Chapter 361 - Taitan Joins
Translator: lav
Editor: llikia
Shi Lei explained slowly, "My situation is special. This company encountered a problem before and I said the same words when the owner came to me. The company is his and he's the operator and decision-maker. I'm merely an angel investor and I can't bear it if he asks me for help whenever he encounters a problem. I met this person by accident and I invested because I thought the project was quite good. It's only worth about three million at the time. Not much, but I was informed yesterday that the problem he encountered was because of me and he had nothing to do with it. First, I'm the one to blame and I should do something to help. Second, since the opposing company is targeting me, I need to make them back off for him…"
Shi Lei then informed them about the details of Zhen Xu's company and told them about the problem between him and Yu Deping.
"That Yu Deping probably misunderstood," Shi Lei concluded. "He thought that the company is mine and that Zhen Xu is my puppet in order to hide my assets. I don't really mind it personally. Even though it's a 300,000 yuan investment, I've only given them 100,000. Even if Yu Deping buys it, he can't for any price lower than five to six million, no matter how much he tries to lower it. In less than a month, I invested 100,000 yuan and received 300,000 to 400,000 in return. The rate is not bad. However, Zhen Xu would be in trouble. He worked so hard for the business and will lose it all. Although he earned money, that few million can only afford a house in Wudong. So I want to help him overcome this and I don't care whether he can grow up quickly or not."
The three of them then realized that there were so many problems below the surface.
Jiang Yuanchao spoke first. "That's a bit hard to manage. Now that the occupation rate in the market of the two products s about the same, even if we know that the opposing company isn't ready for the later stage, how many days has it been? They are dedicated to using money to bring it down and it's hard to change the situation in two or three months. No matter how good the manager is, they can't work with nothing. Without money in their account, they can only promote it according to their initial plan. They give the opposition enough time to finalize and perfect their product. It will be a completely normal competition by then."
Hu Xiaohua also nodded. "That's hard. Honestly, the best way to handle it is to ignore it and develop his product step by step, trying his best to maintain the occupation rate in the market with the opposing company. This way, all the important cities will be covered in a few months and they can then demonstrate their skills. It doesn't really help much whether he has a good manager or not at the moment."
Shi Lei sighed secretly. Hu Xiaohua and Jiang Yuanchao definitely knew more about this than he did. Shi Lei couldn't help but scorn at himself. He told Zhang Meimei that he would solve this before the New Year, but he had been too short-sighted. Capitalism was much more complicated than what he had interpreted it to be.
The room fell silent.
Jiang Yuanchao knew that Shi Lei was really worried, but he didn't have a good way to help him. He thought that if he could, the small barrier between them from before would completely vanish. What a shame.
Jiang Yuanchao sighed as he picked up his glass. Just as he was about to speak, the previously silent Shi Qiang spoke first.
"This isn't that complicated. I have an idea."
Shi Lei raised his head abruptly and looked at him.
He found it strange. Didn't Shi Qiang seem like he didn't want to interact with him? Perhaps he disliked him because he couldn't bear to see Hu Xiaohua and Jiang Yuanchao trying to draw him to their side. This had nothing to do with him, so why did he suddenly think of helping him?
However, Jiang Yuanchao was delighted. "Taitan, tell us."
Taitan? What the hell is Taitan?
Jiang Yuanchao laughed when he saw the confusion on Shi Lei's face. "This guy has been strong and buff ever since we were young. Although he's half a year younger than me, he was bigger than me when he was six months old and I was one. His body size continued to be bigger than all of our siblings, so we joked that he wasn't human, but the last giant. He used Taitan(1) as his name online and we are used to calling him this."
Shi Qiang waved his hand. "Don't worry about the details. I'll talk about my idea now."
Shi Lei nodded and smiled. "Thank you very much."
"There's a common feature for all internet industries. Almost all the industries can be summarized in two words: burn money. The biggest weakness of the company Shi Lei talked about is having no money to burn. The opposing company knows the essence of the new business and they are hitting you with money. They will either make you forfeit and take your market and product within the shortest period of time or they will burn money until the development on your side has completely stopped and all the investments disappear. There are countless new companies been registered in the world and there are countless companies that become bankrupt. The ones that survive have the strongest financial power. No matter how good the project is, there is no future for it without money supporting it. So if the opposing company's product isn't perfect and they aren't familiar with the company's layout, then the only way to make them give up is to compete for who has more money to burn."
Jiang Yuanchao panicked before Shi Lei could speak. "Isn't that obvious? If they had enough money to burn, why would they be so scared?"
Shi Qiang glanced at him and smiled. "Don't panic. Let me finish talking first."
Hu Xiaohua nodded. "Mhm, Yuanchao, don't panic. Let Taitan continue. You two grew up together. Don't you know that Taitan tends to beat around the bush?"
"There is capital funding if they don't have money. There are no funds they can't borrow and there is infinite money they can burn. How much more can the opposing company continue to burn? Three million? Five million? If both companies are put in front of investors, no one is stupid. It's obvious which company plagiarized. First, they put effort into preparing this, and second, they plan to quickly destroy them in Wudong. The investors know which company holds higher value in the long term. It's obvious that your opposing company doesn't possess capital funding ability and are just bullying you because they have more start-up funds. The initial plan is to go into Round A in three months or even half a year, but time doesn't wait for us. It doesn't matter if the evaluated value is low. Get capital funding and smash the opposing company with money first. Aren't they going to purchase your company? Tell them that you want to purchase their company and to give you a price. No matter what, scare them first, then handle capital funding."
Hu Xiaohua shook his head. "It isn't impossible, but it's difficult to get capital funding."
Shi Qiang scoffed at Hu Xiaohua. "Isn't your family preparing to change and focus mainly on investments? Isn't this a good project?"
Hu Xiaohua blanked for a second. "Do you also see potential in this business?"
"Without me, this 'Zhen Xu' Shi Lei mentioned can go home and plant rice within a year even with capital funding. But with me, I will make the company's value exceed two billion and increase that by ten times in reality within a year."
Everyone froze at his words. Based on what he said, he planned to join the company?
Jiang Yuanchao was hesitant. "Taitan, didn't you say that you want to take a break after coming back? It's barely been a few days and you…"