Chapter 277: Being the First to Eat the Crab

"Manager Chen, I'm really sorry to disturb you this late." Yao Xia, feeling a bit embarrassed, knocked open Chen Yang's hotel room door.

"Director Yao, what wind blew you here?" Chen Yang and Lin Wei had just lain down on the bed when the door was knocked. Seeing that it was Yao Xia, Yexin's sister-in-law, he had actually already guessed the reason.

"Sorry, Manager Chen." Yao Xia expressed her apology again, then said: "It's like this, the project you discussed with my sister-in-law this afternoon—she explained it in a way that nobody understood. I heard you're leaving tomorrow morning, so I could only boldly come over to ask for the specific plan."

Chen Yang thought, "As expected, it's about the marriage dating website." But he had already explained it clearly to Yexin; given her expressive ability, it shouldn't be unclear...

What the hell is this woman up to?

"Just say whatever you need to ask!"

"What I want to ask is, can this marriage dating website really make money? And how does it make money?"

Chen Yang said: "The marriage dating website will definitely make money; if managed well, it even has a chance to go public. As for its main sources of revenue, there are currently two that are most obvious. First is the membership service I told your sister-in-law about. Second is advertising revenue. Of course, this assumes the marriage dating website has sufficient activity. Daily active users must be at least 100,000."

"The marriage dating website can go public?" Yao Xia thought Chen Yang's idea was a bit exaggerated. She had lived this long, and the largest matchmaking groups she'd seen were just three to five people together; groups of over ten were rare. If such a ragtag team could be packaged for an IPO, then listed companies would be worthless!

Seeing her disbelief, Chen Yang explained: "As long as the marriage dating website's popularity reaches a certain peak—for example, several tens of millions of daily active users—then it would have the potential to go public."

"Tens of millions of daily active users? That would require gathering all of the country's active users onto the website, wouldn't it?" Yao Xia found it a bit unbelievable. But seeing Chen Yang full of confidence, she felt embarrassed to continue doubting.

Seeing her doubtful expression, Chen Yang continued: "Internet users will only keep growing year by year. As long as we keep investing in advertising, we will naturally attract more users to join."

Yao Xia finally understood this time, then asked: "So how much advertising budget should we invest?"

Chen Yang said: "Advertising is definitely better the more the better. As long as the promotion is effective, investing ten million in advertising is worthwhile."

Yao Xia took a deep breath. She felt Chen Yang was crazy, daring to invest ten million in advertising for an online marriage dating website.

She had heard Yexin say that Chen Yang's Old People's Agricultural Products Trading Company's online sales platform had poured a lot of advertising money into it, yet the results were very unsatisfactory.

This made her a little worried about investing in the online market.

"Manager Chen, the marriage dating website has never had any successful experience domestically. Using so much money to promote it—isn't that a bit risky?"

Chen Yang could understand her skepticism. The first marriage dating website in the country wouldn't even appear until next year at the earliest. Before that, no one had ever thought of using the internet to play matchmaker.

If Starlight Financial Investment Company had no funds or resources, he wouldn't consider becoming a pioneer in this field. After all, entering a different industry is like crossing a mountain; this group has zero concept of the marriage dating website. Even as a Reborn Person, he had only seen the successful side of this industry.

But now the company lacks neither funds nor resources. As long as we build the framework and grasp the overall direction, we can hire professionals to do professional work.

"Director Yao, does our company lack money?"

"No shortage!"

"Then is the marriage dating website a good investment idea?"

"I guess... right!"

"No, from an investment perspective, it is a good idea. Because there are no competitors in this market yet, we can completely get ahead of others and be the first to eat the crab."

Yao Xia lowered her head to think for a moment, feeling Chen Yang's words also made sense. In business, like a battlefield, whoever seizes the market first holds the initiative.

"Then what should we specifically do?"

Chen Yang thought for a while, then continued: "Like this! First, we'll recruit internet technicians to build the website. Then, have your sister go to the TV station to find some connections and invest money in a dating show. The guests on that dating show must be registered members of our website. That way, we'll both establish a good cooperative relationship with the TV station and advertise the website—two birds with one stone."

Yao Xia didn't expect Chen Yang would use a TV program to promote the website. Combining reality and virtuality, this approach indeed gives people a stronger sense of immersion.

"What if no members sign up for the show?"

"If there are no conditions, we create them. We can first hire some actors to appear on the show to boost its popularity. Once the show gains heat, people will naturally rush to sign up."

"Won't the cost be a bit high?" Hearing they'd need to hire actors, Yao Xia became worried again.

"It's not about hiring big stars. Every circle has its grassroots; as long as someone is good-looking and has some experience in the entertainment or modeling industry, we can package them with a glamorous identity. These people, just to appear on TV, might even work for free."

"Wages still have to be paid; we can't be conscienceless capitalists." Yao Xia is a principled person. She only wants to spend less money, never having thought of exploiting others.

Seeing that Yao Xia was already moved, Chen Yang immediately said: "Then you go ahead and do the preparatory work first! If you still have any questions, just call me to discuss."

"Then I won't disturb your rest." Yao Xia had roughly understood Chen Yang's meaning, so she prepared to take her leave.

"Wait a moment!" Chen Yang suddenly remembered something, called Yao Xia back, and carefully asked: "How is Mayor Kong's son performing at the company?"

"Just like that!" Yao Xia seemed to have a poor impression of Mayor Kong's son, and said expressionlessly: "During the day he plays computer games at the company, and after work he follows Manager Huang and Manager Zhao off to indulge in eating, drinking, and merrymaking."

Chen Yang rubbed his forehead. If that's really the case, what's the difference from before? If this continues, Mayor Kong's wife will come looking for trouble.

"Like this! For the marriage dating website project, you let Mayor Kong's son participate as well. Try to keep him from hanging out with Manager Huang and Manager Zhao."

"What if he disagrees?"

"Then let your sister step in. If she doesn't care about it, I won't care about the stock matter either."

"Okay!"

Yao Xia immediately agreed to Chen Yang's request.

After she left, Chen Yang thought he could finally rest properly. Then the phone rang again.

"Boss, there's something I need to report. The construction of our company's headquarters suddenly stopped. From what I roughly understand, the contractor, Sunlight Real Estate Company, hasn't been paying the workers' wages. Go ask Manager Liu what's going on."