Chapter 175 - 173: Team Disagreement
Arriving at the apartment complex where Rowe and his team were staying, Cecilia Sterling went straight upstairs and rang the doorbell.
As the door opened, a wave of noise washed over her. The team was in the middle of an excited celebration.
"You’re here!"
It was Gavin Garrett who opened the door. Seeing Cecilia, he excitedly ushered her inside. "Come in, come in! Check out the results of our project!"
When the others saw Cecilia arrive, they immediately swarmed her, forming a tight circle around her.
Timothy Rowe stood at the forefront, looking at Cecilia with a visibly moved expression. "Cecilia," he said, "we did it!"
The other senior members of the team nodded in agreement. "Over a year of hard work wasn’t for nothing!"
"Cecilia, we didn’t let you down! We didn’t betray your trust!"
Everyone was thrilled. Cecilia noticed that many of them had red eyes; they had probably lost control and shed tears of joy the moment the tests succeeded.
Their emotions were infectious, and she felt a little moved herself.
"You’ve all worked so hard. I always believed you could do it."
With that, she turned to Timothy Rowe, asking with unconcealed surprise, "Didn’t you say it would take three months, Rowe? It’s only been two. How did you finish so much earlier?"
Timothy Rowe smiled at her words. "It’s all because you’ve been too good to us, Cecilia. You gave us such a great work environment, and even had a housekeeper come every day to cook and clean, allowing us to focus on the project without any distractions."
Gavin Garrett, standing to the side, nodded emphatically. "That’s right! Everyone was running on pure adrenaline. Aside from sleeping and using the restroom, all our time was spent on the project. And I noticed that ever since you invested, Cecilia, the whole project has been going smoothly. We made very few mistakes, and even when we did, we found a solution quickly. Our efficiency skyrocketed."
The others all chimed in with their agreement. Looking at their faces, Cecilia felt deeply gratified.
’In truth, she’d had her worries and concerns, especially since so many things had started to deviate from the trajectory of her past life. She had even wondered if Rowe’s project might end up with the complete opposite result compared to her previous life.’
’Or perhaps her own appearance had changed the course of the entire affair.’
The course of events was bound to be different from her past life, but thankfully, the project was just as successful. The team’s effort and all their blood, sweat, and tears hadn’t been in vain.
And aside from providing financial support, she had never meddled in any other aspect. She didn’t understand the technical side and had complete faith in Timothy Rowe’s team.
"I’ll start looking for a buyer as soon as possible so we can sell our project and turn a profit."
"But before that, we need to have a small internal meeting to discuss the project’s selling price and sales model." Cecilia glanced at the time. "It’s too late today, and you’ve all been working hard lately. Why don’t you get a good night’s sleep first? We can meet to discuss it tomorrow at two in the afternoon?"
Everyone nodded, though tonight was destined to be a sleepless night of excitement.
The next afternoon, everyone had gotten a good rest and was fully refreshed.
In the living room, the team sat down casually, voluntarily leaving the central seat for Cecilia.
Cecilia had stayed with Paige in the adjacent building last night. As soon as she walked in, she saw that everyone was already in place. Each of them was glowing; the usual weariness from overwork had seemingly vanished completely. They all looked to be in high spirits.
Seeing Cecilia arrive, everyone started to stand up. Cecilia quickly raised a hand. "Don’t get up. Let’s just start the meeting."
Without much ceremony, Cecilia walked directly to the central seat and sat down. Her gaze swept lightly over their faces as she joked, "Now that the project is done, I see everyone’s whole demeanor has changed."
Hearing this, they all broke into sheepish grins.
Only then did Cecilia say, "I’m sure you’ve all given some thought to what kind of sales model we should use for our project."
To put it simply, the project the team had created was an "AI optimization system." By embedding this system into a product’s original system, it could optimize and enhance it, making the original system more precise, faster, and more efficient.
The most direct market application of this product would be, for example, taking an AI drone that originally costs one dollar. After embedding this optimization system, the product’s overall performance would be upgraded, allowing its selling price to be increased, or even doubled.
Unlike improving performance through hardware like "chips" or "components," this optimization system used "embedded code" to reintegrate with the source code, creating a brand-new, upgraded system. Its greatest advantage was its speed and efficiency.
Furthermore, as long as it had an eighty percent or higher compatibility match with a product’s source code, it could be applied. Considering the current range of AI products in various domestic fields, their project could be applied to almost all of them.
The team members looked at each other on the sofa. Finally, Gavin Garrett looked at Cecilia and said, "Actually, regarding the sales model, we’ve discussed it before, but we couldn’t agree."
Cecilia raised an eyebrow at this and said softly, "Although I’m not an expert in the project’s technical field, as far as I know, there should only be two types of sales models, right?"
"One is a direct buyout, selling it for a good price all at once."
"The other is installment-based, with an annual fee. That would be a slow and steady revenue stream."
Looking at the team, she asked curiously, "You couldn’t come to a consensus between just two options?"
One of the senior members spoke up. "A buyout is the most straightforward approach. As long as we sell it for an ideal price, we can all get our first pot of gold right away."
"The installment plan is different. It would require us to constantly look for new buyers. We’ve calculated that with an annual fee model, we’d need to sell to at least ten companies to match the price of a one-time buyout."
Gavin Garrett added, "Basically, a buyout is less hassle. We just need one company willing to buy it. But with installments, we’d have to keep running around to find buyers for the project."
Paige followed up, "We’re not afraid of the legwork. We’re just worried that the system’s cutting-edge nature will be slowly replaced over time. Technology is always advancing. Our product might have a first-mover advantage now, but in three to five years, a more powerful system could come out and replace it."
Cecilia listened quietly, not rushing to offer her own opinion. But she noticed that Timothy Rowe hadn’t said a word from beginning to end.
"Rowe?"
Cecilia called his name tentatively. When he slowly turned his head to look at her, she asked, "What are your thoughts?"
Timothy Rowe’s expression was somewhat complicated as he pondered for a moment. Then he let out a soft sigh. "I think we should just put it to a vote. Since it’s everyone’s blood, sweat, and tears, that would be the fairest way."