My Age of Investment

After welcoming Xia Jingxing and Xia Jingxing into his office, Kalanick quickly called his partner Garrett Camp and introduced them to each other.

Garrett is a little curly Canadian, two years younger than Kalanick. He is 31 years old this year. He is also an entrepreneur who has made some success in starting a business. The browser plug-in StubleUpon he developed when he was 20 years old was Three years ago, it was sold to the e-commerce giant eBay for US$75 million, achieving personal primary financial freedom.

Compared with Kalanick, who had a bumpy entrepreneurial journey, Garrett's entrepreneurial life seemed to be much smoother, and his first venture was successful.

The real developer of the Uber product is also Garrett. Kalanick joined Uber as a part-time consultant in the early days. He did not join Uber full-time until he saw the launch of the Uber App last month and its great success. company and serves as CEO.

The reason why Garrett is willing to step down and make way for others is because of Kalanick's excellent management skills and his indomitable entrepreneurial spirit that can achieve success despite all kinds of difficulties and obstacles.

Worried that Darren Xia might not understand him, Kalanick gave Xia Jingxing and Xia Jingxing a cup of coffee each and began to talk about his past entrepreneurial experiences.

Kalanick has the standard life experience of an Internet tycoon here in the United States - he can program in the sixth grade of elementary school, and dropped out of UCLA to start a business when he was 21 years old.

It was my first time to start my own business and I founded the S website with 6 friends. I originally wanted to make a search engine like Google, but by mistake, it became the American version of Thunder. Then, as expected, I enjoyed the same experience as Sean Parker. , was sued for bankruptcy by dozens of Hollywood companies for copyright infringement.

After learning from the pain, Kalanick then started his second business. He no longer engaged in P2P file download resource search engines, but turned into a ToB business model to provide services to enterprises, improve the way corporate files are spread on the Internet, and improve file transmission. speed while helping enterprises save server expenses.

This venture could not be said to be too successful. First, the partners attempted to take the development team to Sony, and then the company's largest investor, Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, made noises about withdrawing investment.

After several years of stumbling development, the company was sold by Kalanick three years ago for $19 million.

Two entrepreneurial experiences have accumulated a wealth of entrepreneurial experience and network resources for Kalanick, but in real terms, it can only be regarded as a small effort.

However, these two stories told through Kalanick's mouth are so exciting that people dare not underestimate them.

"Darlan, did you know? At that time, 29 companies in Hollywood jointly sued me and demanded US$250 million in compensation. However, with my vigorous struggle, I finally settled out of court for only US$1 million. reconciliation."

Xia Jingxing nodded lightly, "Hollywood has always been like this. Oil pipeline has also been sued, and the amount claimed was dozens of times higher than yours."

Kalanick laughed loudly, "But you are better than me, filling the appetite of those greedy people with a Hu video."

Xia Jingxing smiled and said, "You're not bad either. In the first few months, I didn't dare to go to the cinema to watch a movie. I was afraid that my blood pressure would skyrocket when I saw the names of several production companies. Later, I slowly got over the shadow of failure and accepted it calmly. Everything, and you also vowed to "revenge" Hollywood, and you succeeded, didn't you?"

Kalanick smiled. His revenge was not brilliant. He only turned 23 of the 29 Hollywood companies that sued him into customers of his second startup company, causing these companies to shed some blood and turn him away from him. The $1 million stolen here was made back.

These extraordinary experiences are naturally a big plus in the eyes of investors.

Putting aside his knowledge of Kalanick in his previous life, Xia Jingxing was quite impressed by the two entrepreneurial experiences he told about him.

This is a very flexible and adaptable entrepreneur, and he also has a very good sense of the market.

Moreover, he suffered a lot from starting his own business twice, and he had already sharpened his nerves, which made him extremely suitable for fighting the tough battles associated with the O2O entrepreneurial model.

Xia Jingxing put away his smile and said seriously: "Let's talk about Uber. I heard that this is a business idea you two came up with when you went to Paris for a meeting and couldn't get a taxi?"

Garrett on the side nodded and replied: "Yes, what we wanted at that time was to create a time-sharing limousine service that can be ordered using the app, because there is such a demand in the market and it is waiting for us to meet it.

After returning to San Francisco from Paris, I immediately bought the domain name Uber. "

Xia Jingxing then asked: "Do you only plan to be in the luxury car market? When we just came here, we ordered a BMW 7 Series. The fare was quite expensive. The starting price for the ride was 8 US dollars and the unit price per mile was 4.9 US dollars.

In my opinion, this will prevent Uber from becoming mainstream in the ride-hailing market. "

Faced with Xia Jingxing's question, Kalanick did not panic at all, and replied calmly: "This is exactly the same as what Tesla is doing."

Xia Jingxing gave Kalanick a dull look and motioned for him to continue speaking.

"Tesla chose to start with high-end models in order to build the brand and capture the minds of users before gradually launching mid- to low-end models. This is a top-down brand promotion process."

Kalanick paused and smiled confidently, "Uber is doing the same thing, building up our online ride-hailing brand with high-end services, and letting more people pay attention to Uber and online ride-hailing."

When the time is right, we will gradually launch other mid- to low-end models, and then expand Uber’s service territory to other cities across the United States. "

Xia Jingxing smiled and said, "It's a good choice. Have you considered ordering 100,000 Model S in the future? I can make the decision and give you a discount."

Kalanick shrugged, "Great advice, why not?

However, Uber does not yet have such strength.

In addition, the online ride-hailing drivers we currently recruit all bring their own vehicles.

Right now, Uber's primary goal is to expand and expand again, so it can only choose an asset-light operating model.

Darren, the model you mentioned is too heavy-handed. Maybe we have to wait until Uber reaches a mature stage before we can try it to a certain extent. "

Xia Jingxing nodded slightly and said, "Have you ever heard of driverless cars?"

"The one that Google's

Xia Jingxing said: "Tesla is exploring this business and may be able to cooperate with Uber in the future."

Kalanick said with a smile on his face, "Of course, we welcome all partners who can help Uber."

The corner of Xia Jingxing's mouth rose slightly. Uber was an investment project that he had to win. Not only could he reap huge financial returns, but more importantly, it could help Tesla train and test driverless algorithm technology, and it could also help Tesla continue its development. Commercialize autonomous driving faster.

The only shortcoming is that both companies are American companies and cannot control them closely.

However, once the Tesla + Uber cooperation plan is explored, China can stage a "CopyToa".

In his business landscape, you can find many companies that compete with the United States.

For example:

Domestic holding groups benchmark against Facebook;

Envision Capital China benchmarks Envision Capital USA;

Renaissance Automobile Group benchmarks against Tesla;

Hongmeng benchmarks against Android;

…

Due to unspeakable factors, corporate mergers are very unrealistic, so we can only have one model and two sets of Chinese and American teams.

At present, this arrangement is quite appropriate, taking into account the two major benefits of industry security and financial investment returns.

"Darren, I would like to ask you about the situation of China's taxi market. Is it difficult to get a taxi?"

Kalanick began to take the initiative to ask questions. On the surface, he seemed to be casually asking about the situation of China's taxi market, but Xia Jingxing could tell that the other party was a drunkard and had no intention of drinking.

It was just a newly hatched chicken, and it started eyeing the big fat market in China.

Taking into account many factors, Xia Jingxing definitely cannot be an accomplice of Yu's entry into China.

So he said in a joking tone: "Chinese taxi drivers are not very good-tempered. Strikes and damage to online taxis are all possible things."

Garrett was immediately dumbfounded, "Didn't the media report that the Chinese people are very friendly and kind?"

Xia Jingxing laughed when he heard it, and thought to himself, you are not watching fake BBC news.

“The taxi industry is related to the employment of many people. If it is greatly affected, it is hard to say what the government’s attitude will be.

Let me tell you a Chinese allusion, which is called the dependence of millions of workers on food and clothing..."

After listening to the interesting story told by Xia Jingxing, Kalanick and Garrett were stunned for a moment. The former nodded and said, "What you said makes sense, Darren. The employment rate is an issue that every governor must pay attention to." .

It seems that we cannot easily enter the Chinese market, lest we fall into a quagmire and slow down Uber's development. "

Xia Jingxing smiled and said: "Yes, you should give priority to the markets of developed countries in Europe and the United States. This is the most valuable market. Don't lose the watermelon and pick up the sesame seeds.

Moreover, it is not as easy as imagined to win the US market, North American market and even the European market.

Safety issues of online ride-hailing, resistance and protests from taxi drivers, different laws and regulations in various states, and the emergence of competitors in the market...

You need to resolve all these troubles one by one, which will test your decision-making and ability as entrepreneurs. "

Following Xia Jingxing's guidance, both of them stopped talking about the Chinese market, fearing that the big financier Darren Xia would misunderstand that they were too ambitious.

"Okay, Darren, we will listen to your suggestion carefully."

Kalanick smiled toothily, "

Xia Jingxing nodded and then gave Ricky a look.

Ricky took out a piece of paper agreement from his briefcase and slapped it on the table.

Kalanick picked up the agreement and after looking at it for a few times with his partner Garrett, couldn't help but ask: "What does this mean? Why is the investment amount blank?"

Xia Jingxing lay back, stretched and said, "You can fill in the investment amount column yourself. I have only one request. Uber must give up 30% of its shares in this round of financing."

Kalanick swallowed, looked at the "heavy" investment agreement in his hand, and found that all the rhetoric he had prepared was of no use.

Can I really fill it in casually?

Kalanick was tempted to put up $50 million, but he resisted the urge.

Although Darren Xia is generous, it does not mean that they can treat the fourth richest man in the world as a fool.

Maybe this is a pre-investment test?

"Darren, our financing plan for this round is to raise US$1.25 million and dilute 25% of the shares."

Speaking of this, Kalanick glanced at Xia Jingxing and found that the other person's face was calm. He felt a little uneasy and quickly added: "But since you are so sincere, we can dilute an additional 5% of the equity."

After saying that, Kalanick filled in a string of numbers and handed the document back to Ricky.

Ricky glanced at it, said nothing, and handed the document to Xia Jingxing.

Seeing the figure of 1.6 million US dollars filled in on the document, Xia Jingxing smiled and said, "Okay, let's settle it!"

Seeing Xia Jingxing's nonchalant attitude, Kalanick couldn't help but regret. He should have filled in an extra zero.

But the matter had come to this, and there was no use regretting it. He couldn't bear to let Darren Xia run away.

Xia Jingxing glanced at Kalanick a few times and guessed the other person's complex mentality.

Kalanick still has abilities, but his character is really not that good. He is recognized as an egoist in the industry. He maliciously hired passengers to place large-scale orders for competitors, and then canceled the orders; he suppressed the sexual harassment incident within the company, and finally made it happen. His reputation was so bad that his investee, Lao Sun, was kicked out.

But all this happened after Uber got rich.

Kalanick is not qualified to negotiate terms with himself now! So it's not surprising that he behaves more honestly.

But if you really think that Kalanick is a law-abiding person, you will suffer a big loss.

Xia Jingxing looked at Kalanick, who was feeling a little depressed, and said, "Vision Capital will also launch a new service starting from the second half of this year, which all invested companies can enjoy."

Kalanick raised his head and looked at Xia Jingxing in confusion.

"We have signed an exclusive cooperation with Facebook. Each company invested solely by Vision Capital can enjoy one free advertising service from Facebook. In other words, the advertising bill will be paid by Vision Capital."

Kalanick opened his eyes wide, "Can Uber also enjoy this free advertising service?"

"Of course, but the advertising area is limited to the markets that have been developed, that is, advertising is only placed in San Francisco."

Kalanick was overjoyed and said, "That's great. We have wanted to run ads for a long time, but the advertising fees are too expensive, so we are a bit reluctant."

Garrett was also very happy. He had no idea that Vision Capital had such a service.

But it makes sense when you think about the relationship between Vision Capital and Facebook. He guessed that the advertising fees paid by Vision Capital must be discounted.

But no matter how favorable the discount is, it is still a payment of real money. It seems that the venture capital industry is becoming more and more involved...

Xia Jingxing smiled slightly, it was only a small amount of money for advertising, it was a benefit at no cost.

Moreover, this move can also take advantage of the momentum of Vision Capital. Every invested startup company can clearly feel the huge resources held by Vision Capital while enjoying Facebook's free advertising services.

For Facebook, there is also a big benefit, which is equivalent to easily opening up an advertising customer. When these startups taste the sweetness of advertising and receive larger amounts of financing later, will they still be stingy with advertising?

Seeing the satisfied expressions on the two people's faces, Xia Jingxing also smiled and said, "You two, receiving investment from Vision Capital means that we will become a family in the future.

Don’t be reluctant to spend money and expand boldly. Vision Capital will always be your strongest support. "

Kalanick and Garrett smiled reservedly. They were no longer newbies in entrepreneurship and had long-term thinking.

This round of financing has diluted 30% of the shares. If Uber accepts investment from Vision Capital later, or even the exclusive investment from Vision Capital, then everyone will no longer be as close as they are now.