You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 416 Partners
Xiong Xiaoge felt like there was something stuck in his throat, like a thorn in his back, and like he was sitting on pins and needles while eating this meal.

He thought Davis was his prey and was foolishly playing a double game.

In the end, Qin Shaoyan's true intentions were revealed and his target was him.

But you know what, Qin Shaoyan's skill in drawing cakes is becoming more and more sophisticated.

In the past, he would teach you about combination punches, top-level design, and underlying logic.

Now he is making bread for others to eat and then inviting you to watch.

Not only do they let you watch, they even let you participate in the pie-in-the-sky plot, and you can easily get yourself involved if you are not careful.

But, what Qin Shaoyan said does make sense.

If he really gets into this, all the original rules of the entertainment industry will be broken and they will become puppets manipulated by the Internet.

"From high-quality IP to big data to discovering stars, and then to production and broadcasting platforms." Qin Shaoyan put chopsticks, cups, plates and bowls together, "This is a one-stop service for upstream and downstream industries."

"When can you build this dragon?" Xiong Xiaoge glanced at Qin Shaoyan.

"Five years, maybe." Qin Shaoyan pondered for a moment, "It should be almost time to see initial results."

"Five years..." Xiong Xiaoge hesitated for two seconds, "It's already very fast."

"In fact, I plan to complete the entire closed loop in ten years." Qin Shaoyan said with high spirits, "But ten years is too long, and I'm afraid that investors can't wait, so I plan to take small steps and run fast, and iterate quickly."

"We will build an excellent film and television production team in the early stage, and then focus on exploring high-quality content IP and infiltrate the film and television industry through traditional methods."

"The two TV series we recently invested in have been sold and made a good profit."

"I know this." Xiong Xiaoge sent his deputy Zhou Dao to investigate personally and found that Qvod Video was doing real business and there was no problem.

It did make some money, although not much. But for a newly established film and television company, it would be considered a success if the first project it produced did not lose money.

Qvod.com is using Qvod Film and Television Company to infiltrate the entertainment industry, and this move is obvious.

It is unclear how far Qvod Film and Television can go in the entertainment industry, but after all, it has established itself.

"Why are you focusing on the entertainment industry?" Xiong Xiaoge asked.

"Because I am optimistic about the future of video websites." Qin Shaoyan said firmly, "In the future, Huli.com videos will definitely replace television and become the mainstream."

"Films and TV series will inevitably become important content for video websites. We need to address the source to prevent content providers from being controlled and monopolized by others."

"Have you seen the grand layout, Mr. Xiong?"

"Shanda's dream is to become the Disney of the Internet. It has acquired a series of online literature websites and is preparing to control IP from the source."

"Another $4.5 million was spent on building Shanda Box, which integrates multiple functions such as watching movies, web browsing, broadcasting, and games, and actively builds its own ecosystem around the theme of "family interactive entertainment."

"Shanda has recently started planning to acquire video websites to complete its commercial copyright ecosystem."

"The number of Internet users is growing dramatically every year, which shows that the living standards in China are constantly improving. In five years, the number of Internet users will reach 500 million, which is more than the population of the United States."

"As the economy continues to develop, Internet users' entertainment consumption will naturally continue to increase. In the future, the entertainment sector will be a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan."

"From social platforms to games, literature, movies, and TV series, I am building a pan-entertainment industry chain."

"Stop, stop!" Xiong Xiaoge interrupted Qin Shaoyan directly, "Don't make promises to me."

Listen, listen!
Qin Shaoyan is already a habitual offender.

From IP hype, to big data mining and traffic stars, to the entire pan-entertainment industry chain, there are so many concepts one after another that even Xiong Xiaoge was a little confused.

"This is just my preliminary strategic concept. I will make a PPT for Mr. Xiong and explain it in detail." Qin Shaoyan did not continue to speak, "Of course, the first step of this strategy is to start with IP operation."

"Boss Xiong, would you consider this bet agreement?"

"No, not considering it!" Xiong Xiaoge said firmly.

If it were someone else, Xiong Xiaoge might have agreed immediately.

But Qin Shaoyan is different from others.

He is so good at making things happen!

If you are not careful, he will give you the biggest job you can imagine.

Moreover, Qin Shaoyan has a wildly imaginative mind and his understanding of the Internet exceeds that of ordinary people.

He is extremely skilled in storytelling and conceptualizing, and is also a genius in marketing who likes to take unconventional paths.

You have no idea how many stories and concepts are in his head. He talks about things that are so profound and incomprehensible to you, and new ideas pop up one after another.

With such a person, signing a bet agreement with him is equivalent to giving away benefits for free.

The domestic Internet market is developing so fast. Not to mention that Qin Shaoyan has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, even if he does nothing, Qvod.com can still grow its market value to 3 billion.

Qin Shaoyan sighed, looking full of regret, "Boss Xiong, if you don't invest again, the valuation of Qvod will increase to 1.2 billion US dollars next time."

"Can you please not be so outrageous?" Xiong Xiaoge was almost speechless.

“Isn’t my story of the entire entertainment industry chain worth $1.2 billion?” Qin Shaoyan asked, “Now that I have successfully hyped up my IP, I will start using big data to mine celebrities.”

"Alright, alright." Xiong Xiaoge interrupted Qin Shaoyan directly, "How about this, Qvod is valued at $900 million, I will invest."

Qin Shaoyan didn't say anything, but stared at Xiong Xiaoge, which made Xiong Xiaoge feel a little uneasy.

After a long while, Qin Shaoyan finally sighed, "It's only because you, Boss Xiong, asked me to do this. Otherwise, I would never agree to it."

"I'll raise 90 million US dollars for you. Is that enough for you to use for two years?" Xiong Xiaoge asked back.

"That should be enough." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile.

Xiong Xiaoge looked at Qin Shaoyan seriously, "This IP operation must be successful, otherwise I will reconsider the financing."

"Bill Gates has joined, are you still worried about whether it can succeed?" Qin Shaoyan smiled, "What you should consider is how much the valuation of Qvod will be this time."

"I hope that the market value of Qvod can reach 1.5 billion US dollars when it goes public." Xiong Xiaoge raised his glass.

"At least 2 billion US dollars." Qin Shaoyan was full of confidence, "Let's celebrate in advance."

In his previous life, Youku had a market value of 3 billion US dollars when it went public. How could QVOD be better than them?

As the leading company in the video industry, it is normal for the premium to be higher.

Xiong Xiaoge was feeling a little heartbroken. He didn't expect the valuation of the video website to inflate so quickly. It was only 300 million US dollars when it was first invested, but now it has doubled to 900 million US dollars.

Of course he knows that the premium of video websites is high, but the high premium is not a problem. As long as the capital market recognizes it, the higher the premium, the more money he makes.

It’s just that Qin Shaoyan played too hard, and he was a little worried about the risks.

So Xiong Xiaoge began to consider whether he should transfer part of his shares to SoftBank before the listing and get back some of the money.

Xiong Xiaoge will not invest all the money in this round of financing by himself. IDG will contribute a maximum of US$30 million, and other venture capital institutions will participate in the remaining share.

Qin Shaoyan didn't object at all. As long as someone paid, it would be fine. It would also be nice to get more families on board.

He still remembered that in the previous life, Tudou.com raised US$1900 million from five VC institutions in its third round of financing, and US$5680 million in the fourth round, of which Kaixin Asia alone invested US$ million, and the remaining shares were divided among the five VC institutions.

No matter how much Xiong Xiaoge trusts Qin Shaoyan's ability, it is impossible for him to give him all the money at once. He also has to consider the financial risks.

Moreover, if so much money is invested in one company, other entrepreneurs seeking investment will get less and have fewer opportunities to make money.

Taking out 30 million US dollars is already the greatest trust in Qin Shaoyan.

Davis, who was drinking happily, came over to join in the fun and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, about financing." Qin Shaoyan said casually.

"Then why don't you call me?" Davis patted Qin Shaoyan's shoulder and said, "I can also invest in you."

"Hey, weren't you transferred to YouTube as president? I thought you were no longer in charge of investment." Qin Shaoyan showed a very surprised expression. "I can also do investment." Davis patted his chest and said, "I have a lot of friends in the investment department."

"Next time, definitely next time!" Qin Shaoyan said solemnly.

……

After eating and drinking, Qvod CEO Kou Hongfei took the initiative to pay the bill.

After all, the main topic of discussion today is how to raise money for Qvod.com, so the campus network naturally cannot pay for this meal.

Although they are all the same boss, they are brothers and they settle accounts clearly and deal separately.

Edward carried Davis and followed everyone back to the campus network. At this time, the people from Yiku.com had already returned. When they saw that their boss was drunk, they hurried forward to support him.

Everyone returned to the conference room and hot tea was served.

After drinking a cup of tea, everyone dispersed. After all, they all had a lot of things to deal with.

As soon as Xiong Xiaoge and Davis left, Charles Zhang from Sohu came over excitedly, "Boss Qin, good news."

"What good news?" Qin Shaoyan asked casually.

"Other video websites have already surrendered and signed the anti-piracy alliance agreement." Zhang Sohu was very excited.

He has been enjoying being the leader of the martial arts world lately, wielding the sticks of morality and law to oppress other video websites.

In order to quickly resolve the crisis caused by piracy, video websites had to delete a large amount of pirated content overnight.

For a time, traffic on major video sites plummeted and users were gradually lost.

Zhang Sohu had already made preparations and had been aggressively advertising and promoting Sohu Video, aggressively snatching away users.

Most of the lost users went to Qvod, and some went to Sohu Video. Recently, the number of Sohu Video users has doubled.

"Now that websites like Tudou and Youku have signed, I estimate they will soon come to you for genuine resources, Mr. Qin." Zhang Sohu lowered his voice, "Mr. Qin only needs to delay a little bit to make them lose all their users."

"This is not good." Qin Shaoyan hesitated for a moment. "The condition for joining the Anti-Piracy Alliance is that I provide them with a genuine resource library. This has been agreed upon long ago. Even if I delay it, it won't be long. If things go wrong, I might be called in for tea and a chat by the leader again."

Qin Shaoyan didn't intend to kill all his competitors with one blow, as that would be too disadvantageous to Kuaibo.com.

He needs other video sites to be alive.

Zhang Sohu has been enjoying unlimited traffic recently, and he wishes he could drive all his peers out of business so that he can take over everything.

Qin Shaoyan would not cooperate with him in this. He had more important things to do now.

Zhang Sohu felt quite regretful when he saw that Qin Shaoyan refused to fall into the trap.

"The film and television resource library is just given to them for free." Zhang Sohu said sourly, "It's really a pity."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, you are a little late."

"Huh?" Zhang Sohu was stunned.

"Davis and Xiong Xiaoge just left, and you came right after." Qin Shaoyan said, "We had a small gathering at noon today, and it was so lively with a drink and chat."

"Hey, next time you guys get together, be sure to invite me." Zhang Sohu felt very sorry. "What did you guys talk about today?"

"I recently wrote a novel and plan to translate it into English and send it to the United States." Qin Shaoyan said simply, "Davis decided to show the book to Bill Gates and ask him to recommend it, which can also be regarded as an advertisement."

"I haven't figured out how to do this in China yet. Since you're here, Mr. Zhang, I think I can leave this matter to you."

Zhang Sohu's eyes lit up. "Great, great. Bill Gates recommended it in the United States, and I, Zhang Chaoyang, recommended it in China. This can be considered a literary legend."

"Hey, what book did you write?"

"Science fiction novel, I Grow Potatoes on Mars. The English version is going to be called The Martian."

"Huh?!" Zhang Sohu was startled and looked at Qin Shaoyan in surprise, "So this novel was written by you."

"Mr. Zhang also knows this novel?" Qin Shaoyan was a little surprised.

"This novel is the hottest thing on the Internet recently. I heard it will be adapted into an animation." Zhang Sohu said excitedly, "I heard the animation has even been sold to YouTube."

"Well, YouTube spent two million dollars to buy the copyright of the animated version." Qin Shaoyan said casually.

The animated adaptation of a novel sold for two million US dollars. This money came too quickly.

Zhang Sohu was a little jealous, but he was keenly aware that something was wrong and looked at Qin Shaoyan suspiciously.

"By the way, Mr. Zhang." Qin Shaoyan said as he took out a document, "I'm leaving the marketing and promotion of my novel to Sohu. You're a portal website, and the advertising effect is much better than our campus network."

"We will pay for the advertising as usual. Thank you Mr. Zhang for your concern."

"Okay, okay." Zhang Sohu nodded and agreed immediately. "I'll have someone come over to discuss this with Mr. Qin. Sohu News can also publish an exclusive interview with the author. Is Mr. Qin willing to accept the interview?"

"Forget about the interview, but I will give you some information and let the editor of Sohu News edit it accordingly." Qin Shaoyan thanked Zhang Sohu again, "Thank you, Mr. Zhang."

"These are all trivial matters, not worth mentioning."

"By the way, Mr. Zhang." Qin Shaoyan continued, "There is another business deal. The online game operated by our campus network needs to be tested internally before the end of the year. We will also ask Sohu to take care of the advertising and promotion."

Zhang Sohu perked up, "Is this the online game you've been talking about?"

After receiving a positive reply, Zhang Sohu also became excited. "I've heard you say this online game is so good. I have to see it for myself this time. Please give me a beta account when the time comes."

"No problem." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "Please give me more suggestions, Mr. Zhang."

……

Davis returned to his rented villa and wrote the report overnight, and boarded a flight back to the United States the next day.

After returning to Microsoft headquarters, Davis personally handed the report he wrote to Chairman Bill Gates.

Bill Gates was very pleased after reading the report written by Davis and highly praised the strategic plan he proposed.

I think Davis has a very good business acumen and YouTube's future strategic planning is also very organized.

"David, your report is excellent." Bill Gates said with satisfaction, "I will support you at the board meeting."

"Thank you, Mr. Gates." Davis straightened his back, his heart filled with joy.

"Especially the IP strategy you mentioned. I think it's more important than legalization." Bill Gates changed the subject and said seriously, "Do you think it can succeed?"

"Mr. Qin's plan is perfect, and he has already tried it in China and achieved sensational results." Davis said sincerely, "I think this plan can be successfully replicated in the United States."

"And with Facebook as an ally, there is no obstacle for this novel to be published on social platforms."

"We just need to cooperate with Facebook for marketing, and there is a great chance that this novel will be brought to Hollywood."

Bill Gates didn't say anything, but just thought quietly for a while, "This big data...what do you think?"

"It's a great idea, a genius idea." Davis hesitated, "I think Qin is right. Big data is the key and password to the future."

"So, this key must be in our hands." Bill Gates suddenly said, "Have we invested in Facebook?"

"Yes, Mr. Gates," Davis replied quickly, "I made the final investment."

"Very good." Bill Gates laughed, "Davis, you are simply an investment genius."

"What do you think the chances are that we'll buy Facebook?"

"Well..." Davis hesitated, "I need to go back and investigate to find out. After all, Facebook has grown to a very large scale now."

"Okay, go back and write a report for me." Bill Gates nodded, and then added, "Davis, I have high hopes for you, do a good job."

"Thank you, Mr. Gates."

(End of this chapter)