"Should we rent a place first, or find an agent company first?"
"Let's find an agent company first, renting later is fine."
Even without a registered address, agent companies can provide site certificates or red-book lease certificates, charging different fees based on different regions.
Tan Jincheng wasn't sure about the exact costs, so he planned to inquire first.
If they really couldn't find a suitable office space, the agent company would provide it.
As for the office space, Tan Jincheng also intended to find a real estate agency to handle it.
It would cost a bit more, but letting professionals handle professional matters would be more efficient.
However, this was also thanks to the social experience he accumulated in his previous life.
If it were like his previous life, Tan Jincheng wouldn't dare to do this.
He was afraid of being scammed.
Information channels weren't that developed back then, and there were pitfalls everywhere; one careless mistake could ruin you.
After changing two buses, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng arrived at the original government service center in Beicang, near the tax bureau, where he had also registered a company through an agent in his previous life in 2008.
He just didn't know if that company was still in operation.
But it didn't matter, there were many such companies nearby, and if he couldn't find it, he'd just pick another one.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for Tan Jincheng to find the agent company he remembered.
Depending on the nature of the registered company, there were also certain requirements for registered capital.
In 2004, according to the minimum registered capital stipulated by the Company Law, it was a huge sum for ordinary people.
In the era before the Company Law was revised, for limited liability companies mainly engaged in production, operation, and commodity wholesale, the minimum registered capital requirement was 500,000 yuan.
For companies mainly engaged in commercial retail, it was 300,000 yuan, and for companies mainly engaged in technology development, consulting, and services, the minimum limit was 100,000 yuan.
This wasn't an era like later generations where people would just register a company for fun.
Those who dared to register a company now either had a certain level of strength or were bold, like Tan Jincheng.
Even if the Company Law were revised next year, changing the minimum registered capital for limited liability companies to 30,000 yuan, it still wouldn't be affordable for an average ordinary family.
In Shanghai, the city with the best economic conditions in the country, the average annual salary of an employee was just over 20,000 yuan, which wasn't enough for registered capital even if they didn't eat or drink for a year.
Their registered capital was naturally insufficient.
At this point, the agent company needed to play its role, as such services existed in those years.
Every cat has its way, every mouse has its path; in a vigorously developing and wild era, as long as you dare to think and dare to act, success is already half achieved.
Like all internet companies of that era, they all started by pushing boundaries.
Xiaoma even disguised himself as a woman to promote Penguin back then.
The threshold for establishing a company this year was higher than next year, but the relative value was also higher, and formal trading companies were more able to gain trust.
However, when Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng found the familiar agent company, the staff were still startled, especially the young man surnamed Tan in front of them.
Deep eyes, mature speech, unhurried negotiation; if they hadn't seen his ID card, who would have thought this was a youth under 20 years old?
After coming ashore and resting for nearly half a month, Tan Jincheng's complexion hadn't fully recovered, but it was much fairer than when he was on the ship.
If it weren't for his still somewhat youthful face, aside from knowing that these two young people were there to conduct business, their actual age couldn't be guessed.
But no matter how they thought about it, they couldn't have imagined that these two were only 19 years old.
"Good heavens, are young people today all this impressive? Starting a company at such a young age, and in foreign trade too."
"Two outsiders, they don't look like rich second-generation heirs, and their funds aren't enough for registered capital."
"Still better than us. They can pull out 100,000 yuan at 19, what were we doing at 19?"
"That's true, I was still an apprentice at 19, making 200 yuan a month, haha."
"Never mind all that, this deal seems fine for today, I'll treat for lunch."
The person who said this was the manager of the agent company.
He had just heard that two 19-year-old youngsters came to set up a company, which made him unable to resist coming out to observe.
Many Yongcheng people do business, and many start working hard at 19, but preparing to start a company at 19 is still a rare thing in this day and age.
"Haha, then thank you, manager."
"Ah, it's a pity that the leading one, surnamed Tan, is too shrewd. He haggled too fiercely, there was no way to fool him."
"It's fine, if they succeed, there will be more opportunities. If the company fails, there will be even more opportunities."
The manager said confidently, entrepreneurship is addictive, especially for young people; if it really fails, they might come back to him next time.
Tan Jincheng haggled the agent service fee down to 1,000 yuan, and the total for other fees like seal engraving, bank fees, taxes, tax filing, etc., was cut to 2,000 yuan.
If a registered address was provided later, the specific fees would be discussed based on the regional location, plus the bridge funding fee for the remaining capital.
This single transaction could earn a maximum of 10,000 yuan.
Withdrawing a portion or even all of the registered capital after capital verification was a common practice for establishing companies at that time, and it was also one of the foundations for the survival of these agent companies.
"Xiao Tan, you're amazing! Where did you learn all this?"
After leaving the agent company, Zhang Xupeng, who had been holding back for a long time, could no longer contain himself.
Following Xiao Tan's winding path all morning, they arrived here.
During the business process, Xiao Tan wasn't just calm, he was completely fearless.
Most importantly, this guy could even speak Yongcheng dialect, which Zhang Xupeng couldn't understand at all!
"Haha, aren't I awesome?"
"Where did you learn Yongcheng dialect? Besides staying ashore for two days, we only arrived last night, and we haven't met many people. I don't believe you learned something so difficult in three days."
"Difficult? Not difficult, right? It's very simple. There was a Yongcheng person on the ship before, I learned a bit from him."
Not only did I learn it, you will too, in about three or four years.
"When was there a Yongcheng person on the ship? Why didn't I know? Besides, why were you learning from him then?"
"Can't I learn it for fun? I also know other local dialects, you know that."
"That's true, I envy you for that; I couldn't understand a single word of the 'bird language' you two were speaking just now."
Tan Jincheng wasn't exaggerating about this.
His linguistic talent was quite good since childhood; he could generally understand many local dialects if he listened carefully a few times.
If he could stay in a place for half a year to a year, he could basically speak some local dialects, not to mention having lived in Yongcheng for over a decade in his previous life.
"Don't call it 'bird language' anymore. When you're making a living on someone else's territory, it's better to show some respect,"
Tan Jincheng reminded him.
Yongcheng people back then were still somewhat exclusive; older people would generally refer to outsiders as "foreigners."
"Okay, got it; what should we do next?"
Zhang Xupeng nodded hastily.
At this point, he already greatly admired Tan Jincheng.
In one evening and one morning, Xiao Tan had shown many sides of himself that Zhang Xupeng hadn't known.
"First, let's find a real estate agent and look for a place."
(End of Chapter)
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