Facing the top students from Harvard and MIT, Li Mu's confidence was particularly infectious. He paced slowly on the stage, calm and full of vigor, and began his first public appearance on the world stage.
Li Mu said with a smile, "As you all know, since the summer before I went to university, I have established a few companies. Fortunately, one or two of them have developed well. Now, we have expanded the business of one of them from Hua Xia to the United States, and then to the global market. Even more fortunately, we now have more users around the world and a wider space for development, which means that we have to bear more responsibility."
The audience applauded again. Li Mu's tone was humble. He used luck to minimize success, and then used responsibility to explain success. In an instant, he won the favor and recognition of tens of thousands of students in the audience.
"My first project was a music-sharing website. At that time, there were already many similar websites in the Internet industry in Hua Xia. Everyone was providing all kinds of music listening and downloading services. However, when I was making my own music website, I seriously considered a question. If I wanted to do such a project, compared to others, what was my advantage?
"At that time, I thought that if I could find my unique advantage, then I could try this project. On the contrary, if I couldn't find my advantage, then this project would be meaningless. At most, I could only become a part of the flow. After serious and in-depth consideration, I thought that my unique advantage was actually a deeper level of respect for users.
"At that time, all the music audio-visual websites in the market only focused on traffic and advertising revenue. They didn't study the page, the UI, or the user experience. They only studied how to add more online advertising to the already messy page to achieve the effect of increasing revenue. Therefore, I decided not only to make a music audio-visual website without advertising, but also to make a more beautiful music audio-visual website, giving users a better experience and more respect.
"When my music website was finally launched, my hard work paid off very quickly. All the users who used my products quickly settled down and became my loyal users. The reason for this is very simple. It's mutual respect. It's just like how you prefer restaurants that have good taste, a good environment, and lower prices."
"At that time, many people questioned my music and website. They felt that it was too stupid for me to not use the traffic to make money out of it. However, I felt that directly making money was like a primary industry that reaped benefits from planting melons. The resource utilization rate was too low, and the conversion process was too much. It would have a huge impact on the user environment of the entire product.
"Therefore, I changed my way of thinking. I had users, but I didn't need to force them to see advertisements to earn income. I could import them into my next product and let them become my deeper users. Therefore, I created a page product called Tieba. It was a minimalist BBS, but the biggest difference was that I allowed users to use any legally permitted keywords as a basis to create a BBS specific to that keyword. This product allowed me to successfully import users of the music website. However, I still didn't choose to advertise this product, because I felt that I could find a better way to make money out of it.
"At that time, the operating cost of two page products was relatively high. Fortunately, I got financing at that time. However, financing is like living expenses given by your parents. It will run out one day. Therefore, what you have to do is to prepare for a rainy day before the money runs out.
"So, under great pressure, I created a webpage called 'Happy Farm', which was the predecessor of 'Paradise Town'. Later, 'Happy Farm' brought the company a lot of cash, and at the same time, it was crazily sought after by the users. When the users imported all their connections in their lives and on the Internet into 'Happy Farm', we launched YY. Using these users' connections, YY immediately became the most popular product in the Huaxia Internet market after it was launched. This is what made Muye Technology what it is today."
It was the first time that the students of Harvard and MIT heard Li Mu talk about his entrepreneurial journey. In a few minutes, Li Mu had almost explained the whole development of Makino Technology, which amazed all the talented students in the audience.
Although Li Mu's development was frighteningly fast, it was like a chain that had been built quickly. Although it took a short time, every link was there, and every link was extraordinarily solid.
After the applause, Li Mu continued, "The reason why Makino Technology can become what it is today is that when I first came up with the idea of a music website, I didn't just keep it in my head and on paper. I really put it into action."
"It was precisely because I took the first step and created that music website that I managed to push myself to where I am today. If I had only thought of this idea back then, I might still be sitting in a classroom at Renmin University, living and studying in a big city nearly a thousand kilometers away from my hometown with less than a hundred US dollars a month from my family."
"You see, on one side, I spend two thousand dollars a year, and on the other side, I earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Therefore, you should now understand how important it is to put the idea in your head into action."
There was endless applause, laughter, whistles, and shouts. Although Li Mu spoke very casually, everyone deeply understood the importance of "action" from his words. Before this, although countless people had talked to them about this point, no one was as convincing as Li Mu.
When the applause gradually stopped, Li Mu continued, "Whether it is in developed countries, developing China, or poor and backward countries, every young person of our age is the most energetic and imaginative group of people. Under the influence of age and hormones, our energy is exuberant, and our brains are running at high speed almost 24/7. Everyone's mind is born with all kinds of ideas all the time. There must be many valuable ideas, but they are just ideas. If we don't put them into action, then no matter how good the idea is, it will not bring any help to society. You are still you, the sentimental and whimsical you."
After a knowing laugh, Li Mu continued, "One day last year, when I was studying at Renmin University, one day, my roommate told me that he really wanted to find a part-time job as a tutor to work while studying. However, he didn't make any progress through the traditional method of posting small advertisements. At that time, he was at his wit's end because his family wasn't very well off. He urgently needed to pay part of his tuition and living expenses by himself. He was thin and weak, and the only way he could think of was to work as a part-time tutor. He thought of this idea and tried to put it into action, but due to practical reasons, he couldn't find a suitable opportunity."
"At that time, an idea suddenly popped into my mind. In Hua Xia, parents are extremely eager to find a good tutor for their children who are about to take the college entrance examination. Students like my roommate who can get into Renmin University represent their rich experience and knowledge of the college entrance examination. Since there is enough supply and demand in this market, why couldn't my classmate find an employer?"
All the students in the audience held their chins and stared at Li Mu without blinking. They had completely fallen into Li Mu's rhythm. They listened to Li Mu's narration, thought about every question Li Mu threw out during his narration, and at the same time, looked forward to Li Mu's answer.
Then, Li Mu paused and said with a smile, "At first, I didn't understand it either. But later, I figured it out. The market's supply and demand are very strong, but it's very difficult for both sides to make a successful transaction. Then, the biggest problem is the lack of a transparent and efficient link between the supply and demand."
"So, an idea popped into my mind. Since I've already set foot in the Internet industry, why not use the advantage of the Internet connecting the world to solve the supply and demand problem of tutors between examinees' parents and students? The day I thought of this idea, I immediately put it into action. I locked myself in my room and organized an online platform for hiring tutors. I got all the students who wanted to do part-time tutoring to register as users of this platform. I got them to announce their school, major, and college entrance examination scores. This way, parents can choose the most suitable and customized tutor for their children on this platform. "
"For example, if someone's son wants to get into Yanjing University, then, instead of looking for some middle school teachers to tutor him, it's more direct and effective to find a student who has just been admitted to Yanjing University. Moreover, the age difference between a first-year student and a student who is about to take the college entrance examination is almost the same, so there's a smoother and more efficient channel of communication between them. Not only will the direction of their studies be adjusted to the greatest extent, but the efficiency of their studies will also be greatly improved."
"Moreover, there are many benefits to online transactions. I can let those famous university students like you bid openly, so that they can obtain more generous rewards."
"In a very short period of time, I created this platform. In order to make it simple and easy to remember, I registered a purely numeric domain name for it. Then, I led many of my classmates to promote it in every university and every residential area in Yanjing. Soon, 3321 became popular in the entire Yanjing.
Through 3321, tens of thousands of university students successfully found part-time tutoring jobs, and they received generous rewards that far exceeded their expectations. Among them, the top university students bid for more than 100 US dollars for a lesson. "
"And in Hua Xia, an ordinary worker works 180 hours a month, and can only receive an average salary of less than 300 US dollars. This salary of more than 100 US dollars for a lesson means that his part-time salary far exceeds his family's income."
"Yesterday, his parents were still working hard to support his studies. Today, he can already solve all of his school expenses through part-time tutoring, and at the same time, he can create more income to support his parents."
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