chen Guiliang admires people who are willing to chase the light.

"Hello, Mr. Wang." Chen Guiliang waved.

Wang Wei smiled and came over to shake hands: "I'm too kind as to call myself Mr. Wang. I just made a small website. Mr. Chen, why don't you come and visit my site first?"

Chen Guiliang followed him into the residential complex, took the elevator upstairs, and arrived at the three-bedroom apartment.

I cleaned it up a bit, and at least the instant noodle smell is gone.

Wang Wei's four friends stood in the living room to greet him.

They were all young people, and they were quite excited to see Chen Guiliang. Some even regarded Chen Guiliang as an entrepreneurial idol.

"It's a bit basic, please sit on the sofa," Wang Wei said.

Chen Guiliang didn't go to the sofa, but first looked around the living room and then the bedroom, praising, "Not bad, much bigger than my office last autumn."

Wang Wei even has a private office—his bedroom.

"Let's talk about cooperation directly," Wang Wei said quickly, not wanting to waste time.

(End of this chapter)