From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 184 Monthly Revenue Exceeds 100 Million

Three days after the auction ended, Lin Mu sat in his office, looking through the latest reports.

In November 2011, after the Running Man show became a huge hit, Pinduoduo opened up the GG slot, which means that the weight of smart recommendations was increased.

The increase in GG slots has yielded excellent results, with monthly revenue reaching 5 billion in December, including 100 million in income.

1 million a month, that's 12 billion a year.

Although this amount of money is not enough to cover the subsidies, it is a signal that Pinduoduo is starting to have the ability to generate its own revenue.

Then he opened Weibo and glanced at the trending topics.

#OneYuanAuctionSoldFor1MillionYuan# #3rdOnTrendySearch#

#Lin Mu Responds to Public Welfare Criticism# #7th on Trending Searches

#LinMu's next variety show# #12th on the trending topics list

Sure enough, his interview from a while ago went viral.

His online army wasn't wasted.

Lin Mu casually clicked on a trending topic related to an interview.

In the video, he said, "Because the subsidies are too expensive, I'm selling a side business to supplement my household income."

The comment section below the video is already in an uproar.

"Selling 1 million worth of goods to supplement household income? Are you just showing off your wealth?"

"What they said is true. Pinduoduo burns through hundreds of millions of yuan a month. 1 million yuan is only enough to burn through for 10 days."

"What, are you a dutiful son of Pinduoduo? Feeling sorry for your dad? That's hilarious."

"Is it true that he wants to do a charity variety show?"

"A charity variety show? What kind of charity variety show?"

"I don't know. He said it himself. He said he wanted to create an edutainment variety show to donate money to impoverished areas."

"Don't believe it, it's all hype. You can't trust a single punctuation mark from internet company bosses."

Lin Mu was a little nervous. No, was the internet already such a garbage dump in 2012?

Oh well.

Just generate buzz.

He put down his phone and pressed the intercom.

"Have Jiang Fan come over."

A few minutes later, Jiang Fan knocked on the door and came in.

"Mr. Lin, you wanted to see me?"

Lin Mu gestured for him to sit down, then pushed a document in front of him.

"Take a look at this."

Jiang Fan took the document and quickly browsed through it.

The document is titled: "Draft Plan for a Quiz Show with Prizes"

Core rules:

1. Users can participate in the quiz within the Pinduoduo APP, limited to one time per account (Note: this may be opened periodically depending on the results).

2. Rewards can be selected from a selection of items worth up to 20 yuan, allowing users to choose and increasing interactivity. 3. The quiz consists of ten multiple-choice questions, increasing in difficulty as you progress, and has a time limit. 4. An auxiliary feature can be added: users who invite friends to like the quiz receive increased time, significantly reducing the difficulty. Inviting three friends can reduce the quiz to a very easy level. (Note: New users have higher weighting; existing users can have their weighting adjusted as needed.)

Jiang Fan's eyes lit up after reading it.

"This is interesting." He looked up. "It's like using bonuses to incentivize users to answer questions, using the answers to drive viral growth, and using that growth to bring in new users."

Lin Mu nodded: "That's right. And the design of the last question should be such that it can stump most people. It could even be changed to an open-ended question or a 10-choice question, so that you have to bring others along to pass."

Jiang Fan pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "President Lin, I have an idea."

"explain."

"We can make the question bank more localized," Jiang Fan said, sitting up straight. "For example, the questions would be different for each city. Beijing's questions would be about politics, Shanghai's would be about economics, and Guangdong's would be about foreign trade."

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow: "That's a good idea."

Jiang Fan got more and more excited as he spoke, "And we can publicly solicit questions. Users can upload their own questions, and if one is selected, they will receive a no-minimum-spend coupon as a reward."

"This will both enrich the question bank and increase user engagement."

Lin Mu pondered for a few seconds, then smiled.

"Good idea." He stood up and walked to the window. "A localized question bank, with users creating questions and asking others for help, should allow Pinduoduo to increase its user base even further."

He turned to look at Jiang Fan: "Go and develop a detailed plan. For the entire project, the technical department will initially approve a budget of 2000 million, and we can add more if that's not enough."

Jiang Fan nodded: "Understood."

Three days later, at a private restaurant near Jing'an Temple in Shanghai.

Lin Mu sat in the private room, opposite a middle-aged man in his forties.

The man wore gold-rimmed glasses and had a refined and cultured demeanor; he was clearly an intellectual.

His name is Zheng Xiaolong, a top-tier variety show director in China, whose representative work is the first season of "The Voice of China".

Since Lin Mu's idea became a hit, he has become a big name in variety shows.

The main thing is that he's the only big spender who provides ideas, recording fees, and sponsorship fees.

Now it's not the directors choosing him, but Lin Mu choosing the directors.

The opportunity to meet Lin Mu was something Zheng Xiaolong fought hard for himself, overcoming numerous obstacles.

"Mr. Lin, I've heard so much about you." Zheng Xiaolong smiled and extended his hand.

Lin Mu grasped his hand: "Director Zheng, you're too kind. I really like your work; I watch every episode of 'The Voice of China'."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the waiter brought out the dishes.

After the waiter left, Zheng Xiaolong spoke up, "President Lin, your team spoke with me, saying you want to make a new variety show. I'm curious, what kind of show is it?"

Lin Mu did not answer directly, but asked in return: "Director Zheng, do you know that there is a show in the United States called 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'?"

'

Zheng Xiaolong nodded: "I know. Quiz shows used to be very popular."

"7

Lin Mu continued, "I want to make something similar, but on a larger scale."

He took a document out of his briefcase and pushed it in front of Zheng Xiaolong.

Zheng Xiaolong took it and opened it.

National Intellectual Challenge – Fight for Your Hometown

Project Summary:

—From 34 provinces across the country, 24 were selected to participate (excluding those that were inconvenient to coordinate).

—Each province will form a 3-person team to represent their hometown in the competition.

—Basic prize pool: 10 yuan per team.

—Public Welfare Fund: Each participating province will receive a public welfare fund of 100 million yuan, which will be used for desks and chairs, nutritious breakfasts, books and other items in local impoverished schools.

—赛制：24进12，12进6，6进3，3进1。

—The charity fund will increase by 100 million for each round of advancement.

—The champion team receives a prize of 100 million yuan, and the champion province receives a public welfare fund of 1000 million yuan.

After reading it, Zheng Xiaolong looked up, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Mr. Lin, your project is great, very interesting, extremely interesting!"

"If this can make charity variety shows popular, wow, that would be a great deed."

He offered his suggestion: "Mr. Lin, I know a few leaders in the Education Bureau."

"I can ask for some resources and get some assistance from the education bureau."

"For example, we could coordinate with some students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities to participate, which would increase the topic's buzz."

Lin Mu shook hands with him and said, "Then I'll leave it to Director Zheng."

A week later, Pinduoduo's official Weibo account posted a message:

Pinduoduo Launches Charity Program

We will be holding the "Fight for Your Hometown" intellectual challenge in 24 provinces across the country. Each participating province will receive a 100 million yuan charity fund to support the construction of impoverished schools in their area. The champion province will receive a 1000 million yuan charity fund.

Registration method: Log in to the Pinduoduo APP, enter the "Fight for Hometown" section, and fill in your personal information and competition declaration.

We will select three representatives from each province to form a team.

Fight for your hometown, we're waiting for you!

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