Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Brother Dong, do you think Chen Yansen will be interested in our business plan?”

In the conference room, Pei Yi looked at Kang Guodong and couldn’t help but ask in a hushed voice.

They were both graduate students in the computer science program at Luzhou University of Technology.

They had accidentally discovered that because Jade Lake University City was so large and had so many students, many had a habit of ordering food delivery.

But everyone mainly relied on business cards and phone calls to place orders, which was incredibly inconvenient.

Kang Guodong wanted to use his professional knowledge to consolidate information from the restaurants, milk tea shops, and bakeries around the University City onto an online platform, creating a food directory website similar to ”Hao123.”

However, his roommate Pei Yi, who was from Hu City, said that Hu City had long had products like Dianping. He suggested they build an ordering system instead, hire some students for part-time work, help merchants deliver meals to campus, and earn money directly from the delivery fee margin.

The two of them hit it off immediately, and Kuai Pao was born!

But what Pei Yi hadn’t expected was that when he proposed the idea, a graduate student at Hu City Jiaoda had already come up with a similar concept two years prior.

It was just that Eleme was small in scale back then, attracting neither venture capital attention nor media coverage, so the two of them had no idea it existed.

At the beginning of the year, Eleme received 1 million US Dollars in angel investment from Jinsha Venture Capital. Only after it made the news did Kang Guodong and Pei Yi discover that what they thought was a highly creative business model had actually been in practice by someone else for two or three years.

By then, however, Kuai Pao had already made a small name for itself in the University City, with over 2,000 registered users, daily orders fluctuating between 600 and 1,000, and more than thirty part-time student workers.

Relying on the delivery fee margin and service fees, after deducting expenses for servers and part-time staff, they could earn over 2,000 yuan a day. As a result, their university lives were quite comfortable.

Previously, the two hadn’t thought about scaling Kuai Pao up. But after learning about Eleme’s development journey, they immediately had the idea of expanding and breaking into the white-collar market.

After all, office workers ordered takeout at a frequency at least three to five times that of university students.

But purchasing equipment and servers, upgrading the website, and hiring delivery staff all required a large amount of capital.

The hundred-something thousand yuan they had on hand wasn’t even enough for advertising. They couldn’t just hire a few dozen more university students to hand out flyers all over the streets of Luzhou, could they? That would be far too inefficient.

”It should be fine. I’ve studied Eleme, and their order volume is only a bit higher than ours. If Jinsha Venture Capital was willing to give them 1 million US Dollars, it’s not too much for us to ask Senlian Capital for 500,000 US Dollars, right?”

Kang Guodong said, full of confidence.

But Kang Guodong overlooked one thing: Eleme hadn’t received any venture capital funding for a year and was similarly facing a capital shortage.

”KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—!”

A knock came from outside the door.

”Mr. Kang, Mr. Pei, our boss has arrived.” Gao Weilin pushed the door open and reminded them with a smile.

”Ah, okay.” Kang Guodong and Pei Yi scrambled to their feet, their previously calm moods instantly replaced by nervousness.

The two followed Gao Weilin out the door, peering outside with curiosity.

An Aston Martin Rapide slowly drove in through the park’s main gate.

Pei Yi’s eyes filled with envy. He recognized the car—it cost over four million yuan to get on the road, a car he had long coveted but could never afford.

He would barely have enough money only if he sold his family’s two properties.

But if he actually did that, his father would probably disown him.

Chen Yansen got out of the car and saw Gao Weilin and two unfamiliar young men by the door.

”Boss, these are the founders of Kuai Pao, Kang Guodong and Pei Yi,” Gao Weilin introduced.

”President Chen! I’m Kang Guodong.”

”Hello, President Chen. I’m Pei Yi.” The two of them hurriedly greeted him.

”Let’s talk inside. Did you bring the business plan?”

Chen Yansen could see their inexperience, their faces betraying their nervousness and unease.

”President Chen, we brought it,” Kang Guodong answered quickly. He was about to hand the business plan to Chen Yansen when he realized he had left it in the conference room.

”Let’s discuss it inside,” Chen Yansen said in a level tone.

Pei Yi secretly sized up Chen Yansen. Though he was five or six years older than the man, their achievements were worlds apart.

Among the student population of Huian, Chen Yansen’s fame was absolutely top-tier.

He founded FoxTao at 18, sold it to Ah Li at 19, and raked in over 10 billion yuan in a single year. He was a bona fide business genius and a ten-billionaire.

Immediately after, he jumped into the mobile phone industry. After the release of the Orange Mobile Phone, it sold nearly 7 million units online in less than four months, instantly becoming the most popular smartphone of 2011.

DST Capital invested 1.35 billion US Dollars in Orange Technology, giving it a valuation as high as 9 billion US Dollars.

Pei Yi felt that Chen Yansen’s business résumé was practically god-tier, even more badass than Xiaomi’s Lei Yijun.

After all, at Chen Yansen’s age, Lei Jun was still holed up in his dorm room, pounding out code.

The four of them walked into the conference room. Chen Yansen sat down first, and Gao Weilin took the seat to his right.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi pulled out their chairs and sat opposite Chen Yansen.

”President Chen, this is our business plan. Please take a look.” Kang Guodong carefully handed over the document.

Chen Yansen grunted in acknowledgment and took the document, casually flipping through it. He went through a page a second, reaching the end in less than a minute.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi exchanged a glance. Seeing Chen Yansen’s cursory attitude, their hearts sank.

Chen Yansen was simply maintaining his usual reading habits; he had even deliberately slowed down.

He looked at Gao Weilin and thought, ’No wonder Old Gao brought them all the way from Luzhou. This business plan is very professional. Kuai Pao might be small, but its business model has already taken shape.’

”How much money do you want?”

This was Chen Yansen’s first question, and also a test for the two of them.

Kang Guodong had planned to stick to their original figure of 500,000 US Dollars, but when he caught Pei Yi frantically signaling him with his eyes, he immediately changed his tune. ”President Chen, I’d like to trade 10% of Kuai Pao’s equity for 800,000 US Dollars.”