In the morning, Lu Shaojun arrived at the company and immediately called a management meeting.
Xu Zhijun hurried over, looking exhausted and with bloodshot eyes, yet he was incredibly excited.
Lu Shaojun couldn't help but remind him, "Old Xu, pace yourself. No matter how busy work gets, don't pull all-nighters."
Xu Zhijun couldn't help but roll his eyes. Easy for you to say.
Last night, after the interview, you just left. And not only did you leave, your phone was off too.
Before the meeting began, Xu Zhijun reported, "CEO Lu, as of 9:30 AM, we already have 1.72 million pre-orders."
"Also, twenty-two chain internet cafes have contacted us, hoping to purchase a batch of virtual headsets in advance."
Lu Shaojun raised an eyebrow and said, "If we want the market for virtual headsets to expand rapidly and quickly capture user traffic, we must cooperate with these internet cafes."
"Tell those chain internet cafes that their orders for virtual headsets will be prioritized for shipping."
Xu Zhijun nodded slightly and replied, "I'll arrange it after the meeting."
The meeting officially began. Lu Shaojun got straight to the point: "The launch of the virtual headset means our company has personally knocked open the door to a new world."
"On the other side of that door lies an unimaginably vast market."
"How to capture the market, attract users, and harvest traffic is what we need to do next."
Everyone remained silent, looking quietly at Lu Shaojun, awaiting his further instructions.
Lu Shaojun looked at the attendees and said, "The virtual world is different from the real world. The virtual world can be as vast as our ambitions allow."
"Like traditional internet products, the virtual world must consider the construction of its user base and ecosystem. Why can Windows, iOS, and Android stand alone? It's precisely because of their well-developed ecosystems."
"Ecosystem building relies on a large user base, so our initial task is to aggressively acquire users." After a pause, Lu Shaojun said gravely, "Since we control the entrance to the virtual world, we have the right to build a closed ecosystem for it."
"Interaction and communication between the virtual world and the traditional internet must be limited, and this limitation must be under our control."
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhijun and the others couldn't help but nod.
CEO Lu's intention was clear: to encourage traditional internet users to migrate to the virtual world as much as possible. If interaction between the traditional internet and the virtual world were too close and frequent, the effectiveness of user migration might be unsatisfactory.
"Therefore, how to entice users into the virtual world requires us to rack our brains."
Lu Shaojun continued, "The primary method for acquiring users early on should still be virtual games, using them to build a gaming community and firmly capture gamers." Whether in the PC or mobile internet era, gaming has always been the most effective way to attract users.
No one could refute this point.
Lu Shaojun looked towards a middle-aged man in the group, Gao Yan, the head of Chaowei Technology's software development department.
"Old Gao, what's the development progress on our dedicated Chaowei Technology app?"
Gao Yan gave a wry smile and replied, "CEO Lu, not yet. Many features are still being refined."
Lu Shaojun frowned slightly and said, "We can't wait any longer. First, separate the gaming community function and make it into a standalone app. Let's call it YiLiao."
Hearing this, Gao Yan immediately replied, "In that case, the app can be launched this afternoon."
Lu Shaojun nodded in satisfaction, then looked towards Yu Hua, the head of the game department, and asked, "Does your department have any new game plans?"
Yu Hua replied, "Currently, an ancient-style Xianxia virtual game is in production. We are also conceptualizing professional competitions for 'Peerless Three Kingdoms'. We are also actively contacting well-known game developers to discuss potential partnerships."
Lu Shaojun reminded him, "Domestic game IPs are less of an issue, but introducing foreign game IPs into the domestic market must be handled with caution."
"Our virtual world absolutely cannot become a platform primarily for cultural imports; that would put us in a very passive position."
Yu Hua looked serious, "Rest assured, CEO Lu. We won't cross any red lines in the domestic market."
Lu Shaojun was satisfied with Yu Hua's understanding. He couldn't possibly monitor the game department constantly; overseeing the development of 'Peerless Three Kingdoms' was partly to help the department familiarize itself with this new development model.
Finally, Lu Shaojun looked at Luo Yilong, the head of the virtual headset operations department, and instructed, "A standardized plan for the market development of the virtual world needs to be formulated as soon as possible."
Luo Yilong replied, "Rest assured, CEO Lu. Advertisers are already contacting us."
After the meeting, everyone dispersed to handle their respective tasks.
Lu Shaojun didn't stay idle; he prepared to visit the factory. The tech point earnings generated by the Chaowei Intelligent Control Software had reached 5,000 points, enough to purchase another five virtual headset production lines.
Today, trending topics online were still dominated by the virtual headset. One particular topic left everyone stunned.
Over thirty well-known investment institutions, including Hillhouse Capital, IDG, and Sequoia China, announced they would jointly create a new internet cafe chain brand, with a total investment scale reaching 320 billion.
Soon after, insiders revealed that the 'Tianyu Internet Cafe' brand was already scheduled for registration with a registered capital of 2.6 billion.
Instantly, everyone gasped in amazement. The big players in capital were entering the game.
Tianhai, Huangpu District, at the Chaowei Technology Internet Cafe.
Lin Fang had just returned from a meeting at headquarters when he found the entrance of the internet cafe bustling with people, a long queue already formed. Some people had even brought tents and sleeping bags, apparently prepared to wait it out. Lin Fang, who had been running internet cafes for over a decade, had never seen anything like it.
Entering the cafe, Lin Fang called all the network administrators and supervisors into the meeting room. The main purpose of the meeting was to inform everyone about the planned activities for opening day and the future membership system the cafe would adopt.
The hourly rate for the virtual headsets would be 30 yuan, but all customers would receive a 50% discount on opening day.
The cafe was introducing a membership system, divided into Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced tiers. Members at different levels would enjoy different discounts in the future.
* Accumulate 500 yuan in top-ups to automatically become a Basic member, enjoying a rate of 95% (28.5 yuan/hour).
* Accumulate 5,000 yuan in top-ups to automatically become an Intermediate member, enjoying a rate of 80% (24 yuan/hour).
* Accumulate 50,000 yuan in top-ups to automatically become an Advanced member, enjoying a rate of 60% (18 yuan/hour).
Undoubtedly, 30 yuan per hour was very expensive. But the competitiveness and appeal of the virtual headsets were undeniable, making this price acceptable to consumers.
Moreover, this was the official price quoted to all internet cafes wanting to partner with Chaowei Technology. Lu Shaojun had one requirement for them: their rates could not fluctuate more than ten percent above or below the official price.
So, some might ask, why wouldn't cafe owners just buy the headsets themselves and skip cooperating with damn Chaowei Technology?
To this, Lu Shaojun would simply scoff.
"You run an internet cafe, you surely need a management system, right?"
"Without a management system, when a customer's time is up, are you going to have the staff manually force them offline?"
"Then again, someone might ask, can't I just develop my own management system?"
To that, Lu Shaojun would give you a round of applause (sarcastically).
"The underlying code for the virtual headset uses the X programming language, which currently, only Lu Shaojun in the entire world has mastered."
"If you could actually write such a management system, well, then you'd be truly incredible."
"If you managed to earn that money, Lu Shaojun would have nothing to say, and no one else could truly be envious."