Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 418: President Pei in Smooth Sailing
Pei Qian asked about several other aspects in detail and finally reached a conclusion: the Top Student, Come Quickly project was temporarily safe.
"Phew… Looks like I was worrying too much."
"Projects like this kind of sharing platform probably need to burn money for quite a long time in the early stages. How could it possibly turn a profit so quickly? That's basically impossible."
"It seems I still need to keep burning money as fast as possible and try to break the cash flow chain!"
Pei Qian felt slightly relieved.
Right now, he felt as if he were racing against time. The key question was whether Top Student, Come Quickly would become popular first, or whether the money would run out first.
Once the funding chain broke and no new capital came in, the whole operation would quickly collapse. It might even generate some debt by then.
That would be wonderful.
Pei Qian stood up, preparing to leave.
At that moment, He Desheng's phone rang.
He Desheng hesitated for a moment. Normally he should see President Pei out first, but when he saw the caller ID, he felt it would be better to answer immediately.
Pei Qian glanced at him.
"Go ahead and answer it. Don't worry about me."
He Desheng nodded and picked up the call.
"Hello? Oh, President Li."
Pei Qian: "..."
A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart.
He Desheng listened with a serious expression, then nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, President Li! No problem, President Li! Thank you, President Li!"
Pei Qian: "?"
An even stronger sense of foreboding surged up.
He Desheng hung up the phone.
"President Pei, good news! President Li believes that the Top Student, Come Quickly project currently has very high popularity and its attention is growing rapidly, with excellent prospects!"
"So he has decided to invest an additional three million yuan!"
"Moreover, under his leadership, the other investors have also become much more confident. We won't need to worry about funding for the short term!"
Pei Qian stared blankly at He Desheng, a question mark slowly appearing above his head.
What the hell…
Every time the situation improved even slightly, President Li would show up at just the right moment!
Pei Qian gritted his teeth in frustration.
But after thinking about it again, the situation did seem somewhat reasonable. After all, President Li had initially invested only one million yuan.
Pei Qian himself knew very well that this project was destined to fail. He didn't want President Li to lose too much money, so after a lot of persuasion he had convinced him to invest only one million.
But President Li had been holding back this urge the whole time!
Having invested only one million, when he saw the current situation, the more he thought about it, the more he felt he was missing out. So he decided to invest more and make even more money…
Pei Qian suddenly felt extremely tired.
You people keep coming one wave after another. Does it ever end?
Right now, Pei Qian felt like a boiler operator shoveling coal into a furnace.
He was desperately feeding coal into the boiler, hoping to burn through all of it so he could finally go home after finishing his shift.
But these people kept bringing truckloads of coal, one after another, and no matter how much he burned, it never ran out!
Not only that, the more coal they added, the faster it burned, and the fire in the boiler grew hotter and hotter…
Pei Qian, who had just stood up to leave, slowly sat down again.
His face became grave as he felt immense pressure, trapped in a dilemma.
When He Desheng saw President Pei's serious expression, his eyes suddenly lit up.
It appeared—the "President Pei in Smooth Sailing" state!
Everyone knew that when President Pei was facing adversity, he naturally radiated an optimistic attitude that inspired the people around him, allowing everyone to unite and overcome difficulties together.
But when President Pei was in smooth sailing conditions, he would instead look serious and fall into deep thought. This meant he was preparing for danger in times of safety, thinking about long-term plans and potential risks that might arise during success.
Clearly, President Pei had now entered the "prosperity reflection" mode!
He Desheng didn't dare to disturb him and simply waited quietly at the side.
Perhaps after President Pei finished his "reflection during smooth sailing," a casual remark from him could bring immense benefit.
Meanwhile, Pei Qian felt completely stuck, caught in a dilemma.
Advance—continue burning money?
But what if the project became more and more popular?
Retreat—sell off all his shares?
Judging from the current situation, the profits might make him cry on the spot…
After two rounds of financing, the Top Student, Come Quickly project had raised nearly ten million yuan excluding the investment from Dream Fulfillment Ventures. The shares actually controlled by Pei Qian (including those of the founding team and Dream Fulfillment Ventures) had been diluted from the original 90% to about 60%.
But that also meant the company's valuation had inflated like a balloon to about 25 million yuan…
Of course, valuations were just numbers on paper. Whether they could be turned into real money depended on whether someone was willing to take over the shares.
However, judging by how eager these investors were about the project, Pei Qian felt that if he transferred all his shares, someone would definitely be willing to take them.
What should he do now?
This was far too dangerous.
Pei Qian felt like he was walking on a tightrope—one misstep and beneath him lay an endless abyss.
'Calm down a little.'
'Think carefully—what matters most to investors?'
'Confidence!'
'The reason the valuation of the Top Student, Come Quickly project keeps skyrocketing is because these investors believe Tengda Group is backing it. That gives them an unrealistic level of confidence.'
'So I have to find a way to destroy that confidence in order to break this deadlock!'
'As long as everyone's confidence in the project collapses instantly, they'll start thinking about finding someone else to take over and run away. Once people lose faith, the valuation will crash immediately.'
'Hmm… it seems this is the only way.'
After thinking for a while, Pei Qian roughly figured out the direction he needed to pursue.
But how could he make everyone lose confidence?
Create some negative news?
But because of the system's restrictions, he couldn't do anything shady.
Besides, the investors had already put in quite a lot of money, which showed how confident they were in the project. Even if Pei Qian personally told them the project was unreliable, they probably wouldn't believe him.
This was difficult.
Pei Qian had found the right direction, but he still had no idea how exactly to implement it.
In the end, he had no choice but to ask He Desheng, since he was the professional.
After a moment of thought, Pei Qian asked:
"If you wanted the other investors to lose confidence in the Top Student, Come Quickly project, what would you do?"
He Desheng froze.
President Pei had been thinking for so long… just about this?
Why would he want other investors to lose confidence in the Top Student, Come Quickly project?
Wasn't that the kind of thing competitors should be thinking about…?
Looking at President Pei's expression, it seemed like… a test for him?
He Desheng's face immediately turned serious as he tried to analyze the deeper meaning behind this seemingly simple question.
After thinking for two minutes and still failing to uncover any hidden implication, he finally decided to answer cautiously.
"If it were me, I would continuously transfer my shares."
"Increasing your holdings shows that you're optimistic about the project. Continuously reducing your holdings suggests the opposite. So transferring shares would undermine the confidence of other investors."
Pei Qian nodded slightly.
Right!
As long as he reduced his shareholding, it would send a very clear signal of confidence—or rather, the lack of it:
I think this project has already reached its peak. I'm preparing to run.
On the other hand, if he tightly held onto his shares—even if he told others that he wasn't optimistic about the project—no one would believe him!
But… wouldn't that mean making money?
Even if he didn't sell all the shares at once and only sold them bit by bit, he would still definitely make a profit.
However, as long as he sold a smaller portion, the amount of profit would still be within an acceptable range.
More importantly, it could damage the confidence of the other investors, cool down the project's popularity, and ultimately achieve the goal of burning money and incurring losses.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian made up his mind.
"Then let's sell!"
He Desheng froze.
Sell now?
The project still looked very promising. Couldn't they squeeze out another round of profits?
But when he saw President Pei's determined expression, He Desheng suddenly snapped to attention.
There was a famous saying in the investment world: never try to earn the last copper coin.
Right now, everyone was optimistic about the Top Student, Come Quickly project. Selling now might not be the absolute peak, but it would already yield substantial profits.
If they continued being greedy and the project started declining, and others stopped believing in it as well, it might be too late by then!
He Desheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
As expected of President Pei, even in such smooth circumstances, he could still maintain such a clear and rational mind!
"President Pei, I understand! Leave it to me!" He Desheng patted his chest confidently.
…
…
February 11th, Friday.
Terminal Chinese Web Training Class.
It was lunchtime, but the atmosphere was somewhat different from before.
Previously, everyone would chat freely around the table, talking about all sorts of things. Many topics had nothing to do with web novels.
That was normal. Just like authors in group chats occasionally discussed writing techniques, but most of the time they were simply chatting casually.
But today was different.
Everyone was holding their phones, eating Moyu Delivery meals while seriously reading novels.
"Finished it."
"Brother Cui's new book is seriously amazing! I can't compare to that."
"Yeah, it feels like Brother Cui finally found the right path with this new book. He used to write xianxia, and although it was good, there were still plenty of people who wrote it better. But after switching genres, he immediately stands out! I've never seen anyone write an urban genre like this before!"
"It's already topped the New Books Ranking for a whole week. Ever since it was released on New Year's Eve, the data has been skyrocketing. It's incredible."
"The writing style is very fresh, and the pacing is great. Definitely worth studying!"
"You can tell the website is also supporting it. I have a feeling Brother Cui's book is going to explode in popularity. It might even break a lot of the platform's records!"
"At his current update pace of 10,000 characters per day, it'll go premium by the end of this month. Then we'll really see how powerful it is!"
"By the way, Ming Yu's book has also been climbing the rankings recently. I checked the readers' comments, and they all say the recent plot has been really good."
The authors all shared their thoughts enthusiastically.
Whenever a trend-setting hit novel appears online, authors will inevitably study and discuss it, trying to gain some experience from it.
Cui Geng wasn't here—he was still gathering material in the Tengda Group's game department.
Ming Yu, however, was present. He was also reading Cui Geng's new novel The Butterfly Game together with the others.
Hearing someone mention him, Ming Yu sighed with emotion.
"Yeah, I have to say, the Tengda Group Spirit training from a while ago improved me a lot!"
"And not just me. Didn't Xiao Chong, Long Ye, and Cong Xin also attend the Tengda Group Spirit training? Your results should have improved too, right?"
Xiao Chong nodded.
"Yeah, my subscription follow-up numbers have indeed gotten better recently."
Long Ye tugged at the beard on his chin.
"My stats did improve, but I also just happened to write a small plot climax recently, so I'm not sure whether it's specifically because of the Tengda Group Spirit. As for other things… it's true that my writing has been flowing more smoothly lately."
Cong Xin kept his head down, eating.
"My stats haven't changed much, but I think that's mainly because my recent plot arrangement hasn't been great. Once I adjust it a bit, there should still be room for improvement."
The other authors all showed envious expressions.
"It actually looks really effective!"
"Yeah! Brother Cui was the first to go and even got the position of 'Special Observer,' so he could deeply understand that spirit. That's why he improved the fastest. Ming Yu, Xiao Chong, Long Ye, and Cong Xin also attended the Tengda Group Spirit training, and their results have all changed! Even if the improvement isn't huge, at least their mindset has stabilized!"
"Looks like this training really works!"
"I'm already itching to go. I've reserved a spot for Monday's Tengda Group Spirit training, so don't fight me for it!"
"No way, I want to go too! Let's compete fairly!"
<+>
Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 468: Tengda Group Cornerstone Award[1]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/157991757?collection=1399284[2]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded[3]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/posts/157991757?collection=1399284
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/157991757?collection=1399284
[3] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded