Chapter 351: The Massive Ecosystem

Fang Hong didn't know about Yu Xian's flashy moves, nor what was going on between him and Guo Biting.

Since Yu Xian hadn't formally introduced her to him, there was no need to pay attention, nor any need to follow it specially.

If one day Yu Xian formally introduced a woman to him, that would be the real time to talk about marriage.

Before that, it was all just playing around.

He urged Yu Xian to finish showing off and hurry off to the United States—there were a pile of matters waiting over there.

That day, in a coffee shop, Fang Hong had arranged to meet two people here: one named Qu Fang, the other named Mao Wenchao.

In his previous life, these two were the founders of Xiaohongshu.

"I heard General Manager Fang is also from Hubei?" Mao Wenchao was quite handsome.

"Yes, the three of us are from the same hometown. To be honest, my girlfriend is also from Hubei." Fang Hong sat casually, one arm resting on the armrest.

"Liu Tianxian?" Qu Fang wasn't entirely sure.

"Yes, we've been together for many years, and we've already reached the stage of talking about marriage." Fang Hong didn't hide it either.

"Then congratulations to you both." The two cupped their fists.

This gave the two of them a sense of closeness—everyone was from the same place, so there was a certain sense of identification.

"Thank you." Fang Hong nodded.

"Then let's get straight to the point."

Mao Wenchao smiled and said: "Qu Fang and I had previously read the planning proposal for the Overseas Shopping Guide that the Principal sent over. We've refined it on that basis."

The current Overseas Shopping Guide was the predecessor of Xiaohongshu—essentially an overseas shopping guidebook.

Xiaohongshu originally amounted to just such a thing: they wrote the content themselves in a diary-like format, only later expanding to users sharing their own overseas travel experiences.

It incidentally developed cross-border e-commerce attributes.

Mao Wenchao took out a printed and bound document, handed it over, and said: "We also intend to change the Overseas Shopping Guide's business strategy—focusing on young users, refined experience, a high-end overseas shopping sharing community platform. This is the detailed proposal we've redone. General Manager Fang can take a look."

Fang Hong flipped through the refined proposal the two had put together, though he couldn't really make much of it.

Many paths only come with experience after they've been walked.

Previously, he had contacted the two of them, taken what he'd seen in his previous life about Xiaohongshu's positioning and characteristics, made a planning document, and sent it to them.

The goal was to become one of the founding partners and co-create Xiaohongshu with them.

And then bring Xiaohongshu under the umbrella of Chang'e Technology.

This way: Bilibili's lower-end user base; Xiaohongshu's high-end user base—those little fairies; plus the short-video comprehensive user base.

All three platforms have community and social attributes. If all three succeed and are connected into one massive ecosystem, the user numbers formed would be no less than a major social platform like WeChat.

And it would also have the functions of Weibo and Baidu.

As for active user numbers, one wouldn't dare say they'd surpass WeChat, but at least they'd be comparable—and that was Fang Hong's goal: to overtake WeChat.

Of course, speaking of making money—if you want to do social well, you have to stop thinking about making money first, and keep pouring money in.

But once it's formed, this massive traffic can be monetized from anywhere—games, film and television, beauty products, clothing, all kinds of promotions, advertising, and so on.

Even selling traffic like Douyin would earn quite a bit.

"No problem, what you've done is better than mine." Fang Hong looked it over and closed the notebook.

"Not at all—we just refined the details on the basis of yours. We don't have your far-sighted vision." Mao Wenchao was modest.

What Fang Hong had done was broad, just the general direction; they had refined and detailed it on that basis.

After all, he couldn't think that carefully—he only knew the path of how Xiaohongshu got started, so he set the broad direction.

However, he had downplayed the e-commerce part.

Xiaohongshu doing e-commerce could never compete with Pinduoduo and Taobao—it was too refined, too high-end, too expensive.

Most little fairies would find information on it, then go buy on other platforms—that's how they operated.

They really thought those little fairies were all rich!

Though some little fairies really are quite rich.

Monetization channels could be left aside for now—continue the cross-border shopping strategy. Fang Hong's goal was to have them build the platform's community well.

As for how to monetize, that could be discussed later.

These two had researched for ten years without coming up with a monetization plan, always running at a loss, and Fang Hong had no successful experience to draw from either.

But whether it could make money didn't matter—Fang Hong just wanted a platform that could gather little fairies, which would complement his other sectors.

WeChat doesn't make money from everything either. "Don't say that—your ideas are also very good. There are some things I haven't thought through completely either. We'll figure it out slowly, improve slowly—after all, there's no precedent to draw from." Fang Hong said.

The two nodded—that was true.

"I propose renaming the Overseas Shopping Guide to Xiaohongshu. What do you think?" Fang Hong looked at the two.

"Xiaohongshu? The name fits."

Qu Fang's eyes lit up, and she said gladly: "Wenchao and I had discussed renaming before. Your name is very fitting—it really matches that kind of Psychological Suggestion women respond to."

"Good, then listen to my thoughts."

Fang Hong began to lay out his ideas: "Xiaohongshu will fall under Chang'e Technology, operating as one division. Don't misunderstand—Xiaohongshu will still be managed by you."

"General Manager Fang, just say it straight. This was originally your proposal, and you count as a founder. We just refined it on your basis—without your proposal we wouldn't have had much direction either." Mao Wenchao said.

A few months earlier, this person had contacted them, wanting to redo the Overseas Shopping Guide, and had even sent them the transformation strategy for it.

Over these months they had been in frequent contact, and this person hadn't hidden anything—they'd communicated many times.

"Alright, Chang'e Technology will put up ten million dollars as seed funding to support its development. I'll personally take 70% of the shares, and the remaining 30% you two split between yourselves. What do you think?" Fang Hong said.

This made Mao Wenchao and Qu Fang exchange a glance—this was quite a generous offer.

This person had arranged for them to found Xiaohongshu, and was putting up so much money, while they contributed nothing and got 30% for free—it felt a bit like taking advantage.

Ten million dollars was equivalent to seventy million—more than enough for a quick launch.

"General Manager Fang, if I may ask—you have the money and the ideas, you could do it entirely on your own. Why still look for us?" Qu Fang asked.

"Even if I have ideas, I need people who can help me realize them. Your ideas happen to align with mine — that's how partners come about." Fang Hong put it simply.

The two of them felt relieved; what he said made perfect sense. The three of them could be considered co-founders of Xiaohongshu.

"Don't worry, Xiaohongshu will still be run by you two. I won't interfere too much," Fang Hong said.

"Since General Manager Fang has already said so, we have no objections," Mao Wenchao nodded.

The three reached an agreement, confirmed the broad direction, and then discussed matters concerning Xiaohongshu's equity structure, organizational structure, and headquarters location.

Fang Hong's 70% stake remained unchanged. Mao Wenchao served as Xiaohongshu's Executive Officer with a 20% stake, responsible for decision-making; Qu Fang held a 10% stake as Operations Officer, responsible for organizational structure and daily management.

This equity would not be diluted. If financing was needed, it would be raised at Chang'e Technology's headquarters; Xiaohongshu itself did not need to raise funds.

If those two wanted to sell their shares, they could only sell them preferentially to Chang'e Technology.

As a branch of Chang'e Technology, Xiaohongshu would be set up at SOHO Fuxing Plaza in Shanghai's HP District, renting office space there.

For the capital injection, Fang Hong transferred ten million dollars from the Zhong family into Chang'e Technology, which would then be injected into Xiaohongshu.

This way, it was equivalent to Chang'e Technology incubating Xiaohongshu.

Previously, the Zhong family's release of "The Shark Beach" had already earned over twenty million dollars, which could be injected directly.

The film and television production base was still under construction. After "The Fault in Our Stars" finished its theatrical run, more money could be invested; for now, it wasn't needed.

These ten million dollars, for the current Xiaohongshu, would last at least a year. The startup phase was the stage of building the scaffolding — it didn't take much money.

The time to spend money would be when expanding business scope, promoting operations, and increasing user numbers — that would be when the real money-burning began.

But Fang Hong was already prepared to burn money. With Tesla and Nvidia backing him, plus the games, it should be enough to get through the难关.

After finishing talks with Qu Fang and Mao Wenchao, Fang Hong went to the SK Building, to miHoYo's office space. It was bright and tidy, not at all the messy place one might imagine.

With money, that's how it is.

And the staff had increased a lot — row upon row of young programmers.

They looked toward the corridor, where Cai Haoyu and several other founders were accompanying Fang Hong on his inspection of everything here.

Fang Hong couldn't tell much just by looking, so he asked directly: "Which game are you developing now?"

"We're currently developing 'Collapse Academy 2,' which will be online soon. Additionally, we're cooperating with Bilibili and plan to launch 'Collapse Academy' four-panel comics," Cai Haoyu reported.

miHoYo's game promotion was done through Bilibili, because Bilibili's otaku user base perfectly matched their game's positioning.

It was the same in the previous life — cooperating with Bilibili to promote games. miHoYo's success also helped Bilibili find a source of revenue.

However, in this life, Bilibili was not allowed to make games; it could only serve as a promotional platform, earning revenue through advertising or live-streaming.

This was also quite good — having both games and comics further strengthened Bilibili's stickiness with its otaku users.

"Have you made money yet?"

"Yes, we made 1.3 million this year," Cai Haoyu replied.

(End of this chapter)