Chapter 378 - What is Venture Capitalism?

If possible, Pei Qian would rather make the entrance to the haunted house free. However, the system would definitely not allow it.

The price could be lowered to a certain limit. He could only rely on pricing strategies if he wanted to further reduce income after reaching the lowest price allowable by the system.

Pei Qian had to carry out his original purpose.

Make it a destination for the courageous without spending much and where the timid could only watch on in fear without entering.

The original intent of this sentence was to make the fees of the haunted house affordable for those who really dare to enter it and to scare the cowardly away so they had no chance to spend on anything. Therefore, Pei Qian decided to adopt a special pricing strategy after much consideration.

Different projects would be priced differently. Prices would be set differently for different people as well.

The first project with the lowest level of horror and the richest in gameplay should be the most popular. Therefore, the price of the ticket for this project should be as low as possible!

It would be most suitable for repeated play because it would have a greater audience. People would be inelastic to the price of the tickets so it should be set at a lower price so that it could make less money.

The third project would be the most terrifying and would have the largest investment. The ticket price would definitely not be set too low under the supervision of the system.

In that case, Pei Qian intended to do the exact opposite.

Set a high ticket price!

In this way, terror plus high ticket prices would have a double persuasive effect on ordinary people. The timid ones would definitely not enter in order not to waste their money and be scared.

As for those who were more courageous, they would consider returning their ticket money based on their progress in the game.

For example, divide the entire process into nine parts, each part would have a safe house. Ten percent of their money would be refunded to them every time they cleared each safe house. Clearing the entire nine segments would mean a ninety-percent discount on the ticket.

One could visit the entire haunted house for only 10 yuan.

According to Chen Kangtuo’s idea of ‘buying a ticket once and playing multiple times’, everyone could enter thrice with the same ticket. As long as the guest could pass the entire haunted house within three times, there would be no use in buying a second ticket to challenge it.

This way, the fare might look high on the surface, but the third project might still not make much money!

As for the second project, Pei Qian thought about it and gave it a low price, just a little more expensive than the first project!

Pei Qian said to Chen Kangtuo as he thought of these. “Different projects are to be priced separately. Ten yuan for the first project.

“You can have multiple experiences for the second project. Every additional experience would be an additional 15 yuan. Prepare a decibel recorder for everyone. Complete the mission without making too much noise, and the smaller project would be free.

“As for the third project, it’ll cost 100 yuan per experience. There will be a total of three experience opportunities. You can continue from where you left off for the second and third experience. Refund the ticket according to the progress of the last place they were at. All money would be refunded if they cleared the entire place.

“We can also issue a coupon, such as play all you want for 200 yuan.

“That’s roughly the case. You can work out the rest of the details.”

Chen Kangtuo’s eyes lit up after listening to Pei Qian. “I understand, Boss Pei. Your pricing strategy is exactly what I had in mind!”

Pei Qian, “?”

What did this mean?

He was a little confused, feeling that the script was a little different from what he had imagined The people he ‘directed’ previously were usually confused, puzzled… lost…

Why did Chen Kangtuo look like he had expected it long ago and was so excited? What did he mean by the pricing strategy was exactly the same as he thought? He thought that way, too? Could it be possible for Chen Kangtuo to have been enlightened after being sent to the Thriller Hostel project? He could now keep up with his frequency?

Pei Qian felt a little lost but did not ask more about it. He waved his hand and sent Chen Kangtuo away.

Something smelt fishy, something was off. “Strange, this is obviously a loss-making project that will start burning money soon. Why am I not excited at all…?”.

Pei Qian woke up in the afternoon and was prepared to make a trip to Dream Realization Ventures.

The other projects were still under development, and there was no important news for the time being.

Pei Qian was only slightly surprised at the progress of the movie. There was not too much content in the script. It should have been completed by now if they went by it.

However, there were absolutely no signs of it being finalized anytime soon.

“Perhaps the shooting had not gone well and was therefore delayed?

“Well, it’s possible. Director Zhu Xiaoce made short films previously. It’s inevitable stepping on some pits without the experience of directing movies for the cinema.”

Pei Qian did not care too much. He did not have a schedule to meet for making a movie. It was the same for him no matter when the movie was released as long as it was released before the settlement.

Pei Qian gave the Dream Realization Ventures more money. It was three million yuan this time.

It was nothing much compared to the twenty million yuan previously, but it was more than enough to invest in some small projects.

What was more, Pei Qian gave it some thought. Investment should be done step-by-step, not all at one go.

The twenty-million-yuan investment was a good lesson. It was better to take their time, accumulate some failed investment experiences, and then slowly figure it out.

Moreover, Pei Qian personally did it this time, which should set a good example for Old Ma. Otherwise, there would be endless trouble.

“I don’t know if old Ma read the plan carefully during this period and found any unreliable projects.”

Pei Qian arrived at Dream Realization Ventures while he pondered.

This time, there were no more shouts for ‘Boss Ma, run away!’ or sounds of typing on keyboards and clicking on the mouse. The atmosphere of the entire company changed suddenly from an internet cafe to a serious office area.

He Desheng and the others were all busy with their own work. Some of them were looking through the details of investment plans; some of them were making reports. They looked very professional.

This group of people hired by Old Ma was not purely to accompany him in games. Strictly speaking, they were ‘newcomers in the investment industry who were also good gamers’. Take He Desheng as an example. He was working in the investment industry, and gaming was a hobby that he was good at. Pei Qian felt very uncomfortable seeing this scene. It seemed like it would only be more reassuring if everyone should continue playing games. Their hardworking attitude was rather scary. However, Pei Qian thought it was better this way after all since everyone would give advice to GOG when they played the game. Sigh, it was difficult on all sides. He had to think of a way to invest in any project!

Ma Yang was sitting at the big conference table with a lot of investment plans in hand. He was browsing them one by one.

However, he was probably just looking at the title and the first page going by the speed he was flipping through.

Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing that. He knew he could count on his bro!

“How is it? Is there a ‘dream’ that’s worthy of investment?” Pei Qian sat down beside Ma Yang.

He Desheng and the rest hurried over and took their seats around the conference table.

This was Boss Pei personally imparting investment experience; any word would definitely be gold! They had to listen with all seriousness!

Ma Yang announced proudly: “Brother Qian, I found one!”

“Just one?” Pei Qian was slightly disappointed. “You found only one proposal with ‘dream?”

There was a stack of investment proposals on the table other than the stack Ma Yang had on his hand.

Pei Qian picked them up and flipped through them. He couldn’t help but suck in.

Investment was a really technical job!

He could barely understand these plans, but the problem was that they all seemed too reliable. Pei Qian found it difficult to distinguish which project would lose money, just as it was difficult for ordinary investors to distinguish which project would be profitable.

That was because every entrepreneur and those seeking investments would basically choose the projects which have some real prospects.

Even those proposals designed to defraud investors would be made extremely believable and exaggerate even more than usual. Fake projects had to look even more believable than real projects.

How could they defraud people of money otherwise?

That was where a problem appeared. All the proposals looked reliable and likely to succeed even if a large part of them were doomed to fail.

Pei Qian did not have the insight to tell the difference between them. He could only obediently take over the proposal selected by Ma Yang

Pei Qian was shocked when it landed in his hand.

So light!

The other proposals had a lot of information, but this proposal had only one page! Not only that, but the format of the proposal was totally wrong and the content was very simple.

This project was “Shared phone booth” and did not require much investment, only 200,000 yuan.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but become excited. He saw a dream in this proposal!

Ma Yang was still screening the other proposals when Pei Qian raised his hand and motioned for him to stop. “Let’s invest in the project first; we’ll not consider the rest.”

Ma Yang put down the other plans obediently and said, “Brother Qian, are we really investing in this?

“This project is indeed filled with dreamswhich is why I singled it out, but… will it be profitable?”

Pei Qian laughed. What rubbish, why would I invest in it if it could be profitable?

However, he could definitely not say that.

Everyone at the conference table, including He Desheng, was shocked. They read the ‘shared phone booth’ investment proposal a long time ago but treated it as a total joke.

Shared phone booth, scanning a QR code to make calls… Wasn’t that just redundant?

If someone could use their cell phone to scan a QR code, why would they use the phone booth to call?

Moreover, this was nothing new. There used to be so many public phone booths on the streets, but no one used them now.

Why? Times had changed! Who would still use a phone booth to make calls if everyone had a cell phone?

In the end, Boss Pei read it for ten seconds tops and decided to invest?

Pei Qian smiled, seeing everyone’s puzzled eyes. “You are not optimistic about this project?”

Everyone nodded. Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang. “You too?”

Ma Yang nodded then shook his head. “Brother Qian, any project you choose will definitely be alright! It will definitely be profitable!”

Pei Qian’s expression darkened.

This Old Ma was bootlicking, but why do I not feel good at all…? Definitely be profitable? Don’t curse me please! Pei Qian coughed slightly. “Remember, investing in something that everyone is optimistic about is not venture capitalist. That’s crowdfunding.

“Venture capital investment is investing in projects that seem unreliable and in projects that no one thinks will succeed! How could it be venture capital investing if there is no risk?

“The higher the risk, the greater the returns!”