Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 378: What Is Venture Capital?
If it were up to him, Pei Qian would rather make the haunted house free, but the system definitely wouldn't allow that.
He could lower the price within certain limits, but once it hit the minimum price allowed by the system, the only way to further reduce revenue would be through pricing strategy.
Pei Qian still intended to stick to his previous principle:
Give the brave nowhere to spend money, and make the timid back off at the sight of it.
What that really meant was: let the people who truly dared to enter the haunted house spend as little as possible, and scare away the timid ones so they wouldn't even get the chance to pay.
After some thought, Pei Qian decided to adopt a special pricing strategy:
Different sections would be priced separately;
Different people would also be priced differently.
The first section had the lowest scare factor and the most varied gameplay, so it should be the most popular with the general public.
Therefore, the lower the price for this section, the better!
Because it had the broadest audience and was most suitable for repeat play, whether the ticket price was a bit higher or lower, many people would still come. So setting it lower would mean earning less.
The third section was the scariest and also required the largest investment. Under the system's supervision, even if he wanted to set a low price, it wouldn't be allowed to be that low anyway.
Since that was the case, Pei Qian decided to do the opposite.
Set a high price!
That way, "terrifying experience + high ticket price" would create a double deterrent effect for ordinary people. To avoid both paying money and suffering for it, timid people definitely wouldn't go in.
As for those with stronger nerves, he could consider refunding their ticket money based on their progress.
For example, divide the entire route into nine sections, each with a safe room. For every section cleared, 10 yuan would be refunded. Clearing the whole thing would be equivalent to playing at a 90% discount.
In other words, you'd only spend 10 yuan to experience the entire haunted house.
Then, following Chen Kangtuo's idea of "buy once, play multiple times," each person who bought a ticket would be allowed three entries. As long as the visitor cleared the entire haunted house within those three attempts, they wouldn't need to buy another ticket to challenge it again.
This way, the ticket price would look very high on the surface, but the third section would still barely make any money!
As for the second section, Pei Qian thought about it and decided to price it low as well—just slightly more expensive than the first section.
Having settled on this, Pei Qian said to Chen Kangtuo:
"Price the different sections separately."
"The first section: 10 yuan."
"The second section: you can randomly draw multiple mini-projects to experience; for each additional draw, add 15 yuan."
"Prepare decibel recorders for everyone. If they complete the task without screaming too loudly, the current mini-project is free."
"The third section: 100 yuan per attempt, with three entry opportunities in total. The second and third attempts can continue from where the visitor left off. Based on the furthest progress reached on the last attempt, refund the ticket money. If they clear the whole thing, refund all of it."
"Then you can also offer a combo pass—say, 200 yuan for unlimited play."
"That's about it. You guys can fine-tune the details."
After Pei Qian finished speaking, Chen Kangtuo's eyes lit up.
"Got it, President Pei! This pricing strategy is exactly the same as what I had in mind!"
Pei Qian: "?"
What did that mean?
He was a bit stunned, it felt like this scene was playing out differently from what he'd imagined.
In the past, when he "gave guidance" to others, their reactions were usually confusion, incomprehension, or bewilderment.
But Chen Kangtuo looked like he'd seen this coming, and was even excited about it?
What did he mean by "exactly the same as what I had in mind"? Did he really think the same way?
Had Chen Kangtuo suddenly had an epiphany after going to the Fright Inn project? Was he now able to keep up with his train of thought?
Pei Qian felt a little lost, but this wasn't the kind of thing he could really ask about, so he waved his hand and sent Chen Kangtuo off.
Savoring the moment, Pei Qian still felt like something about this was… a bit off.
"Strange… a project that's guaranteed to lose money is about to start burning cash, so why am I not excited at all…"
…
In the afternoon, Pei Qian woke up from a nap and got ready to make a trip over to Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
The other projects were still in development for now, and there wasn't any particularly important news.
Except for the progress on the movie, which surprised Pei Qian a little.
Because the script itself didn't have that much content, if it were just a matter of filming, it should have already wrapped up by now.
But up to this point, there were still no signs of it finishing.
"Maybe the shooting isn't going very smoothly, so it's been delayed?"
"Yeah, that's possible. Zhu Xiaoce has only made short films before and doesn't have experience directing a proper theatrical release. It's unavoidable that he'd run into some pitfalls."
Pei Qian didn't pay it much mind. After all, he wasn't in a rush to release the movie. It didn't matter when it came out, so long as it was released sometime before settlement, that was enough.
As for Dream Fulfillment Ventures, Pei Qian had squeezed out another sum of money for them—this time, three million yuan.
Compared to the previous twenty million, it wasn't that much, but it was more than enough to invest in a few small projects.
Besides, Pei Qian had thought it through: when it comes to investing, you have to take things step by step. You absolutely can't try to swallow everything in one bite.
Otherwise, that twenty-million investment would become a cautionary tale.
Better to take it slow, first accumulate some failed investment experience, then proceed gradually.
Moreover, this time Pei Qian was personally taking charge. He had to set a good example for Old Ma.
Otherwise, the consequences would be endless.
"Who knows if Old Ma has been properly reading the proposals lately, and whether he's found any projects unreliable enough."
While Pei Qian was thinking this, he arrived at Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
This time, there was no more shouting of "Boss Ma's leaving!" or the clatter of keyboards and mouse clicks. The whole company's atmosphere had suddenly shifted from internet café vibes to that of a proper office.
He Desheng and the others were all busy with their own tasks—some flipping through proposals, others making spreadsheets—looking very professional.
The group Old Ma had recruited weren't just pure "gaming buddies." Strictly speaking, they were "newcomers in the investment industry who happened to be good at games."
Just like He Desheng: he worked in the investment industry, and gaming was simply a hobby he happened to be good at.
Seeing this scene made Pei Qian feel very uncomfortable.
It kind of felt more reassuring when everyone was just playing games…
This serious working posture was honestly pretty scary.
But when he thought about how, as long as they were playing games, they would give suggestions to the GOG team, Pei Qian decided to forget it.
Sigh, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
He should just hurry up and randomly invest in something!
Ma Yang was sitting by the large conference table, holding a thick stack of investment proposals and flipping through them one by one.
Judging by his browsing speed, he was probably just skimming the titles and the first page at most.
Seeing this, Pei Qian let out a sigh of relief. His buddy was still reliable!
"So, did you find any 'dream-filled' projects worth investing in?" Pei Qian sat down next to Ma Yang.
He Desheng and the others also hurried over and took their seats around the conference table.
This was President Pei personally imparting investment experience, catching even a single sentence would be immensely valuable!
They had to listen carefully!
Ma Yang said proudly, "Brother Qian, I found one!"
"Just one?" Pei Qian was a little disappointed. "Out of so many proposals, you only found one that's 'full of dreams'?"
Besides the thick stack of proposals in Ma Yang's hands, there was another stack on the table.
Pei Qian casually picked one up and flipped through it, then couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.
Investing really is a technical skill, huh!
He could more or less understand these proposals, but the problem was… they all looked way too reliable, didn't they?
Just like how ordinary investors find it hard to accurately tell which project will make money, Pei Qian also found it hard to tell which project would lose money.
Because anyone starting a business and seeking investment would basically choose projects that looked genuinely promising.
Even those projects that were meant to scam investors would definitely polish their proposals to look extremely impressive, hyping themselves up to the skies.
Fake projects had to look even more real than real ones.
Otherwise, how would they scam investors out of their money?
That led to a problem: all the proposals looked reliable. Even though a large portion of them were doomed to fail, their proposals were all dressed up to look like they had a high chance of success.
Pei Qian didn't have that kind of discerning eye and couldn't tell them apart.
So he obediently took the proposal that Ma Yang had filtered out.
The moment he picked it up, Pei Qian was shocked.
So light!
The other proposals were thick with content, but this one was just a single page!
Not only that, the format of the proposal was completely wrong, full of errors, and the content was extremely simple.
The project was called "Shared Phone Booth," and the amount of investment it wanted wasn't much either, only 200,000 yuan.
Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a bit excited. On this proposal, he saw dreams!
While Ma Yang was still filtering through the other proposals, Pei Qian raised a hand to stop him. "Let's not consider the others for now. Let's invest in this project first."
Ma Yang obediently put down the other proposals and said, "Brother Qian, we're really investing in this?"
"This project is indeed full of dreams, that's why I picked it out separately."
"But… can it actually make money?"
Pei Qian chuckled. Wasn't that a silly question—if it could make money, why would he invest in it?
But of course, he couldn't say that out loud.
Everyone around the conference table, including He Desheng, looked utterly shocked.
They had seen this "Shared Phone Booth" investment proposal long ago, but they had all treated it as a joke.
Shared phone booths, scanning a code to make calls—wasn't that like taking off your pants just to fart?
If I can scan a code with my phone, why would I go to a phone booth to make a call?
And besides, this wasn't even a new idea. There used to be so many public phone booths on the streets, and now nobody uses them anymore.
Why?
Times have changed!
Nowadays everyone has a mobile phone, who still uses phone booths to make calls? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
Yet for such a project, President Pei took at most ten seconds to decide to invest???
Seeing everyone's puzzled looks, Pei Qian smiled faintly.
"You all don't think much of this project?"
Everyone nodded.
Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang again. "You don't think much of it either?"
Ma Yang nodded, then shook his head. "Brother Qian, as long as it's a project you like, it'll definitely be fine! It'll surely make money!"
Pei Qian's face darkened.
This Old Ma, he's clearly saying nice things, so why does it make me so unhappy…
Definitely make money? Hey, don't curse me like that for no reason!
Pei Qian cleared his throat twice. "Remember: when everyone likes a 'venture investment,' that's not venture capital, that's crowdfunding."
"Venture capital is about investing in projects that look unreliable, investing in projects that everyone thinks won't succeed!"
"If there's no risk, how can you call it risk investment?"
"The greater the risk, the greater the return!"
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