You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 322 You Become the Deputy Leader

Friends who often seek investment know that different amounts of funds have different levels of difficulty.

Any VP can make the final decision on an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A level of several million dollars is equivalent to a Series A investment, and you have to demonstrate your value as worthy of investment.

When it comes to the level of tens of millions of dollars, the difficulty increases exponentially and the factors involved become much more complicated.

If it weren't for the weird QVOD, it would be many times easier for other video websites to raise funds than it is now.

Because video websites are basically the same, to put it nicely, they are highly homogeneous, but to put it bluntly, everyone is copying each other. If you have any good videos, I will copy them over.

During the period when the Internet was growing wildly, not to mention laws and regulations, even the rules of the game were not explained to you.

Under the guise of UGC (user content sharing), users are attracted to upload and share videos to fill the website with content.

Then, under the guise of user sharing, they secretly upload various pirated movies and TV series, variety shows, and other users' video content.

There have also been cases of wholesale copying and stealing videos by impersonating users to register accounts. These things are not uncommon, and some large companies have also done this.

In the early days of the Internet, everyone was confused and had no idea how to run a video website. Everyone was just trying to figure it out.

If everything is in chaos, the competition among peers is nothing more than capital.

Relying on the funds from financing, we expanded massively, attracted users, and increased the scale of the website.

Then they use the website data to obtain further financing, and repeat this cycle until the website is listed.

It should be like this.

Everyone shows off their skills to see who can get the money and become the leader of the Chinese video website and reap the greatest benefits.

As a result, they came up with a weird website, which is Qvod.

Not only did Qvod.com take the lead and become the first video website to go online in China, it also had the support of such a large social platform as Campus Network to drive traffic to it.

The campus network only allows users to share videos from Qvod.com and does not support any other video sites. Therefore, users of the campus network will naturally get used to going to Qvod.com.

Later, Qin Shaoyan made some moves and staged a "YouTube acquisition case", which gave Qvod a valuation of 300 million yuan and obtained a large amount of financing.

Qvod not only had more funds than any of its peers, but also had a huge user base brought in by the campus network, and completed its initial accumulation in a very short time.

In the field of video websites, Qvod is truly far ahead.

Not only do they have money and traffic, the most annoying thing is that they still have jobs.

Although they have not yet figured out how to run a video website, they have one consensus: content is king, and good content can attract users.

Why are people trying so hard to get pirated resources and repost videos?

Isn't it just to give users something to watch?

As for Qvod, there are all kinds of movies, TV series and variety shows.

The fact that it regularly "steals" high-quality content from YouTube is something that no one else can learn from.

It has everything that others have, and it also has things that others don’t have. How can you play this?

Venture capitalists all know that there is a big player like Qvod in the video industry, so they dare not invest money in the video website field easily.

If you invest too little, it will not work at all. The suppressed websites will remain suppressed, which is a pure waste of money.

If more money is invested, according to the standards of Qvod, it would cost at least 30 to 40 million US dollars. Investing such a large amount of money is very risky.

I can give the money, but how can you guarantee that your website can catch up with Qvod?

First, tell me what strategies your website has to ensure it can surpass Qvod.

This one point alone stumps 99 percent of fellow entrepreneurs.

Wang Wei has been thinking about how to paint a rosy picture for investors recently, but the investor asked this question, which almost broke his defense.

He went to great lengths to set up the "Anti-Qvod Alliance" just to make some noise for investors to see, to let investors know that I still have a job and I can still save the situation.

The colleagues who were pulled into the group all had more or less problems, but their biggest problem at the moment was the same as that of Tudou: difficulty in raising funds.

There are too many competitors in the video website market, and with the giant Kuaibo.com looming over their heads, venture capitalists are naturally much more cautious when investing.

After all, there are too many targets to choose from, and there is also the benchmark of "Qvod" to help lower the price.

In order to make a good living, Wang Wei tried various methods, including inviting celebrities to open accounts and cooperating with TV stations, but to no avail.

Last time, when that 2D community proposed to sue Qvod for copyright infringement, Wang Wei was tempted but quickly suppressed the thought.

Piracy is a huge threat that cannot be touched.

At that time, Youku.com mocked the two-dimensional world for being childish. To be honest, this idea was indeed childish.

The Internet is still dominated by piracy at this time.

At this time, piracy seems more just, and anyone who comes out to talk about copyright will be regarded as a malicious capitalist who stands on the opposite side of netizens.

Due to bandwidth limitations, netizens have long been accustomed to downloading videos before watching them.

Downloading tools such as eMule and Thunder are essential for computers, and social software is full of "good people will have a peaceful life" by exchanging seeds. Users' E drives and P2P technology have become the biggest enemies of video legalization.

Piracy is a traffic aphrodisiac, and taking drugs is an original sin. It feels great to accumulate capital through original sin.

Many websites are not unaware of the existence of original sin. They started with UGC, which means users upload content to the website, which sounds fine.

But the reality is that many websites have hired specialized piracy organizations to upload pirated content to the websites in the name of users and rely on piracy to attract traffic.

From 2007 to 2009, more than 70% of page views on most video sites relied on pirated content.

There is no other way. Video websites must have content. How can they avoid pirating and copying it?

Buying copyrights costs money, which is also a considerable expense for websites with tight funds.

Although copyrights are now very cheap, an episode of a TV series costs only a few hundred or a few thousand yuan, and the most expensive does not exceed two or three thousand yuan.

But if no one else buys the copyright and you are the only one who does, you will seem out of place.

Because of this reason, Qvod has always been laughed at by its peers as a sucker.

While Wang Wei was thinking, the group became lively again.

Station C: "Hello, seniors. Are all of us in the same industry?"

Popcorn.com: “Yes, everyone in the group is working on video websites, welcome to exchange and learn together.”

Station C: "Wow, that's great, we finally found an organization. Are there any anime fans in our group?"

P station: "∑(っ°Д°;)っ, are you also a second-dimensional person?"

Station C: "Wow! Are you also a fan?"

P Station: "Yes, yes, our website is dedicated to the ACG field."

Station C: "I didn't expect to meet so many seniors here, and also meet people who share the same interests. Which anime do you like best?"

P station: "Hikaru no Go, Inuyasha, Naruto, Dragon Ball, City Hunter..."

Station C: "You like Naruto too?"

P station: "Of course, I think the plot of the Chunin Exam is awesome..."

Station C: "Yeah, yeah, I like Sasuke the best."

P站: “Do you have any hentai on your website?”

Station C: “Hey, you know.”

P Station: "Good people will have a peaceful life."

Station C: "Smuggling, I'll send it to your email."

56.com: "What is hentai?"

P station: "Yes, it is an R18 anime."

56.net: “…”

Youku.com: "Who put the second dimension in?"

P Station: "What happened to our two-dimensional world?"

C Station: "What's wrong with our ACG world?" Youku.com: "A bunch of childish brats, why are you meddling in this?"

Tudou.com: "Ahem, Lao Gu, don't say anything that is not conducive to unity. Didn't you say before that we need unity?"

Wang Wei used UFIDA Cool Network's words to pressure him, and soon the other party stopped talking.

It’s not that he attaches much importance to P Station and C Station, but as the leader, he must always show some responsibility as a leader.

Although Youku.com looks harmless, it has actually been trying to compete with him and secretly trying to win over several other big websites to make small moves.

Wang Wei knew this very well. Youku.com's boss Gu Yongqiang was a returnee who had worked in an investment bank and previously worked as a senior employee for Zhang Chaoyang at Sohu.

Taking advantage of the trend of video websites, Gu Yongqiang left Sohu and founded Youku.com.

Because of his investment banking background, it is much easier for Gu Yongqiang to attract investment than Wang Wei, but now he also faces a problem, which is Qvod.com.

Why did Gu Yongqiang also join the "Anti-Qvod Alliance"? He initially wanted to join in and watch the fun, but later, as more and more people joined, he became interested.

Apart from anything else, with such a large group of people together, just a few noises can cause quite a bit of trouble.

Gu Yongqiang here was too lazy to argue with the two-dimensional creatures, but the two two-dimensional creatures over there were a bit relentless.

Tudou.com: "Okay, everyone, be quiet for a moment, let's get down to business."

"I have drafted an anti-Qvod alliance declaration. Please sign if you are willing."

P Station suddenly popped up and said, "What's the point of signing this thing?"

Tudou.com: "It's a declaration of war, a call to arms, to show our attitude to users."

"Qvod has been using copyright to suppress websites like us. It's time for us to make our own voice heard to users."

P Station: "Oh, so, you guys sign it, I won't sign it."

Ku6.com: "Everyone signed, why don't you?"

P站: "Qvod.com doesn't engage in the ACG world, and our website has no overlapping business or conflict of interest. Why should I denounce it?"

Fuck, what this idiot 2D guy said makes so much sense, I am speechless.

Wang Wei was angry and decided to kick this guy out soon.

They didn't do much serious work, just quarreled in the group.

C Station: "Hey, P Station, didn't you read the latest news? Qvod is going to launch an anime channel."

P station: "!!!∑(Дノ)ノ, what the hell? Qvod is going to do the second dimension?"

"Fuck!!!"

"Qvod.com, I will never reconcile with you!"

"Tudou.com, aren't you the leader of the martial arts world? Why don't you just do anything about it?"

"Life in the ACG world is already difficult enough, and you're just going to let Qvod destroy our pure ACG private land?"

"Does Qvod still have any shame or morality?!!!"

Tudou.com: "Okay, stop talking nonsense, or I'll kick you out."

"Now, who wants to sign the declaration? Please sign up."

P站: "What's the use of signing? Can the entire declaration kill Qvod?! Do you think it's fun to lie to yourselves?"

"Please be realistic. Are you guys allowed to talk nonsense just because the investors pay you money?"

Ku6.com: "Then come up with a plan that's not ridiculous. Your website isn't that big, but you're talking big."

P Station: "You're trying to provoke me, right?"

"Then I really have to say something. Your video podcast plan is pure nonsense. Why would those celebrities come to your website to broadcast?"

"People can gain countless fans just by quietly writing on their blogs. Why should they make videos for you, design the copy, record the video, and then edit and upload it?"

"Some internet celebrities are designed to remain mysterious. They cannot appear in public or be seen in the spotlight. Some of them are not educated at all and all their writings are ghostwritten. How can they talk about culture when you ask them to go abroad and talk about it?"

"Some people just can't speak fluently, have problems with their ability to express themselves, and don't want to appear on camera."

"You guys were on the wrong track from the beginning. How can you compete with Qvod in terms of making shows? Qvod and you are not doing the same thing at all."

"Qvod has been collecting copyrights, and its main focus is on long-form film and television entertainment content. Users sharing those is purely a byproduct."

"The content shared by users on Qvod was actually uploaded by them themselves. They have a partnership with YouTube, and YouTube sends people to fly over with several large hard drives every week."

"Do you know what's in the hard drive? It's full of the latest popular videos on YouTube. They are all the best videos selected by external users using data."

Wang Wei was shocked. It was the first time he heard of this.

Tudou.com: "Is there such a thing? How did you know?"

P站: "I have a friend on Qvod.com. From what I heard, he is responsible for subtitles and uploading videos."

"If you don't believe me, ask Mr. Chen from Yiku.com. He was the CEO of Qvod.com before, so he must know."

Tudou.com: "Mr. Chen, do you know about this?"

Yiku.com: "What do I know? This is not my business."

"But I did hear someone say that Qin Shaoyan has a department specifically responsible for this business, and they are not based at Qvod."

Wang Wei immediately understood. It seemed that what P Station said about the second dimension was almost right.

I didn’t expect that P station, a two-dimensional platform, actually knew such a secret inside story.

P Station: "Have you never studied Qvod?"

"Qvod has a lot of content copied from YouTube, but very little content uploaded by domestic users. Some people just use Qvod as a video storage."

"So Qvod.com is not supported by domestic users' self-made video content at all. This is the biggest difference between Qvod.com and you!"

"If you want to compete with Qvod, you need to think of more ways to do this."

Gu Yongqiang also saw that this guy from P Station had some talent, so he humbly asked for advice, "Young man, do you have any good ideas?"

P Station: "Huh, I don't know anything about the second dimension."

Fuck, you're being arrogant.

However, Wang Wei knew that this kind of young man could only be treated with favor, and from his speech, this guy really knew a lot about the second dimension and was worth winning over.

Tudou.com: "This little brother is really a genius. His words have made us see the light and enlightened."

"I nominate P站 as the vice-leader of the anti-Qvod alliance. Do you support me?"

56.com: “Support!”

Six rooms: "Top!"

P station: "The leader is still nice to hear. Everyone in the group is talented. It feels like coming home."

“Actually, I don’t have any great ideas. I just think you should encourage users to create and share interesting content.”

"For example, some creative subsidies, production incentives, short film competitions, etc., anyway, it costs money."

"A lot of money is spent on horse bones. Money is used to lure users over and screen out excellent creators."

Tudou.com: "If we subsidize everything, it's a bit too much. Even if we sell the website, it won't cover the cost."

P站: "Of course the subsidies are conditional, such as being on the front page, having a certain number of video views, or setting up a creative reward program. Only those who join the program will be given subsidies."

"Anyway, if you want to do it, there are plenty of ways to do it. You can set the standard yourself. For example, one play will cost one cent to five cents, and one million plays will cost ten thousand yuan."

"By then, there will definitely be a large number of users coming. If you want to make this money, you have to use all your skills to upload high-quality videos for you. They get the money and you get the traffic. It's a win-win situation."

Wang Wei's eyes lit up and he slapped his thigh excitedly. This was a good plan.

P站: "If you think the money is too much, just change the video playback data in the background. Anyway, you decide the data and you can control how much money you give to users."

Damn, this two-dimensional routine is so wild.

Wang Wei called him an expert. He thought that all the people in the second dimension were naive teenagers, but he didn't expect that they were actually veterans.

Fuck, if anyone says that the 2D world is stupid again, I will definitely stay away from this kind of smartness.

The creative subsidy program is a good idea!
(End of this chapter)