Reborn in 2000 as a scholar

"Where else does Mr. Pony think my money came from?"

Lin Jinqi showed Pony the asset certification document issued to him by UBS. Pony also made a special phone call to confirm that the document was authentic, so Pony's confidence in Lin Jinqi was even greater.

"If Mr. Pony has confidence in me, you might as well listen to my investment plan. I will invest 200 million US dollars in your company in the name of Kirin Technology Holding Company registered in Hong Kong, accounting for 20% of the shares, of which 5% are non-dilutable Shares. I need a seat on the board of directors, but as long as Mr. Pony’s future business direction and investment strategy do not violate my interests, I will act in concert with you on the board of directors. Finally, if the Penguin Empire wants to raise funds in the future, Kirin Technology also has the right to continue to follow up."

With the development of the modern corporate system, it is not necessary for the board of directors to occupy a majority of shares in order to have a dominant or even controlling position.Many companies use the so-called "AB dual-share structure" and "people acting in concert" to allow minority shareholders to have decision-making power.Lin Jinqi is willing to act in concert with Pony, which clearly means that he does not have much ambition for penguins.As for future follow-up investment and non-dilutable power, these are just Lin Jinqi's self-protection strategies.

Pony thought for a long time, and he had to admit that $200 million was too attractive for him.According to the current exchange rate, this is equivalent to nearly 1700 million yuan.With this investment of funds, Penguin immediately has the confidence to survive today and tomorrow.But in this regard, Pony felt a little unwilling to give up 20% of the shares.

After thinking for a long time, he finally said: "I agree with most of Mr. Lin's investment plans, but 20% of the shares must be diluted in future stock offerings. I agree that Mr. Lin has 5% of the non-dilutable shares and seats on the board of directors. But I also only agree that when Penguin goes public in the future, the upper limit of Mr. Lin’s shares is 7%. If Mr. Lin agrees, we can initial the contract.”

Lin Jinqi originally had no intention of controlling Penguin, but after hearing Pony's modification plan, he agreed after a little thought.Without bothering the two masters, Lin Jinqi called the lawyer he had hired earlier, anyway, he is also the legal counsel of his company now.This relatively simple investment contract does not waste too much time for lawyers. After confirming the identities and qualifications of both parties, the contract is concluded immediately, and the rest is the process of signing by both parties.

Since this is a company-to-company level contract, both parties need to go through their own legal procedures.In order to prevent the business strategy provided by Lin Jinqi from being stolen, Pony signed a non-disclosure agreement on behalf of Penguin.Seeing the effective confidentiality agreement, Lin Jinqi opened his mouth to talk about Penguin's future business strategy.

"In the future, there is only one core strategy for our business: basic functions are free, and value-added functions are charged." Lin Jinqi said, "In the Internet age, what is more attractive than 'free'? I know that many instant messaging software has begun to make ends meet. , plan to use the fee to support the software. But what I want to say is, if the instant messaging software charges, then how can it distinguish its advantages from traditional communication methods? And if it does charge, I think there will be many users Will return to the embrace of e-mail, after all, compared with the cost, the speed of e-mail is tolerable.”

"But if there is no charge, how can the software support itself? Could it be that you plan to paste advertisements all over the software interface?" Pony asked puzzled.He knew that Lin Jinqi was not the kind of person who liked to post advertisements, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't mess around.

"It is of course free to use our software to chat, but we can provide other value-added services. Just like the telecommunications company, don't they also have a 'little secretary' service? However, if you want to use our value-added services, then you must pay a certain amount. Fees. My suggestion is to charge a monthly fee of 10 yuan; if you pay a one-time fee for a year, we can offer a discount of 100 yuan. By the way, we need to distinguish between monthly and annual subscription users on the software interface. "

Lin Jinqi took a piece of paper and drew a rough schematic diagram of the software interface on the paper.

"We need to display 'VIP' next to his number for a monthly subscription user, and a 'year' logo for an annual subscription user in addition to the VIP logo. Whether it is a monthly subscription or an annual subscription, we collectively refer to it as a member .In addition to the basic chat function for members, we also need to give them some additional functions.

For example, their chat records can be stored on a remote server, so that no matter they surf the Internet on any computer, their chat records will not be lost.Another example is that we can develop a function called 'group', which allows a person to chat with his friends together.Non-member numbers allow them to create 2 groups with a maximum of 50 people; while member numbers allow them to create 4 groups with a maximum of 100 people.In addition, our membership numbers will be set in red and prioritized. "

Lin Jinqi talked about the methods that many penguins used to collect money in later generations, as well as the so-called hierarchy and membership hierarchy.

"Do you think users will only pay for popularity and ranking?" After listening to Lin Jinqi's statement, Pony thought that the two functions of group and chat records saved on the server would be more attractive to pay, but Lin Jinqi said that the most important thing is the membership number The two small functions of eye-catching red and ranking priority are the most attractive to users.

"Pony, you didn't understand a problem. Since the day when the Internet was widely popularized, its main function has changed from technology to entertainment. Therefore, how to please our users and make our users feel that they are great is the most important thing. .Although it is a good function to keep chat records in the group and the server, how can I let you know that I have such a great function? It is impossible for me to refuse non-paying users to use the 'group'? This violates our core business strategy, That is 'basic features free'. And 'groups' will be the key to defeating other chat software."

Lin Jinqi said, "The member number and nickname are eye-catching in red and the priority of sorting is a good way to separate our paying users from non-paying users. If you pay 10 yuan a month, you can become one of your friends. Be the one that attracts the most attention, would you? Pony, that's the weakness of human nature."

For Lin Jinqi's analysis of human nature, Pony has to admit that this function may become the most attractive selling point of Penguin in the future.In addition to the membership function, Lin Jinqi also introduced the function that Penguin will use to make large-scale profits in the future-red diamonds.

"Think about it, if when you are chatting, the other person's personal image in the chat window is all kinds of luxury brands, but you are an image in underwear, would you buy Penguin show? Penguin show is a simple FLASH dress-up game, the core source code is a large piece on the Internet, but no one has ever thought of using it to make a profit. The penguin show we launched is divided into three months, six months and one year. There are tops , Bottoms, shoes, hairstyles, hats, jewelry, etc., as well as backgrounds, foregrounds, pets, etc.

In addition to selling single items, we can also sell sets.The suit is relatively cheap, and the matching of the suit can be done by ourselves or by the user.If the suit matched by the user is selected by us, then he can get 10% of the selling price of the suit as a reward.Don't feel bad, anyway, this is penguin currency, not RMB, so you don't have to worry about revenue.

The red diamond means that he can wear any Penguin show, and at the same time, he can buy it at a [-]% discount and give it to others.And to make Red Diamond more distinctive, we can opt out of our Penguin chat room feature.Red Diamond users can have priority in entering rooms in the 'crowded state'; at the same time, the homeowner cannot voluntarily expel Red Diamond users, unless he wants our management to complain that Red Diamond has violated the rules before we can expel them from the room.

Of course, we can also design some special effects for Red Diamond users to enter the room, as well as red eye-catching functions and exclusive props in the chat room of Red Diamond users.These are used to satisfy the vanity of users and increase revenue. "

After chatting with Lin Jinqi for several hours, Pony's confidence in Penguin has greatly increased, and he feels that this software has great potential.

But Lin Jinqi poured cold water on Pony at the end, "Before all new functions are launched, Penguin's biggest task is to redesign the interface, and we must distance ourselves from ICQ." Lin Jinqi said.

In fact, Penguin has developed a big difference from ICQ, but Penguin has never been able to get rid of the name of counterfeit ICQ. Even after Penguin acquired ICQ, it was nicknamed "deception and stealing".The root of it is Penguin's excessive plagiarism of the ICQ interface.In fact, instant messaging software is a major category of software, ICQ can do it, and so can other companies.But why are Microsoft's MSN and AOL's AIM not accused of copying ICQ?The reason is simple. Although the functions have many similarities, the interfaces of the three do not have much similarity.Therefore, this is why Lin Jinqi asked Penguin to change its appearance and name in order to add new functions. Since Penguin is going to be big, it should not have too many stains on its body.

In the early days, domestic instant messaging software copied ICQ wholeheartedly. This was related to the general environment of domestic software development, that is, everything was copied from the West, and then modified to adapt to the local environment.Moreover, UI design is not valued in China at this time, so even though the kernel has changed a lot, the appearance is still inextricably linked with the original version.

Lin Jinqi directly took over the design of a penguin interface from later generations. This design is actually very different from ICQ, so after it goes online, people will not think that the new penguin still has any connection with ICQ.At the same time, the status of Penguin has been increased from the original three states of online, busy and offline to four states of online, invisible, busy and offline. Members also have the small function of being invisible to whom and not being invisible to whom alone.These drafts written and drawn by Lin Jinqi are regarded as treasures by Pony, and he said that after returning home, he asked the team to step up the development of related functions and interfaces.

After saying goodbye to Pony, Lin Jinqi was in a good mood and invited his little cousin to eat another ice cream.Cheng Siyu was still a little strange about his cousin who was suddenly generous, and asked, "Why did you suddenly buy another ice cream? Could it be that you have made a fortune?"

"Almost." Lin Jinqi said with a smile, "I just bought a big gold mountain, and I can say that my family has a mine in the future."

After finishing speaking, Lin Jinqi couldn't stop laughing from ear to ear.Cheng Siyu thought that his cousin had a convulsion, so he ate the newly bought banana boat on his own.