Chen Ming blinked. "Speed things up?"
"That's right." Lin Feng nodded. "At the moment, while we need time, the time is just to get more money. Meaning - if we had more money, it wouldn't be hard to stay profitable."
He looked at them.
"Do you remember Fool's Gambit? The game Li Jun and I produced?"
They nodded.
"It was quite successful and we just got our first paycheck yesterday." He let that sink in for a moment. "I was thinking of putting a hundred thousand into the Xunfeng business."
The others exchanged glances.
"Don't worry - this isn't a capital injection, so your shares remain the same. If I had to classify it... it's more like a loan." He nodded to himself. "Yeah. Loan is the word."
"Aren't personal loans a little... problematic?" Zhang Wei asked.
"Depends," Lin Feng said. "You can think of it like a shareholder loan. This is very common among startups. As long as we have the paperwork and not just superficial words, there won't be any problems."
He continued.
"I want to loan a hundred thousand yuan to Xunfeng Delivery for twenty-four months at two percent annual interest. I was thinking this money could help us with our expansion project - or at least make it much quicker."
The others fell into thought.
Then Li Jun spoke up.
"I think it's a good idea." He crossed his arms. "Though a hundred thousand might fall a little short. So I'm going to loan out a hundred thousand from my pocket too."
Lin Feng looked at him.
Li Jun met his gaze steadily. "Besides, we made that money together. I'd feel bad not being able to help our business."
He glanced around the table. "What about you two? Any issues with it?"
Zhang Wei shook his head. "No problems here."
Chen Ming scratched his cheek. "I was a little worried we'd go under... but with this arrangement, it really could work."
Lin Feng spoke up again, scratching his cheek.
"Well... I had made the calculations with my hundred thousand. Now that Li Jun is involved too, I guess I'll have to make some adjustments."
He thought for a second.
Then he clapped his hands together.
"Alright. Here's the plan."
The others straightened up, giving him their full attention.
"With two hundred thousand, we can afford a proper expansion. I'm thinking we rent a warehouse - around two hundred square meters. Somewhere in a mid-tier area, close enough to campus that we can still service our current customers while reaching new ones."
He began counting off on his fingers.
"Setup costs will look something like this. Deposit for three months - around twenty-four thousand. First month's rent, eight thousand. Shelving and equipment, fifteen thousand. Initial inventory, fifty thousand. Logistics, five thousand. Registration and permits, three thousand. Some local marketing for launch, fifteen thousand. Miscellaneous expenses, five thousand."
He looked up.
"Total setup: around a hundred and twenty-five thousand. That leaves us seventy-five thousand in operational capital."
Chen Ming whistled softly. "That's... actually doable."
"What about monthly costs?" Li Jun asked.
"Rent should be about eight thousand. We'll need to hire a warehouse manager - six thousand should be a fair price. Monthly utilities, around eight hundred. Ongoing marketing, three thousand. Miscellaneous, five hundred." Lin Feng spread his hands. "Total fixed costs per month: around eighteen thousand."
Zhang Wei frowned slightly. "And the part-timers? Our current payment model works on campus, but will it hold up outside?"
Lin Feng nodded, as if expecting the question.
"It won't. I've already thought about this."
He leaned forward.
"The current hybrid system works because our deliverers are students who actually want our products. But once we expand, we'll be hiring regular workers. They need cash, not store points for snacks."
He held up a finger.
"So here's the new model. Base pay: five yuan per delivery, guaranteed. On top of that, the ten points per delivery is kept as it incentivises them to spend on our platform and become customers themselves. Then we add a distance bonus: one and a half yuan per kilometer after the first two kilometers."
Chen Ming raised an eyebrow. "What about the rating system?"
"We keep it, but as a bonus. Five-star rating gives an extra one and a half yuan. Four-star gives seventy-five yuan. Below that, nothing." Lin Feng paused. "We also add peak hour bonuses - two to three yuan extra during lunch and dinner rushes."
Li Jun did some mental math. "So a delivery during peak hours, four kilometers out, five-star rating..."
"Base five, plus three for distance, plus two for peak, plus one and a half for rating. Twelve and a half yuan." Lin Feng nodded. "On a hundred-yuan order with fifty percent margin, that leaves us thirty-seven and a half for warehouse costs, manager salary, taxes, and profit."
Zhang Wei looked thoughtful. "What about small orders? An eight-yuan pack of noodles isn't going to cover delivery costs."
"That's where distance restrictions come in." Lin Feng raised his hand, ticking off points. "Within two kilometers of the warehouse - no minimum order. Two to three kilometers - minimum thirty yuan. Three to five kilometers - minimum fifty yuan. Beyond five kilometers - not available."
He continued.
"This way, small orders only happen when they're close enough to be profitable or just cancel out. The bigger orders with fat margins subsidize the overall operation."
"Well, this is just one way to do it…" He added
"We can also batch them." Lin Feng smiled slightly. "I'm thinking of an 'add to route' system. When a driver is already heading in a direction, nearby small orders can be added to their route. The driver gets an extra yuan or two per add-on. We can also tie it to weekly bonuses - number of small orders fulfilled."
He raised a finger.
"And remember, they can still farm ratings with small orders. Five stars? That's an extra one and a half yuan for minimal effort. This incentivises them to participate in the route system."
Zhang Wei nodded slowly. "I can build that into the app. Route optimization, batching system, the works."
"Good." Lin Feng turned to the others. "With this model, assuming we get a good amount of orders daily, we should start making big money by the end of the month. Who knows, we might even escape our 1,000 yuan salary."