chapter 7 Quintin Fang’s gameplay

"What?"
Eric Zhang and others inhaled sharply.
As industry insiders, they knew well the dominant position of ByteSpheres in the domestic instant messaging arena.
Even foreign platforms like ChatHub and more than thirty domestic instant messaging products like KlikTalk and Pubble, supported by Luma Corporation, were completely overshadowed, without exception.
They hadn't expected that the product they were working on, Futurix, would be benchmarked against the ByteSphere.
Quintin Fang raised an eyebrow playfully and said, "What? Are you scared?"
Eric Zhang and others forced a smile but remained silent.
Joking aside, how could they not be afraid?
That was ByteSphere, with over a hundred million registrations and practically tens of millions of users!
The crucial point was, in the internet industry, what mattered was the 80-20 rule, where the strong got stronger, and the weak got weaker.
Compared to ByteSphere, it was clear that Futurix, the product they were yet to develop fully, was the weaker one.
No, it couldn't even be considered weak.
Quintin Fang smiled and seemed to answer his question, "You are afraid, and that's normal. After all, ByteSphere is a real behemoth for us."
"But we also have our advantages!"
"Mr. Fang, what do you mean?" Eric Zhang and others became interested, looking at Quintin Fang curiously.
Quintin Fang raised his finger and said, "First, I have money. I can use a lot of funds for promotion and operations. Second, I have insight both in the open and the obscure. Once Futurix is launched, even if ByteSphere wants to copy, it will take time."
"This time gap is our chance to rise."
"Lastly, and most importantly, I have a complete understanding, planning, and operation strategy for Futurix. ByteSphere can't match that!"
Eric Zhang and others pondered for a moment. It made sense. Mr. Fang was young, but his understanding and vision of the internet were spot on. And he had money.
He was emphasizing that he had a lot of money.
In recent years, the internet industry has seen many excellent products, but in the end, they either got acquired or went bankrupt, all due to financial issues.
Although having money didn't necessarily mean defeating ByteSphere, at least in the face of ByteSphere's pressure, they wouldn't be powerless to strike back.
After seeing the nervousness subside among the crowd, Quintin Fang clapped his hands. "Alright, let's refocus on Futurix. For the initial version targeting college students, we don't need too many features. Just some basic functionalities, like my profile and viewing my friends, and so on."
"Understood?"
"Understood!" Eric Zhang and others nodded.
"Good, let's get to work!"
With Quintin Fang's command, Eric Zhang and others began writing Blue Space together.
At first, Eric Zhang and others were quite resistant to Quintin Fang. Not only did he cause trouble, but they also doubted their abilities.
But gradually, they discovered that Quintin Fang surprisingly had quite a decent level of programming.
Not only could he keep up with their pace, but he was even more advanced in certain aspects of concepts.
For a moment, Eric Zhang and others felt a blow to their confidence.
Without being as young as Quintin Fang, without his wealth, and now, even in programming, he had caught up with them. How could they bear this?
On the spot, Eric Zhang and others made up their minds and fully utilized their expertise. Whether developing algorithms, registering domain names, or structuring the website, they threw themselves into the development of Futurix.
Time we passed bit by bit.
Three hours later.
The initial version of Futurix took shape in the hands of Quintin Fang and others.
"Wow, the page looks beautiful! So tech-savvy!"
When Eric Zhang and the others stopped, the bored Ella Su immediately approached and took a look at the Futurix page, which had a different style from the current website. She couldn't help but let out a series of exclamations.
Eric Zhang and the others also sighed, but amidst their admiration, there was also a bit of embarrassment because Quintin Fang had personally handled the artistic design of the Futurix page.
However, after the initial awkwardness, they became confident in Futurix and started to believe that, under Quintin Fang's leadership, they could overcome ByteSphere.
Quintin Fang himself found it rather ordinary. The design of the Futurix page was based on modern aesthetics. He aimed for users to have an immediate visual pleasure when opening the Blue Space page.
After a moment, Quintin Fang checked the time on his phone and clapped his hands. "Alright, the initial version is set. We'll develop new features later, building up our functionality!"
"What new features?" Eric Zhang asked in surprise.
Quintin Fang explained, "Things like course schedules, likes, photo sharing, and so on. I'll write a proposal for these features and hand it over to you. We shouldn't release all these features at once; instead, we'll keep them in reserve."
Because Quintin Fang's description of the new features was unclear, and Futurix hadn't gone live yet, Eric Zhang and the others weren't sure if these features would be useful. However, since Quintin Fang was the boss, they could only nod in agreement.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Fang, when will Futurix go live?" Ella Su suddenly remembered something and asked inquisitively.
Quintin Fang smiled, "That's exactly what I was about to say. The launch date is set for June 1st. I plan to hold a 'register and get a free phone' event in all the major universities in the Sorceria City on that day."
"Register and get a free phone?" Ella Su and the others were dumbfounded. This sounded like a massive expense! Nowadays, phones cost thousands of dollars, and offering one for every new registration would be a significant financial burden.
After a moment, Ella Su swallowed her saliva and delicately suggested, "Mr. Fang, should we reconsider this? The price of phones is not low! Giving away a phone for every new user, even if it's the cheapest phone, it's still a substantial amount of money!"
"Who said we're giving away a phone for every new user?" Quintin Fang looked surprised.
Ella Su was a bit confused, "But you just..."
"Okay, I didn't explain clearly. When I said 'register and get a free phone,' I meant we will create a rewards center on the user's profile page in Futurix. Every new registered user can get a free phone discount voucher from this rewards center."
Quintin Fang smacked his forehead and explained, "This phone discount voucher allows new users to get a 300 dollars discount initially, and then they can earn another phone discount voucher by inviting one user."
"By accumulating enough phone discount vouchers to match the phone's price, they can get a free phone!"
Quintin Fang modeled this event based on various activities organized by major internet companies in the future, combined with the current era. For example, in the future, a certain company would give users red envelopes and allow them to invite friends to register on a platform called Whizzie. Users could cash out the red envelopes once they reached a hundred dollars. Initially, when a user invited a friend, the red envelope amount was higher, but as they progressed, the amount decreased. To obtain a hundred dollars in cash, a user had to invite a sufficient number of friends. It seemed like Whizzie was spending a lot of money, but compared to the massive influx of users it brought, it was all worth it. Similarly, using money to expand the user base swiftly was a strategy that Futurix could employ. For Quintin Fang, it was indeed worthwhile.
Ella Su and the others were not foolish. They instantly grasped the core of Quintin Fang's strategy. They looked at Quintin Fang in a new light. What kind of person was he to come up with such an amazing strategy? Following his strategy, they could quickly gather a large number of users with relatively little expense. After a moment, Ella Su and the others almost simultaneously exclaimed, "Mr. Fang, brilliant!"
"Alright, this is how it's going to be. Ella, you'll be in charge of purchasing phones and organizing ground promotion teams for universities other than Stellaris University. Eric, you'll handle the development of the rewards center and discount voucher algorithms!"
Quintin Fang waved his hand, "Everyone, go and rest!"
After saying that, he kept Ella Su behind and detailed the event's flow, transferring fifty million to the company account as operating funds.
Once everything was explained, Quintin Fang and Ella Su left the company separately and took a cab back to school.
The next day.
Quintin Fang, accustomed to waking up early, went through his routine, including exercises like Poppy Jumps. When he went to the cafeteria to prepare breakfast for his roommates, a familiar, busy figure caught his eye.
What was this?
..