In the reception room, Lu Huateng was waiting anxiously, his eyes frequently looking at the closed door.
This time he came here specifically to run Series B financing.
Almost all of the US$2.2 million received from Yingke Electronics and IDG in the A round was used to purchase servers. After a full year of burning, there was still no way to monetize the traffic.
Now we are running out of ammunition and food. If we can't find any more food, the penguins will starve to death!
He was not alone. He was accompanied by Zeng Liqing, one of the Five Tiger Generals, who visited several Internet companies in Yanjing in the past two days.
First, he found the famous Zhang Chaoyang, and then through Li Zekai's network, he found TOM.com, a company invested by his father, Li Huanggua, and then New Wolf, NetEase, etc., but they all failed...
"Lao Ma, Wang Shu is helping us contact Lian Xiang." Zeng Liqing put down his phone and frowned. "Let's get to IDG in a moment."
"After we finish talking here, we'll go right away."
Lu Huateng knocked on the table and turned to look at the door. He heard a creak and saw Lei Jun pushing the door open as expected.
"Wait, wait."
Lei Jun greeted them politely, but in fact they were not familiar with each other.
After the polite words were over, he got straight to the point, "I have heard more or less about Mr. Lu's intentions. Sorry, we are not optimistic about QICQ's prospects."
Lu Huateng said: "This is only temporary. Our current number of registered users is about to exceed 1 million..."
“Where is QICQ’s profit point?”
"this……"
Lu Huateng was speechless for a moment, and Zeng Liqing quickly continued: "We will find it sooner or later, and we still need time to explore."
"Fumbling? How long?"
Lei Jun pointed out unceremoniously, "I am blind and can't figure out how you make money. Is it relying on advertising? QICQ is just a chat software, not a portal."
Lu Huateng and Zeng Liqing were completely questioned and fell silent for a moment.
When Lei Jun saw Lu Huateng, he thought of the strange-skeletal Lu Yun. He was worried that he was trying to get his money, so he euphemistically issued an eviction order.
"Another failure."
Lu Huateng hit a wall again and walked out of the Zijin Building in disgrace. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face hard.
"Go back to IDG and see if there is any good news about Wang Shu."
Zeng Liqing hooked Lu Huateng's shoulders, and the two of them held hands, comforting each other, and headed towards COFCO Plaza with both disappointment and hope.
"It's okay to borrow money, but asking me to invest in Penguin is an insult to my IQ!"
The phone rang with a stern voice, and Wang Shu had a gloomy face. If it hadn't been for a large state-owned enterprise on the other end, he would have hung up earlier.
It's like sending it to people's doorsteps to humiliate them, what a crime!
Just at this time, the Crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks came.
"How about it? When will we meet at Lianxiang?" Zeng Liqing asked urgently.
"No reply yet."
Wang Shu sighed. IDG used various connections to canvass everywhere to help find new investments. But at this time, QICQ was like a hot potato. It smelled good but no one dared to eat it for fear of burning their tongues.
After all, this is a penguin that can only eat but cannot lay eggs!
Lu Huateng gritted his teeth and said, "How about we raise the financing equity to 10%?"
"How can this be done!" Zeng Liqing was shocked.
40% of Penguin's Series A round has been taken away, plus the scattered shares dispersed during its establishment, the entire team only has about 55% left. If another 10% is melted, will the company still have control?
Lu Huateng gritted his teeth, "We can also learn from Feigou.com, where the same shares have different rights."
"The problem is that we can't even find anyone willing to invest in Penguin, let alone talk about different rights for the same shares."
Wang Shu shattered his illusion, and the office fell into silence. Three people with six eyes looked at each other, their eyes full of helplessness.
"Feigou.com, Feigou, Lufei..."
Suddenly, Wang Shu's eyes lit up, he picked up the phone and dialed Guo Yihong: "Old Hong, I remember you told me that Lu Fei wanted to date the person from QICQ, right? Hurry, he is here now!"
…………
"Oh, yes, then let them do it."
Lu Fei slid the mouse and stared at the screen. Nasdaq's Internet U.S. stocks were in a green water, with a few drops of red ink.
After 20 minutes, the red ink began to spread, and Lu Huateng and the others also arrived at the Ziyuan Hotel.
He looked at the two of them, focusing more on Lu Huateng, who was dressed as a programmer. "Feigou.com is now going to add a chat tool that allows sellers and buyers to have online conversations. I prefer building it in-house or outsourcing it."
on outsourcing.”
In fact, it is purely a lie!
Without this set, how would you coax Lu Huateng over, and how would you cooperate (suddenly) with (you)?
When Lu Huateng heard "outsourcing", he immediately thought of small money. If this deal is concluded, it may be Penguin's first profitable project, and it will be a long-term cooperation!
Suddenly, my vigilance dropped.
He and Zeng Liqing bit each other's ears and whispered, then an embarrassed expression appeared on their young faces, "Mr. Lu, according to your idea, 3.3 million a year."
"300,000? U.S. dollars?" Lu Fei said half-jokingly.
"Mr. Lu really knows how to joke, of course it's RMB."
Zeng Li Qingdao: "Don't be too expensive, Mr. Lu, because to embed it into Feigou.com, we need to develop an adapted version and rent a server for customer chat data..."
"Mr. Lu, Mr. Zeng, how much is the starting capital for your establishment of QICQ?" Lu Fei said with a smile.
"600000."
Lu Huateng smiled awkwardly. He had to scrape together this money. Without his father's relationship, Li Zekai would never have invested the money.
"QICQ was developed for 600,000 yuan. Why should I rent one for 300,000 yuan a year?"
Lu Fei spread his hands and said, "With two years of outsourcing fees, I can build a Feigou.com QICQ myself."
Lu Huateng glanced at Zeng Liqing, who said: "Mr. Lu, we are in business and we can discuss the price further."
"And if we use QICQ, we will divert customers from Feigou.com to you and increase your traffic, right?"
"Our traffic will also be directed to Feigou.com, and our number of users will soon exceed 1 million..."
Lu Huateng’s implication is that our traffic is greater than yours!
Lu Fei waved his hand. Although the traffic was large, it was just fat. The users were concentrated among teenagers. These days, QQ was just regarded as a fashionable communication toy. The company even strictly prohibited the use of QQ to chat during working hours. Basically, Microsoft's MSN was used.
This is also the fatal flaw in QQ’s inability to receive advertisements!
How much money can a group of children have?
Lu Huateng's expression changed as the emperor's new clothes were torn apart.
Lu Fei said: "It's better to make one ourselves, and the customer's information is also in our hands."
Zeng Liqing sighed. As expected, the cooperation was not concluded. QICQ was like worthless and it would be a pity to abandon it!
But at this moment, Lu Fei leaned forward and said with a clear voice: "Maybe there is another one, let's buy it."
"purchase?"
Lu Huateng was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed. He thought Lu Fei wanted to invest, but he never expected that the so-called "buy" turned out to be the acquisition of Penguin!
Zeng Liqing was immediately moved to start Penguin because he just wanted to add value and cash out!
When they couldn't raise money from the angel round, they wanted to sell it, but no one wanted the 2 million, so they had to go all the way.
During the A round, Penguin was worth US$5.5 million, and with 55% of the equity in hand, they could get US$3.025 million. But now it has 1 million users, so the valuation must be more than tens of millions of dollars, right?
Lu Huateng frowned. Lu Fei's Feigou.com had only raised US$5 million. How could he buy it?
