I Spoke Too Loudly Just Now

"Mr. Han, about what happened last time... I handled it a little too hastily."

"Mr. Liang, go ahead," Han Luyi replied.

"Regarding the partnership, I went back and discussed it with my superiors again." Liang Yu's voice was dry. "We can remove the exclusivity clause. We're willing to negotiate a new version."

"You're welcome, Mr. Liang. Let's pick a place to meet," Han Luyi said.

"No, no. Just give me an address, Mr. Han. I'll come over now."

After hanging up, Han Luyi sent him the address. Liang Yu quickly replied. Han Luyi looked up. "He'll be here in an hour."

Su Niannian cleared her throat, raised her phone to her ear, and lowered her voice. "Mr. Han, I'm sorry, I spoke too loudly just now... Hahaha!" Before she could finish, she burst out laughing, nearly dropping her phone onto the table.

Han Luyi laughed too. "Don't be so arrogant later, or we might actually blow the negotiation."

Su Niannian rolled her eyes at him. "I know."

Lu Mingzhou silently stood up and erased the writing on the whiteboard.

Liang Yu arrived five minutes early.

There were three knocks on the door, and Su Niannian got up to answer it.

Liang Yu stood in the doorway wearing a navy short-sleeved shirt, a black briefcase in hand. A large patch on his chest was already soaked with sweat, and he was breathing lightly.

"Sorry, Mr. Liang. We're still in the startup stage, so the conditions are a bit rough," Han Luyi said.

Liang Yu smiled. "It's fine. Consider it training."

"You've met Ms. Su. Let me introduce you—this is our company's CFO, Frank." Han Luyi pointed at Lu Mingzhou, and the two shook hands.

Liang Yu accepted the water Su Niannian handed him. His gaze swept across the room and paused in front of the whiteboard, where he spotted traces that had not been fully erased.

He set down the water, sat at the dining table, and opened his briefcase.

"Mr. Han, I brought a new proposal. Take a look first."

Liang Yu felt Han Luyi's eyes seem to light up. The other man had already taken the proposal and lowered his head to read it.

After quickly finishing it, Han Luyi looked up. "Mr. Liang, this is very sincere. I only have a few minor requests." As he spoke, Han Luyi picked up a pen and wrote a few notes on the proposal.

Liang Yu took it back and looked it over.

The non-exclusive partnership agreement, the monthly guaranteed minimum of 150,000, and the 88/12 revenue split had all remained unchanged.

As for the promotional resource package: the homepage banner rotation had been changed from three days to ten; developer email pushes had been changed from quarterly to monthly; and jointly hosted technical salons had been changed from once a year to once every quarter.

The sweat Liang Yu had just managed to stop immediately returned. The only sound in the room was the hum of the old air conditioner.

After a long while, Liang Yu spoke. "I'll take this back and put it through the process. I'll give you an answer as soon as possible."

"Pleasure working with you," Han Luyi said.

Liang Yu stood up and put the documents into his briefcase.

Han Luyi walked him downstairs. When they reached the building entrance, Liang Yu paused.

"About that call last time, it really was an error in judgment on my part."

"I understand why you made that decision from your position, Mr. Liang." Han Luyi held out his hand. "There's plenty of time ahead."

Liang Yu shook it, then turned and left.

Before Liang Yu arrived, the three from Source Code Technology had already discussed it. Azure Peak's enterprise user base was too small. Since they were signing on, they had to use Azure Peak's strengths to break into the individual developer market. With this result, their strategic objective had been achieved.

Han Luyi went back upstairs to 502. Lu Mingzhou had already rewritten the numbers on the whiteboard.

Celestial Pivot: 200,000 guaranteed minimum / 85%

Kunlun: 150,000 guaranteed minimum / 92%

Azure Peak: 150,000 guaranteed minimum / 88% + promotion

Direct subscriptions: 100,000

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Total monthly revenue: 600,000

Su Niannian raised her phone and took a picture of the whiteboard.

"Don't post it on Moments," Han Luyi said.

"I'm sending it to Lawyer Gu." Su Niannian rolled her eyes at him again. "Three contracts need reviewing."

Lu Mingzhou cleared his throat, and both of them looked at him.

He drew a line beneath the 500,000, then turned around.

"Once all three cloud platforms are online, based on the current scale of paying users and growth trends, before the revenue shares exceed the guaranteed minimums, our monthly revenue will increase by 500,000. Most of our customers will migrate to cloud platforms, while the paying customers left in the direct sales channel will bring in roughly 100,000 a month. But the real bulk will be the growth afterward. Let's observe the trend, and I'll put together a report next month."

Lu Mingzhou drew a simple formula on the right side of the whiteboard.

"When valuing a SaaS company, VCs generally look at the ARR multiple. ARR—Annual Recurring Revenue—is annual recurring income. Simply put, you can multiply monthly revenue by twelve."

He wrote: 600,000 × 12 = 7.2 million

"Conservatively speaking, at 600,000 a month, the ARR is seven million. This sector is hot right now, so a five-to-eight-times multiple isn't unreasonable."

7 million × 5–8 = 35–56 million

"In other words, Source Code Technology is now worth between 30 and 50 million."

Su Niannian stared at the numbers on the whiteboard.

"Three months ago, our registered capital was one million." Lu Mingzhou tapped the whiteboard. "This is called a growth premium. But valuation is just valuation. To turn it into real money, we need VCs to see that the growth curve can continue. Of course, this is only one valuation model, and it doesn't account for our accelerating growth. I'll prepare a complete valuation report later."

"There's one more thing we need to bring up." Lu Mingzhou put the marker back.

Han Luyi looked at him.

"We need to hire people."

"I wanted to say that too." Su Niannian took over. "Connecting with all three cloud platforms requires manpower. I'm barely able to handle product and operations by myself anymore. We need to hire a few developers too. We can't keep relying on you, the CEO, can we?"

"At minimum, we need two or three developers, one finance cashier, and one operations person." Lu Mingzhou counted on his fingers. "Including the three of us, that makes six or seven people."

He looked around the living room. "We'll also need to rent an office. Your place can't hold us anymore."

Han Luyi stood and walked to the window. Someone on the balcony of the building across the way was bringing in quilts, while the plane trees downstairs rustled in the wind.

He rested a hand on the window frame and brushed the thin layer of dust on the sill with his fingertips.

"Let's find a shared office space in the outer suburbs," he said. "Cheap, with enough desks."

"What about recruiting?" Lu Mingzhou asked.

"You handle interviews for the cashier," Han Luyi said. "Niannian and I will handle the other positions. We'll write up the JDs—job descriptions—in a bit."

Lu Mingzhou glanced at his watch and picked up his bag.

"It's six. I need to go."

"Mingzhou—" Su Niannian looked up. "Can't you work overtime just once?"

"No." Lu Mingzhou opened the door without looking back. "My wife is waiting for me to go home and cook."

The door closed, leaving only the two of them in 502 again.

Han Luyi looked at Su Niannian. "How about you head home early too? Otherwise I'll look like some heartless capitalist."

Su Niannian made a face at him. "I'm a partner too! What, can't bear to buy me takeout?"

Han Luyi stood up. "No takeout today. Let's go eat at a restaurant."

"Really? What are we having?"

"Pickled cabbage fish?"

"Then I want it insanely spicy!"