55: Chapter 55: A Million Users in Fifteen Days! A Three-in-One Money Printing Machine

In mid-May, the weather in Shanghai was gradually tinged with the sultry heat of early summer.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the sound of a door being pushed open.

The door to the President's office at Jiyuan Technology headquarters was thrust open.

General Manager Chen Shengqiang, who was usually calm and experienced, had his tie slightly crooked at this moment.

He clutched a freshly printed data report in his hand and trotted into Shen Du's office.

Before he could even catch his breath.

General Manager Chen Shengqiang's excited voice rang out in the office:

"President Shen! A great victory! We've won!"

Shen Du, sitting in the boss's chair, lifted his head slightly and put down the fountain pen in his hand.

He looked at this internet veteran with a calm gaze.

General Manager Chen Shengqiang walked to the desk, slapped the good news report onto the tabletop, and raised his voice an octave:

"The latest data just captured from the backend!"

"It has only been fifteen days since the launch at midnight on May 1st.

The total number of registered users for Spark has already broken the ten million mark!"

A user volume of ten million.

In 2011, a time when mobile internet was just budding, this was by no means a simple number.

It was an entry ticket to the top table of the internet.

"Not only that, our user stickiness is even higher."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang pointed at the line chart on the report, his eyes shining:

"This is absolutely not the kind of dead traffic that uninstalls right after registering."

"Within this pool of ten million users.

Every day, five to six million people have an average stay on the platform of over thirty minutes!"

He took a deep breath and threw out the most blockbuster data:

"President Shen, our financial situation has reversed.

From the original blood-losing state of burning money, it has now completely turned into profitability!"

"Although the initial R&D and marketing costs haven't been fully recouped yet.

We haven't touched a single cent of the 200 million in capital you injected into the account."

"And just now, the platform already has a net cash surplus of 50 million!"

General Manager Chen Shengqiang pressed his hands on the edge of the desk, staring at Shen Du, enunciating every word:

"President Shen, if we continue to develop with the current money-making momentum...

By the end of this month, our monthly revenue will definitely break the 100 million RMB mark!"

Fifteen days, capturing ten million users, earning 50 million in net cash.

For any startup, this could be called a miracle.

After listening to General Manager Chen Shengqiang's report.

A ripple that was difficult to detect flashed across Shen Du's face.

When he originally spent 90 million to start this project.

He had simulated in his mind that once this traffic engine was running at full power, it would turn losses into profits in a short time.

But he truly hadn't expected that the hunger of the market would exceed his estimates.

Less than half a month after launch.

It had actually already cast aside the high bandwidth and marketing costs and entered the net profit stage.

But this earth-shattering explosion was actually the inevitable result of Spark adapting to the times.

What was the internet landscape like now?

It was 2011.

Strong entities like the Penguin Empire's QQ, or the popular Baidu Tieba and Sina Weibo.

At this time, they were all still stuck in the era of text and images.

The daily entertainment of netizens was still limited to text and pictures.

And at this very moment, Shen Du slammed Spark right into their faces.

Swipe up with your thumb, and you can watch a dozen seconds of Short Video;

Swipe left, and you can engage in social chatting;

Click on the homepage, and you can enter a beautiful livestreaming room.

This 'Short Video plus social plus livestream' trinity model.

To the netizens of 2011 who were still in the agricultural era of the internet, it was simply like flying a bomber to strafe a primitive tribe.

The lethality was self-evident.

However, just when the company's executives were reveling in this financial report.

The ripple in Shen Du's eyes faded, and he returned to calmness.

He didn't smile, and the muscles at the corners of his eyes didn't relax even a bit.

He wasn't complacent about the extra 50 million on the books.

Because as a reborn person, he knew better than anyone.

The ten million level of traffic that looked so prosperous now was nothing but a castle in the air built on sand.

The first wave of dividends stolen while the Penguin Empire was napping could be copied and crushed by larger capital giants at any time.

The real foundation had only just been laid.

The core step had only just begun.

Looking at General Manager Chen Shengqiang's flushed face due to excitement, Shen Du didn't go along with his emotions to celebrate.

On the contrary, after a brief silence, he poured a bucket of cold water.

"Old Chen, don't be happy too soon."

Shen Du's voice wasn't loud, but it carried authority, cooling down the feverish air in the office.

He casually pulled a blank A4 sheet from the desk, picked up a fountain pen, and beckoned to General Manager Chen Shengqiang:

"Our traffic currently looks like a raging fire, but our moat is too weak."

"Once the Penguin Empire reacts and uses a bit of their foundation to smash us, our current plate could easily be broken through."

"We must immediately strengthen our ecosystem!"

General Manager Chen Shengqiang felt a chill in his heart, the fanaticism on his face receded, and he strode to the desk.

"Wait for me."

Shen Du said as he uncapped the pen, the tip moving rapidly on the A4 paper.

He directly finalized a three-step strategy aimed at building an absolute barrier:

"First, heavy capital injection, content ecosystem protection."

"Currently, a large part of our traffic is supported by the guilds under Red Phoenix, but this is not enough."

"I want you to immediately carve out 100 million in cash from the books as exclusive support rewards!"

"As long as they are ordinary creators who can produce high-quality Short Video, give them direct cash subsidies and traffic support!"

"I want to use this 100 million to wake up the creative desire of netizens and make our content ecosystem as solid as a fortress.

Remember, it is 100 million every month!"

"Second, dimensionality reduction, extreme fission."

Shen Du wrote the words 'Lite Version' on the paper, a cold sharpness flashing in his eyes:

"Immediately have the technical department pull people to separate a 'Spark Lite Version'."

"In this version, introduce a 'net earning model'.

Watch Short Video to get coins, invite new registrations to get direct cash rebates!"

"I want to use this simplest, crudest way of throwing money to harvest those price-sensitive lower-tier markets and users in third and fourth-tier cities."

"Doesn't the Penguin Empire think traffic fees are expensive? Then I will pay users to scroll!"

"Third, dual-king linkage, close the loop."

Shen Du wrote the final stroke.

In this once-in-a-lifetime explosion period, he hadn't forgotten that he still held a trump card.

The 30% stake in Meituan.

"Go contact Wang Xing."

Shen Du raised his head and stared at General Manager Chen Shengqiang:

"Tell him, 'Spark' now has a daily active traffic pool of ten million."

"We want to join forces with Meituan to launch deep cooperation between online traffic and offline local life."

"Use Spark to drive traffic to Meituan, and at the same time fully integrate Meituan Wallet as the underlying payment settlement tool!"

"Traffic plus finance, both concurrent.

I want these two companies to expand in the shortest possible time!"