Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 191 The upcoming Series B financing

Liu Yao sat on a bicycle parked at the entrance of the Jifeng Internet Cafe and puffed away on a cigarette. At the end, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his toes until the cigarette butt was crushed beyond recognition. Then he took out half a bottle of mineral water from his briefcase and drank it all in one gulp.

"Let's have lunch together later?" Liu Yao said to his colleague beside him.

My colleague is called Zhan Xingwei, and he has a standard square face.

Zhan Xingwei nodded: "I've been running around this area recently and I know a good restaurant that's affordable and tastes good. Whoever finishes first will wait for the other."

Liu Yao said okay and threw the mineral water bottle into the trash can next to him.

Liu Yao and Zhan Xingwei were both classmates in the first Renren Iron Army training camp.

The relationship in the training camp was pretty good at that time.

Unfortunately, after graduation, the two were assigned to different departments.

Liu Yao went to the online game department to be responsible for the promotion of DNF in Internet cafes, while Zhan Xingwei was assigned to the group purchase project.

Although they are in two departments or even two companies, their offices are just up and down the stairs.

But even so, it is not easy to meet him, after all, he is out visiting clients all day long.

After about a week on the job, Liu Yao has gradually gotten into his job role.

To be honest, it was quite tiring both in the training camp and after joining the company, but Liu Yao enjoyed doing it.

First of all, the company had just been established, and as one of the first employees, he knew very well that as long as he performed well, he would be promoted soon. This gave him a much higher starting point than later employees.

Furthermore, the company’s welfare benefits are very good, at least much higher than the company where Liu Yao worked before. This makes him attach great importance to his current job and enjoy the company’s atmosphere.

In 2007, when the number of personal computers was not very large, cooperation between major online game operators and local Internet cafes became particularly important.

In some areas where game operators have difficulty reaching, they must cooperate with some subcontractors, and the local subcontractors will be responsible for promotion within the province.

But no matter which method is used, Internet cafes are the top priority.

NetEase has previously developed a main Internet cafe plan as well as a joint operation plan.

50% of the consumption of players in the cooperating Internet cafes on the designated servers will be rebated to the Internet cafes on a weekly basis, with no upper limit!
Even the game’s cooperating Internet cafes have a bunch of game privileges – experience bonus, attribute bonus, new player gift packs, etc.

This shows how important Internet cafes are in the sales of online games.

To find out whether a game is popular or not, just go to the local Internet cafe and take a look.

From the earliest time when the entire Internet cafe was occupied by playing Legend to the time when the entire Internet cafe was occupied by playing CS and World of Warcraft.

Internet cafes are permanent, but the games are constantly changing.

When playing games in an Internet cafe, you play for the atmosphere. There is an atmosphere only when there are many people. If you see someone you know playing a game in an Internet cafe, you will take a look. If you see a group of people playing the same game, you will join in even if you don't like it very much. This can greatly attract people who have never played before to play.

At the same time, as long as the gaming relationship exists, the market share will always exist.

Why do many people like to go to Internet cafes to play games?

In addition to the atmosphere, I also like to show off.

Just imagine that when Ionia's top players go to an Internet cafe to surf the Internet, there will be a loudspeaker broadcast, and the pride and honor that comes to them will make their legs weak.

At the same time, the game lacks a driving force, and just figuring it out on your own will discourage many newcomers.

The cumbersome game system introduction will only tell new players the same things as everyone else.

But if you play with friends in an Internet cafe at this time, he will tell you what is good and what should be bought. In this way, players can become familiar with the game faster and will not feel annoyed or quit halfway.

Liu Yao found the person in charge of the Internet cafe and smiled as he looked at him warily: "Hello, boss. I am an employee of Renren. You know Renren, right?"

"Our company has developed an online game called Dungeon & Fighter, or DNF for short, and would like to cooperate with our Internet cafe."

"The first is the charter method. We plan to charter 30 machines in the Internet cafe. From 6pm to 6am every day, netizens can play DNF on the designated machines without paying any fees, so the cost will be borne by us."

"We hold competitions regularly. In each area, players compete in the area and the winners receive prizes."

"In addition, we hope to put up posters on the walls of your Internet cafe, place display stands at the entrance and in the corridors, and put the icons of related games in a prominent position on the desktop of the computer."

"In addition, your internet cafe will make a certain profit by selling game recharge cards, souvenirs and other peripheral products."

After this series of moves, the Internet cafe manager could no longer resist and surrendered.

First, they can get a signing fee from Renren.com. Secondly, the manufacturer's chartered flights will help the Internet cafe attract customers. Regularly holding competitions can further increase the Internet cafe's reputation. It will do more harm than good.

Only a fool wouldn't do it.

After the Internet cafe manager signed several agreements under Liu Yao's guidance, Liu Yao directly paid the signing fee in cash and then made an appointment for the follow-up personnel to post the posters.

In this way, Liu Yao negotiated with nearly a hundred Internet cafes in just one week.

After meeting Zhan Xingwei at noon, the two went to the fly restaurant that Zhan Xingwei mentioned and ordered three dishes and two bottles of beer.

After taking a big gulp of beer, Liu Yao asked, "How was the result this morning?"

Zhan Xingwei nodded: "It's okay, but many people don't understand this new sales model. We need to spend some time explaining it to them and eliminate their vigilance, otherwise the store owners will be worried about being cheated." Liu Yao also learned about the group buying project during the training camp and agreed with Zhan Xingwei's words.

He personally thinks that the idea of ​​group buying is very clever and will definitely be beneficial to businesses, but as it is still a new concept, merchants are more or less worried about issues such as checkout.

But the good thing is that Renren Group Buying started early and has no competitors yet. It may be slow to expand the market, but it is solid.

"It's better for you to do the promotion of online games. Once you go up and discuss the conditions, the Internet cafe owners will be eager to sign the contract, right?" Zhan Xingwei sighed after burping.

Liu Yao waved his hand: "It's not as easy as you say. Besides, I envy you. After the game promotion, our importance will be greatly reduced. It's not like you have a big enough market across the country."

"We are just slower than you in group buying. Once the national market promotion is completed, we will either transfer internally or be successfully promoted. It's almost the same."

"That's true. Why think so much? It's better to do the things in front of you. We are the first batch of iron soldiers. If we can't get promoted after working in the industry for so long, it can only mean that we are not suitable for this job."

"I used to sell cars, but after I left that industry, I had no intention of going back. Now the company pays me well, so I just need to fill up my tank."

…………

By the end of November, Renren Farm was still marching forward as a winner.

The speed at which data is expanding has left industry insiders dumbfounded.

In just one month, the daily active users of Renren Farm reached 6000 million, and the number of registered users of Renren.com exceeded million, heading towards million.

Miao Bingwei has repeatedly added servers to Renren Farm.

From the initial 500 units, to 1000 units, and now to 4000 units.

And we have to keep adding to it!
The various fees for renting and purchasing servers are a huge expense. Fortunately, in November, Renren Farm also brought Chen Pingjiang nearly 50 million in game revenue.

Although unlike online games, where you need to buy game cards with RMB to play, being free to play does not mean that Renren Farm is "spending money to gain publicity". In fact, it is the low threshold of playing the game for free that attracts thousands of players, and with these thousands of players, there are also people who are willing to spend money on the farm.

why?
"If you want to play better than others, you have to spend more money on props."

It is expected that by the end of December, this number will increase by at least 50 percent.

The "stealing of vegetables" by all the people has created a big market. The question "Have you stolen vegetables?" is becoming the most common topic among netizens and even people in real life. From seven or eight-year-old primary school students, to young white-collar workers in their twenties, to middle-aged and elderly people who have passed the age of knowing their destiny... The popularity of everyone's farm is an indisputable fact.

There is even a phenomenon of online hourly workers stealing vegetables for other people.

The most anxious people now are Chen Yizhou, Cheng Binghao and Xiao Ma Ge.

But no matter how anxious you are, it will not help.

Game development takes time, even if it is plagiarism.

The rise and explosion of Renren made Chen Pingjiang a hot commodity in the eyes of investors.

In addition, Renren, a major taxpayer in the district, somehow got the news that it was going to build its headquarters in Wujiang District.

It was this news that alarmed Wangjiang District.

At one time, many officials came to test Chen Pingjiang's attitude and expressed their hope to keep Renren in Wangjiang District.

Chen Pingjiang is almost a demon.

The ball was pushed over to Wujiang District. For a while, it was heard that the bosses of the two districts would have gloomy faces and would not say hello when they met each other when they went to the city for meetings.

Under such circumstances, Yan Liming unexpectedly became a popular person.

After the data center was built, Wujiang District started to think about what Chen Pingjiang had said before, which was to build a headquarters building and then relocate.

Many people tried to persuade Yan Liming, hoping that he could use his identity as the future "father-in-law" to persuade Chen Pingjiang.

This made Yan Liming feel a little helpless.

It turns out that even though the cabbages in your own garden have been taken away, you still have to "beg" others for the cabbage.

But this is a political task and we have to do it whether we want to or not.

The future father-in-law and son-in-law drank several glasses of wine in succession.

Renren announced that it will build two buildings with more than 20 floors in Wujiang District as its global headquarters.

After all, as Renren grew larger and its business became more diversified, the number of employees also increased exponentially.

The current office location is becoming increasingly crowded, which is no longer in line with Renren’s identity and cannot cater to the dining needs of so many employees.

Building an office building is very reasonable.

For a time, various VC/PEs swarmed into Dongjiang like sharks smelling blood.

Why! ?
Even a fool knows that building two buildings will cost a lot of money.

Renren is bound to start its second round of financing.

(End of this chapter)