My Age of Investment

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In the afternoon, Brian, Nathan, and Joe came to Vision Capital with their entrepreneurial mentor Graham in high spirits.

Ricky came forward to receive the four people and proposed the same investment conditions as Sequoia.

The four of them did not give an immediate reply and left on the pretext of going back to discuss it.

That night, the four of them found Sequoia again.

Moritz made it clear to them directly, saying that Sequoia had cooperated with Envision Capital and would not invest in Airbnb alone.

The four people were completely dumbfounded, and finally realized that their behavior was exposed.

The next day, Envision Capital sat at the same negotiation table with four shareholders, Sequoia and Airbnb.

After some hard bargaining, the three founders agreed to release 30% of their shares and have priority investment rights in the next round of financing.

During the negotiation process, the three founders planned to give up several times. They felt that the requirements of the two institutions were too much and they would have to find another institution for financing at worst.

However, their mentor Graham suggested that they accept this financing plan and develop first more than anything else.

This sentence awakened the three of them, and they realized how much help the two major institutions would bring to the development of Airbnb. They immediately stopped insisting and agreed to dilute their shares in a large amount.

What the three people didn't know was that in the middle of the night last night, their mentor secretly had a phone call with Moritz and sold the three people and Airbnb at a good price.

Through a cooperation, Envision Capital and Sequoia Capital each obtained 15% of the shares of this future unicorn worth US$100 billion for US$500,000.

The valuation and financing amount are both relatively low. First, Airbnb is not worth much money at this time, and second, it is preparing for the next round of financing.

Xia Jingxing is basically satisfied with this. He is not greedy anyway, so he can just keep the 15% stake until Airbnb goes public.

Compared to Xia Jingxing, Moritz didn't pay much attention to Airbnb. He just didn't want to miss it and took advantage of it first.

At least for now, Airbnb hasn’t shown qualities worthy of his attention.

Rather than saying that he is investing in Airbnb, it is better to say that he is investing in Xia Jingxing and his investment vision.

He missed the good opportunity to invest in Facebook back then, and he still hasn't completely let go of it to this day.

He was willing to spend 500,000 US dollars to bet on Xia Jingxing once, just to pay for his mistakes that year.

Regardless of whether the shot is successful or not, the knot in your heart can be resolved.

In fact, if it is just to understand the problem, Moritz does not need to invest 500,000 US dollars, it is enough to participate in 50,000 or 100,000 US dollars.

But the old man is such a thief, what if the bet is right? Just get a participation award as a result?

…………

…………

After finishing a bunch of trivial matters at Vision Capital, Xia Jingxing came to the Tesla office park.

CEO Straubel accompanied him around the park and introduced the current situation of Tesla.

“In January this year, we went to Detroit to attend the auto show and brought the Model S along with us.

Then it achieved a sensational effect, and countless people came to watch and take pictures. "

Xia Jingxing turned to glance at Straubel and asked with a smile: "Do the people watching include Daimler Group CEO Zetsche?"

Straubel nodded, "Yes, he seemed to be very interested in new energy vehicles. He came over and chatted with me on the spot, and even got into our show car to experience it."

"You didn't ask him how he felt? Should he replace his BMW with a Tesla?"

Straubel laughed awkwardly, "It's all hearsay. Who knows if he has a BMW at home?

However, this old gentleman was really resolute in his work. He asked me on the spot if I dared to accept his challenge and help the Daimler Group modify a Smart.

If the modification can meet his requirements, you can give us a business, and then I will..."

Xia Jingxing smiled and answered, "Then you got hot-headed and agreed."

"I thought it wouldn't be too difficult, so I asked them to send a Smart over."

Straubel spread his hands, looking innocent.

Xia Jingxing smiled. The challenge that Straubel took on kept the technical department busy for two months.

To say that it is transforming Smart is actually equivalent to redesigning the chassis, battery, electric motor and all control systems.

Because of this incident, Tesla's technical department has been working overtime a lot recently, causing a lot of complaints.

Fortunately, this Smart finally passed Daimler's technical verification, and Zetsche did not break his promise. He actually gave Tesla a US$40 million order, not buying a car, but buying technical solutions.

"You said that Daimler not only gave Tesla an order, but they also wanted to invest in Tesla?"

Straubel nodded heavily, "Yes, they are interested in investing in Tesla and reaching a strategic partnership with us."

A smile appeared on the corner of Xia Jingxing's mouth. Tesla had been in business for six years and finally saw a glimmer of hope.

Now even mainstream luxury car brands are interested in Tesla's technology, which shows that Tesla has begun to shine its own light.

"They plan to invest $50 million in Tesla at a $500 million valuation!"

Straubel said confidently: “But I rejected it because this valuation insulted our performance.

Now that the Model S prototype has been developed, we only need to open pre-sales, and we can easily receive a deposit of US$50 million. "

Xia Jingxing joked: "Have you become a habit of misappropriating deposits? I can tell you that the old shareholders are now frightened by Tesla, for fear that you will ask for money again.

Be sure to do a good job in financial control. Some shareholders have fragile hearts and cannot withstand scares. "

Straubel looked a little embarrassed. Is it that scary?

Isn’t it just that the R\u0026D budget has been overrun more than a dozen times, and the company’s capital chain has been broken several times?

Straubel said: “After we rejected it, Daimler sent another offer with a valuation of US$1 billion and an investment of US$100 million.

I sought the opinions of other shareholders. They were quite satisfied with the offer and felt that we could discuss it.

On the one hand, Model S mass production and factory construction require money. On the other hand, the cooperation and investment of a mainstream luxury car brand can provide strong endorsement for Tesla's listing. "

Xia Jingxing stopped, looked at Straubel, and asked, "I want to hear your opinion on Tesla's listing? I want to hear the truth."

Straubel pondered for a moment and said: "It will definitely not be possible to go public this year. The economic recession and the weakness of the capital market are on the one hand, and Tesla is not ready yet on the other."

"What preparation?"

Straubel replied: "I think it is better to own a factory and order thousands of cars than to go to market naked?"

Xia Jingxing found it funny, "If you go public naked, do you mean we are going to build a car using PPT?"

Straubel shook his head repeatedly, "That's not what I meant. Although we have mass-produced a Roadster, it has now been discontinued due to various reasons!

We are now in a situation with no revenue and no assets. Some investors don't care and don't understand how many electric vehicle patents and technologies you have. "

Xia Jingxing smiled and said: "I understand, you mean to make the financial statements more beautiful and strive to create a high market value."

"Not only that, if we can produce and deliver a Model S before its launch, it will also bring more expectations to investors."

Xia Jingxing motioned to Straubel to continue, and the latter said: "If you think about it, Model S is a mass-produced electric vehicle that we have truly developed from the inside out and from top to bottom.

If it can be successfully delivered, it means that Tesla is no longer a small workshop, but a new car-making force that masters a complete set of electric vehicle industry technologies.

This slight gap is actually a chasm that is difficult to cross.

If it can be overcome, the market value will be doubled no matter how many times it is, right? "

Xia Jingxing nodded secretly. Straubel was right. Car manufacturers with delivery capabilities and manufacturers that always make PPT and cannot turn design drawings into cars running on the road are companies in two worlds. The gap in the middle is the gap between them. There are one hundred and eight thousand bosses Jia.

“To go on the market, you have to deliver the car first, and to deliver the car you have to have a production plant, and building a plant costs money.

Therefore, it can be concluded that we need financing, whether it is equity financing or debt financing, all means that can make money must be used. "

Xia Jingxing asked, "Have you calculated it? How much money will it cost to implement this series of plans?"

Straubel said nothing and only gestured with one finger.

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