"By the way, we don't have enough company's funds to disrupt the industry with our product in the first place, so I suggest launching the product for free for a period of time before choosing to charge for it after our product has made a name for itself," Zhang Han suggested. After all, they lacked capital for promotion. Allowing users to use their product for free was the company's current best means of promotion, despite everyone present being confident in the prospects of Real-time Online Translator.
Everyone nodded in agreement upon hearing his suggestion.
"This is indeed a good suggestion." Ren Hong also nodded and paused for a moment, but eventually said, "But there's no need to."
"Uh…" Zhang Han was stunned. He originally thought that Ren Hong was going to take his advice.
Shortly after, Ren Hong said confidently, "I'll handle the issues regarding the promotion of the product, so you guys don't have to worry about it. You guys just need to complete the tasks I've set."
For the next few days, everyone was full of energy. Zhang Han and the others immediately went to work after class everyday. The domain name of 'XlouS' was registered, and the official website was quickly being built with Ren Hong's one objective in mind: an atmosphere that embraced the future and technology. XlouS was a high-tech company, so it went without saying that its website was bound to carry the company's unique DNA.
Ren Hong returned to his room. After he suspended his studies, he rented a separate room off campus. The rent was atrocious, but still within his acceptable range. He believed that in a little while, everything would be better.
As soon as he got home, he turned on his computer and skilfully logged into his email address. He sent an email with three versions of Real-time Online Translator for PC, Android, and iOS to the United States, and the recipient was apparently the headquarters of Facebook. After successfully sending out two emails, Ren Hong sat still in front of his computer, not saying a word as a smile gradually appeared across his face.
He could imagine the faces of Dorsey and Zuckerberg, the current CEOs of Twitter and Facebook, when they saw the content of the emails, as well as Dorsey's ecstasy after the state of surprise. His divine software contained the potential to screw over Facebook; just how fascinating and maddening it would be to be able to mess with the current number one social networking platform in the world?
And what about Mark Zuckerberg? Shock? Surprise? Fear?
Shocked by the powerful technology of the Real-time Online Translator? Surprised that this software was born to be on social networking platforms? Fear that if his rivals got their hands on this technology, it would be a terrible threat to Facebook? Internet companies maintained a strong sense of crisis every moment, because no one knew what would happen next. It only required an instant for the birth of the new to destroy the old, which was particularly prominent in the internet sector.
Instagram, which was once Facebook's most powerful competitor, eventually got acquired by Zuckerberg. This was a classic example of why everyone in the internet space was always in crisis.
The next day, Ren Hong came to school again.
In room 317, all six people were present. Currently, there were only six members in XlouS, but it was enough.
"The basic construction of the company's official website is completed! It's ready to launch, and the official forum will be ready today," Zhou Hui reported.
Ren Hong listened, scrolling through the company's official website. The main tone of the site was space blue. The logo of XlouS was designed in a gray, metallic, and glossy texture that stood out strongly to the background. To the right, there were three eye-catching words that complemented the logo perfectly: "Change the World."
The four Chinese characters in the line 'XlouS: Change the World' didn't come with an English translation because there was no need for it. When people used the Real-time Online Translator, it would automatically translate into whatever text one wanted.
Ren Hong browsed through the UI of the website and nodded slightly. This was the result he wanted—full of futuristic and technological charm.
"That's basically it." Ren Hong shifted his gaze from the screen and to the crowd as he announced, "Starting today, I announce the launch of the company's first product!"
The moment he finished his sentence, Zhang Han and the rest burst into a loud applause. Although this applause wasn't deafening, it was full of confidence and passion. Ren Hong held down the excitement in his heart, continuing. "This is our company's first product. This great product should have a grand launch, but I guarantee that our second product will be officially launched in a grand hall, in the face of the world!"
As soon as those words came out, the applause resounded again. Ren Hong closed his eyes. The excitement in his heart made him incredibly elated, and he was convinced that the next time he stood on the stage, it would be an earth-shattering scene before him.
From today onward, the company's website was officially released, along with the download section for Real-time Online Translator for the three versions—PC, Android and iOS.
Ren Hong injected all of his existing funds into the company and left a little to spend on promotion. Although it seemed like a drop in the bucket, this was the limit of what they could do at that moment. At the same time, the six of them made full use of their own social circles to promote the product.
For the official launch of Real-time Online Translator, the first thing to do was to promote on campus, the campus' forums, etc. The six of them worked tirelessly, using their limited network to make the best use of everything.
Meanwhile, across the ocean in the headquarters of Facebook in Menlo Park, California…
Mark Zuckerberg sat still by his desk. As rumored, he always wore a gray T-shirt. The world's super-rich 32-year-old stared at his computer screen. A few moments ago, his assistant sent an urgent report.
He installed a PC version of the software sent to his email. He was stumped when he read the report earlier. How could such an application possibly exist in this world? He stared at the computer screen without saying a word, surfing the web using Real-time Online Translator, logging onto social networking platforms under his own wing like Facebook and Instagram, and video sites like YouTube, etc..
For a long time, the silent Zuckerberg stopped working on the computer. He crossed his ten fingers, rested his forehead on them, and closed his eyes, before focusing his attention to the report.
"China. Tsinghua University. Cyrus Ren." Zuckerberg whispered to himself. All of a sudden, he sprang up from his seat and called his assistant. "Put off all travel and get me a flight to Beijing, China, immediately. I need it right now!"
It was apparent that after witnessing Real-time Online Translator, Zuckerberg reacted as Ren Hong expected. But one main difference was that the pressure on Zuckerberg's shoulders was the heaviest as he realized an incredibly strong sense of crisis. The bigger the corporation, the stronger the sense of crisis there was.
Zuckerberg knew very well that Real-time Online Translator was designed for social networking platforms and could efficiently enhance the user experience of those platforms under his wings. But for his competitors, it was a divine tool to lever the dominance of any social networking platforms. Previously, he didn't care too much about any of his competitors, be it Twitter or Google+, because Facebook had already established a dominant position in the social networking world.
But everything changed with the advent of this Real-time Online Translator that brought social networking closer together and allowed interaction and sharing to flow more freely. Zuckerberg foresaw that it would be truly disastrous for Facebook once a competitor got an exclusive license for the application in the social networking space. He had to pay attention to the fact that this was an application that was powerful enough to leverage the bigwig's dominance and send one's social networking platform to also join the ranks as one of the bigwigs.