Wind Rises 2005

Chapter 392
In Ma Liang's previous life, he couldn't get along with venture capital. The reason why he knew about Zynga was because he had read relevant news reports in China.

When it comes to Zynga, few people know about it, but when it comes to "Farm Ville" (countryside), it is definitely a hit.

Because this game is the most popular on Facebook, Zynga plagiarized from "Happy Farm" under the well-known domestic Kaixin.com.

You must know that Kaixin.com, relying on a food-stealing game like "Happy Farm", once almost killed Xiao Ma's QQ.

Unfortunately, "Happy Farm" was not independently developed by Kaixin.com, but purchased, and the copyright belongs to a software company called Five Minutes.

Brother Xiaoma later spent a lot of money to buy the copyright from 5 Minutes, and also played a game "QQ Farm" and successfully stole the tower.

So although Kaixin.com was the first to release "Happy Farm", it was finally killed by Xiao Ma taking advantage of QQ's user stickiness.

But Zynga, which also plagiarized, went smoothly and went public successfully.

It is precisely because it is rare for foreigners to copy Huaxia's Internet products, so the media at that time also reported overwhelmingly.

Otherwise, Ma Liang might not have heard of Presidio Media, let alone Mark Pincus.

And Zynga is the product of Presidio Media's rebranding.

Ma Liang clearly remembers that in the next few years, apart from Facebook and Twitter, no company in the global Internet industry could overshadow Zynga.

In particular, Zynga's games will continue to top the social game charts for many years.

Of the top 5 games on Facebook, 4 of them are from Zynga.

It is also by virtue of the game product matrix that Zynga has become one of the most profitable game companies.

It can be said that Zynga, which was transformed from Presidio Media, will soon become the biggest dark horse in the game industry, and the speed of its rise can be called a miracle.

And because Facebook and Twitter went public later, when Zynga went public in 2011, it raised $10 billion in financing, making it the largest Internet company IPO transaction in the United States since Google went public.

At its peak, Zynga's market cap had reached a whopping $140 billion.

For such a company like Niucha, the opportunity to pick up the leak came in front of him inexplicably, how could Ma Liang be willing to miss it.

He quickly replied an email to Jennifer, asking her to take full charge of the financing negotiations with Mark Pincus and finalize the angel round investment of Presidio Media.

If the amount is less than 300 million US dollars, there is no need to ask for instructions, and she can directly sign the investment agreement.

Because there is a time difference of more than ten hours between Huaxia and the United States, when Ma Liang was writing the email, Jennifer had just returned to the room and was sorting out the materials in front of the laptop.

Today, in addition to going to Twitter to negotiate the Pre-A round of financing and meeting Mark Pincus, she also met with three other founders.

These people have all communicated on the phone before, so the efficiency of the conversation is very high.

It seemed that the itinerary was very intensive, but it was actually okay, Jennifer didn't feel too tired.

Compared with the investment managers who work at the grassroots level in the venture capital circle, she is much more relaxed.

You must know that when investment managers are collecting projects, they may have to meet with a dozen or twenty founders a day.

Jennifer packaged and sent out all the project materials, and didn't even notice that Ma Liang had sent back an email.

At the same time, Ma Liang also received the information she sent, and immediately checked it again.

It didn't matter, he almost jumped up with joy.

If Jennifer was by his side, Ma Liang would even ignore the taboo of sexual harassment in the workplace and directly hug her and kiss her a few times.

Because among the several projects listed in the information, there was another one he had heard of.

Dropbox is also a unicorn company in the future.Although not as good as Zynga, it is not much worse, and it is also a project worth investing in.

2007 is truly worthy of being called the best year of entrepreneurship by the venture capital circle. In the past 20 years, this year is the year with the largest number of unicorn companies born.

It's just a pity that Ma Liang was not in the venture capital circle in his previous life.

Although he has heard of many unicorn companies, he doesn't remember when those companies were founded, let alone where to find the founders.

Only a well-known presence like Twitter can be impressive.

I have to say that Jennifer, the blond and blue-eyed beauty CEO, is really right. Her contacts in the financial and venture capital circles have played a huge role.

Otherwise, how could Ma Liang encounter Zynga and Dropbox projects, let alone have the opportunity to miss them.

Looking at the project information in the email, he couldn't wait to write the email anymore, so he called Jennifer directly.

"Boss, can't we wait until tomorrow to talk about something?

I just took off my clothes, and I'm lying in the bathtub to take a bath." Jennifer was also tired today, and her voice was full of laziness.

As soon as Ma Liang heard this, a beautiful picture appeared in his mind.

He shook his head hastily, forcing Jennifer's hot body out of his mind, so as not to get distracted.

Then he ordered unhurriedly: "Don't say anything, just listen to me!"

"OK, no problem, you are the BOSS, you have the final say, hehehehe" Jennifer was even more delighted when she heard the young BOSS being teased by her, making her voice a little hurried.

Ma Liang tried to calm himself down, and responded angrily: "Presidio Media will operate according to what I said in the email.

There's another project, Dropbox, that has to be voted for as well.

As long as these two projects can win the angel round investment, I will give you a credit, and the bonus at the end of the year will definitely satisfy you. "

"Boss, are you sure?" Jennifer hadn't had time to check the email he replied, "Mark Pincus wants to make a voting structure of 1:70!"

Ma Liang replied indifferently: "It's okay, just promise him."

For Zynga, he does not intend to hold it for a long time like Twitter, and he can sell it for cash when the market value is high enough.

Anyway, Mark Pincus was scared by the capital before, so he was very arbitrary when he ran Zynga, and he was even more ruthless than a dragon.

And Zynga failed to break through the bottleneck of development later, and began to decline rapidly after the peak, and was eventually acquired by Take-Two.

So he doesn't care about voting rights at all, he just wants to make a lot of money with Zynga.

"Okay, you are the BOSS, your will is my code of conduct." Jennifer readily agreed.

Ma Liang, the boss, doesn't mind, so why should she persist, and she is willing to sell favors to Mark Pincus.

As for the Dropbox project, it is even simpler. The founders just have an idea, and even the product prototype is still under development. It is much easier to talk about.

Ma Liang quickly hung up the phone, and he couldn't help but marvel at Jennifer as a lucky general.

After all, without the other party's network resources, I would have no chance to easily pick up the leak again.

The next day, Jennifer was on the move.She first met with Houston, the founder of Dropbox, and easily negotiated the angel round investment.

【Gale Capital】invested 100 million US dollars, accounting for 20% of the shares of Dropbox, both parties are happy.

Houston, the founder of Dropbox, is still proud. After all, the product has not been fully developed, and only one idea has raised 100 million US dollars, which is enough to boast for a lifetime.

After winning a less difficult project first, Jennifer put all her energy into the negotiation with Mark Pincus.

A discussion lasted for two or three days, and there was no stalemate.

Mark is very defensive because he has been tricked by capital.

Moreover, he is also a successful angel investor, and it is definitely not as easy as Houston, the founder of Dropbox, to conquer.

Jennifer wasted a lot of saliva, but she couldn't convince the other party to accept the exclusive investment of [Gale Capital].

Mark Pincus killed the angel round of financing and had to introduce another investment institution.

In the end, Jennifer had no choice but to accept the same $100 million, and only got a 5% stake in Zynga.

Regardless of the small number of shares, this is already the best result she can strive for.

After all, Mark Pincus is also a medical practitioner after a long illness. As a veteran entrepreneur, he has a very high opinion of shares. Angel Wheel is only willing to sell 10% of the shares, and the valuation is not low.

Who makes someone an angel investor in Facebook, and is absolutely qualified to charge a high price.

The next day, Jennifer signed the investment term sheet (Termsheet) with the two founders, which means that the investment amount was locked before the formal investment agreement was signed.

What she didn't know was that these two investments were about to become career highlight moments.

The investment of these two million dollars is not insignificant.

Regardless of the extremely developed capital in America, most of the angel round investments are 20 to [-] US dollars and the work is over.

Investing two million dollars in one day will be a good story in the future.

In addition to the quick-witted deeds of 200 million US dollars in Twitter yesterday, it was exposed a few years later, and Jennifer finally achieved her wish in the venture capital circle and made her name-"Million Girl".

(End of this chapter)