Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

On the whiteboard in the conference room, a steep parabola was drawn with a black marker, making a squeaking sound.

"Metcalfe's Law." Bai Yuhang casually capped his pen, turned to look at the two investors, and said, "The value of a network is equal to the square of the number of nodes in that network. Portal websites like Sina and Sohu are like 'plazas,' with people coming and going, but nobody knows anyone else; that's arithmetical growth. Qihang is building a 'living room,' an exponential growth of real users' familiar relationships."

Zhang Lei, who had been leaning back in his chair, slowly sat up straight, his gaze behind his black-rimmed glasses shifting from scrutiny to seriousness. In this millennium, when discussions were still focused on "attention economy" and "total click-through rate," few people in Silicon Valley across the ocean could explain the social graph logic of Web 2.0 so clearly, yet this freshman in front of him spoke of it with ease.

"The concept is good." Sun Yanjun, who hadn't spoken until now, tapped his finger on the table. His approach was quite sharp. "But Bai, sentimentality can't put food on the table. You've brought in hundreds of thousands of college students, but besides letting them find their first love and post photos, how are you going to monetize it? With that meager sponsorship fee from internet cafes? If it's just about creating a lively BBS, we don't need to make a special trip."

Bai Yuhang smiled. He didn't rush to refute, but instead turned around and operated the computer in the conference room, bringing up a set of anonymized data from the backend.

"Mr. Sun, look at this log." Bai Yuhang pointed to the lines of characters jumping on the screen. "Wang Jing, a sophomore majoring in Software Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, ID 'Invincible Gun God,' spent seven hours on the school's intranet over the past three days. Four hours were spent browsing the 'CS Team' competition section, two hours were looking at a girl's homepage from the 'Class of '98' at Harbin No. 3 High School, and one hour was searching for 'Where to buy cheap graphics cards in Harbin' on the Qihang Navigation website. While online, he was listening to music on the Qihang Music website. This is his playlist record."

Sun Yanjun was stunned for a moment.

"This isn't just simple traffic; this is precise profiling." Bai Yuhang leaned forward, his hands on the table, exuding an air of authority. "I know who he is, what games he likes to play, what music he likes to listen to, who he has a crush on, and even that he needs a graphics card. If I offer him a flower service on Valentine's Day and a graphics card group buy when school starts, do you think he'll see it as a lost cause or a lifeline?"

The meeting room was quiet for a few seconds, with only the faint hum of the computer cases audible.

"When you know what users lack, selling goods isn't about pushing sales, it's about providing a service. Conversely, the best business is knowing what users need and then finding products to match them," Bai Yuhang added. "Qihang doesn't just have a cold, impersonal data platform; it has the trust chain of China's most powerful consumer group for the next ten or twenty years."

The light in Zhang Lei's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he keenly grasped the key point: "So you didn't just organize that 'Blue Speed ​​Cup' for the sake of creating excitement?"

"Yes and no." Bai Yuhang wrote three letters on the whiteboard: O2O. "Offline to Online. Offline internet cafes are the capillaries, and online websites are the heart. By driving people from internet cafes to register online through e-sports competitions, and then by bringing people back to offline consumption through online social interaction, once this closed loop is established, all the universities and internet cafes in China will be the starting point for this journey."

Zhang Lei's Parker pen drew a heavy line across the notebook, the ink seeping through the paper. O2O—the term sounded like science fiction in 2000, but its logical loop was terrifyingly tight.

"What a brilliant O2O strategy." Zhang Lei no longer treated Bai Yuhang like a student, switching to Wall Street mode. "Now that the logic makes sense, let's do the math. What's the current Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)? How do you estimate the Lifetime Value (LTV) per customer? Also, telecom bandwidth costs are currently several thousand yuan per megabyte per month. So, how many months can your cash flow sustain the corresponding server resources?"

A barrage of questions came at me like a machine gun.

Bai Yuhang answered fluently: "Currently, the number of CAC accounts launched is almost zero. It relies on viral growth and spontaneous promotion by internet cafes. As for bandwidth, I have inside information. China Telecom is laying out its backbone network in the north, and bandwidth fees will be halved within three months. This is the last darkness before dawn; burning money is to secure a spot."

The data was accurate, even predicting the pricing trends for the next three months. Sun Yanjun and Zhang Lei exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes—this kid not only understood the technology, but also the industry, even understanding the unwritten rules of this cutthroat world better than they did.

The atmosphere had reached its peak. Zhang Lei closed his laptop, relaxed, and extended an olive branch: "A valuation of 20 million, with China Venture Capital Network investing 4 million for a 20% stake. Bai Yuhang, this price is higher than what IDG offered before. In Zhongguancun right now, this amount is enough to make you a startup star."

Four million yuan in cash. In an era when housing prices in Harbin were only a little over a thousand yuan per square meter, this was indeed a huge sum of money.

Bai Yuhang simply picked up the paper cup, took a sip of the now-cold tea, and shook his head with a smile.

"Mr. Zhang, this price is fair, but it's not suitable for Qihang right now."

"Not enough?" Sun Yanjun frowned.

"It's not that we think it's too little, it's just too early." Bai Yuhang put down his paper cup, his eyes clear. "The launch right now is like a rocket that has just been ignited, not even in orbit yet. Setting a price now would be a fire sale for me, and a gamble for the two of you. Let's wait and see."

"When do you want to wait?"

"The day the Blue Speed ​​Cup finals end and we surpass one million users," Bai Yuhang said confidently, "that's when we'll sit down and talk again. That's what business is all about."

He rejected four million, solely to gamble on a greater future. A delicate stalemate fell over the meeting room. Zhang Lei stared at Bai Yuhang for a long time, then suddenly burst into laughter, his admiration no longer concealed.

"You've got guts." Zhang Lei put away his pen, smiled at Bai Yuhang, and said, "I'll stay with you and wait for this bullet to fly for a while."

Just then, the school bell rang in the corridor, and the noisy voices instantly broke the frozen atmosphere in the meeting room.

Bai Yuhang glanced at the clock on the wall, then broke the silence, standing up with a smile: "President Zhang, President Sun, data may be cold, but the hearts of the people of Harbin are warm. We've been chatting here for half an afternoon, and our stomachs are protesting. Since we're in Harbin, don't just stare at the code. I'll take you two to try authentic 'Lao Chu Jia' Guo Bao Rou (sweet and sour pork). Trust me, it's absolutely the soul of Harbin's Guo Bao Rou."

"I've heard that Harbin's sweet and sour pork is a specialty, so I'll have to try it today." Zhang Lei stood up happily, not annoyed by the rejection, but rather showing great interest.

The three walked out of the main building of the department, and the cold evening wind, mixed with the smell of coal smoke, hit them. Zhang Lei tightened his trench coat and looked at the college students carrying books, hurrying back and forth on campus, full of youthful vigor, and sighed, "This is the foundation of the Internet, much more real than the PowerPoint presentations in office buildings."

Bai Yuhang walked slightly behind Zhang Lei, watching his retreating figure, a subtle smile playing on his lips. The first battle had been won.