Returning to Taiwan in 2000 as a patriotic artist

"Excuse me, sir, I am not the Little Ma you are talking about."

"The account number 88888888 you mentioned has not been registered yet, but it is a premium number and requires payment to activate."

Gu Bei was speechless.

He could tell from the accent, but Little Ma still stubbornly refused to admit it.

"How much?"

"10 million!"

The price quoted over the phone almost made Gu Bei choke on his saliva.

In 2000, you could buy a QQ account for 10 yuan?

Why don't you just rob it?

He blurted out instantly, "Didn't your entire ICQ software only sell for 10?"

"They dare to charge this price for just one account?"

There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then the voice became somewhat angry: "Sir, the claim that the entire ICQ software sells for 10 is a rumor circulating online."

"In fact, the highest offer at the time was 60, but I felt the price was too low and I didn't want to sell."

"At that time, my target price was 100 million."

Gu Bei almost burst out laughing.

So you've finally given yourself away and admitted that you're actually Little Ma, haven't you?

In his past life, he had heard Ma Huateng's voice in an interview video. Although the memory was vague, he remembered the distinctive Chaoshan accent and the slow, deliberate manner of his speech...

"Mr. Ma?" Gu Bei called out tentatively.

"Who is this?" The person on the other end of the phone didn't deny it, but their tone became more cautious.

Gu Bei laughed. It really is Little Ma...

"I am Gu Bei, an artist from Taiwan."

"Gu Bei?" The person on the other end of the phone sounded uncertain. "The one who sang 'Yellow Race'?"

"Yes, that's me." Gu Bei seized the opportunity to bargain: "Can you give me a discount on eight 8 accounts?"

"Mr. Gu Bei, I heard that you have Eagle King backing you?" Ma Huateng didn't bring up the account.

He changed the subject and started talking about something else:

"I'd like to ask if you are interested in investing in Tencent?"

Investing in Tencent?

Gu Bei was quite interested.

But his studio and his relationship with Eagle King are just a collaboration, and this needs to be clarified.

Gu Bei explained his cooperation model with Eagle King, leaving Little Ma completely bewildered.

Finally, he added, "Personally, I would very much like to invest in Tencent."

"But I haven't released my album yet, and I haven't made any money. Right now, my pockets are emptier than my face."

"Hiss~" Ma Huateng gasped.

He realized how brilliant Gu Bei's cooperation model was; it truly took the concept of "traffic" to its extreme.

This is way ahead of its time.

"How about...we cooperate in a different way?" Ma Huateng immediately changed his mind: "You do a spokesperson job for Tencent, and I'll just give you my account with eight 8s?"

Gu Bei thought about it and felt that this deal was worthwhile.

A QQ account with eight 8s can't even be found as a QQ friend in later generations...

"Deal!" he immediately approved.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you." Ma Huateng smiled, feeling that with Gu Bei's reputation, this deal was a good one. "Please wait a moment, I'll have someone activate this number for you."

"You should be able to log in in about ten minutes."

After hanging up the phone, both of them felt like they had gotten a great deal!

Ten minutes later, Gu Bei received a text message on his phone:

"Your QQ number 88888888 has been activated. The initial password is 123456. Please log in and change your password as soon as possible."

Gu Bei downloaded the QQ software, installed it, and logged in. If he remembered correctly, ICQ was only changed to QQ in April of this year.

He was stunned when the interface popped up.

The background is gray and white, the window is square, and the friend list only has one friend with "System Messages (10000)".

The profile picture cannot be customized; only the system default profile picture can be used.

No QQ Show, no QQ Space, no membership...

There's no QQ group either...

Gu Bei stared at the screen for a long time, then scrolled through the function menu again.

It's confirmed: QQ in 2000 was a blank slate.

Gu Bei was speechless. He picked up his phone and dialed again.

"Mr. Ma, this is a big problem. Do you have any plans to enable group chat functionality?"

"Group chat?" Ma Huateng's voice was full of doubt. "Mr. Gu, do you mean a chat room?"

Isn't the chat room a built-in feature of QQ?

Could it be that Gu Bei couldn't be found?

"Not one of those public chat rooms." Gu Bei thought for a moment, organizing his thoughts. "You guys organize dinner outings every day and frequently send out group emails. Don't you find that troublesome?"

"It is a bit troublesome," Ma Huateng agreed.

He could vaguely catch a glimpse of inspiration, but it wasn't very accurate.

Gu Bei continued, "For example, I can create a group chat, invite people who like my music to join, and chat and share updates with everyone in the group."

"And this group chat is different from a public chat room."

"It can add 100, 500, 1000 or even 2000 people, all of whom are people I know."

"For example, my colleagues, relatives, friends, or fans."

"Do you understand?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, and Ma Huateng seemed to be thinking seriously.

"Create your own chat, invite friends, chat privately in real time..." He grasped a few key points and suddenly everything became clear.

"This concept is very interesting."

Knowing that Little Ma was interested, Gu Bei added fuel to the fire: "Give each user the function to create a group, each group with a fixed group number, and set different levels for the maximum number of group members."

"For example, a regular user can create a group of 100 people, while a paying user can create a group of 500, 1000, or 2000 people."

"Payment?" Ma Huateng heard the most crucial thing!

"Mr. Ma, are you still worried about the profit model?" Gu Bei's words instantly struck the softest spot in Little Ma's heart.

In 2000, most internet companies were burning through cash, and making a profit was indeed a major challenge.

"Group chat permissions, custom avatars, QQ Space, longer chat history retention time..." Gu Bei counted on his fingers the things that could generate profit.

"Look, if you charge 10 or 8 yuan a month, and you have more users, your company can become self-sufficient, right?"

"Moreover, these features do not affect the basic chat experience, and users will not be lost."

Ma Huateng's breathing became noticeably heavier.

He keenly perceived the strategy behind this business logic.

Free basic features attract users, while value-added membership services generate revenue...

Gu Bei is simply a business genius!

What he didn't know was that this was precisely the model that would later become Tencent's most profitable business.

"Mr. Gu, thank you so much! I'm so grateful!" Ma Huateng was clearly very excited, and his voice was trembling a little.

"Our team has been thinking about how to make QQ self-sustaining, and your suggestion has given me a sudden insight!"

"We'll immediately start developing the group chat feature and strive to launch it within a month!"

Gu Bei nodded in satisfaction.

The sooner the group chat function is launched, the faster he can connect with his fans, and then "check their homework" in the group to gradually gain control of the conversation.

"Oh, right, I have one more suggestion."

Gu Bei suggested that regular users could create groups of 100, members of 500, annual members of 1000, and super members (SVIP) of 2000.

Finally, QQ's upgrade function was added: four stars upgrade to a moon, four moons upgrade to a sun, four suns upgrade to a crown...

As for what four crowns will upgrade to, well, Gu Bei's QQ account in his previous life only had three crowns, so he had no idea!

"Upgraded features can increase user retention time."

"Many people who have computers will keep QQ running all day without logging off."

Gu Bei believed that Xiao Ma would understand what this meant.

After explaining this set of business strategies, Ma Huateng was extremely excited:

"How about this, Mr. Gu, if you can bring in 400 million in investment, I will give you 5% of the shares."

Gu Bei is simply a business genius!

Ma Huateng's idea is very simple.

The idea is to use 5% to establish a business relationship with Gu Bei, bring him into their company, and hope that he can provide more advice later!

"Okay, deal!" Gu Bei made the decision immediately.