My Age of Investment

After thinking for half a minute, Xia Jingxing asked, "Tell me what you think!"

Then he picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip. While drinking the coffee, he looked at Straubel with his peripheral vision.

Straubel said without hesitation: “How about letting Vision Capital invest in an E+ round, which can be smaller in scale and used to support the improvement of the prototype first.

After the improved version of the prototype is released and deposits are received from users, we will start the F round of financing.

After this, Tesla should be able to continuously generate operating cash flow. "

Xia Jingxing smiled. He was not sure whether Straubel was deliberately trying to please himself, or whether it was just a subconscious reaction, that is, he had become dependent on the major shareholder Vision Capital.

From 2004 to now, in a little more than four years, Vision Capital has invested in Tesla for five consecutive rounds, most of which are lead investments or sole investments.

As long as Tesla has mentioned lack of money, major shareholder Envision Capital has never let the company down.

Xia Jingxing originally planned to control Vision Capital's investment in Tesla, but Straubel's words made him change his mind temporarily.

He originally thought that Tesla was about to release the Model S prototype, which would soon usher in mass production, and that its industry status would be further highlighted and attract more attention from the outside world.

It would be inappropriate for him to increase his shareholding at this time, which would be detrimental to Tesla's development in the United States.

After all, before China's new energy vehicle market exploded, the United States was the largest new energy vehicle market. The country had a strong car culture and people had enough money in their pockets to accept such luxury electric vehicles priced at US$100,000 or US$80,000. car.

Therefore, if Tesla wants to achieve good development, it cannot do without the US market.

With the debut of Tesla's cars one after another, the trend of new energy vehicle manufacturing will inevitably spread completely, and topics such as energy security strategy and national security strategy will gradually become hotter.

At this time, Vision Capital and him should slowly accept the dilution of their equity. After all, all parties have to come to share the cake, and Tesla itself also needs a lot of funds to upgrade technology and increase production capacity.

In Facebook and YouTube, his shareholding ratio follows the same dilution logic. He will never hesitate to bring in allies, and he will never hesitate to sell equity or fund shares when it is time.

As for the judgment of the time to dilute and sell equity, you need to grasp the heat. If you sell it too early, you will suffer a loss, if you sell it too late... you will no longer be able to sell it.

The company has not developed yet, so what else is it selling?

Therefore, he has always adhered to the development idea of ​​win-win cooperation and has a good reputation among the upper class in the United States.

The valuations of the investment portfolios in the S Fund - Facebook, YouTube, Ali, and Hainei.com are all rising.

Isn't this why the dignitaries of California and New York awarded him the title of Honorable Citizen?

Partly to commend him for his contribution to the United States (the powerful), and partly to encourage him to continue to help the United States (the powerful) make money.

This award was awarded with good reason, and even old man Moritz could only criticize it in his heart. On the surface, there was no way to criticize it. It was politically incorrect.

In the future, Xia Jingxing will also consider transferring the Tesla equity held by Vision Capital to the S Fund, cashing out a sum and attracting American dignitaries to get on board.

It's still a little early. If the market value plummets in the future, the powerful people may think that the good guys in China are digging holes for them. It won't be fun if Xia Jingxing is not allowed to make money in the United States.

At this stage, both the Renaissance Industrial Group and the Semiconductor Industry Fund still need the support of American friends, so it is appropriate to send some small gifts. Anyone who offends me, a big man, will be punished no matter how far away he is. Isn’t it true that we have been friends for decades?

Therefore, when boys go abroad, they must learn to protect themselves so that they can be useful to the country and society - Xia Jingxing.

Pretending to think for a moment, Xia Jingxing replied: "Okay, then how much will it cost for Vision Capital to invest in another E+ round? Have you calculated it?"

Worried that Xia Jingxing misunderstood him as a lion, Straubel counted on his fingers: "Our current staff size has expanded to 400, but we are still somewhat short of manpower.

The newly established software research and development department needs to expand its manpower. The research and development of the three-power system cannot stagnate. Supply chain management needs to be put on the agenda. The production plant... This can be slowed down for now. The sales department does not need to be expanded for the time being..."

After adding up, Straubel pointed out five fingers and said, "We still need about 50 million U.S. dollars. It doesn't matter if it's a little less. It's just that with more money, we can do more research and development work more calmly."

Xia Jingxing smiled and said: "Then let's say 50 million US dollars! What's the valuation?"

Straubel asked tentatively: "The last round of financing was US$300 million. At that time, we were still facing the problem of selling cars at a loss due to the rising manufacturing costs of Roadster.

Now that all Roadsters have been delivered, the Model S prototype will be released soon.

So, $500 million... Darren, what do you think? "

"Before the investment or after the investment?" Xia Jingxing's voice was calm, with no hint of likes or dislikes.

Straubel thought that Xia Jingxing was not very satisfied, so he hurriedly said: "How about the post-money valuation is 500 million U.S. dollars, and the pre-money valuation is 450 million U.S. dollars. Compared with the previous round, it has increased by 0.5 times. Other shareholders should also be able to accept it. .”

"Are you sure other shareholders can accept it?"

Straubel spread his hands and said, "It should be about the same. After all, Tesla has no new revenue accounts and no major technological breakthroughs. It is impossible to value it at US$1 billion or US$2 billion, right?"

A company whose business model has not been fully proven cannot be valued as high as those of technology companies that have already gone public. "

Xia Jingxing smiled and felt that Straubel was still too honest. At least Tesla had built 2,500 cars and successfully delivered 2,450 of them. In the previous era when car manufacturing was booming, it might have already been valued. Tens of billions of dollars.

However, the eras are different and cannot be regarded as the same.

Nowadays, everyone’s evaluation of new energy vehicle companies is that they are “fraudulent companies that will go bankrupt sooner or later.” Even professional investors, most of them have the attitude of testing the waters and investing, which is different from Envision Capital’s investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. The frowning attitude was in sharp contrast.

It is precisely because of the different perceptions that he and Vision Capital have the opportunity to buy the bottom.

However, he had a hunch that this should be the last opportunity to buy a bargain, because Tesla would take off completely next.

Therefore, he does not attach too much importance to the valuation issue. It does not matter if it is one or two hundred million US dollars more or one or two US dollars less.

"You'd better listen to the opinions of other shareholders, otherwise they will regard you as the CEO as the spokesperson of Vision Capital's interests, which will be very detrimental to your long-term leadership of Tesla."

Straubel was a little touched that Xia Jingxing could treat him so sincerely, but he still said with an indifferent attitude: "Even from the perspective of the company and the interests of all shareholders, I think this valuation is That's about right, very reasonable.

If they feel it is low, they can also choose to follow the investment!

But it is a pity that most of them will choose to give up, because they do not really love electric cars, they just bought a lottery ticket and quietly waited for the lottery results. "

Xia Jingxing smiled, Straubel summed it up well, because several institutional shareholders are indeed like this. They did not choose to participate in the round of investment, and they just expected Tesla to mass produce and hit the IPO as soon as possible so that they could cash out. , which is almost equivalent to waiting for the lottery draw.

"You'd better ask their opinions. If anyone is willing to invest, I personally welcome and support them."

Although Straubel was disdainful of other shareholders both in words and in words, Xia Jingxing still did not want conflicts between him and other shareholders at this stage.

Although other shareholders didn't help much, at least they didn't hold back. This can actually be regarded as a big help.

Now Tesla's key task is to launch the Model S, a key model. The entire company is working hard on research and development and verifying various technologies and solutions. It would be bad to have extraneous matters at this time.

"Okay then, I'll call the others together for a meeting!"

Xia Jingxing nodded slightly and said "Okay".