Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 48 Wang Xing
"I studied abroad for half a year and found that Americans have a more open mind. When I returned to China this time and met with several classmates, I found that they did have some ideas for new internet social products."

"I designed an internet social platform where everyone is familiar with each other. We can connect with each other, make friends, post updates, and share our lives..."

Lu Kuan listened to his nonsense for more than ten minutes before he couldn't help but interrupt him.

"You're talking about Friendster, the one you designed."

Wang Xing was a little speechless. He didn't expect that an outsider far away in the country would know about the Internet software that had just started abroad.

"Well, Mr. Lu, my ideas are innovative. For example, the definition of our acquaintances is..."

"Stop!"

Boss Lu was ready to use his great prophecy to strike him precisely and completely crush the arguing man into the dust.

"Your so-called acquaintance social interaction is based on the theory of six degrees of separation, right?"

The theory of six degrees of separation states that you can get to know any stranger through at most six people, which is the basis of the acquaintance social model.

Zhuang Xu looked at Wang Xing's increasingly embarrassed expression and felt secretly happy. He poured his junior fellow apprentice a cup of chrysanthemum tea and crossed his legs to watch the show.

Live it!

"Your thinking is too rote, like trying to find a sword by looking at the boat on the shore. I'll just point out one fatal flaw."

"Chinese people have different social habits than Westerners. Chinese people are reserved and don't embrace everyone they see on the street like Americans and Westerners do. Similarly, on your social networking site, socializing with acquaintances without specific segments is extremely fragmented and there's no core focus."

Wang Xing was about to say something to him out of habit, but he frowned and was speechless.
"If I were to do it, I would directly define it as a social networking among acquaintances based on campus users, for example!"

"Start with universities in Peking. For each school and class, restrict the user's registration address, allowing only university students to register. From there, you can leverage the six degrees of separation to refine your user base."

Wang Xing's heart seemed to skip a beat. The handsome young man in front of him made him feel ashamed of himself, but he was able to raise targeted questions and solutions only 5 minutes after he expounded on his genius theory!
The key point is that every word he said hits the nail on the head and every punch hits the flesh, leaving him unable to refute!
"Mr. Lu...this...you..."

"Xiao Wang, your ideas are quite good, but the US and the West are still quite different from our national conditions."

“If you want to create internet products suitable for Chinese people, you must come back here!”

Boss Lu pointed his index finger downward, gesturing at the marble tiles in a bossy manner. "Return to the land that feeds the Chinese people, and your products will not fail to adapt to the local climate."

This is true. There are many negative examples such as Oracle, Uber, LinkedIn, and Amazon.

Wang Xing was caught in a fierce struggle between his conscience and his desires, but still said unwillingly, "I want to hear Mr. Lu introduce the products he wants me to manage."

"You studied abroad last year. I wonder if you were there during 911/. You should have heard of the American blogger platform."

Wang Xing was very perceptive. Enthusiastic about the internet and entrepreneurship, he was certainly aware of the Blogger platform. He excitedly asked, "You mean the domestic blogging platform when you say Web 2.0?"

The first person to propose the concept of blog in China was Fang Xingdong, but his concept was also taken from several foreign blog-like products.

There are a lot of plagiarized articles in the world, so Boss Lu got the advantage in this life.

"That's right. The current stage of domestic Internet development and user thinking patterns are a good time to develop a blog business."

The road ahead was long and demanding, so he began to elaborate on his development philosophy in detail. The blog site's architecture was extremely simple. Fang Xingdong, the blog site founder known as the "Father of Chinese Blogging," had an intern from Beihang University tinker with the original site.

Other features include simple operation. After registering, first-generation users only need to follow the templates of the management platform and directly provide content to publish.

For example, we need to open up interactivity and set up functional sections such as friendship links, gift giving, etc. to allow users to interact;
"We also need to set up some levels, points, etc. to provide users with a data system that allows for growth and enhances stickiness." Lu Kuan transformed himself into a product manager, looking at the stunned Wang Xing as he explained his ideas in detail.

"Finally, it's very important to set up an update plan in advance. Don't release all features at once, but gradually improve the user experience."

Wang Xing was puzzled: "Why?"

Zhuang Xu also joined the discussion from the perspective of a bystander: "Plagiarism is rampant on the domestic internet. The technical difficulty of blogging is too low. What's important is product creativity."

Lu Kuan smiled and gave his senior brother a thumbs up, then gulped down a cup of herbal tea.

Looking at the dishes that had already been served, he personally opened a bottle of Wuliangye and filled the cups in front of the three people.

"How about it, Xiao Wang? Are you interested in participating in the great cause of creating a new landscape for the domestic internet?"

The devilish Boss Lu directly hits the G-spot of the argumentative person.

The argumentative person has already started his own crazy imagination. What if he can become the number one Internet product manager in China? What if he can punch Penguin and kick Xinlang with 10 billion blog users? What if...

"Boss Lu! Thank you for your kindness. I'll take the job!"

"Okay!" Zhuang Xu also cooperated and raised his glass to drink, although he still didn't know why his junior brother was so determined to recruit this little argumentative person into the group the first time they met.

Wang Xing was still a little unsatisfied, so he asked Lu Kuan, who was like the godfather of entrepreneurship in his mind, many questions about entrepreneurship.

Lu Kuan suddenly remembered something: "Wang Xing, your studies?"

"It's okay, just apply for a leave of absence first." As smart as he was, he still left himself a way out.

Wang Xing, a later generation, also gave up his doctoral studies when he returned to China to start a business in 2003. It was not difficult for a rich second-generation like him to make such a choice.

Because money is not a key factor affecting their life decisions.

His father was a bricklayer and started his own business in 1992. By 2023, his business had become the largest in Fujian Province. Wang Xing's entrepreneurial gene is ingrained in his bones.

As for whether he is the kind of person who "a real man cannot be depressed and live under someone else's control for long", at least Lu Kuan is not worried about it now.

Make the best use of everything and everyone, use it to build up the organizational structure first, build up momentum and then find venture capital.

In the future, we will build bridges over rivers and cut roads across mountains. We will have our own solutions.

The meal lasted until 12 o'clock. Wang Xing, who was eager to learn, ignored his instinct to argue and absorbed a lot of spiritual nourishment from Boss Lu, and completely turned into the shape of Lu Kuan.

Lu Kuan then instructed his senior brother on some matters concerning registering a company and forming a team, and then he fell into a deep sleep exhausted from the day.

(End of this chapter)