Entrepreneurship was a very difficult thing.
Especially if someone wanted to expand their business, not only did that require extraordinary vision and ten times the passion of one's competitors, but one would also have to work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week…
Even though Li Tinghui was prepared for the tough times, he didn't expect it would be this torturous…
Within a month, Lu Zhou wanted him to sign contracts with all of the major shopping malls in Shanghai. The only feeling he felt was despair.
He hadn't had a single good night of sleep in March; he was out all day, negotiating with shopping mall executives.
Even though he was backed by Star Sky Technology, which meant Chen Yushan could arrange the meetings for him, he still had to be the one on the battlefield.
After all, they were only a subsidiary of Star Sky Technology, it would be great if they succeeded, but if they didn't…
Neither Academician Lu nor Chen Yushan would really care.
Fortunately, he was still surviving.
The day after Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Li Tinghui was asleep at his office, and he felt like he was close to being put in a tomb himself.
If it weren't for the ringing sound of the office telephone, he would have never woken up.
"Hello…?" Li Tinghui rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat. He said, "This is Beep Beep Charging—"
"CEO Li!" Wang Qiang, the Chief Technology Officer, said, "Our product design is finished!"
"Finished?!"
It was almost like Li Tinghui was hit with a defibrillator, and he instantly became energized.
"The product is finished? Really? How long until production? Can it be done by the end of the month?"
Wang Qiang took a deep breath and said, "I don't know how long until production, but it should be done before the end of the month! I talked with the engineers from Zhongshan New Materials that are visiting the Institute for Advanced Study. They told us that this is a done deal!
"Also, I heard they're also working with Star Sky Technology on lithium-air batteries, and if they produce the charging stations for us, they'll also help us with the lithium-air battery compatibility issues!"
"Perfect!"
Li Tinghui stood up from his chair excitedly and walked around. However, because of the telephone cord, he could only walk in a small circle.
The charging station design is complete!
This is the best news I've heard all month!
His Chief Technology Officer was telling him that not only was the design work finished, but the production line was about to begin!
Li Tinghui swore that if he had the money, he would give everyone in his team 10,000 yuan in bonuses…
He took a deep breath and calmed down, speaking in a serious tone.
"I'll deal with the cooperation side tomorrow… No, I'll go to Jinling this afternoon! I'll try to get this done as soon as possible. We should start delivering equipment by the end of the month!"
Wang Qiang was astonished, and he said, "The negotiations with the malls… are finished?"
He heard that CEO Li had been trying to sign deals with major shopping malls even before financing with Star Sky Technology. Apparently, CEO Li tried to convince them to install stations at their charging stations. However, CEO Li wasn't able to close any deals.
After all, most shopping malls already had their own charging stations. Even though they weren't wireless, they were good enough. Having wireless charging stations sounded pretty cool, but how many cars were wireless charging compatible anyway?
If this were Tesla or BYD, the malls might have been more interested. But this was a non-name startup, so no one believed in their "wireless charger"!
Li Tinghui had a smug smile on his face; gone was his fatigue, replaced by confidence and enthusiasm.
"Over 80% of large and medium-sized shopping malls in Shanghai have expressed interest in cooperating with us for one year or more than half a year. If the market feedback is good, they will consider outsourcing more parking spaces for our chargers. There are already 20 small businesses in rural areas that are also interested!
"All we need to do now is to produce the chargers!"
He spoke with momentum.
"Winning this fight depends on satisfying our customers!
"We can't let them down!"
…
When the days got busy, time always flew by quickly.
The last Saturday in April.
May was right around the corner, and major shopping malls in Shanghai were preparing for various promotional events. Even though the national week-long holiday was still a few days away, people had begun overflowing the malls.
People from the Yangpu District and other rural areas drove to the Wujiaochang shopping mall.
The parking garage in this large shopping mall had a row of gold-painted parking lots, attracting attention from customers.
"Beep Beep Charging exclusive charging spot, wireless charging… Scan QR code to charge? What is this?"
"Can this charge any car?"
"Forget about it, of course it can't charge gasoline cars. I think the electric car has to have a special battery receiver."
"F*ck sake! What's the point, so I have to spend thousands of yuan just to charge wirelessly?!"
"Not necessarily, you can just charge it normally with a cable. However, it seems like they're claiming that wireless charging is faster."
While the two car owners were talking, another car owner walked out of their car and couldn't help but join in on the conversation.
"It's not about the charging speed, you're not keeping up with the times! The entire venture capital world went crazy a while ago! Professor Lu invested in some wireless charging station company. It's called Beep Beep Charging! They plan on bundling wireless charging together with lithium-air batteries! Any lithium-air battery will have a wireless charging receiver!"
People around them who were taking photos also overheard the conversation…
They were shocked.
Scan the QR code to charge!
Not a big deal…
Register to get a 100 yuan coupon!
Not a big deal either…
Only one dime of service fee!
That wasn't a huge deal either; after all, civilian, commercial, and industrial electricity prices were getting cheaper and cheaper.
But combining lithium-air batteries and wireless charging together…
That was a big deal.
Regardless of whether it was a rumor or not, people began posting this story to their WeChat friends' news feed!
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