Sitting on the plane back to Yanjing, Li Mu kept thinking about the suggestions and reminders Zhao Xianliang gave him.
Before talking about this with Zhao Xianliang, Li Mu had always had a slightly pretentious "ambition": Makino Technology would no longer raise funds after the B round and directly look for opportunities to go public in the United States. But now that he thinks about it, his idea is not at the capital level. It does seem childish.
Listing is indeed very attractive, but the number of financings before listing is small, which has no actual impact on the fundamental results of listing, and has no practical significance. Choosing to raise less money is equivalent to increasing the difficulty of the game, and after clearing the level You won't get any extra rewards. The most you can get in exchange is: "Holy shit, you're so awesome!"
In the past life, many domestic Internet companies were developing extremely fast and had too many financing rounds to count. A good company could raise three rounds a year, one on New Year's Day, one in the middle of the year, and one at the end of the year. With such rapid financing, Just like a fighter jet that continuously opens the afterburner and uses afterburner, fuel consumption is extremely fast, so the frequency of fuel replenishment must be extremely high. But the biggest advantage is that it is fast, moving forward at a high speed without stopping, and exchanging shares for development funds. The ultimate pursuit is higher market value and higher market share.
At present, the domestic Internet industry is still a bunch of saplings. I am the stronger one among the bunch of saplings. But if you think about it carefully, you must not underestimate these saplings one by one, because behind most of them there are Strong capital relations, and without exception, all are overseas capital.
Li Mu currently doesn't have any overseas capital to cooperate with. If he wants to open up overseas markets in the future, without a traitor to lead the way and open the door, how many detours will he have to make? Think about it again, if you have strong overseas capital connections, once you want to enter the overseas market, these profit-seeking investment banks will definitely try their best to help you conquer the city. This feeling must be very satisfying.
Moreover, as Zhao Xianliang said, capital is not just a matter of money. Capital is a powerful ally. It can not only provide guns and ammunition, but also provide fire support from the trinity of sea, land and air. There will be many tough battles to be fought in the future. Find out before the war begins. As for allies, I'm afraid it's a bit hasty.
After thinking about this, Li Mu decided to go back and systematically study and discuss plans for corporate financing, not only Makino Technology, but also Taobao + Taobao Logistics.
Taobao currently has a profit on paper because it arrived on the battlefield first, while the enemy was still buying equipment from its own blood spring and had not come in for a while. Once the e-commerce battle officially begins, the money-burning mode will start quickly, otherwise How to deal with so many domestic entrepreneurs and the invasion of overseas capital and overseas companies
Taobao Logistics has now begun to enter the large-scale procurement stage. Various purchase orders are being placed non-stop. Liu Edong is also actively promoting the construction of six major logistics and warehousing bases in the country. The volume of 500 million funds has gradually begun to meet various needs. Meals. In addition, Taobao Logistics’ investigation team in Germany has also established an excellent personal relationship with BEUMER in Germany by showing off their wealth and spending money. Whether to adopt BEUMER’s automatic sorting and automatic warehousing solutions? At the end of the day, it's all about money.
In fact, the Internet industry plays with capital to a large extent, and even uses capital to perform magic. Put 100 million in front of the audience, and set it on fire. When the sky is filled with ashes, the magician snaps his fingers, and the pile of ashes may become Billions are before our eyes.
Instagram has sold a billion dollars in just one and a half years since its launch. As a reborn person, Li Mu has put forward so many advanced products and operational thinking and worked hard to build this business, but currently there is very little money in hand. .
Although the valuation is high, without finding capital to take over, the valuation is just an imaginary number.
Since there are rumors in the industry that Makino Technology's valuation exceeds 10 billion, then it is better to raise a C round and truly transfer part of the shares at a valuation exceeding 10 billion, so that the rumors of a valuation exceeding 10 billion are completely confirmed!
…
So, the day after returning to Yanjing, Li Mu came to Muye Technology. Before anyone arrived, he had already asked Lin Qingya to gather the core team in the conference room to prepare for the meeting.
For the core team members of Makino Technology, it is very rare for Li Mu to disappear for two consecutive days on Monday and Tuesday. Even if Li Mu is busy, he will take time to come over every Monday and Tuesday, even if it is at night, but It's been two days this week and he hasn't shown up once.
When Li Mu came to Makino Technology, all the core team members were already waiting in the conference room. They intuitively believed that there must be a very important event because Li Mu disappeared for two days and still had to convene a meeting before he showed up.
As expected, Li Mu walked into the conference room and after greeting everyone, his first sentence was: "I am so anxious to have everyone come to the meeting today. In fact, there is an important decision that needs your help and reference."
Everyone looked at Li Mu and waited with bated breath.
Li Mu paused for a moment, adjusted slightly, and said word for word: "I am considering whether to launch the C round of financing for Makino Technology. What do you think about this decision?"
Li Mu's words can be said to have stirred up waves.
Financing? For any enterprise, no one will refuse financing except the boss and major shareholders.
For the company, financing means more money coming in. The people sitting here are the company's core managers, who are equivalent to the generals of Makino Technology's army. They naturally hope to expand their military strength and have more in their hands. With more soldiers and more advanced weapons and equipment, you can attack bigger opponents and fight bigger battles. Recruiting soldiers step by step is slow after all. Financing is equivalent to injecting a large wave of mercenaries in one breath, and the entity can be quickly improved.
In addition, for these core leaders, financing is also an opportunity for them to cash out.
They only have a small number of options in hand, and these options have not been cashed out. According to Li Mu's regulations, the core team with options can cash out one-third every year. People like Kong Lingyu and Lin Qingya can cash out their shares this year. , if capital comes in, the company's valuation will be updated. If they are willing to cash out, the company will naturally let them cash out some of the cash.
Therefore, overall, the core team has no reason to refuse financing.
Although they were very satisfied with the financing, the core team was still very surprised. Didn't Li Mu say before that there would be no more financing after Series B? Everyone was still waiting for him to lead everyone in an awesome drama of direct listing after Series B, but unexpectedly he started to consider financing.
Li Mu asked everyone to express their opinions freely, and Lin Qingya asked everyone's doubts: "Mr. Li, why are you suddenly starting Series C financing now? Considering the current scale of Makino Technology, product operations, and our influence in China's Internet industry Even if we launch a Nasdaq listing now, it will not be difficult. Look at China.com, Sina, NetEase and Sohu. We are much stronger than them in terms of product scale and revenue scale."
Li Mu shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "Qingya, you are right. If we want to ring the Nasdaq bell now, it won't be long before we can actually stand in front of the Nasdaq bell. But we cannot ignore an issue.”
As he spoke, Li Mu sighed and said, "If we start the listing process now, no one will endorse us in the U.S. capital market."
The endorsement theory is not yet popular, so everyone did not understand what Li Mu meant for a while.
Seeing everyone's doubts, Li Mu explained in depth: "Endorsement, to put it bluntly, is to describe our situation to others, including how awesome we are and how much potential we have, on the premise of taking responsibility for us. for guarantees and promotions.”
After a pause, Li Mu continued: "There are many factors that the capital market refers to, and book data is just one of them. However, market prospects and development potential cannot be effectively reflected by book data. I made a million in book money this year, and the capital is the most trustworthy in me." I can earn 2 million next year, but if I say I can earn 20 million or even 200 million next year, will the capital market believe it?”
Everyone was silent.
Li Mu said: "Looking at your expressions, you probably won't believe it either."
Everyone nodded.
There is no basis for what you say. Can you tell how big a bubble can be blown just by looking at your lung capacity? of course not.
Vital capacity is only a minimum reference standard. However, everyone knows that the bubble blown by vital capacity alone will not be much bigger. However, if a gust of wind blows over, it may be able to blow a bubble larger than a human being. But the latter Obviously you can't convince others by bragging about yourself. Who would believe it if you tell it? Zhuge Liang is such an awesome person. He said he could borrow the east wind. Who really believed him when the wind didn't come
At this time, Li Mu added: "If we are purposeful first and find a strong investment bank from the US capital market to cooperate with us, after financing the C round, we will not need to go public in the United States where we are not familiar with the listing. We have found someone to brag about. Just relying on the endorsement of the investment banks we cooperate with, we will be recognized by the capital market. By then, listing will be a matter of course, so the key to our discussion today is: should we bring capital to play?"
Everyone basically understood Li Mu’s intention, and Ding Zhenglin, the talented person he hired from Sequoia Capital, said excitedly: "Mr. Li, if we really launch the C round of financing, a large number of investment banks will definitely flock in with cash. Yes, all you need to consider at that time is whose money to take.”
Li Mu smiled and said: "Old Ding, you are from Sequoia. What do you think if we take Sequoia's money?"
Ding Zhenglin said seriously: "I think Sequoia is the best choice right now for three reasons."
"First, Sequoia has been developing in China for the longest time. It not only understands the situation of China's Internet industry, but also invested in many Chinese Internet companies and has sufficient experience;"
"Second, Sequoia is directly the top venture capital institution in the United States and has a strong influence around the world. Among them, the most influential one is precisely the United States. If we cooperate with Sequoia, we can use Sequoia to Thanks to Shanshan’s capital operation capabilities, our future listing in the United States will definitely gain the greatest recognition from securities firms and achieve the best results;”
"Third, China Sequoia's eyes have been chasing you, not only Makino Technology, but also Taobao. Even now, they have been contacting me to ask about our recent financing plans."
Although the first update is a little later, there are still three updates today! ! ! Work hard so that everyone can vote more energetically~~~ Come and vote monthly~~~
(End of chapter)