[Stage 1 → Startup]
The Experiment. Gather allies, chase growth, and risk collapse.
[After the private venture, the company needs to grow into a start-up, a small company of few employes armed with their product and ready to fill in a niche from where its rise to the rank of corporations will begin]
[Main Quest: Establish a fully-functional Startup and prove its mantle]
[Hint: Manner and scale of fulfilling the missions are reflected through modular rewards!]
[Quests:
First employee - Hire your first worker.
Team Assembly – Recruit core staff (crafter, scribe, salesman, guard).
Pitch Deck of Destiny – Convince a noble/guildmaster/investor to support operations.
Market Disruption – Compete with or outshine a local rival.]
[System Perks:
Angel Investment – a lump sum of capital
Teamwork makes dreamwork - improves efficiency of the team/ability rese
Innovation Injection – MC receives fragments of advanced knowledge
Startup Dashboard – UI panel tracking revenue, expenses, and morale.]
"Hu-uh…"
I breathed out loud, overwhelmed by the much beefier content of the system message panel.
But in that heavy breath of mine, one could sense relief.
Because I was right! And judging from the looks of it, not about just a small detail - but the whole inner-workings of this corporate system of mine!
Which only forced me to think even deeper.
'If that's how things are… then maybe I should prioritize those missions over the growth of the company itself?'
It was kind of late to bring that up to anyone, when I already paid my dues, fees and taxes for a full shop even though I would only get an use of it no earlier than in two weeks time.
And that estimate already assumed I would somehow just get my hands on some insane amounts of soap to just then leave it for two weeks to cure!
The smart business move would be to delay the legalization of my company for two, three weeks, giving myself some time to prepare more of the product and only then go official. This way, I could avoid paying two weeks worth of those costs, saving me whole ten gold coins.
Twice the amount my system gave me for completing my first mission.
Leaving ten gold aside just for fees, that left me with only thirty of them left!
Sure, I've started the whole thing with four gold coins and a bit of ingenuity, but the second I started scaling up, the costs…
But right now my company was in the early growth stage.
And some people made the mistake of trying to scale up the process that makes them the actual money.
But there was a very simple reason why some companies would ignore that.
With enough funding, I simply had no need to bother with selling anything.
Just the act of developing my business would come with system rewards, allowing me to scale up much faster than I should ever be able… or allowed to do.
Which is why, rather than thinking about the future fees, I locked in on the first part of my new questlist.
'First employee, huh?' I thought, only for my arts to dart up to the top of the message and lock in on the hint.
After paying the first set of fees, I was left with roughly forty gold coins, ten of which I would have to pay over the next two weeks.
That left me with forty gold of capital I could spend to splurge on my growth.
And even though we still had yet to reach the distant comercial plot for me to check the property out, I already had the idea of how to bite the next task.
If seed capital investment into my company was just five golden coins, then how much angel investment would pay out?
My hands trembled at the thought.
'Yeah, why would I bother with those fees now? It's best to just splurge on the missions!'
The fact that doing so would leave me with a competent, well-paid cadre that I would hand-pick…
Spending so much money just of people would seem like a nonsense.
But there was one factor people of this age, of this world, have yet to realize.
I wasn't here to sell soaps for the rest of my life. As such, it didn't matter whether I sold anything at this point or not.
Just this opening day and wrestling an actual shop for myself would be enough to attract attention from other players on the market.
And while there certainly was a mission to outdo one of my rivals, there was also a certain way that not only helped me to buy my way into the favor of the local elites, but also open the path to the real market that I pretty much had to create myself.
'Having Corporate system like that…' I gave the officials a long look as we walked through the city, finally nearing our destination. 'Wouldn't it be a massive waste not to massively screw over entire cities or countries for huge chunk of their economy?'
My lips formed an involountary smile.
I took a deep breath to reset my face.
Then, I looked back at what I've achieved today.
Forty gold coins, mere initial investment for my company.
That amount of money was well over just good enough to live well for the next four years.
Within a single day of sales, I've earned more than my past self would earn in a year.
And now I was about to see just where I would put my money as soon as I would get a fat payout from the bank of "System Incorporated".
We took the last turn, revealing a relatively nice, comfy plaza and a group of five, big shops located in a half-circle around the plaza, with some smaller stalls and stands filling up the space between them.
"The property in question is second from the right," the officials kindly introduced.
It was a nice, three-storey building with what looked like a huge plot of land hidden on its back.
What was now effectively a slightly bigger house could easily be expanded into an industrial compound with so much space around!
The downside?
It was at the very edge of the market, one positioned towards relatively posh and mostly empty northern district. This whole plaza, in general, would only become lively once the nearby two districts would fill-up with houses and workshops in a new wave of city growth.
A fool's hope.
For now, I could only count on the customers that would deliberately make the trip here to get my soaps or my roast.
No one else, beside some stragglers, would ever bother to come.
Far from the traditional sleeping-districts of the town, this place was as empty… as it was filled with potential.
'One thing I won't lack is the traffic. But to make the best out of it…'
I closed my eyes and thought things through.
My next few movements were already set in stone.
To go get my first employee, something I already planned for.
Then, using the angel investment fund, hire a full team.
As for the last step…
I merely smiled.
Then, as we came closer to the building, I've realized I would have to complete one more quest, one not inscribed in the system itself.
This shop, while perfectly fine from the outside, was one hell of a dump on the inside!