2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 261 Happy Farm Project

How amazing was Happy Farm during the transition from the Web 2.0 era to smartphones?
This game, developed by a few recent college graduates, became an instant hit across the country as soon as it was released. At its peak, the portal website had a total of 9000 million registered users and more than 3000 million concurrent users.

Its user base can be said to range from 80-year-old grandmothers to 10-year-old children, covering netizens of all ages, which triggered a nationwide craze for stealing vegetables. Many people set alarms to get up in the middle of the night to steal vegetables, including Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng in their previous lives.

According to incomplete statistics, after Happy Farm was sold to QQ, it brought at least 3 million users to QQ Zone, giving QQ Zone, which had been lukewarm to the point, the capital to compete with Tieba, blogs, and even the then newly emerging microblogs.

From a practical value perspective, Happy Farm should be worth 10 billion yuan, but the biggest winner is QQ, while the founders, who were recent college graduates, didn't actually make much money.

According to news reports online at the time, these college students apparently sold the complete control of Happy Farm to QQ for 300 million yuan. This complete control included updating the game, renaming the game, and removing the game from app stores, and the founders and their company could not object to any of these actions.

Sure enough, not long after, Happy Farm, which was distributed and operated on the QQ platform, was renamed QQ Farm. The tens of millions of loyal users who originally belonged to Happy Farm on QQ naturally became loyal users of QQ Farm.

He sold his entire fortune for 300 million yuan. I bet Ma was laughing his head off at that time.

Yes, I can picture it now; it reminds me of his classic smiling emoji.

College students starting their own businesses face several inherent challenges, including a lack of funds and resources. Additionally, differing career plans, perspectives, and goals after graduation can easily lead to disintegration.

However, given Tan Jincheng's situation, the scenario of selling to QQ for 300 million yuan is unlikely to occur. He has enough funds to operate a small game called Happy Farm. He might lack resources, but it's still better than having a few recent college graduates.

Following the path of Happy Farm from my previous life, with the advantage of being a prophet, I will definitely earn more money than those college students from my previous life.

It generated a total value of 1 billion, so making 10 million shouldn't be a problem, right?

"What's the use of coming to me? I don't have that much money to help you. If you're talking about the matter Qingqing mentioned, I can only support you with a few million at most," Gu Hongshun said speechlessly.

"A few million is already quite a lot, but please rest assured, Uncle and Aunt, cars are not my main business now. I just got involved by chance, and it won't affect my company's cash flow."

"Wanting to build a career is a good thing, but don't take too big a step," Gu Hongshun sighed.

He couldn't say anything more, as it would be presumptuous to speak too much when they were just getting to know each other. After all, they had only met three times.

However, it must be said that this kid is really something. In less than three years of entrepreneurship, he has the ability to enter the automotive industry, even if he is just participating and not building cars himself, that is already very impressive.

But the more this was the case, the more worried Gu Hongshun became. The two families were considered well-matched, but this kid was developing too fast, and the gap was widening, which made things a bit difficult.

Eating a boiled egg too early, even though you just blurted it out, might be a sign of inner anxiety.

"I know that I will still focus on two-wheeled electric vehicles for now. Our company's electric vehicle sales have been quite good this year, so we will not easily change our focus. Investing in automobiles is just to enrich the company's industrial structure."

"You want to go public too?" Gu Hongshun raised an eyebrow.

Traditional manufacturing companies don't think about diversifying their business portfolio; they only focus on existing products to expand their product range.

Electric vehicles, cars, and the internet he mentioned to Qingqing—the company's main business is complex, so there's only one possibility: they want to go public.

"Of course, this was planned when I cooperated with Beicang District before. We definitely have plans to go public in the future," Tan Jincheng said confidently.

Given FlashTech's current financial situation and profit forecast for 2006, it has already met the standards for a listed company. However, due to the company's age and the fact that it has not yet undergone shareholding reform, it cannot go public for the time being.

In the era of the registration-based system, the electric vehicle industry, now supported by the government and an emerging industry, including Flash Technology, already has many companies that meet the listing standards.

If I remember correctly, the first electric vehicle company to be listed on the A-share market was Xinri? I think Yadi was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As for which of the two was listed earlier, I'm not sure.

“You young people are really energetic. Today is the first time we’ve had a serious talk about our careers, and it makes me feel like I’m too old and useless.” Gu Hongshun said to his wife helplessly.

"So what if you're old? You're old anyway. It's good that young people are developing."

"No way, Uncle and Aunt are in their prime and don't look old at all. Especially Aunt, when she stands next to Qingqing, they look like sisters."

"Haha, if you said that to Qingqing's face, she would definitely get angry. You're making her sound old," Li Jinzhen laughed heartily.

"Then don't let her know."

"Alright, alright, you're a big boss, stop with the empty flattery. Tell me about that internet company you mentioned." Gu Hongshun couldn't take it anymore.

Li Jinzhen was displeased by this: "What do you mean by empty flattery? What do you mean by that?"

"It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean anything, I didn't think before I spoke."

"The internet company is called Orange Technology. In the early stages, we plan to develop some small games for trial operation. If the results are good, we will continue to develop some games. In the future, we will adjust the company's operation strategy according to the development of the Internet."

Currently, we're already setting up the team, have chosen an office location, and recruited some staff. Next, we'll begin game development. I already have some ideas for game development.

"Is it like the Legend of Mir in internet cafes?" Gu Hongshun asked, frowning.

With nothing much going on, Gu Hongshun would sometimes go to internet cafes with his friends to catch kids playing games. To be honest, his generation didn't have a good impression of online games, so when Tan Jincheng said that the internet company was making games, he found it hard to accept.

There's no way around it; the experts and media in the past few years have promoted it too much. The internet has poisoned the minds of a generation, and it's almost ingrained in the minds of most ordinary parents. In this day and age, schools like the Electric Shock Academy, which seriously violate human rights, are considered reasonable.

However, although Gu Hongshun, who had experience in business, did not know how games should be operated, he knew that they were very profitable. In 2004, at the age of 30, Mr. Chen became the richest man in China with the game Legend. The sensation caused is still fresh in people's minds even more than a year later.

Gu Hongshun knew that the gaming industry was profitable, but deep down he still felt some resistance to it. However, this was not something he could decide. "You must have your reasons for doing what you do. I won't interfere, nor can I interfere with it. If you really need money, I can provide some, but not much. I can only come up with a maximum of 300 million."

The rent for shops in the International Trade City alone is nearly 400 million yuan a year. In terms of wealth, Gu Hongshun is definitely worth tens of millions. However, not all of his money is sitting in the bank; most of it has been converted into real estate.

If he really put his mind to it, raising ten or twenty million yuan wouldn't be a problem at all, but Gu Hongshun definitely wouldn't do that. He'd just take a portion of his working capital to support it.

In case this kid fails in his business, at least it will leave a way out for Qingqing and him.

This is the wisdom of a generation; they are not used to putting all their eggs in one basket.

“That’s enough. We’re not developing a large-scale game, so 300 million yuan is enough. However, we probably won’t get too many shares,” Tan Jincheng said.

The investment was simply to give Gu Qingqing a business opportunity, so that the gap between them wouldn't be so exaggerated. Tan Jincheng wasn't really concerned about the amount of money involved; developing and operating Happy Farm wouldn't cost too much.

Once it becomes popular, Tan Jincheng will still follow the same path as Happy Farm from his previous life, selling it to QQ and making a profit. After all, if it really comes down to competing with QQ, Happy Farm really can't beat them; the other party's copying tactics are too unscrupulous.

This is not a decade or so later when copyright awareness was highly valued. QQ is no longer an unshakeable behemoth. They are capable of doing things that scared Zhou Hongyi into hiding, so they don't need to worry about saving face.

There are actually a lot of shameless people these days. Take the logo of the previous generation of Zhongtai for example, it was obtained by deception. Isn't that amazing?
In its previous life, Zhongtai initially wore an "A" label with an unclear meaning. Later, it was gradually changed to a "Z" label, representing the triple meaning of Zhongtai, Zhejiang Province, and ZG.

But this car logo is quite amusing. At the beginning of this year, a designer who loves to modify car logos thought that Zhongtai's A-shaped logo was too ugly, so he sent Zhongtai two sets of design drawings.

Unexpectedly, Zhongtai actually replied to him, inviting him to a face-to-face meeting and requesting an electronic copy of the manuscript. The young designer didn't even accept a deposit and sent the manuscript directly. There was no further response after that.

It wasn't until the trademarks were registered and used that the designer realized he had been scammed. Isn't that ridiculous?

However, Zhongtai didn't care about him. Despite the lawsuits, the car logo was still in use until 2023.

This was quite funny back then, and everyone laughed at Zhongtai for being shameless. But in an era when copyright awareness was unclear, this kind of thing was all too common.

If QQ really shamelessly copies the Happy Farm developed by Tan Jincheng, while he won't be completely powerless like that designer, there aren't many things he can do either.

Of course, Zhongtai has never done anything like this before, and Tan Jincheng has seen the draft of this Z-shaped car logo.

Considering the possibility of acquiring Zhongtai in the future, I also advised Ying Jianren to send another sum of money. After all, he is just an amateur and it doesn't cost much. There's no need to damage his reputation.

Ying Jianren listened to the advice and thought it was better to avoid trouble, so he had the finance department transfer 30 yuan to the designer.
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From a business perspective, company shares can be divided into capital shares and human capital shares.

Generally, the equity ratio is 60% for capital and 40% for human resources.

When Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng started their company together, although Tan Jincheng was in charge of the business, Zhang Xupeng, who was responsible for logistics, human resources, and contract manufacturing, was equally important.

If you don't have a suitable and trustworthy person, they might even empty your company while you're out doing business. In addition, they might collude with the contract manufacturers to sabotage you, take kickbacks from you, and cut corners on quality products, which is quite common.

Therefore, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng split the shares equally in terms of human resources, so the shares were roughly allocated according to the proportion of their investment.

When two parties jointly start a company, the avoidance of equal share distribution and one party having a dominant position is problematic. If the share distribution is equal, the leader is unclear about the allocation and there is no real decision-maker. If one party has a dominant position, the minority shareholders have no sense of participation.

A reasonable distribution method is 70% and 30%, or 80% and 20%, so that both parties feel involved, but without causing disagreements over the right to speak.

In fact, the initial equity distribution method of Jinpeng Trading was also unreasonable. However, neither Tan Jincheng nor Zhang Xupeng considered it that much at the time. Zhang Xupeng did not understand it at all, while Tan Jincheng was using the same mindset they had when they partnered in the previous life.

In their previous life, the two of them shared the shares equally and there were no problems, so Tan Jincheng didn't pay too much attention to it back then.

As for the added benefit of past life memories, it is somewhat useful in doing business, but not particularly useful. For example, Tan Jincheng knows about the development trajectory of Zhongtai, but what good is knowing it? If you come on your own, they won't pay any attention to you, so it's useless. You still have to involve the Beicang government.

The same goes for running a business; it still depends more on your business skills. Past life memories can only help you grasp the general direction, so when the shares were distributed, Tan Jincheng didn't think Zhang Xupeng had gained much advantage.

However, this time, it was different for Gu Hongshun to invest in Orange Technology in Gu Qingqing's name. This time, Tan Jincheng was well prepared and it was more of a free ride, and he didn't lack initial funds himself.

If it were someone else, Tan Jincheng would not allow them to easily become a shareholder. Therefore, in the matter of equity distribution, Tan Jincheng would maintain a professional attitude. From a psychological perspective, Tan Jincheng would only be willing to give up a maximum of 20% of the shares.

After all, Orange Technology is an internet company, and it will need to consider the possibility of future financing.

This round is essentially venture capital. Given a certain level of confidence, Tan Jincheng was naturally unwilling to give up too many shares to venture capital firms.

"You can decide on the shares yourself. I don't know anything about the internet anyway, so just put them in Qingqing's name," Gu Hongshun said nonchalantly.

"Well, actually the best way is to set up a company and participate in the investment in the company's name. It's better than doing it personally. Also, my assistant has a planning proposal. You can take a look at it later," Tan Jincheng reminded him.

"Let's wait until Qingqing comes back tonight, and then we can talk about it tomorrow. There's no rush."

It's only about 300 million yuan, less than a year's rent, so why would I bother listening to those things?

"Alright then, I'll talk to Qingqing when she gets back." Tan Jincheng could tell that Gu Hongshun didn't care much about the 300 million, so he didn't continue.

As if by divine intervention, Happy Farm ended after being bought out for 300 million yuan in its previous life. However, due to Tan Jincheng's early intervention, Happy Farm received another 300 million yuan investment and officially started its project.

(End of this chapter)