Chapter 71 Free is more profitable
Li Jia smiled and said, "We still need some experience to be competent in cost and engineering cost estimation. I have a lot of time, so Saturdays and Sundays are more than enough for me to work on this project with you."
Hao Heshan has been single for many years due to his own strength, and all his attention is on his favorite career. Seeing that Li Jia also loves his work so much, he instantly developed a sense of mutual appreciation. The two of them hit it off and became good friends who can talk about anything. They also work overtime together on Saturdays and Sundays without sleep or food.
When Hao Heshan learned that Li Jia's previous obsession with work led to her divorce, and her son followed his wife, and that he could only see his son for a short time every day when he picked up the child, he expressed deep sympathy.
However, Li Jia felt that Hao Heshan was a smart young man, graduated from a prestigious university, and looked good. If he took off his glasses and washed his head and face, he would look like a big star. Why didn't he have a girlfriend at such a young age? Instead, Li Jia advised him to be bold and give it a try, after all, there were many single female employees in the company.
Hao Heshan claimed the three-screen compatible computer in his office was his true love, far more caring than his wife, but for some reason, his mind was always filled with thoughts of Lin Ruoyan. Especially that day, when he went to report his progress, Lin Ruoyan's smile was so beautiful. To see her smile more often, he decided to redouble his efforts, striving to produce some results every week so he could have an excuse to report to her office.
So a few days later, Hao Heshan reported on the progress of the Go teaching website project.
Hao Heshan had learned Go as a child, and while he could handle entry-level content on his own, he needed professional assistance for more advanced areas. He had already applied the strategies Lin Ruoyan had mentioned earlier, such as increasing user engagement and encouraging students to top up their accounts, to the design of his Go instructional website. Now all he needed was to bring in real-world experts for more testing.
Ever since the Yu family elders left Beijing, Lin Mengxi had spent less time on Go, and Lin Ruoyan was still worried. Hao Heshan had asked for professionals in this field to develop the project, so she had no choice but to ask her brother for help.
Lin Ruxu's brother was also a Go expert back in the day. Several classmates around his age had become professional players. As soon as Lin Ruoyan asked, Lin Ruxu immediately contacted that professional player.
After chatting, I learned that the player had retired from the city team and opened a small-scale Go dojo. The dojo was located in X City District. With limited investment, they rented a small store in an ordinary commercial building. They couldn't afford to hire more teachers, so they taught a dozen students themselves.
Lin Ruoyan said, "Why don't I go to his Go dojo and take a look? Lin Mengxi also needs opponents of similar level to learn Go. Maybe online Go schools can be combined with offline real-person teaching."
Lin Ruxu considered opening a small-scale learning class a small business and didn't pay much attention to it. Lin Ruoyan just wanted to find a partner for her son to learn Go.
Unexpectedly, after meeting Lu Xueli, the teacher of the Go Dojo, Lin Ruoyan discovered that he had a strong sense of professionalism. His ideal was to set up a large-scale specialized Go academy to recruit all those who wanted to learn Go in Beijing. The only reason he hadn't done it yet was because he lacked money.
Lu Xueli said, "Although I'm not a particularly outstanding professional Go player and have now retired, I've always wanted to promote the Go culture of our country. I'm very interested in the Go teaching website that President Lin mentioned earlier. This will break through the limitations of time and space, allowing children with the means to receive Go training and play Go even if they don't come to the dojo regularly. This will be very beneficial to promoting Go instruction."
Lin Ruoyan was just wondering what to invest in. When Lu Xueli said that, she quickly jumped in: "How about I invest in you to start a large Go academy, and you can also participate in the development of this online Go teaching project. You can calculate how much it will cost and give me a plan. This is my business card. When you have made up your mind, just ask me to transfer the money."
"Probably two million." Lu Xueli knew that the Lin family was rich. In the past, he was too embarrassed to go to Lin Ruxu to discuss his small business. Originally, he thought that today he would at most accept a disciple to learn chess, but it turned out that before he even had a disciple, the investment in the chess academy had already been made.
In fact, Lu Xueli had already thought about how to set up a chess academy. He also inquired about some suitable venues nearby and even planned the salary system for teachers and the tuition system for students. Now Lin Ruoyan agreed to pay without asking any details, and did not even ask about his estimated demand. This was quite generous.
"Only two million? Then I'll give it to you first. It will take time for you to rent a house and enroll students." Lin Ruoyan answered honestly.
Lu Xueli was nearly stunned by the money, but after a moment of composure, he said, "Thank you, Mr. Lin, for your appreciation. When are you free tomorrow? I'll report to you with the plan and budget for opening the chess academy. Also, I'm always willing to support your online teaching project, free of charge, whenever needed."
"Oh, so that's the case. I'm free tomorrow, you can come anytime. As a consultant for software development, I will arrange a special office for you, and I must pay you the consulting fee." Lin Ruoyan has already seen Lu Xueli's serious attitude towards work, so she decided to keep him first and create the Go website first.
"You've already invested in the chess academy. Online teaching will definitely be used by the academy in the future, right?"
Lin Ruoyan thought about it and it made sense. Now that the big money was settled, she wanted to push the tedious tasks onto others. "Then, I'll ask the group's lawyer to help you prepare the relevant contract documents for the chess academy investment cooperation and clearly define the equity. As for the online teaching and development, if you have any technical questions, you can contact Hao Heshan in the Information Department, and for more information, please contact my assistant Qin Shuang."
Lu Xueli wasn't actually worried about the equity implications of accepting the investment, but rather that Mr. Lin offered him too much. Honestly, Lu Xueli wasn't sure if the shogi academy would actually be profitable. After all, learning Go was just an extracurricular hobby, with a high barrier to entry. It wasn't nearly as well-known as piano exams, math Olympiads, English, and art. He might not even be profitable in the first few years.
Lin Ruoyan didn't know much about Go, but she knew that Go websites were similar to other chess and card entertainment websites. In the future, they would evolve into software and then have a mobile app version. Not only could they sell a paid membership version, but they could also consider a free version with advertisements to attract a larger customer base.
With this thought in mind, Lin Ruoyan returned to the company and had another in-depth talk with Hao Heshan.
Hao Heshan was puzzled and asked, "Boss Lin, you said you wanted to develop a free version of the existing membership website. If everyone goes to the free website, how are we going to make money?"
Lin Ruoyan explained, "Yes, for example, when we first launched the website for practicing exam questions, we definitely offered a membership system. However, since no one has used it before, wouldn't they feel comfortable paying monthly or annual fees all at once? There's a trial period for job hunting, so we could offer a free version for customers to try. Besides having fewer questions, the free version also allows for advertisements. Clicking on the advertisements will allow you to turn the page or get the exam graded. Then, we'll tell customers that they can pay to become members and experience more VIP features without having to pay for the advertisements. That's killing two birds with one stone."
With this explanation, Hao Heshan immediately understood. It turns out the free version isn't free after all. If the traffic is high enough, they can sell advertising space and charge per click. Students don't have to pay to do the exercises, they just look at the ads. The website operator can completely rely on the money from advertisers to cover the cost of the "free" operation.
"We'll add ad space to the free version. As for how to sell that ad space, talk to Lü Gan from the marketing department. By the way, we can also add ads to Go and that engineering cost estimation software, right? Companies selling stationery, teaching materials, Go-related supplies, and various engineering materials should all appreciate targeted customer groups."
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