I participated in HICOOL, made it to the preliminary round, and then to the OPC Summit Competition, but I most likely won't place.

But I don't regret it at all.

一

In the HICOOL main track, over 10,000 projects registered, and more than 1,000 were shortlisted for the preliminary round.

I made it.

From over a thousand, a few hundred were selected for the semi-finals. I didn't make it.

I reflected on it: we had few customers, no revenue, and were too early-stage. The judges couldn't see certainty, so it was normal to be eliminated.

But I wasn't convinced, so I signed up for the HICOOL OPC Special Competition.

OPC is a one-person company track, focusing on projects where AI is the core tool and one person can drive an entire company.

This time I went a step further and made it to the Summit Competition.

But I still probably won't place. It's not a technical problem; it's my own problem.

二

On the day of the OPC Special Competition roadshow, a judge asked me: "Do you have customers? How much revenue?"

I was stunned. I could say "yes," but would that be the truth? The product had just launched, and customers were still in talks, so I couldn't say yes. Revenue was even less mentionable—not a cent had come in.

I was too honest. I said: "It just launched, and we're still in talks with customers."

The judge nodded and didn't press further. But I knew that answer had already cost me points in their eyes.

I could have put it differently. We really have hundreds of distributors, and they are promoting our solution; there are already customers in discussion. Revenue? Do intended orders count? Closing one customer means hundreds of thousands. But I didn't say that. I was too busy talking about the technology, the 15 years of accumulation, the 100,000 industrial objects, and the relationship engine. The judges listened and remained expressionless.

I knew all of it, but I failed to say it.

三

Actually, we have a complete business loop, but the roadshow time was up before I could get to it.

Let me put it in one sentence:

Healthy lead generation → Mini Program experience (general-purpose digital employees free) → Interested customers order industrial digital employees → Private deployment/subscription model

To be more specific:

What can you experience on the Mini Program—content marketing, customer service, documents, procurement, products, and mall. These six general-purpose digital employees can be used directly on the Mini Program, no need to connect to any industrial data; anyone can use them. After the trial, they are given away directly. Customers can use them right away, no training or deployment required.

Why can we give them away—products become commodities and are directly listed; product posters and content generation are directly published to WeChat official accounts and the official website; customer service and marketing are integrated with content and procurement to close the loop. These general-purpose digital employees themselves are traffic-generation tools.

How to make money—give away the general-purpose digital employee. Once customers find it useful, they'll naturally ask: "Can you help me manage the workshop too?" Industrial digital employees only deliver results with private deployment. Ordering an industrial digital employee is where the payment begins.

Four platforms connected: web version, official website, mini-program, and Feishu—one account works across all of them.

This is the closed loop. Not a "buy the product" loop, but a "customers can't leave" loop.

四

Why do I need HICOOL's endorsement?

Because we have hundreds of distributors. What they lack is not the product, but a "trust credential" to convince customers. Telling distributors "our product is great"—no one believes it. Telling them "recognized by HICOOL"—then they're willing to promote it.

We didn't get a ranking, but we have the label "shortlisted for the Summit Competition." The label itself is persuasive.

五

Next time I participate in this kind of competition, I won't just talk about technology.

I'll start with the closed loop.

"Boss, if you're building agents, come to ZuoBangYouBi. Our business model is simple: first give away general-purpose digital employees so customers get comfortable using them, then make money with industrial digital employees."

But this time, there really wasn't enough time.

About BossAgents

Industrial Agent Platform. 66 digital employees covering all positions in manufacturing. 100,000+ industrial object models, million-level relationship topology, 10,000+ rule engine rules, 15 years of PLM accumulation. On-device inference, data never leaves the factory, private deployment.

Experience Entry

Web: ylxt.chat (try all 66 digital employees without login)

Official website: https://eastaiai.com

Mini-program: ZuoBangYouBi Agent

Verified

✅ HICOOL 2026 · Main Track Preliminary Round Shortlist

✅ HICOOL 2026 OPC Special Competition · Summit Competition Finalist

✅ HICOOL 2026 RISC-V Track · Summit Competition Finalist

✅ HICOOL 2026 Moore Threads MTClaw Track · Summit Competition Finalist

✅ Guizhou AI Competition · Innovation Award

✅ 360 Special Competition · Finalist

✅ Hollysys XMagital Special Competition · Finalist