107: Chapter 107 Investing in Units, Laying the Foundation for the Future

After several months of development,

Huayao had completely established a firm foothold in the Dragon Country's domestic mobile phone market.

During this period, as the number of Huayao models sold continued to increase,

its sales revenue naturally rose as well.

Three months passed,

and Bai Jingqing had long since paid off his debts.

In those three months,

under the hard work of Dragon Country workers, who bore the title of "Infrastructure Maniacs,"

the reconstruction of his factory also proceeded very smoothly.

The old Sanlu Group factory site had already undergone earth-shaking changes.

Several brand-new high-rise buildings had sprung up,

each thirty or forty stories high,

looking very grand.

On the outskirts of Shi City,

there was a very famous prestigious university, Tiankai University.

Tiankai University had a long history,

and its strength was not to be underestimated,

ranking among the top in the entire country.

Bai Jingqing naturally wouldn't let such a good resource go to waste,

so in cooperation with the local government,

the Huayao Tiankai Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park was established.

Students from Tiankai University with dreams of innovation and entrepreneurship could choose to move into the Tiankai Park,

basically enjoying rent-free or very low-rent status.

Among the first batch of companies to move in,

Bai Jingqing was very surprised to see a very familiar name—ByteDance.

He immediately thought of his previous idea;

if possible,

he hoped to cooperate with ByteDance

to create Douyin.

At this moment,

ByteDance had only just been founded,

and its profits were basically entirely dependent on one project—jinri toutiao.

Bai Jingqing took a huge interest in ByteDance;

after all, it would become an internet giant in the future,

with a terrifyingly high profitability.

Now that the opportunity was right before his eyes,

he naturally didn't want to miss it.

And if he remembered correctly,

the boss of ByteDance in his previous life, Zhang Yiming, was also a student of Tiankai University,

so it should be the same person.

At this moment, Zhang Yiming had just graduated from Tiankai University,

and along with his classmates, he had started an entrepreneurial project,

founding jinri toutiao,

which surprisingly turned out to be profitable,

surviving the harsh competition of the internet.

Of course, their situation wasn't exactly excellent;

after all, the internet changed every day,

and they could be eliminated at any time.

To better save on costs,

they had also chosen to move into the rent-free Tiankai Industrial Park,

saving wherever they could.

Bai Jingqing had Zhang Yiming called over through the management of Tiankai Park

to have a conversation with him.

At this time, Zhang Yiming was still just an ordinary college graduate,

looking very restrained.

He didn't have the slightest air of a top billionaire yet,

and was even a bit timid when facing Bai Jingqing.

Bai Jingqing patted his shoulder: "Young man,

don't be too nervous.

The two of us should be around the same age."

Zhang Yiming naturally knew that although the young man before him was dressed simply,

he was Bai Jingqing, the boss of Huayao Phone, one of the top mobile phone manufacturers in the country,

and this Huayao Tiankai Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park was also established and supported by this young man.

How could he not be nervous?

He said somewhat shyly, "Boss Bai,

I'm not sure why you called for me?"

Bai Jingqing went straight to the point: "I want to cooperate with you."

Zhang Yiming's eyes immediately widened: "Cooperate with me?

Is our jinri toutiao even qualified?"

As a news and information app,

jinri toutiao's daily active users were quite high,

but it didn't have many monetization channels,

which was exactly what ByteDance and Zhang Yiming were currently struggling with.

He was dazed at the moment,

wondering why Bai Jingqing would want to cooperate with him,

and what he saw in ByteDance.

Bai Jingqing shook his head: "It's not jinri toutiao.

jinri toutiao is also a very good project,

and you can continue with it;

this kind of app has great potential in the future.

But what I want to talk to you about is another project."

Zhang Yiming was completely puzzled: "Another project?

But our ByteDance doesn't have any ideas for other projects right now.

Just jinri toutiao is enough to keep us busy,

and we have to constantly worry about when jinri toutiao might go under."

Bai Jingqing nodded.

At this point, he naturally couldn't explain the concept of Douyin to Zhang Yiming very clearly,

so he used other words to briefly describe the future Douyin: "It's like this,

I want your team to simultaneously work on an app

that will target users of all age groups across the country,

where all kinds of users can find things they are interested in.

What we want to build is an all-encompassing platform."

Hearing Bai Jingqing's grand vision,

Zhang Yiming was also frightened.

He said solemnly: "President Bai,

every manufacturer hopes to create such a product,

but no company has been able to do it.

I don't know how such a thing should be made either;

it's just a bit too broad,

and the difficulty of creating such a product is harder than reaching the heavens!"

Bai Jingqing looked at Zhang Yiming with anticipation: "It is indeed difficult,

otherwise I wouldn't have come to you.

As a graduate of Tiankai University, a top domestic institution,

you should have confidence in yourself.

Think carefully about how to do it."

Zhang Yiming's eyes flickered,

his brain thinking rapidly,

but he still couldn't imagine

what that all-encompassing app in Bai Jingqing's mouth looked like.

"It really is a bit too broad.

If it includes everything,

it might just end up including nothing.

I'm sorry, Boss Bai,

I'm probably not the person you're looking for."

Bai Jingqing nodded.

Douyin's ability to develop to its future scale

wasn't something that could be done in a day or two.

"I can give you a direction.

For example, you could use a video platform format,

but unlike current mainstream video platforms,

you could allow all users on this platform to upload videos,

and their videos could be randomly seen by all interested users.

As our country's infrastructure becomes more and more complete

and 4G networks continue to spread,

even reaching 5G and 6G networks in the future,

the form of information dissemination will certainly not be as simple as text and images as it is now.

In the future, passing information through video will definitely be mainstream.

So you can go in the direction of a video platform,

mobilize your team's wisdom.

I know it will be hard,

but I believe you will definitely be able to do it."

Zhang Yiming pondered for a few seconds

and soon began to analyze: "If it's as Boss Bai says,

I think first of all, the length of the videos shouldn't be too long.

After all, if all users can upload videos,

the total number of videos would be a very huge number.

In the early stages of development, our servers wouldn't be able to store too many long high-definition videos,

so this platform could limit the videos uploaded by users to within 10 to 15 seconds.

Secondly, although the goal of this video app is to reach all kinds of customers,

it's best to limit the target audience to young people in the beginning.

After all, they love to pursue trends and express themselves,

and they can easily accept uploading videos as a form of expression.

Once the user base has grown,

we can expand into the lower-tier markets

and then develop into a more diverse and inclusive platform,

perhaps realizing the vision you described, Little Boss Bai."

Bai Jingqing nodded with satisfaction.

Zhang Yiming's mind was certainly not dull;

at this moment, the few points he mentioned already had the embryonic form of Douyin.

"Go and complete it according to your imagination.

The funds needed for this project will be 100% provided by our Huayao.

I believe you will definitely be able to create a miracle."