"The Japanese are very conservative when it comes to Internet investment. I don't seem to have said that there are a few Japanese who have a vision for the new economy. Could it be that Sun Zhengyi wants to give you money?"
Gu Kun knew the historical conclusion, but there was no need to say it directly. A little cover-up and pretense would show that he was more knowledgeable about this circle, and it would be good for Cai Chongxin to have a little more respect for him.
Gu Kun didn't need to worry about Ma Feng's friendship, but after all, it was their first meeting with Cai Chongxin, and their impressions of each other had not yet solidified.
Sure enough, Cai Chongxin's expression was slightly embarrassed after hearing Gu Kun's conjecture, but for a moment, he regained his composure: "Indeed, it seems that Gu Sheng knows this circle very well. I said
The one who expressed his intention to us is SoftBank’s Son Zhengyi.”
If he was talking about an investment bank from Oceania, Gu Kun's guess would definitely make people raise eyebrows, because there is no reason to guess correctly. There are too many institutions engaged in Internet venture capital in Oceania.
There are very few Japanese people engaged in this industry. The next twenty years of the Internet's great development will be the twenty years that the Japanese will lose. Gu Kun blindly guessed the most famous one, and it was normal for him to guess correctly.
Gu Kun also took the opportunity to save a lot of communication costs and said bluntly: "Since you have let Mr. Sun take a look, I believe in Mr. Sun's vision. To be honest, my valuation of Internet companies is not as professional as his
, I also don’t like to look at the data that they value like other venture capitalists——
I think business should return to its true nature, and making money is the last word. I can’t see a business that only has traffic but no conversion rate. When I invest in projects, the key is to look at people. People I trust can do practical things.
The money is not much, so I will invest in one.
So, please feel free. Mr. Sun thinks that your team’s capital plus two years of hard work can be worth 30 million U.S. dollars. I will give Le Ni 30 million U.S. dollars. However, don’t you feel sorry for Sun by doing this?
Boss, you are just using other people's inspection results for free, and I am taking advantage of someone who didn't even look at it."
Cai Chongxin looked slightly embarrassed, and Ma Feng quickly intervened and explained: "That's not the case. We only contacted Boss Sun once. He suddenly proposed an intention, and we didn't say yes. It was not very formal.
Kind of ts.”
If it is a formal TS, during the period when the entrepreneur is in contact with the first investment institution, even if it cannot be said that he will not contact other potential investors, he at least has an obligation to keep confidentiality.
In other words, you can go on a few "blind dates" at the same time and keep a spare tire, but you must not directly tell the spare tire the price of the gift from the main tire and let the spare tire see it out.
That is very taboo and has no professional ethics.
However, in history, Sun Zhengyi only talked nonsense with Ma Feng for a few minutes without any formal ts. If Ma Feng chatted with Gu Kun for a few more words, it was not considered immoral.
Gu Kun deliberately pointed out this point in order to seize some initiative and at the same time show that he was very upright, at least not disdainful of breaking the rules for a small business like Ma Feng.
A person who abides by morality does not necessarily do it because he is noble, it may also be because the bargaining chip you use to tempt him to give up his morality is too small to impress people.
Therefore, adhering to morality, in this scenario, is not an exaggeration of integrity, but an exaggeration of strength.
After hearing this, Gu Kun smiled with relief and said: "Although you have abided by the rules, you are still a bit shady after all. If I ask you to raise money at a price similar to that of Boss Sun, it will inevitably be seen by others and leave an excuse.
Well, I have to be more generous than Boss Sun, so generous that it doesn’t look like I just copied Boss Sun’s answer, and just add a little more.”
If during the secret bidding process, the second place bidder bids 50,000 yuan and fails, and the first place bidder bids 50,001 yuan and wins, then when the results come out, the second place bidder will loudly complain that there is a shady story, and the tradition of the first place and the bidding party has been leaked.
Competitor data, black-box operations.
The first place winner had to win the bid with a price of 60,000 yuan, so that it would appear that he made an independent decision purely from his heart.
A truth.
Gu Kun directly stated these shameful and dirty logic, and Ma Feng and Cai Zhong were also slightly happy, secretly wondering whether today's trip was really the right one.
"It seems that Boss Gu and Section Chief Ma had a good relationship back then. A matter of tens of millions of dollars can be settled in just a few words." Cai Zhong couldn't help but weigh his confidence.
Ma Feng took a few deep breaths and then took the initiative to ask the question: "So, what price are you going to give us?"
Gu Kun really thought about it seriously and said sincerely: "In fact, there is no point in bargaining about the specific price. I believe Sun Zhengyi didn't negotiate the price with you. If I negotiated the price, it would be too unreasonable. Let's do it this way. We might as well invest in it."
Make some adjustments in the way.”
Ma Feng quickly fixed the knot of his tie and sat upright: "You can just say it."
Gu Kun then stretched out two fingers: "Sun Zhengyi said that he wants 40% of your shares for 20 million U.S. dollars, so I will only offer 10 million U.S. dollars and ask you for 20%. In fact, after careful calculation, I have 10 million U.S. dollars for 20% of your shares."
20% is another 20% discount than what Sun Zhengyi gave you. Originally, 10 million should account for 25%.
But this is not the key. The key is that I am optimistic about your character and am willing to add another follow-up investment commitment within two to three years. Because you don’t need much money right now. For you, 20 million US dollars is enough for three years.
It can't be burned completely.
If I give you too much money at once, it may actually kill your fighting spirit. At the same time, if you do more than expected, your report card is surprisingly good, but your shares are diluted too much, you will have no motivation and feel that it is
Working for the major shareholder.
In this case, if you take my ten million US dollars and work for two years first, if the money is spent slowly and it is not fully spent, then work for three years. When the money is almost spent, how will your business be done and how it will develop?
How many times has it been paid? Come to me when you are short of money. We will re-evaluate according to the time.
It's worth it. I'll calculate it carefully and give you another follow-up investment. I guarantee that the follow-up investment will never be less than 10 million. As long as you ask, I will definitely give it. However, if you don't do it right, come back to me in two or three years.
At that time, the company’s valuation was not even as good as it is now, then you have to reflect on yourself.”
Sun Zhengyi's 20 million accounted for 40%, which is based on "assuming Ali Baba's current business is worth 30 million US dollars." After injecting 20 million, the total equity is 50 million, which is 40%.
If Gu Kun only injects 10 million, the total share capital after the injection will increase from 3,000 to 40 million, then 10 million should account for 25% of the total share capital of 40 million, not 20%, so Gu Kun
Kuncai said that his unit price was 20% lower than Sun Zhengyi's.
Ma Feng was slow to respond to financial matters and was still pondering Gu Kun's deeper meaning. However, Cai Chongxin immediately realized that Gu Kun was very generous.
In addition to the above-mentioned price issues, what those founders who are very confident in themselves are most afraid of is that when their business is not big enough, investors obviously cannot use a lot of money, but investors force them to spend a lot of money to dilute their shares.
Very thin.
On the contrary, only those entrepreneurs who just want to make a lot of money and run away will hope to invest as much as possible in the early stage, and they have no intention of really starting a successful company anyway.
From Ma Feng's point of view, he does need Sun Zhengyi's money now, but he doesn't need so much money all at once. All the partners are dreaming of gritting their teeth and developing for another two years, and then getting a large amount of investment in the future.
The value can be several times higher, and the equity required to pay for it will be much less when the time comes. There is no point in giving up 40% of the equity just for $20 million now.
Especially now that the Internet craze is at the forefront, the most eye-catching cases in the industry are all operations of "adding zero to the next owner after more than a year", just like what was shown in the movie "Big Shot".
No one can imagine what it will be like if the bubble bursts in the future, and no one has a bubble in their mind.
But to Gu Kun, he didn't care.
Anyway, the valuation of all Internet companies in 1998 was definitely much higher than the valuation in 2000.
However, compared with 2001 and 2002, the year 1998 may have been about the same. After the bubble burst, every company went through a process of returning to rationality. Including the later Yingke Digital, they took the opportunity to sell Tengyun shares at a low price to cash out.
This is also what happened in those two years.
It is already December 1998. If it lasts for a year and a half and Ma Feng comes back to him in the first half of 2000, Ahri may be in a high position. But as long as it takes another half a year, until the end of 2000, the bubble will have deflated.
,
Why not show your generosity for nothing and the difference in character between yourself and Sun Zhengyi?
Gu Kun was not just looking for the tens of millions of dollars in price difference, but the key was that he wanted the founder team to be of the same mind as him and not to play tricks in the future.
If Sun Zhengyi behaves like this, the founder team will not be of the same mind as him. In the future, they will continue to think of ways to exchange the entire shareholding, dilute it, change the shell...a lot of ridiculous operations.
It's better to show off your attitude and scare him now. If you don't have enough money in the cold winter and ask Gu Kun again, Gu Kun can play the role of a savior in times of need.
"This...how is this embarrassing? Doesn't it mean that we are unwilling to fully share the dividends of the company's fastest growing period with investors..." Cai Chongxin felt a little embarrassed when he thought of the beauty.
It was only at this moment that Ma Feng finally came back to his senses. He knew that Gu Kun's suggestion was an advantage, and he quickly thanked him tactfully.
Gu Kun waved his hand magnanimously: "No, it's nothing. In fact, I'm too busy and don't have time to carefully inspect a small company like yours——
Yesterday I just told President Liang of Blackstone Fund to find people from Standard Chartered Bank to exchange a batch of convertible bonds held by them with bank shares. It is an Italian luxury brand, Giorgio Armani, with a total of only 4.2% of the shares. Guess
How much? It’s already 20 million US dollars. In a company like yours, 40% of the shares are only worth 20 million, which is ten times less than others.
I only considered buying Armani's convertible bonds for less than a day. I made the decision after going shopping with a woman and buying a few clothes. How much time do you expect me to spare to examine you?
So, this is just the beginning. What I hope is that if you work hard, one day you will increase the market value of your company at least ten times, with a valuation of 500 billion U.S. dollars, and the single round of financing required will exceed one round.
When you reach 100 million US dollars, please be sure to come to me again. At that time, I will conduct a serious inspection. I hope you will qualify yourself for my careful due diligence as soon as possible."
Ma Feng couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.
It turned out that it wasn't that Mr. Gu was being generous to him, but that the business was too small and he couldn't use Mr. Gu's brainpower to listen to the due diligence in person.
"Haha... Okay, I will try my best. However, I didn't expect that someone as far-sighted as you would spend his energy on investing in a business with no technology content such as luxury goods when the Internet is booming.
"Ma Feng sighed and bluntly pointed out his confusion.