Investment Life

Chapter 48

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Successful for the first time? Yan Qiaosen laughed dumbly, not to mention that Feiyan is not yet profitable, even if it is profitable and listed in the future, Chen Yuanming is also a major shareholder. The three-person contract is a far cry from the kind of venture capital that really targets IPOs.

In fact, Yan Qiaosen doesn't know much about venture capital. When he first started working, the entire Silicon Valley venture capital industry was at an absolute low point. Unless it was a project with a particularly profitable prospect, it would be difficult to get money out of the hands of stingy bankers. Starting a business alone is basically wishful thinking. serious. Later, in the mid-1980s, the venture capital industry began to pick up, but his career had already made some achievements, and coupled with the more traditional Chinese thinking, he resolutely chose a company with industry and sales as the main body, rather than pinning all his hopes on the ethereal stock market. superior.

In this regard, the stock market crash of 1987 seems to be an excellent footnote. Those friends who made a lot of money in the stock market during the same period were almost defenseless when the real stock market fell. They went bankrupt and went bankrupt in an instant, with layoffs and layoffs, and the losses were extremely heavy. On the other hand, my company has not been listed, and the sales of several chips are also good. It has successfully survived the catastrophe without any setbacks, and has enough energy to enter the MPeg format research and development.

After that, they hit it off with Meng Lisheng, and when they were developing the VCD machine, they still had roughly the same idea. If it wasn't for Chen Yuanming's sudden emergence, it is estimated that they would have chosen the domestic bank loan or government-supported funds as the main low-interest loan model, rather than investing in American venture capital companies. Embrace it.

However, the young man in front of him was definitely not joking, shook his head, Yan Qiaosen showed a wry smile, "Yuan Ming, real venture capital is not that simple, there are many people who make money in Shashan Road, but there are also many people who lose money, tens of millions If you invest, you may not even get a real thing. If you want to get involved in this area, you need more than financial acumen.”

"I understand this." In the face of Professor Yan's earnest teaching, Chen Yuanming did not disagree, because the other party said the truth.

For high-tech venture capital, the important thing is not the source of money, or the financiers on the east coast who are stirring up the world, but the risk investors who are good at digging out rough diamonds from the gravel and carving them into shapes to obtain a hundred times the profits. Silicon Valley, such typical venture capitalists may themselves be technical experts or middle-level managers of high-tech technology companies. They have high sensitivity to technology and can see the future prospects of a technology and an industry through the fog. Give them the capital to support those smart freaks, let those little guys who only have ideas but don't know anything about others slowly get on the right track, and turn their ideas into hundreds of millions of wealth.

A famous example of this venture capital model in the past life was the emergence of Netscape.

He just graduated in 1994. Mark Anderson did not find a suitable job for him at first. He just wrote Internet browsing software with a few like-minded friends. When the Msai browser was born, venture capitalist Jim Clark discovered him. Inviting the other party to set up a software company related to Internet browsing and communication. In the face of such a Silicon Valley senior with sufficient experience, Anderson readily accepted the invitation, and then the two jointly founded Netscape. The company was funded by Clark, and Anderson led the team that developed the Msai browser version. Just one year later, Netscape, a company that never made a profit, was listed in New York. The investment bank estimated the price per share at about 14 yuan. Who would have guessed that the stock price soared after the market opened that day, and finally closed at a high price of $58, and 50,000 shares were snapped up. empty.

Clark invested $40,000 in Netscape, but the company turned into a $200 million behemoth in one night. Since then, the company's performance has been steadily rising until it was acquired by American Line for $4.2 billion in tax-free stock exchange. went back. 40,000 investment in exchange for hundreds of millions of profits, this kind of story that should only exist in myth is the real charm of venture capital.

However, Netscape is inseparable from Clark's first-hand support after all. Its success belongs to the combination of capital and technology, management ability and creative ability. This model cannot be imitated by Chen Yuanming. He lacks Clark's outstanding background as an electronic engineer, nor does he manage a high-tech company. Experience. Founders like Netscape and Amazon have enough money and are good at controlling the company, not his real goal.

For Chen Yuanming, there is another model of venture capital, a simple version that can be successful with a little bit of gold. Now that he has come to this era, of course he will not give up this fertile soil because of short-term constraints, all he needs is time.

Seeing the other party's confident expression, Yan Qiaosen shook his head, but he still couldn't say anything. On the one hand, this boy does have extraordinary talent, and on the other hand, he is curious about Chen Yuanming's lofty goals. In just three months, he surprised himself several times.

The topic of VC is not in-depth, but others cannot be ignored. As one of the major shareholders of Feiyan Company, Chen Yuanming should have the right to know the company's development. Since he has come to Silicon Valley, Yan Qiaosen can't just let the other party sit in the reception room. After a few chats, he took Chen Yuanming to visit his company.

Speaking of a company, Yan Qiaosen's current team is actually like a studio. Today, the Silicon Valley chip industry can be called a hundred flowers blooming, but in the final analysis, it is still dominated by industrial integrated circuits and computer chips. There are almost only a handful of MPeg compression and decoding chips developed by Professor Yan. Now that the company can have such a large scale, it is thanks to Chen Yuanming's injection of capital into Feiyan that he has the energy and surplus money to expand the team and invest more in scientific research.

At present, the data protection of VCD discs has achieved initial results. It is difficult to directly copy the content on the disc. The development of the MPeg-2 format is also in full swing, and the dawn is seen. No matter from which point of view, this company can be called operation. Good with a lot of potential.

However, after a serious visit to Professor Yan's company, Chen Yuanming frowned slightly, "Does this company intend to only engage in research and development, not production?"

It was not recognized as expected, but Feixian from the sky came to say such a sentence, Yan Qiaosen was startled, and showed a bit of a wry smile. "Of course, we must focus on research and development. Since we have obtained the patent right of the chip, we have grasped the lifeblood of production and can make profits from it without any effort. Why do we need to build a production plant? Even if Feiyan starts construction in the future, set up a The production line is enough, and blindly expanding the scale of the company is not a long-term solution.”

"Well, generally speaking, this method is not wrong." Chen Yuanming retorted simply, "But for the VCD industry, the chip is also one of the core technologies, and the Feiyan family will not need this kind of chip in the future. If possible, This profit does not need to be handed over to others, or in other words, people should also give it to their own talents.”

"What do you mean?" Yan Qiaosen was a little uncertain about the meaning of Chen Yuanming's words, "Could it be that you still want to build a chip factory?"

"Not just chips, but also CD production." Chen Yuanming smiled slightly, "And the factory will be built in China."

"Ah..." Hearing this, Yan Qiaosen suddenly turned around a bit, "You mean, are you ready to build a downstream industry?"

The upstream and downstream industries are things that any company boss can understand in this era. For example, automobile companies may develop various models, but they do not produce parts by themselves. There will be various types of downstream factories to manufacture various parts for them. Similarly, in the high-tech field, holding intellectual property rights, studios and large companies with R&D capabilities are the so-called upstream industries, while the quantitative production of these technologies and bringing them to the market are downstream industries.

The upstream and downstream industries are indispensable in any industrial chain. Without the raw material support and technological development of the upstream industries, the downstream industries are like cooking without rice and lack market competitiveness. On the contrary, if there is no intensive labor and cheap production in the downstream industry, the upstream industry is like a tree without roots, and it is impossible to bring products to the mass market. If you want to truly occupy the market, it is the key to have both lines ready.

"It's a good idea." Chen Yuanming nodded lightly, "Currently, domestic technical strength is still very weak. Directly supporting high-tech industries is too expensive, and the results are not ideal. But if we start from downstream industries, we will immediately make those who have the courage to do so. Those who have the courage to get the first pot of gold, continue to invest in further research and development, to learn and improve the technology in their hands, so as to turn passive into active, is the ideal investment model.”

"But technology upgrades..." Yan Qiaosen hesitated a bit, this is a good idea, but the domestic and US technical soil is not at the same level, and it is difficult to achieve similar achievements in Silicon Valley, at least it is quite difficult at present.

"Yeah." Of course, Chen Yuanming was well aware of Yan Qiaosen's worries, "but just like those big international companies, the industry chain can be layered and cross borders. If we use Silicon Valley as the seed and the country as the soil? ? Here, talents are nurtured, technology is improved, domestic products are improved, and costs are reduced, then this industry chain will have competitiveness that other countries cannot match, and it will also win countless possibilities for the future.”

The words were loud and clear, and Yan Qiaosen felt that his heart was jumping again. Yes, if it does, if not only a VCD project can do this, then what kind of opportunities and challenges will it be for China? Although as a Chinese-American, he has been away from his homeland for a long time, but the more he is abroad, the more he can appreciate the yearning and ardent expectation for his motherland. Only when the country is strong is the people, this is the eternal truth. If the country is weak and everyone can be bullied, then if you are in a foreign land, you will only be insulted and discriminated against. But now, reform and opening up is unfolding vigorously on that land, and that country will surely catch up with this era at a hundred times faster than before, and regain its place in the forefront of the world!

"Unlimited possibilities..." Yan Qiaosen laughed. If it wasn't for this, why would he cooperate with Meng Lisheng, and why would Feiyan be rooted in China? "Well said! Even if it is for this possibility, it should be tried."

Seeing Professor Yan's shining eyes, Chen Yuanming exhaled softly, he was right in choosing a partner. VCD development is only the first step in his plan, and establishing a downstream industry chain is the key to the follow-up. It is also an OEM, and he would rather those downstream manufacturers stick with multi-domestic brands, rather than become a sweatshop of large multinational companies.

Today, in the electronics industry, China has lost the start, but it is not too far behind. Looking at the number of Chinese in Silicon Valley, you can see that the Chinese are not unsmart or incapable, but they have stumbled on the starting line for various reasons. The fall was so distressing, but not irreversible. The next ten years will be the beginning of China's earning foreign exchange and opening up the international market. He sincerely hopes that those people will use their wisdom and wisdom to be positive and competitive, instead of constantly plagiarizing, internal friction, and eventually losing everything.

All thoughts were rolling in his heart, but Chen Yuanming's expression did not change at all, he just smiled slightly, "Yes, try it."

The author has something to say: Netscape is a brand since 1994. It is also the common abbreviation for Netscape Communications. Netscape Communications was once an American computer services company best known for its production of the eponymous web browser sapeNavigatr. In November 1998, Netscape was acquired by America Line.

The little friends are full of blood and come back to life! ! ! ! It's so wonderful to get a good night's sleep, it's better to rely on it in the afternoon>_

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