Candy and Diamonds

This week, Lu Zhou assigned the maintenance and development of the Dream Grain market to Fang Qiang, while he himself began working on advancing the Banana market. The entire team was split into two groups: the Advertising Development Team and the Banana Development Team.

Previously, Wang Zhengye was responsible for the Banana market. While Wang Zhengye could learn and explore Android development step by step with the help of documentation, it was unrealistic to expect him to handle back-end programming entirely.

In addition to the change in leadership, Lu Zhou made some minor adjustments to the team members, including three new interns: Huang Dong, Chen Jin, and Jiang Chao.

Considering that Fang Qiang, as the head of the Advertising Development Team, was still inexperienced and might need time to adapt and adjust, Lu Zhou assigned Dong Junda, Pan Feiwen, and Zhou Wen, who had participated in the development of Dream Grain advertisements, as assistants, along with another intern.

On Lu Zhou's side, Wang Zhengye, who had been developing the Banana market from the beginning, teamed up with two new interns to form the Banana Development Team.

Lu Zhou didn't directly participate in the development of Dream Grain advertisements because Dong Junda and the others were still students, and even after the development of Dream Grain advertisements, they were still relatively inexperienced. It would only increase the time required for them to adapt if they were suddenly switched to different positions.

Moreover, Wang Zhengye was more familiar with the early stages of Banana market development, so there was not much difference for Lu Zhou to have Dong Junda and the others join the team or work with new interns.

As for the Market Team, Lu Zhou completely entrusted the responsibilities to Tang Yutong, who had a lively personality and had shown outstanding performance in her work recently. She was accompanied by three other interns to carry out the necessary tasks.

Lu Zhou provided some ideas for the Market Team's work, but when it came to the specific details of how to handle communication within the team, Tang Yutong was even more knowledgeable than him. So instead of giving orders blindly, Lu Zhou allowed them to arrange the work themselves, as long as they ensured that the assigned tasks were completed.

The tasks Lu Zhou assigned to the Market Team for Dream Grain were simple: attracting more advertisers to spend money and ensuring the onboarding of developers.

If the Market Team needed technical assistance, they could communicate with Fang Qiang and delegate the tasks to their subordinates. If there were issues they couldn't resolve, they could bring them back to Lu Zhou.

The more rational and meticulous Meng Xiaoqin was assigned by Lu Zhou to the role of managing accounts, human resources, and handling miscellaneous matters.

Daily fund applications were approved by Lu Zhou, and Meng Xiaoqin handled the bookkeeping, invoices, and provided them to the accounting agency for account management and reporting.

Thanks to the delegation of responsibilities to various individuals, Lu Zhou's workload this week was much lighter compared to the previous two weeks.

By Friday, the Market Team had already brought in nearly 200,000 yuan in advertising fees for Dream Grain, which was fully spent on developer applications. Based on the 30% revenue share, this amounted to a revenue of 60,000 yuan, completely covering the current operational expenses.

Of course, the settlement period of 45 days for developers had not yet arrived, so the money was still in Dream Grain's account.

On the other hand, Tang Yutong had just returned from the School of Computer Science and reported to Lu Zhou about the application for a new venue. "Senior, the application didn't pass. The director of our school said that Dream Grain has only been operating for a month, and the leadership hasn't seen any results yet, so it's

not possible to approve it casually. He wants you to visit his office."

Lu Zhou continued typing on his keyboard and said, "It's Director Yuan causing trouble again."

Yuan Haizhou, he must still be holding a grudge from last time, so naturally, he wouldn't easily approve it this time. But it couldn't be said that Yuan Haizhou had gone too far. After all, Dream Grain had only been in Room 305 for a short month, and during this month, they were busy with development and didn't have time to report the situation to the academic leaders. Lu Zhou had some prejudice against Yuan Haizhou simply because of the slight unpleasantness from the last application.

Tang Yutong tidied her short hair and asked curiously, "Senior, it seems like you have some opinions about our school director?"

Lu Zhou couldn't help but feel a sense of understanding and unconsciously said, "When he mentioned looking down on starting a business by selling milk tea and delivering takeout, I thought he was quite ridiculous. Although it's true that every student has different motivations for entrepreneurship, I don't understand the business project he mentioned. But the impression the director gave me was that he was completely negating it. How should I put it, having a bureaucratic, rigid mindset, and a narrow vision leading the work of student entrepreneurship in the institute is really difficult for the younger students who want to start their own businesses."

Just like when Lu Zhou mentioned "Hunger Didn't Strike" in Director Yuan Haizhou's office, the internet gave every tiny seed the opportunity to germinate and blossom.

There has never been such a tremendous opportunity in history. With just one person and a computer, one can create a service that benefits thousands, or even billions, of people. This is an era that sparks creativity and allows people to focus on their passions.

Perhaps Zhang Xuhao's initial idea for starting "Hunger Didn't Strike" was just, "Oh, I don't feel like going downstairs to eat, and there are only a few phone numbers for ordering takeout. Why isn't there a website that allows me to order food from my dormitory?"

Lu Zhou continued, "Facebook was initially just a prank for rating beauty, and eBay started as a website for Omidyar to collect candy for his girlfriend."

"Um. I'm not trying to say that every boring idea will necessarily give birth to the future internet giants. Instead, every idea, regardless of its size, should be respected. Because perhaps one day, a seemingly boring and crazy idea will become a diamond in the history of human wisdom."

Tang Yutong said, "...Senior?"

Lu Zhou found it strange and looked at Tang Yutong. "Hmm. What's wrong, Xiaotong? Do you have a question?"

Um, no. It's just that you seemed a bit excited, and your voice was loud. They all stopped working and listened..."

Lu Zhou looked around and said, "Dadadada," the sound of keyboard typing echoed, creating quite a show.

"Did they all hear it? Well then, let's get back to work!"

"Yes!"

In the eyes of everyone, there were shimmering lights, mixed with excitement, difficult to articulate.

Seeing everyone back to work, Lu Zhou turned to Tang Yutong and said, "Alright, I'll find time to visit the director later. For now, the development tasks are pressing, and Room 305 is sufficient for the time being. Do you have any other questions?"

Tang Yutong hurriedly nodded and said, "Yes, yes. I have a question about what you just said, Senior!"

Lu Zhou smiled, realizing that his previous nonsensical speech had sparked various thoughts in the minds of these young people. "Okay, go ahead."

"Senior, is it true that eBay initially started as a website for collecting candy for his girlfriend?"

Lu Zhou took a sip of tea and said, "Yes, it is."

"Wow! That's so romantic!"

Lu Zhou, in the midst of preparing to make another grand statement, choked on his saliva and coughed, "Cough, cough, cough... Is that what you wanted to ask?"

Tang Yutong blinked innocently and said, "Yes, I just thought this boyfriend was very sweet."

"Is that all?"

Tang Yutong furrowed her brows and then said, "Um... I feel like Senior said something very profound and reasonable, but I didn't understand it. I only paid attention to the story about the candy."

Lu Zhou

earnestly said, "Xiaotong... Your thoughts are very pure, but be careful not to be deceived..."