Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 74

Chapter 74: A Visionary Xiao Qinghan

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“Ruoming, have you… ever considered creating something like a video website?” Xiao Qinghan asked.

“Hmm? What type, like Bilibili?” Xia Ruoming raised her eyebrows. Actually, she had been planning this all along, she could just copy the short video platform from the future.

“Yes, but also no. How should I put it… I don’t know if you’ve seen Shark Live that came out this year.”

“I have. It’s quite innovative. I imagine it will be very popular in the future,” Xia Ruoming said casually. In fact, she already knew that Shark Live would become hugely successful and stay popular for many years.

“Exactly, that’s what I think too. But platforms like Bilibili only have videos, no livestreaming. And long videos with storylines become less engaging once you pause and try to continue watching later. While platforms like Shark that focus solely on livestreaming don’t have many videos, and even if they add them later, it’s hard to change their established user base,” Xiao Qinghan analyzed methodically for Xia Ruoming, sounding very logical. “Ruoming, have you considered creating a platform that has both livestreaming and videos? We could randomly display videos on the homepage, and we could also analyze each user’s preferences to recommend suitable videos. This would give us an advantage over other video platforms and increase user stickiness.”

“If we add some social media interaction features to this platform, similar to Twitter, it would definitely have market potential.”

“Shark Live is still in its early stages. If we act now, we could capture both the livestreaming and video markets before Shark Live does. If we heavily promote that our platform has no pre-roll or end-roll ads, we’ll definitely be able to strike a big blow against traditional video competitors. Ruoming, you have the funds now, and you once told me you wanted to dominate the internet world. I’ve never told anyone about this idea, and I think maybe I can help you.”

Xia Ruoming nearly dropped her jaw hearing this. Keep in mind, Shark Live had only been around for less than a year, and its predecessor was an obscure livestreaming service. Yet Xiao Qinghan was already thinking about creating what would become the hugely successful TikTok of the future.

Xiao Qinghan’s goal was very clear and ambitious, to dominate the market before other forces could develop.

The reason Xia Ruoming wanted to do it was because she was a time traveler who had seen the future.

The reason she hadn’t done it yet was because of the limited machine performance at this time – even Youku still mostly had 720p videos, and mobile phones’ network and performance couldn’t compare to computers. Plus, big data required enormous funding and later government support. She seriously doubted whether TikTok’s approach could succeed at this point in time.

For a moment, Xia Ruoming even suspected that Xiao Qinghan was also a time traveler.

But thinking carefully, how could there be so many reincarnated people in this world? If Xiao Qinghan were also a time traveler, how could she have been so easily persuaded by Xia Ruoming?

Seeing Xia Ruoming’s surprised expression, Xiao Qinghan seemed somewhat proud.

“Of course, this project won’t be easy to execute. I’m certain it will require a lot of funding. The servers of an unknown small novel website like this definitely won’t be enough to support it. Server costs alone would be huge, plus the cost of researching algorithms to adapt to users, increasing maintenance and development personnel costs, it’s definitely not something a company of our current size can handle.”

“I’ve analyzed this project carefully for a long time. The initial investment might be nearly bottomless, and the slow return on investment is also an issue. But if you have sufficient funding, Ruoming, I think the returns from this project will exceed your imagination.”

As she spoke, Xiao Qinghan took out her phone and sent Xia Ruoming a document over 30 pages long. It detailed the project’s projected development, her design for a UI even more concise and beautiful than TikTok’s previous life, and even profit analysis based on Shark Live and various video platforms, including estimated time to profitability.

“…” Xia Ruoming was completely stunned by Xiao Qinghan. First laying out the blueprint, then explaining the pros and cons, Xiao Qinghan’s intelligence was far more extraordinary than she had imagined.

“Sister Qinghan, do you have the energy to manage two projects?” Xia Ruoming asked.

“What?” Xiao Qinghan was momentarily unable to understand what Xia Ruoming meant, inadvertently speaking out loud.

“Sister Qinghan’s idea actually aligns perfectly with what I was thinking before, just that I hadn’t prepared it in as much detail as you have. Since Sister Qinghan has already proposed it, I think we should let you take full responsibility for this livestreaming and video platform.”

“Let’s call this platform Raspberry. Both Tomato Novel Network and Raspberry will be under Qinghan Culture. After Qinghan Culture is officially established, Sister Qinghan will be in full charge and hold 30% of the shares. How does that sound?” Xia Ruoming asked tentatively. She wasn’t the type of boss who liked outsiders directing insiders. Since Xiao Qinghan was more suited for this job than her, why not just hand it over to her?

“Are you serious? The company’s money, location, and people are all provided by you. Aren’t you afraid that giving me 30% means I might take over your power someday?” Xiao Qinghan asked with a smile.

“If Sister Qinghan wants more, I can give you more shares. It’s just that I know you too well, getting too much for free would make you feel uneasy inside. I just quoted what I think is your bottom line, didn’t I? I trust you, Sister Qinghan.” Xia Ruoming picked up her iced cola and took a sip, smiling as she spoke to Xiao Qinghan.

Looking at Xia Ruoming’s completely genuine gaze, Xiao Qinghan felt waves of disappointment in her heart. How she wished the reason Xia Ruoming gave her so many shares wasn’t because of trust.

“Alright… Sigh, you spent so much money yet want to be a hands-off boss.” Xiao Qinghan shook her head and sighed, “I can only help you manage the research and development direction and operations. As for human resources and other aspects, I’ll need to study more. I won’t be able to help much in the short term. Ruoming, you’ll still need to pay attention yourself, whether it’s reasonably priced servers, new company locations, or excellent talent, you need to watch out for all of it.”

“Okay, okay, okay. When we get to Hangzhou, I’ll recommend someone to you, Sister Qinghan. His name is Li Wuya, and I’ll have him take charge of Raspberry’s development work. Sister Qinghan, if you receive a call from someone claiming to be this name, remember not to hang up.” Xia Ruoming replied unhurriedly. “As for funding, I can provide you with about 200 million yuan upfront, which will go directly to the company’s account. Don’t worry about the servers either. Once I get to Zhejiang University, the server issue will naturally be resolved. After Sister Qinghan grows the project, we can consider building our own servers.”

“What? How much money?” Xiao Qinghan was completely stunned when she heard this figure. She had thought Xia Ruoming might have 50 or 60 million yuan at most, probably from investing in something or winning the lottery, but how much did she just say she would provide?

“200 million yuan. What’s wrong, Sister Qinghan? Is this amount not enough for the project?” Xia Ruoming frowned, regretting that she hadn’t learned more about these things in her previous life, having focused entirely on painting and literature.

“Ruoming, are you sure you want to invest so much money in this project?” Xiao Qinghan couldn’t immediately accept this sum, it was just too much, and she would have direct control over it! Originally she had been very confident in her idea, but now she was afraid of losing all this money for Xia Ruoming.

“Sister Qinghan, because it’s your idea, I trust you. I said I would pull you out of that darkness that doesn’t belong to you, and I’m willing to pay any price.” She still used that same old reasoning “trust.”

After a long silence, Xiao Qinghan stood up and walked to Xia Ruoming’s side. Before Xia Ruoming could react, Xiao Qinghan’s lips were already pressed against hers.

If Xia Ruoming’s reason was really trust, then let her change that reason into something beyond trust.