Chapter 244: A Million Dollar Prize
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was not easy to be an entrepreneur. Based on research data, the failure rate of new entrepreneurs in the technology and internet sectors had exceeded 90%. Of the remaining few that had succeeded, the success that they yearned for with all their hearts was not to expand their company into a big business or to create large revenues. They hoped to be acquired by a big corporation so that they could achieve financial freedom. It was because they were short-sighted. Rather, to be acquired was the smart and best choice that they could make.
This was especially true for start-ups in the internet sector. Your ideas could easily be regulated or suppressed and your products easily plagiarized. Your company would not have the same financial capabilities as other larger corporations. Once the bigger companies entered the market, it would immediately be a feast for them. Your market share would all be s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the big corporations in a short time.
The strong became stronger and the large became larger. That was the general observation of the businesses in the internet sector. If the smallfry did not want to be swallowed by the sharks, it would be better for them to offer themselves up as food and become part of the giant.
Of course, Liu Xiaoping did not think so far ahead. He merely wanted to do his current job well. And that was to grow “Ningshuang Studio” into a bigger business. Three months. It had been three months since he joined the studio established by Xu Ningshuang. What made him rejoice the most right now was that this company was still standing. In other words, it was a miracle that it had not collapsed. He had witnessed various actions taken by Xu Ningshuang when it came to the business and thought, if this woman can become a successful entrepreneur, I’ll cut my head off.
He had tried to stop her from taking some actions, and even fought with her in private, but was still unable to change her tendency to cling to her course in a stubborn manner. If not for his G.o.ddess, Ren Jiaojiao, he would have sworn to himself that he would not work in this kind of studio any longer. Loser. He was too much of a loser to keep working here!
Although the “Ningshuang Studio” was a small business with only four staff, their office was not located in a small cubicle of 30 square meters with a monthly rent of a few hundred dollars. Instead, they were located on the 38th floor of an office building in the CBD of Tianfu city. Moreover, they had rented an office area of 160 square meters. He enjoyed a wide view and beautiful scenery. The city skyline of Tianfu delighted the eyes. However, the monthly rent was $18,000!
For the convenience of work and living, Xu Ningshuang purchased a set of high-end sofas which cost more than $5,000. This was in addition to the top quality computers that she had bought. A premium edition of Wa-wah Robot 2.3, check. A deluxe edition of Bang Bang Robot, check. A coffee machine that cost a few thousand dollars, check. Top-grade coffee beans that cost more than a thousand dollars for a kilo, check. Including other office and kitchen equipment as well as other types of equipment, she had spent a total of more than $400,000.
She even planned to add a ma.s.sage chair and a treadmill in the future, claiming that they were for the purpose of fitness and aiding blood circulation. Then, she would buy a good quality car for the convenience of running business errands. She would not use a rented car… Liu Xiaoping believed that she meant to buy all that she had said.
In short, Liu Xiaoping took his hat off at her spendthrift ways. There was nothing he could about her actions. Then again, could the profits of the studio be maintained with her extravagant spending? Although the studio had been established for a mere three months, they had already accepted more than 20 projects and were busy nearly every day. Sometimes when it got too busy, they would have to work overtime until 8 or 9 pm. The projects that they had taken on were of a huge variety.
They included an app that took menu orders for an F&B outlet and a task manager app for a business department. Other projects included applets and such for WeChat. They charged an average of $20,000 to $80,000 for each project and their total revenue was $580,000. In addition, they had received the “motivational prize” for two of their projects after it had been uploaded onto the Star Cloud app store. The total prize money given by Xing Hai Technologies for their effort was worth $100,000.
The studio had earned more than $680,000 in the three months that it had been established. However, she had spent the majority of that huge sum of money with her reckless, squandering ways! Liu Xiaoping wanted to continue roasting her, but he slowly realized that his efficiency had increased as he started working in such a comfortable office environment. He found his mood lifted whenever he stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows and gazed at the city skyline. His mind was invigorated and his body energized.
Moreover, whenever Xu Ningshuang brought the clients over for a visit, their loud voices as they bargained over petty details had reduced. The number of contracts that were signed had increased too. It was all due to the influence of such a good office environment. The market share of the Star Cloud system would only keep increasing as there were more and more people who used mobile phones that were installed with Star Cloud. He could predict that the business of Ningshuang Studio would also increase. There was no fear that it would collapse. As long as that big spender cut down on her spendthrift ways, it was not an issue for the studio to earn 2 to 3 million every year.
“Ah!”
He suddenly heard a shriek close to him. Liu Xiaoping, who had been engrossed with his coding, jumped in shock. He turned around and glared at Xu Ningshuang. “Why are you screaming?”
Xu Ningshuang started to dance in joy as she laughed maniacally, “We’ve hit the jackpot! Our project has won the million dollar grand prize! Yay! Yay! This is awesome!”
Liu Xiaoping quickly asked, “For real? Which is the lucky project?” It was not the first time that they had won a prize. Whenever they won a prize from Xing Hai Technologies, it was called a “jackpot.” The small jackpot was a $50,000 prize and the big jackpot was the million dollar prize. They had won the small prize two times in the past. But it was the big prize this time around.
Song Xiaoling and Ren Jiaojiao left their seats and crowded around Xu Ningshuang. “Sister Xu, which one of our projects bagged the prize?”
“It’s our very own ‘Tree of Baby’s Highlights.’ This app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and the user reviews are very good. We have been selected for the grand prize by Xing Hai Technologies.”
In addition to taking on client commissioned projects, Ningshuang Studio also made their own products. The ‘Tree of Baby’s Highlights’ was an app that they had developed when the company had just been established and they were not as busy. The app was used to record the growth of a baby. The user could attach photos of the baby onto the Tree of Highlights, write a short note detailing their feelings, and put up some short video clips. Users could record the timeline of their baby’s growth and capture funny and heartwarming moments. In addition, this app had social functions. Mothers could share their Tree of Highlights, add each other as friends, and discuss their children’s education, training, etc. Actually, this type of app was neither uncommon nor original. But Ninghshuang Studio was meticulous about the details. The art style was also simple and beautiful. Lastly, the built-in social functions allowed mothers who lived within close distances of each other to communicate and interact, thereby expanding their network. The users were quite impressed.
Hence, they were chosen for the million dollar grand prize by Xing Hai Technologies. One million dollars was soon transferred into their company account. Xu Ningshuang waved her hand in a grand gesture and said, “Come on, let’s go for a feast to celebrate this properly!”
“We’re going for a feast!”
The four of them put down their work and went down with whoops of joy. They found a high-end seafood restaurant and ordered enough dishes to fill up the entire table. Then they started to enjoy the grand meal.
Xu Ningshuang glanced at her phone and began to describe her vision for the future. “When the ‘Tree of Baby’s Highlights’ won the grand prize, I saw many messages on the back-end from various bosses. Many are selling diapers and milk powder. They said that they want to work with us to promote their products. We can create another function called the ‘Baby’s Mall’ and add some high-quality baby products there. We can make even more money from that function.” She said boldly, “I told you so. There are two groups of people that you can really profit from. Women and children. But, there’s just someone who didn’t believe me. He said that this project was a no-go. Well, what are your thoughts now; is this project a go or no-go?” She cast a disdainful look at Liu Xiaoping. When she had decided to start on this project, this fellow had lots of protest.
Liu Xiaoping nodded. “You’re right. I did think that this project was unoriginal so n.o.body would download the app… But, the results prove that you are right. I admit defeat.”
“Hmph!” Xu Ningshuang gloated, “If the product is good, there’ll naturally be lots of people who admire it. It’ll s.h.i.+ne sooner or later if it’s gold. Based on this project alone, we’ll be able to capture the hearts of the huge number of users as long as we can follow through on our customer service. It’ll be easy to earn 5 million every year.”
Song Xiaoling exclaimed, “Wow, 5 million?” She had never seen so much money in her life. As she felt the confidence radiating from Xu Ningshuang, she thought that perhaps they really could succeed.
Liu Xiaoping really had to hand it to her. He was way better than Xu Ningshuang when it came to the technical side of things, but she totally beat him in product design and sales.
“I’m sorry, something came up, I’ll leave first. Please continue with your meal.” Ren Jiaojiao received a call and abruptly left.
Xu Ningshuang said, “Go ahead.”
Ren Jiaojiao lifted her bag from a chair and left the room.
Liu Xiaoping’s eyes followed her back as she turned to leave. Suddenly, his eyes widened. He saw her exiting the restaurant and going towards a tall and handsome male. He was holding a rose as he waited for her outside the restaurant. A bright red sports car was parked beside him. Ren Jiaojiao was very happy when she saw the man. She accepted the rose from him and got into his car.
Liu Xiaoping’s heart fell into a bottomless abyss. He recognized the man. He was the studio’s biggest client who had sought them out for five projects. He finally realized that the man had sought them out so many times because he was interested in Ren Jiaojiao. The CBD district was too prosperous. There were too many wealthy people there. Young and rich men were not uncommon. It would be difficult for Ren Jiaojiao to remain unaffected if she met one with all the right standards. It was agony. He could taste the bitterness in his mouth.
“Waiter, wine!” Liu Xiaoping asked the waiter to bring more wine. He started drinking one cup after another. He drank until he was dizzy. He wanted to be so drunk that he forgot everything. After more than ten cups of wine, Xu Ningshuang finally grabbed his cup and hauled him out.
“Isn’t it just a woman? It’s her loss if she doesn’t like you. Why do you care about someone who doesn’t even like you?”
“I joined your studio because of her. Did you think I was willing to work for you? Now that she’s been s.n.a.t.c.hed away by someone else, I should just get lost too.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I quit! I want to work in a place where I can find a wife.”
Slap!
Xu Ningshuang smacked him across the face. “Grow up! You go to work just to find a wife?”
“Stay out of my business. Anyway, I’m quitting right now.” Liu Xiaoping pushed her away and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Xu Ningshuang grabbed him and said, “Don’t you simply want to find a partner? Ok, I’ll be your partner, are you happy now?” Ren Jiaojiao had found a tall, rich and handsome boyfriend and Song Xiaoling was also attached. Xu Ningshuang could only offer herself if she wanted to keep this capable staff on. For some unknown reason, her face heated up after saying those words.
“What?” Liu Xiaoping looked at her in astonishment. “You? Be my partner? For real?” He stared closely at her. Although she was not as pretty as Ren Jiaojiao, her looks were rather decent.
She nodded and cajoled, “For real. As long as you stay on.”
“No! You’re a big spendthrift. Not unless you change your extravagant spending habits.”
“Ok ok, I won’t spend money so recklessly anymore.”
“That’s more like it…”
The effects of the alcohol was starting to add up. Liu Xiaoping felt his vision getting blurry. He collapsed and felt himself falling onto an all-encompa.s.sing softness.