Quest-based Magnate - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Competition (Part 2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The hardware facilities of the Landscape Club were not as good as the top clubs in Shencheng, but they were comparable to a five-star hotel.

The luxurious banquet hall was European style, with a spacious and transparent layout. The crystal lamp above her head was bright. The embossed and oil paintings on the walls were very distinctive.

Brother Tiger eagerly poured tea for everyone. The moment Brother Wei arrived, he overshadowed Cao Su’s brilliance. After all, Brother Wei had been rich for four to five years and had accumulated tens of millions of assets!

Then whose boot should he lick?

Why would an adult make multiple-choice questions? My Brother Tiger even licks it! It was so domineering. It was that awesome. Are you convinced?

Zheng Shaoning pondered for a few seconds and organized his words, “Old Cao, I plan to be the first-class agent of the company. This will require 10 million yuan of funds. I’ve gathered two million yuan myself.

“I wonder if you are interested in the mobile phone agency business?”

Of course, there were other conditions to become the phone agent of Da Lan Corporation. He was extremely capable of handling these things. After working in the company for so many years, he had a good social network. The main problem he was facing now was the lack of money!

Cao Su felt a little strange and looked at Wei Haocheng. “Brother Wei, I remember you’re in the mobile phone business?”

Wei Haocheng was tall. He sat on the soft and comfortable leather sofa and drank tea. “Elder Zheng and I talked. I support his idea. The mobile phone industry is booming, and being a first-class agent would definitely make money.

“But to invest more than five million yuan into a new company is no small sum. I’m being cautious!”

Zheng Shaoning smiled embarrassedly. His capital was indeed a little low. After all, Brother Wei was not a professional venture capital investor. Brother Wei had millions of dollars. If he used it to open a few more stores, it would be more profitable than investing it in him.

“Elder Zheng,” Yu Lei said casually, “You can lower your target a little. Start from the bottom of the distribution chain. This way, the cost would be lower. You can’t become fat in one bite, right?”

Su Shijia quietly drank her tea and looked at Cao Su, who was deep in thought. She was still an employee, so she naturally wouldn’t express her opinion.

Zheng Shaoning didn’t bother with the depressed Lei. He didn’t think much of Yu Lei’s skill. At that time, there was no hero, so the boy became famous!

In fact, this was a bit like what the owner of the company said: Tsinghua University and Peking University might as well be bold. This strengthened his determination to leave his job and start his own business. Being one step behind your classmates’ success did not mean that you would always be behind in life.

Cao Su’s fingers lightly tapped the sofa.

Honestly speaking, with the funds in his hands, he didn’t mind investing 8 million in Zheng Shaoning’s mobile phone agency business.

He was a godly tycoon, so he didn’t lack money!

However, as Wei Haocheng said, “No one’s money came from trees! Now that he was willing to invest his money, he’d end up with a reputation for being “charitable” and “generous.” Would this work?

No one wanted to leave the impression that they were stupid with money!

Spending money to achieve results was what a godly tycoon really was!

Therefore, if he wanted to invest in Zheng Shaoning’s mobile phone agency business, he had to ensure that this project could be completed! His investment would have a good rate of return!

Thinking deeper. Wei Haocheng was in the mobile phone store business. The biggest difference between him and a mobile phone agent was that his store would sell mobile phones of various brands. Agents, however, could only sell one brand.

Wei Haocheng knew this industry very well. Why didn’t he invest? He said that he was optimistic about this project, but his body language said otherwise.

So Wei Haocheng insisted that he stay and talk to Zheng Shaoning. Did he have the intention of “testing” his quality?

This was the world of adults! One should only say a few words when one just met, not pour out his heart to them.

Between classmates, it was a little too low-class to act pretentious and slap their faces. This is what a wise man would not do. However, it was certain that there would be conflicts between them in the dark.

Wherever there were people, there would be the pugilistic world!

Cao Su collected his thoughts, drank a mouthful of tea, and said to Zheng Shaoning, “Elder Zheng, to be honest, I’m not optimistic about the future of LE phones. If you really want to be a first-class agent, you have to find a brand that can survive in the end!”

The market was now oversaturated with mobile phone brands. But in the end, only a few big brands would be left. This could be concluded from the history of the development of functional machines. The same conclusion could be drawn from other consumer electronics products such as CD players, landline phones, and MP3s.”

Wei Haocheng sat up straight and looked at Cao Su.

Zheng Shaoning smiled bitterly and said, “President Cao, even if I want to be the agent of other brands, I don’t have the resources. I’m a software engineer, so I can’t talk to other mobile phone manufacturers.”

Cao Su smiled and pointed at Wei Haocheng. “The candidate is far, yet he’s right in front of us. Since Brother Wei was in the mobile phone store, he must be familiar with the major mobile phone manufacturers. You can talk to Brother Wei about the shares and give him nothing.

“I’ll give you some financial support. Choose a manufacturer and see which area has an agent vacancy. This matter will basically be settled.”

Zheng Shaoning turned sideways and smiled apologetically, “Brother Wei.” It wasn’t that he didn’t know that Wei Haocheng had resources, but the weight of a person’s words was different. He hoped that Cao Su would come to his aid.

Wei Haocheng laughed. Cao Su was still a little immature, but he had to give Cao Su face. After all, Cao Su was considered to be very capable among the group of students. He said, “Old Cao, help Zheng Shaoning up. It’s not a big problem.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to talk about shares.

“The core problem now is to determine which of the many mobile phone brands will survive until the end. The current ranking of mobile phone sales is roughly as follows: Samsung, Nokia, Apple, LG, ZTE, Huawei, LE, Lenovo, Sony, Yulong, and others.

“There is no need to even think about being a mobile phone agent for the overseas market. That had already been divided up by Tianyin and China Post. Just talk about domestic brands.”

As he spoke, he looked at Cao Su with bright eyes. This old classmate had been ordinary in the past twelve years, but recently, he had soared into the sky! He really wanted to understand the reason behind this. This was the opportunity.

Cao Su took a sip of the fragrant Longjing tea and calmly said, “Huawei! Huawei is very low-key, but we are all in Shencheng. We know their strength in the field of communications. Of course, Huawei phones were terrible at the moment, but this might be an opportunity for dealers.

“Second is the Blue-Green Factory, which is famous for its distribution channels in the era of functional computers. Xiaomi’s mobile phones are very popular online, but I think offline channels are still indispensable. It is an irrefutable truth that the countryside surrounds the city.”

These words seemed to have a very deep and far-reaching vision! However, the logic behind it was very simple. Which of the top three domestic cell phone manufacturers would you choose?

He worked in the Da Lan Group and knew the drawbacks of the LE phone. This brand wouldn’t last long. One was eliminated.

Who do you choose? Which of the two companies was more powerful in the competition? Anyone who knew a little about the communications industry would choose Huawei.

Wei Haocheng sat up straight. He was in the mobile phone store business and was used to the rise and fall of mobile phone brands. The rise and fall of the country could happen suddenly.

What was once the number-one brand in the global market in the era of smartphones? HTC! Have you heard of them? Where were they now?

Therefore, if he was asked to give the answer, he would be more inclined to choose manufacturers that survived the era of feature phones. Vivo, Oppo, Gionee, Meizu, and Xiaomi were popular this year and had obvious growth momentum.

He was not interested in the China Cool Alliance.

Cao Su then said to Zheng Shaoning, “You will pay two million and be responsible for the specific affairs of the new company. You will be the CEO. I’ll make up for the remaining funds for you. I would be the financial backer.

“I hope that within three years, you can buy back the shares and obtain a controlling stake in this company so that my investment will receive no less than 50% of the profits.

“President Cao, thank you!” Zheng Shaoning said excitedly. “Brother Wei, I would like to ask you to help me pull some strings. You name your conditions. I’ll do my best.”

Wei Haocheng smiled and stretched out his hand to point at Zheng Shaoning and said,””Elder Zheng, you’re talking a little too much! What’s the big deal? The circle in Shencheng is only so big. If I don’t pull strings, President Cao won’t be able to find her.”

Wei Haocheng gestured to the underling carrying the bag behind him, took his phone, and called his friend in the brand department of Huawei. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he said with a smile, “President Yu, I have a friend who wants an agent. I’ll ask if there’s still a position?”

After chatting for a while more, they agreed to have a banquet in a few days to discuss in detail. After hanging up the phone, he said to Cao Su and Zheng Shaoning, “Huawei’s provincial representative position is gone. Currently, there is an empty spot for a city-level agent in Guangdong Province: Guan City, Hui City, and Zhu City.

To get it, he would need a total of 12 million in the early stage. “These three cities are the headquarters of several mobile phone manufacturers. Therefore, Huawei has requirements for the strength of agents.”

Cao Su smiled and nodded.

Zheng Shaoning heaved a long sigh of relief. “Alright!”

“President Cao is generous,” Wei Haocheng said with a smile. “I’ll also invest one million! Come, let’s have a toast with tea instead of wine. I wish us a happy cooperation!”

He didn’t want to invest in Zheng Shaoning’s project. Firstly, he didn’t approve of the mobile phone brand that Zheng Shaoning chose to represent. But he would not say it out loud.

As a decent person, why should he spoil the fun of others?

Second, Zheng Shaoning was alone; without a business team, this would fail. Many people only saw starting a business and making money but did not see how many died in the sea!

Now that Cao Su had straightened out the project and wanted to invest 10 million to support it, this was a free ride!

He was still lamenting that Cao Su was a little immature just now and was controlled by Zheng Shaoning’s verbal skills. Looking at it now, Cao Su probably wanted to pull him into this project to increase the success rate! He was just pushing the boat with the current.

Most of the money earned from this project belonged to Cao.

Of course, to be recognized by “Cao Cao” was also a good thing.

Brother Tiger echoed and hurriedly poured tea.

“Cheers!”

Yu Lei put down his teacup and sighed. “F*ck! Today, I realized that starting a business is actually a very simple thing! The key is to find the right person.” He had no choice but to let go of the competitive thoughts in his heart! Was he still going to compete with Cao Su for this?

They all laughed.

Su Shijia, the elegant, moist flower of the department, quietly glanced at Cao Su, her big eyes sparkling.