November 12, Saturday.

Capital city, “Cold-faced Girl” press conference.

Although it was called a press conference, it hadn’t invited a large audience, but only extended invitations to investment institutions and company bosses with relatively close relationships.

Other internet companies always liked to hold press conferences in the largest possible venues, practically wanting to pack in tens of thousands of people.

The reason Meng Chang chose to first hold a small press conference wasn’t because he was low-key, but simply because he felt that holding a large press conference now might not achieve the effect he wanted.

If the timing became more favorable, he would also strive to hold that kind of ten-thousand-person press conference in a large venue.

After all, for “entrepreneurs” with internet thinking like them, whatever they did was about pursuing the largest possible volume.

The larger the scale and the more people who knew about it, naturally created a marketing effect, bringing heat and traffic to the company and its products.

However, at present, the impressiveness of “Cold-faced Girl” wasn’t quite suitable to be widely boasted about.

For Meng Chang, investors were relatively easy to fool, while ordinary people were difficult to fool.

Investors were keen on “internet thinking” and various high-end, made-up conceptual terms, while ordinary people would only focus on the product itself.

It was easy to convince some investors that this was a grilled cold noodle business with internet thinking, but convincing ordinary people would be difficult.

So, Meng Chang planned to first convince some investors, get the money, open the first “Cold-faced Girl” store, and then, after generating online buzz through marketing spending, he could promote it widely to ordinary people.

Because the scale was relatively small, Meng Chang directly set this press conference in a conference hall of a luxury hotel in the capital, with only about a hundred seats in total.

Although there weren’t many seats, the specifications were maxed out.

Whether it was the venue decoration, staff service, table signs, or gifts, everything was carefully prepared and quite costly.

As for Meng Chang himself, he was dressed in the same style as when he met He Desheng—”refined down-to-earth”: casual suit, solid-color T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. The whole person looked mature and steady while not lacking vitality.

At the entrance of the venue, Meng Chang smiled, chatting cheerfully with the arriving investors and company executives, guiding them into the press conference venue to take their seats.

Although most people attending this press conference completely outclassed him in terms of wealth, Meng Chang didn’t show any nervousness or inferiority, completely maintaining the attitude of a host welcoming guests.

“Mr. Li, Young Master Xue, please come in.”

Meng Chang saw Li Shi and Xue Zhebin arrive together and hurriedly greeted them with a smile. Although he didn’t show it too obviously, his attitude was warmer.

The skill of treating people according to their status was indispensable.

Everyone who came today was carefully selected and invited by Meng Chang. He had also fully analyzed and prepared for how likely these people were to invest and whether he should spend more effort to secure them.

He knew very clearly that although Mr. Li’s Fuhui Capital couldn’t compare with some giant investment companies in terms of resources, it was still very considerable for “Cold-faced Girl” in its initial stages.

As for Xue Zhebin, although he himself didn’t control many resources, he could get many from his father.

Most crucially, these two closely followed Mr. Pei and had a high probability of follow-up investment, so it was worth Meng Chang spending a bit more effort on them.

After showing Li Shi and Xue Zhebin in, Meng Chang saw He Desheng arrive with a long-faced man.

Meng Chang hurriedly stepped forward: “Mr. He! And this… could it be the legendary Mr. Ma? Please come in, come in, I’ve specially reserved front row seats for you both!”

Meng Chang hadn’t expected Mr. Pei to come; he just casually extended the invitation.

If Mr. Pei had come, wouldn’t that have been a huge win?

Now, although Mr. Pei hadn’t come, he had sent the once-responsible-for-investments, very mysterious Mr. Ma, who Meng Chang considered an unexpected pleasure.

So he specially arranged VIP seats in the center of the first row.

There were two main purposes for doing this.

First was to show sincerity to Tenda, after all, the initial 2 million yuan came from Tenda; second was to convey a message to others present: this isn’t just hanging a sheep’s head to sell dog meat—Tenda values this project!

Therefore, Meng Chang was most enthusiastic toward He Desheng and Ma Yang, even personally leading them to the first row of the venue, repeatedly showing concern after seeing them seated, before returning to the entrance to welcome others.

Meeting for the first time, Meng Chang hadn’t figured out Mr. Ma’s pulse, unclear about his specific attitude.

However, he also knew that excessive concern would only complicate matters, and being too mindful of Mr. Ma’s feelings might backfire, so after seeing that Mr. Ma had no intention of getting familiar with him, he very sensibly left under the pretext of welcoming other guests.

Ma Yang picked up the 10-yuan mineral water bottle in front of him and gulped down a couple of mouthfuls, very ungracefully wiping his mouth with his hand.

“What was my main task for coming here today?” Ma Yang turned his head to look at He Desheng.

He Desheng said: “Mr. Ma, that’s up to you. Mr. Pei only said to have you attend on his behalf, without saying anything else. You can speak if you want to speak, or not speak if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter.”

“Oh.” Ma Yang nodded and silently started scrolling through his phone.

…

Soon, it was time for the press conference.

Because it was invitation-only, the list of attendees had been determined in advance, and almost all seats were filled, with only a few bosses not coming at the last minute due to scheduling reasons.

The lights dimmed a bit, and after the countdown on the big screen, they started playing the promotional video for this press conference.

The screen showed a pure white background, with Meng Chang appearing seated, still wearing that solid-color T-shirt, confidently facing the camera and delivering the opening remarks for this promotional video in English.

“As we all know, our country’s food culture has a long and rich history.”

“And the emergence of ‘Cold-faced Girl’ will usher in a new trend in dining, and even an opportunity to change the world.”

After the simple opening remarks, the iconic logo of Cold-faced Girl appeared on the pure white screen.

This video was shot and edited within the past two days. Because time was very tight, there weren’t many flashy big scenes.

But with just a white background + BGM, coupled with Meng Chang’s relaxed demeanor, confident body language, and extremely standard fluent English, it mysteriously had a high-end feel.

Several investors sitting in the back row, who originally just came to make an appearance, instantly became more serious in expression.

After all, making and presenting PPTs was also a core competency of internet entrepreneurs.

People who were eloquent and confident naturally gave people a sense of trustworthiness.

Ma Yang frowned deeply, his long face seeming to stretch even longer.

“There aren’t any foreigners here, why speak English?” Ma Yang was somewhat puzzled.

He Desheng, said quietly: “Nowadays, it’s all about international thinking and vision. Fluent English is a plus in many people’s eyes.”

Ma Yang pouted; his first impression of this Meng Chang was not very good.

On the big screen, the video continued to play.

First, it explained how the grilled cold noodles made by the “Cold-faced Girl” brand were “fundamentally different” from other grilled cold noodles, introducing its breakthroughs in raw materials, standardized processes, size, methods, and flavors;

Then it explained the internet thinking embodied in the “Cold-faced Girl” brand: paying attention to user experience in detail, more advanced marketing methods to bring users closer, creating a unique “cold noodle culture”, etc..

Finally, it explained the subsequent expansion of the “Cold-faced Girl” brand, which would not be limited to a food brand but would expand into a lifestyle and concept, ultimately creating a completely new business model.

This video was less than 5 minutes in total, so these contents were explained very briefly, but it could be seen that this should be a summary and overview of the entire press conference content.

The reason for placing it at the beginning was to seize the initiative, giving all investors and bosses present a clear understanding of the content of this press conference.

After watching this promotional video, the expressions of those present varied.

Some watched with great interest and seriousness, some looked slightly confused, and others frowned deeply.

But no one was dozing off.

Whether they agreed or disagreed, at least everyone’s attention was captured.

Xue Zhebin was also one of those frowning, turning his head to quietly say to Li Shi, “Creating ‘cold noodle culture’? ‘Cold noodle business model’? Is this reliable?”

Li Shi was noncommittal: “Let’s hear how he explains it next.”

Meng Chang stepped onto the stage with a smile, walking with casual elegance.

His gaze swept across the audience, naturally noticing the expressions of the investors.

This promotional video had completely achieved the effect he wanted.

The primary task of marketing is to make everyone notice you. Even gaining a bad reputation is better than having no reputation at all.

Although the content of this promotional video was quite exaggerated, it maintained a relatively restrained baseline, not seeming too outlandish.

Combined with the excellent production and Meng Chang’s confident performance, it objectively achieved the effect of segmenting the audience.

Some people thought the video was high-end, that Meng Chang was capable and meticulous; others thought it was overly exaggerated, with some prospects too distant, like castles in the air.

But none of this mattered because Meng Chang never intended to conquer everyone with just one promotional video and one press conference.

Routines are always interlocking, and this was just the first small step.

Meng Chang looked around at everyone in the venue and smiled slightly: “Perhaps many people are confused after watching this promotional video.”

“Perhaps some are wondering, isn’t it just making grilled cold noodles?”

“How can grilled cold noodles talk about internet thinking or business models? Isn’t that nonsense?”

“Of course, I know this concept is difficult to accept at first and will overturn our conventional concepts.”

“But I’d like to ask everyone a question: if you hear an entrepreneur talk about a concept or model that everyone thinks is reliable, feasible, and successful, would you dare to invest?”

“If I were an investor, I wouldn’t dare to invest.”

“Because a business model that everyone thinks is reliable must have been tried by many people already, with extremely fierce competition. There’s no point in entering as an entrepreneur at this time.”

“Therefore, the birth of a new business model is always accompanied by numerous doubts.”

“Please be patient and listen to my presentation. In this process, I will simply explain each step of the planning for the ‘Cold-faced Girl’ brand.”

“Even after I finish, you don’t need to rush to invest. You can observe first.”

“After each of my steps, it gradually begins to be validated, proving that this business model is feasible, and then you can decide whether to invest.”