Chapter 77

Originally, I planned to get up at 9 to update, but when I finally woke up, it was already past 10—!

First update! Votes, please! Favorites, please! Support, please!

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"Although funds are tight, I think it's still a bit too early to look for venture capital!" Song Chen shrugged and smiled, "Sister Yan, you know that my company has only been established for less than two months! Apart from the internet cafe billing system, the main product is QQ. Although both software have achieved good results so far, rushing to find venture capital now would make us seem lacking in confidence. Even if someone is interested, the investment amount won't be much!"

Song Chen smiled confidently, "I prefer them to come to me rather than me actively seeking them out and being at their mercy!"

In fact, Song Chen was waiting. He remembered that this year, in a certain month, the American company AOL would acquire the ICQ company for nearly $300 million. Only then could he bring out QQ for valuation. If he were to present the slightly successful QQ now, the value of the company would be entirely in the hands of others.

"Since you don't want to, I won't insist!" Jiang Yan smiled gently, picked up her dark blue handbag, and stood up, extending her hand to Song Chen. "Then I'll come to work tomorrow, General Manager Song. Please guide me in the future! Remember to prepare the contract!"

After Song Chen held her delicate hand, she said leisurely, "You won't treat your sister poorly, right, billionaire?"

Song Chen's face twisted, and he was about to speak, but Jiang Yan smiled, "I was just joking. Like Sister Yue, I'm more interested in you as a person than in your wealth!"

While Song Chen was stunned, trying to decipher the meaning of her words, Jiang Yan's eyes flicked over his dazed face, and she smiled like a flower, holding her handbag as she left.

Song Chen felt a sense of loss and an unbearable itch in his heart, vaguely feeling that... Jiang Yan's words were hinting that he could also kiss the face of this deeply rooted "Red Princess"?

Is that possible?

In addition to the confirmation of the financial manager, the 31-year-old personnel manager, Zhang Ping, also arrived, signaling the completion of the company's basic "skeleton." The remaining tasks included recruiting and screening employees to fill out the "muscles," as well as dividing the power and establishing the most basic company policies.

In front of the company's senior management, Song Chen candidly admitted his "weakness" — lack of company management experience. Therefore, Zhai Yan, as his assistant and the company's tacit "boss's restraint," was appointed as the vice president, handling daily administrative work to give Song Chen more time to plan the company's strategic direction.

Yao Hua was appointed as the company's technical director, and Ruan Lika as the software development department manager, responsible for the subsequent development of QQ. Xu Xiaoying and Zhang Dayu, as part-time students and QQ developers, were appointed as assistants to Yao Hua and Ruan Lika, respectively. Besides these two, with the addition of the recent hires, the software development department was the largest, with over 20 people.

Notably, as the original creator of Q Brother and Q Sister, Zhao Lin had a part-time graphic design job at Chenxing Company. However, to win over "Princess Lin" and due to the special nature of "drawing," Zhao Lin received a salary but didn't need to come to the office. Song Chen's only requirement was that she produce work.

Chenxing Company also established a search engine research department, with Zhu Tiejun as the department manager. Currently, he and the software engineer recruited today were the only members, making him a lone commander. Considering that Baidu was founded in 1999 and launched its product in 2000, Song Chen wasn't in a hurry. He just wanted to lay the technical foundation for now.

Finally, there was the e-commerce department. If QQ software required long-term attention due to its high growth potential and significant value, e-commerce was what Song Chen was most focused on at the moment, as the creation of Alibaba was just around the corner.

Compared to Ma, who had extensive experience in the e-commerce industry, Song Chen was a complete novice! He only had experience using malls and Taobao from the future, which had no research value for this new, empty department. However, he knew the foundation on which Alibaba was built!

Compared to QQ software, the information market for hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized merchants was easier to grow explosively and more likely to attract venture capital! Therefore, Song Chen kept the department manager position open while urging Wen Kejian to speed up the website development.

Fortunately, unlike the internet cafe system, QQ, or the search engine, which required strong technical skills, a university student in a relevant major, or even a self-taught person, could independently develop a decent website. If it were ten years later, it would be even simpler—just download the code and set up the server.

Before renting the office in Xiaonan Building, Wen Kejian and his five classmates had already designed the homepage of the e-commerce website. After the company hired new colleagues, including graphic designers and website planners, the process accelerated, and they soon completed the entire website framework. To Song Chen, who had seen countless web pages in the future, the page looked very clean, following the minimalist style typical of business websites.

Except for the title bar and header, the navigation bar and content area were blank, waiting for content to fill them.

Currently, Wen Kejian, with his active manual and thinking skills, had firmly established himself in the new company. He and his five classmates got along well with the other new e-commerce department colleagues. Seeing that his social skills matched his professional level, Song Chen didn't wait for six months and directly signed formal contracts with him and his five classmates. Another notable mention is Liang Qicheng. Although the chat room code he wrote wasn't perfect, Song Chen rewarded him with a formal contract.

These six new college students became formal employees of Chenxing Company faster than Qiu Lin and others, causing widespread discussion among university students. Many students who were about to graduate in six months envied Wen Kejian and his team, and students from the software and website development departments began submitting resumes to the company. To save costs, Song Chen seriously considered the issue but quickly handed it over to Zhai Yan and Yao Hua to handle.

Now, he was pondering a question: How did Alibaba grow step by step before China joined the World Trade Organization? Unlike the growth history of QQ and Baidu, which had clear records, Song Chen knew almost nothing about Alibaba's growth history, which made him anxious and unsure of how to proceed.

However, no matter how anxious he was, his steps must be steady and powerful! Instead of being blind, it was better to feel the way forward. Since it was an East-West trade information platform, and the Chinese version of Chenxing E-commerce was already complete, a clear and professional English website must be developed as soon as possible.

"Translation! Jiang Xiaoqing, A Yan's new assistant, seems to be proficient in English? Forget it, I'll find a translator who is proficient in trade languages! In that case, we also need to set up a customer service department and international phone lines, or who will answer calls from foreigners?... Money!"

The office was filled with Song Chen's mournful cries.