Chapter 45: Steady Progress
After several roommates had signed, Fang Hong collected the documents and set them aside. He looked at everyone with a smile and said, "The 5 million funds will arrive in the account in a week. Although the financial problem is initially resolved, we must be cautious with the spending. This money was obtained by selling equity, so we need to use it wisely. We should aim to make the impact of 5 million feel like 10 million."
His roommates nodded seriously.
They understood that once the company launched, the valuation would rise, and they would have to sell less equity if they sought refinancing in the future.
Fang Hong continued, "The product is ready, and the funds will be in place soon. The next step is to scale. How much money do we still have in the company's account?"
Xu Jingren immediately replied, "About thirty-seven thousand."
Fang Hong nodded and said, "That's almost enough. We'll go live tomorrow. Jing Ren, go talk to the person in charge of the school's art festival. We can sponsor them with 10,000 to 12,000 yuan. Then, follow our previous promotional strategy. If manpower is insufficient, you can also consider recruiting. It's cheaper to hire students from the university. You can make decisions on these matters."
Xu Jingren nodded.
Hiring college students for labor was much cheaper than hiring workers directly from the market. Fang Hong, however, wasn't looking for exploitation. He intended to pay the interns a fair wage. The early-stage expansion of Quandong Weibo was focused on recruiting users from university campuses.
After a moment, Fang Hong scanned the room and continued, "Quantum Jump's development is about to enter a steady phase, and we'll need to expand the team. This place is too small. Once the funds arrive, we'll move to a bigger venue, and the studio will become a real company. If we can save money, let's save it. If not, don't worry about it."
With Fang Hong's clear directions, everyone had a better understanding of their tasks.
Finally, Fang Hong suddenly added, "By the way, when talking to others, claim that Quantum Jump was founded by the five of you. Don't mention me."
His roommates looked at him in confusion. Yuan Jie asked, "Why? Is there a specific reason?"
Fang Hong smiled and said, "It's nothing special. But once the company becomes popular, you guys will become celebrities at school. As for me, I just prefer to keep a low profile. I'd rather leave the limelight to you."
Upon hearing this, the roommates exchanged strange looks. Lou Gaoyuan couldn't help but comment, "As expected of the boss. Your way of thinking is different from ordinary people. Others are trying to get into the spotlight, but you're keeping your distance."
Fang Hong chuckled, "If you're in the spotlight, what will you have left to do?"
The roommates sighed in unison but also agreed to his suggestion. They would claim that the five of them co-founded Quantum Jump, while Fang Hong, the real mastermind, would remain behind the scenes.
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In the following days, Quandong Weibo officially launched version 1.0. While the first version was basic, it included some features like user classification and big V certification. However, many ideas were left out, as Fang Hong's strategy was to release new features gradually, not all at once.
Launching new features one by one would help keep Quantum Weibo competitive. If everything was launched at once, competitors could quickly copy it, especially larger companies with greater resources, which could potentially push Quantum Weibo out of the market.
Fang Hong's strategy was simple: wait for competitors to copy one feature, then immediately launch new content. By doing this, Quantum Weibo could maintain its competitive edge. As the user base grew, other competitors would find it harder to catch up, just like how QQ's user network made it nearly impossible for newer apps to replace it, even if they offered a better user experience.
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With the product now live, Xu Jingren and the others followed through with the plan. They sponsored a school art festival in late October, and at the same time, launched the "Chicken Leg Tactics" for promotion.
However, these promotional strategies alone weren't enough. Fang Hong was already brainstorming new ideas.
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Monday, October 20.
At around 9:50 in the morning, while watching the stock market, Fang Hong decided to intervene in Zhongxin Securities. The stock had dropped by 4.33%, so he entered at a price of 17.91 yuan. By the end of the day, the average transaction price was 17.93 yuan.
After transferring 5 million yuan of funds to Quantum Jump for financing, Fang Hong's account assets had dropped to 7 million yuan. However, in the days that followed, the value had grown to 8.93 million.
On this day, after the stock hit a new low and rebounded in the afternoon, the Shanghai stock index closed up by 2.25% at 1974.01 points, mainly driven by the large financial sector. Zhongxin Securities, a leading brokerage firm, briefly hit the daily limit but ultimately didn't hold it. The stock closed up by 9.72%, at 20.54 yuan.
Fang Hong had entered the market with a full position in the early trading hours. By the end of the day, his floating profit was 14.55%, equaling a 1.3 million yuan profit, excluding transaction costs.
After transferring 5 million yuan, his account assets had returned to the tens of millions level. Big A's market should continue to rise, and Fang Hong's strategy was to continue using his funds wisely for future investments.
However, after entering the stock market, Fang Hong didn't pay attention to it and went to class.
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4:00 PM
During class, Fang Hong wasn't paying attention but was thinking about how to expand the user base for Quandong Weibo. The initial promotion had focused mainly on university campuses, and Fang Hong calculated the cost. The total budget for each university's promotion would average around 20,000 yuan. With more than 2,600 universities in the country, the total cost would exceed 50 million yuan.
The current 5 million yuan financing for Quantum Jump was definitely insufficient, and Fang Hong planned to raise more funds by the end of the year.
At that moment, Fang Hong also thought of another effective promotion strategy—using the "beauty effect" or "Yan economy."
He decided to recruit the most popular campus beauties from various universities, create beauty campaigns for universities that lacked them, and persuade them to join Quandong Weibo. The school beauties would share their daily updates and encourage their friends to follow.
If the most popular beauties from each school registered accounts and shared their lives on Quandong Weibo, it would undoubtedly attract many followers, particularly singles.
Fang Hong remembered that at Xincheng University, where he studied, there were five popular campus beauties, collectively known as "The Five Beauties of Xincheng University." Among them was his ex-girlfriend, Lin Ruoshui.
Thinking about it, Fang Hong silently pondered how to approach them and create a successful promotion strategy for the platform.
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(Ps: Monthly tickets, recommendation votes, collections, and follows—let's go!)
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