Entrepreneur banks on the power of the emoji
Print Edition
WEI Ze is among the first wave of Chinese born after the one-child policy came into effect. Today, he’s in his 30s and wears a ponytail with trimmed sides. He’s hard-working and chose a life that is less restricted and, some might say, less risk-averse.
Wei established Changning-based Shanghai Fools Network Technology Co, a company dedicated to promoting China’s doubi culture, or goofy culture, in August, 2015. He’s now the CEO and product director of Fools Network Technology.
“Unlike the American society where the beauty-aware middle class constitutes the majority, ours is a more chaotic one due to the rapid economic and societal changes in the past 30 years. Beauty may not be the pursuit of the mass in China, but they are extremely good at creating humor,” said Wei.
Users can already find two applications developed by this newly-founded company in Apple’s app store. One is Poker Face which offers plenty of emojis for people to use while chatting online, and the other is Ridicule Workshop, where users can post funny pictures. Ridicule Workshop, Wei said with a smirk, was designed as an outlet where people can express their feelings over relatives or others by posting photos with funny comments.
With emojis and pictures, youngsters can express themselves through comedy.
Wei knows the tricks for good comedy. “Words are essential here. They create a contrast to the picture and thus create fun,” he said.
Generating money is also part of the business model.
“Users can tip each other for a wonderful UGC (user generated content) emoji or picture they made, and we earn a commission,” Wei said about the company’s revenue streams.
“Another part of our income will come from advertisement,” Wei said. As more people are attracted to his photo sharing community, the potential market for commercial ads is growing.
As a startup, Fools Network Technology is raising its first round of 2.5 million yuan (US$384,615). In exchange, the company will offer investors 15 percent of its share.
Wei describes himself as “a born entrepreneur who never stopped trying.”
There’ve been many obstacles and a lot of frustration, but Wei and his team have grown used to that. Today, they think that bigger obstacles mean a greater challenge and a higher level of adrenalin.
Previously an operator of a television application project at Shanda Group, Wei is in charge of product and strategy at Fools Network Technology.
The company has about 10 employees, the youngest being 19 years old. When asked why they joined the team, their answers vary — one said he liked adventure, one was looking to make a lot of money, and another said that he was following his dream.
But reality can be harsh. Most online startups feel the pressure to be successful in a short period of time.
“Some regard earning a fortune as success, some define success as having a high social status. For us, the number of users determines how successful we are. We put the number at 200 million,” said Wei. To promote his products, Wei is holding an April Fools’ Day event — “Goofy Girl” — at about 10 universities in Shanghai.
Pictures of female students acting funny were collected on April 1, and an online voting will determine the goofiest girl.
Wei said college students and those within five years’ working experience are their major target customers.
“Singles Day, or November 11, has become an online shopping carnival among Chinese. What we aim to do is create a Doubi Day on April 1,” Wei said.
Emojis have come a long way since Scott Fahlman, a professor from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, typed “:-)” on a bulletin board in 1982, marking the birth of the emoji.
Since then, emojis have evolved from simply mimicking human expressions to revealing a person’s emotion to the current parodying of historic figures or celebrities.
For instance, Zhou Jie, a Chinese actor who played the role of an aristocrat in the costume drama “Princess Pearl,” became an inspiration for netizens to create emojis. An emoji showing the actor desperately gesturing is accompanied by the words “I have no money,” and can be used to exaggerate that you are cash-strapped.
“Funny emojis and pictures are extremely popular among the Chinese. Maybe we are a more reserved nation and tend to express ourselves more in the cyberspace,” said Wei. “Emojis and pictures with Chinese characteristics can be part of our cultural export, and I hope our company is lucky enough to join the trend.”
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