After Ma Jun went to India, Zhang Yida completely gave up on Ah San's IQ and put the "spare tire plan" on the agenda again.
I have previously entrusted a client to help identify the second or third generation of Indian political families. They may be less capable, as long as they are willing to cooperate.
But after so long, I still haven't found the right candidate.
There are many suitable candidates for Silicon Valley technology companies, and there are a lot of Indians who serve as middle and senior leaders in the companies.
Still following the old rules, Zhang Yida arranged for people to conduct interviews one by one.
An Indian-American in his thirties named Kumar quite meets Zhang Yida's selection criteria.
Kumar is of the Kshatriya caste and graduated from an Ivy League university. His parents' family is still in India and has some influence there. Kumar also married a white wife and worked as a middle-level manager in a unicorn company in Silicon Valley.
Modi has been calling on overseas Indians to return home and build their homeland in India, but unfortunately few respond.
Even Indian netizens themselves say that Indians in European and American countries will not give up their superior medical and educational conditions and return to their home countries.
It is possible that Indians in the Middle East returned to their hometown in India to save their lives in order to escape the war.
Zhang Yida feels that with Kumar’s conditions and status, returning to China and doing some business will definitely impress India’s Internet celebrity entrepreneurs.
He gave up his high-paying job at an American unicorn company and brought his white wife back to China to build a poor and white hometown.
It sounds very inspiring!
However, Zhang Yida decided to explain some things clearly to Kumar first so that he would not be confused.
"Do you know BBPay?" Zhang Yida was ready to take issue with this company.
Kumar nodded, "I am paying attention. This is the second largest financial technology company in India, with a valuation of nearly 10 billion US dollars, second only to Paytm."
Zhang Yida smiled and said: "Then do you know who the shareholders of BBPay are?"
Kumar usually pays attention to the news of the Indian venture capital market, and has also thought about returning to China to start a business, but he has never been able to make up his mind.
Kumar said with a smile: "I don't know the specific shareholders, but I know a rough idea, including Ruixiang Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc."
"Yes, the shareholder structure of BBPay is very similar to that of Ruixiang Group, but the shareholding ratio is slightly different."
Zhang Yida continued, “We plan to launch another short video application in India, and the product positioning is slightly different from Musical.ly.
We are looking for a CEO and are willing to give a 20% share incentive.
I wonder if you are willing to take on this burden?"
Kumar almost understands what this means, and considering that Musical.ly has been removed from the shelves in India, he probably wants to be the spokesperson, with a consortium of Ruixiang shareholders behind him.
This is a little different from the entrepreneurial idea I imagined. Should I accept it?
“I would venture to ask, how much can shareholders invest in this short video application?”
Kumar thought it would be better to ask more questions before making a decision.
"The initial investment is US$50 million, and we will decide whether to increase the amount depending on the subsequent development."
Kumar frowned, not that he thought the amount was too small, but that it was too much.
Is there any trap in this? Tens of millions of dollars just hit me like this?
"Of course, you also need to invest part of it. It doesn't need to be too much. Can you get it together with 1 million US dollars?"
Kumar came to his senses and felt a little headache when he heard the $1 million.
Although his salary is not low, he also has a family to support, and he still lives in the colorful world of the United States.
After all these years, I really haven’t saved much money.
Let alone 1 million US dollars, it is a bit difficult to get 500,000 US dollars.
It’s not that Zhang Yida wanted the $1 million, but that he had contributed money, so the sense of participation was different.
Any gift is cheap and not worth cherishing.
For an ordinary middle-class family to spend $1 million, it would be quite painful to lose money.
Only in this way can the work enthusiasm of the spokesperson be fully mobilized.
Zhang Yida saw that his expression was not right, so he secretly thought that something was wrong, he didn't even have 1 million US dollars, right?
He has investigated Kumar. After working for more than ten years, the salary he received must be three to five million US dollars.
Is it not difficult to save $1 million?
Kumar hesitated for a moment, but decided to confess and smiled bitterly, "Mr. Zhang, I may not be able to come up with $1 million..."
“What about company options?”
Zhang Yida was convinced and asked him about options again. As a middle-level employee in a unicorn company, he should have such options, right?
"There are options, but the company has not yet gone public. If you resign now, you will lose a lot. If the company buys back...it will barely be $1 million."
Kumar had a tangled look on his face, but he still said it in his heart, "I plan to use this money as an education fund for my children, so I can't use it."
Kumar's performance is quite a plus in Zhang Yida's eyes. It can be seen that this third brother at least still cares about his family.
"Mr. Kumar, you are putting me in a bit of a dilemma!"
Zhang Yida spread his hands and said helplessly, "You have to know that you and we are equivalent to being founding shareholders, and we pool money to start a business together.
If you don’t invest, don’t you become a professional manager?”
Kumar nodded, indicating that he understood.
This Indian man was caught in a tangle. He started a business with Asia's richest man. Not everyone would encounter such a good thing.
But if the business fails, the $1 million will make their small family, which is not already wealthy, even worse.
"I invest US$1 million and hold 20% of the shares?"
Zhang Yida shook his head and laughed, "Haha, Mr. Kumar, do you think it's possible?"
Kumar's face turned red and he whispered: "Didn't you just say you would give me 20% of the shares?"
"To correct it, it is equity incentive, including options."
Zhang Yida couldn't bear to tease the third brother anymore, and explained: "If you invest the 1 million US dollars, you can directly occupy 2% of the shares. Don't think it is small, you have already taken advantage of it.
Musical.ly will transfer a technical and operational team to join the new company, and at the same time bring some of Musical.ly’s successful experiences and methods.
And this part is not included in the investment amount, so I say you took a big advantage."
Regarding these remarks, Kumar neither nodded in support nor shook his head in refutation.
In his opinion, Musical.ly’s success is indeed priceless, including the algorithm recommendation technology behind it, which is an artifact that even Facebook wants to pry into and imitate.
Although the company may not show its power in the initial stage, its explosive power will be seen in the growth stage.
From this aspect, I did get a bargain.
But don’t forget that Kumar himself hasn’t given a valuation yet.
However, he knew that he was just a small person and had not achieved any outstanding results. It was normal for the bosses to ignore him directly.
However, he himself firmly believes that he is capable, but lacks a platform to display his talents.
Zhang Yida continued: "The remaining 18% equity will be included in the employee stock ownership platform. If you perform particularly well, you can sell all the 18% equity to you at a low price through "option exercise".
Regarding employee options, I will discuss it with other shareholders and dilute it out by all shareholders.
If the performance is not as good as expected, then I'm sorry, you won't get much of the 18% option, and it will be awarded to other better Indian employees or executives."
Kumar finally figured it out. It turned out that he was not giving himself 10 million US dollars directly.
There are no such good things in the world!
"I don't know what the so-called excellence means?" Kumar began to ask about the assessment criteria.
Zhang Yida replied: "It's nothing more than daily activity, monthly activity, play volume, user usage time, market share, and may also include revenue, net profit and other indicators in the future."
Kumar nodded, he basically understood it thoroughly.
The consortium headed by Zhang Yida claimed to regard itself as a founding shareholder, but in fact it was only a small shareholder.
If you want to earn more equity, you still have to work hard like a professional manager to create value for the company.
Is this considered a good condition? I’m afraid not necessarily.
Kumar can go back to India to start a business on his own, hold 100% of the shares, and maybe even get an angel round of investment.
But he has also learned about the Indian market. Now when he goes back to start a business, if there is no strong capital support behind him, even if he is a turtle, he will still be trampled to death by the growing unicorn.
Of course there is a possibility of success, but it is very small.
It would have been easier to return to China and start a business five or six years earlier, but the time window had been missed.
"Mr. Zhang, I can promise you!"
Kumar decided to take a gamble. As long as this start-up company becomes a unicorn, whether it is acquired by Ruixiang, sold to other companies, or listed independently, he should also have freedom of wealth.
And if you don't work hard, you will probably have to stay in Silicon Valley and be a salty fish for the rest of your life.
Zhang Yida thought Kumar would go home and think about it for a few days, but he didn't expect that he agreed so quickly, which surprised him.