Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 170 Mr. Jones, Mr. Rockefeller sends you his regards

Although judging from the current development situation, the prospect of Apple Computer Company seems not as clear as that of Destiny Games, because Destiny Games has temporarily defeated all enemies and achieved a false monopoly in the field of video games, but Apple Computer Company is still The project that Ethan Jones wants to run well is not because the memory of his previous life told him that Apple Computer will change its name to Apple in the future and become a technology giant with a market value of trillions, but that the computer business they operate is the foundation of the times.

The computer era was born with the promotion of computers, and computers are platforms that carry countless contents.When Ethan Jones understands that the computer tool is the productive force of the times, he who has already got a foot in it will naturally hold on to it.

As for what to say in the previous life, Apple was finally defeated in the computer war?

This kind of past life memory is actually meaningless to the current Ethan Jones, right?

Although his own understanding of this period of history is also very one-sided, and he does not know exactly why Apple failed, but this does not mean that he will give up Apple.Because now he is doing business, not the value investment of his previous life.When Principal Fred Terman asked his Wall Street friends if he had any intention to go public, he refused without even thinking about it.Because he knows that once the industry is attached to finance, all business development will serve for the financial report. In this case, the decision-makers will definitely make short-sighted mistakes, because many layouts need to burn money in the early stage.

With Ethan Jones' mind like a mirror, he doesn't care whether the company he participates in can be profitable in the early stage. To put it bluntly, in the field of electronics, no one knows how to make money better than him!
Since he doesn't even care about profits, it's even more impossible for him to hand over a company that he regards as a layout, and now... a special Wall Street company is eyeing Apple?

'Voj Mud Horse's! '

'This special one is simply an old birthday star hanging himself to death! '

"Boom!" He wanted to go home for the holidays, and he slapped the table vigorously.

"Read!" he yelled at Steve Ballmer.

"Okay."

The boss's order made Steve Ballmer clear his throat and read the newspaper.

"It is reported that Venrock, a well-known investment company in New York, has repeatedly expressed its optimism on the booming computer industry in the past few years and wants to get involved in it. According to people familiar with the matter, there are three companies they are currently interested in. In the past six months Here, they have conducted many researches on Apple and have contacted them recently. If there is no accident, Venrock may reach an investment agreement with Apple in the near future and become a member of the high-speed express.”

'? ? ? '

Steve Ballmer's reading made Ethan Jones have countless question marks in his head.

'Extraordinary, Venrock has been staring at Apple for half a year? '

'Why didn't I know about this? '

At this moment, Ethan Jones only felt his mouth burst into pain.

The feeling of being targeted by locusts made him extremely uncomfortable.

Although he understands that this kind of secret research before investment is a routine operation in the financial industry, unless the investigator is conducting the research on the founder's bed, the person under investigation will generally not find that someone is investigating him, but he knows You know, you can't accept it, you can't accept it, right?

and……

Venrock has already contacted Apple?
Then how could he not know?

Good guy!
Did Steve Jobs, the bushy-eyed guy, betray the revolution?

Ethan Jones felt angry when he thought that things had gone wrong in the past two months.

He stood up abruptly, "Come with me to Cupertino!"

He's going to Xingshi to question the crime!
While waiting for Steve Ballmer to chauffeur his irate boss to Apple Computer, Steve Jobs looked pleasantly surprised while he was taking his annual leave there.

"Wow—Ethan~ Why are you here? You don't come here to read the annual report, do you? That thing hasn't come out yet! If you're in a hurry, I'll send it to you at the beginning of next year after the holiday!"

"Oh, by the way, how many days off does your company have for Christmas and New Years this year? I'm thinking of starting the holiday from Christmas Eve, until January [-]th, and going back to work on Monday the [-]th. Sixteen days, so that everyone can have a good time Take it easy, it's been a busy year after all."

"Oh, that's not right, why is your complexion so bad? And this one... Is he your driver? Or your secretary? Wow——Where is the original Julis? Where did she go?"

The continuous utterance made Steve Jobs jump up and down like a monkey.

When I think of this guy who has helped me a lot in the past three years, regardless of whether it was the initial cooperation with Atari, which allowed him to make his first pot of gold in the shortest time; or the later telling Nolan Bushnell The news of the sale of Atari allowed him to sort out all the situations; or the acquaintance with Steven Spielberg helped him solve the patent rights of video games; The birth of an Apple computer allowed him to touch the 6502, the cheapest chip in history... All these things made Ethan a little angry.To put it bluntly, this guy may not be as handsome as he is, but his lucky attribute is indeed full.

In the face of these facts, the eager emotion also made Ethan Jones sigh.

"Are we friends, Steve?" he asked, holding back his anger.

Steve Jobs was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head decisively, "No——"

'WTF? '

Ethan Jones' eyes widened.

'hang!This guy really turned traitor! '

But before he could start cursing, Steve Jobs embraced him with open arms, and said with a big smile, "Oh Ethan—we're brothers, okay—"

"I will never forget that it was you who led me to make money!"

"You can obviously lie at home and wait for dividends, but you still took me to the west coast!"

"As I said, I took the money home."

"My parents are very happy."

"Huh..." Xiao Qiao's response made Ethan heave a sigh of relief.

He shook his head, signaling to enter the office to speak.

Without hesitation, Xiao Qiao closed the door directly.

And Steve Ballmer...

The funny man stood at the door and acted as a guard.

"What's the situation." After sitting down, Ethan took out the "Wall Street Journal".

The endless inquiries made Steve Jobs frown slightly, and he didn't react until he finished reading the report in the "Wall Street Journal".

"Oh Ethan—are you mad about this?"

"What do you think?" Ethan's attitude was straightforward.

Jobs scratched his head and said with a smile: "How to say this matter... Uh... I can only say that half of the report in the Wall Street Journal is correct. Venrock did contact me, and within a few days A few days ago, they showed me their investment intentions, but I did not agree to them, because this matter cannot be decided by me alone.”

"I originally wanted to wait until after Christmas to tell you about this."

"But I don't know..."

"You knew already?"

Jobs looked at Ethan with a smile on his face.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief at those calm words.

"What do you think?" He asked, "Since I'm here, shall we talk?"

"Of course!" Jobs stood up with a smile and poured Ethan a glass of water.

Sitting down again, he pursed his lips while holding the cup, and said, "Ethan, to tell you the truth, I actually have the idea of ​​absorbing external funds, because our company's current development has fallen into a bottleneck. Come on, we need to rely on external forces to break through."

"Although on the surface, our company's current product sales are good, but there are currently only two ways to sell our products. The first is the same mailing as the Altair 8080. When we receive the customer's order call or order letter , we will get in touch with them by phone, let them call the payment by post, and then we will send the product to them by post. This method is guaranteed by post, which is very safe, but it is too slow .”

"The second way is to talk directly with merchants and let them put our computers on the shelves, but so far, the merchants we can influence are limited to the California area, and my goal is to Like Coca-Cola, let all the electronics stores in Mimi put our products on the shelves, only in this way can we make more money.”

Having said that, Jobs stopped, pursed his lips and looked at Ethan.

And his words made Ethan nod his head.

Building their own sales channels is a problem that all companies will face. How to sell products to more target customers is a headache for all companies.In later generations, when the Internet prevailed, e-commerce websites solved the problem of selling goods for countless small and medium-sized sellers, but before the advent of the Internet, connecting with physical business circles was the only way out for countless consumer goods companies.

In this regard, the Destiny games share the same dilemma, Ethan admits.

To be honest, his two opponents, Atari and Mirov, are [-] times better than him in this field. The former's parent company, Warner, has been operating in the entertainment field for many years. It can allow them to spread their products to the whole of America faster, not to mention the latter. Mirowa itself is a star company in electrical sales, and it has a sales network that has been operating for decades. Moreover, the parent company Philips The sales network is even more global.

It is precisely because of the need for a sales network that Ethan will reorganize the company structure.

And now...

Apple also has this demand?
"It's understandable, because I am also facing such a problem now."

Ethan nodded and said, "But accept external investment for this?"

"I don't think it's necessary?"

"We can get a loan from the bank."

"They'll be happy."

"If it doesn't work, I can lend you a sum of money in the name of the game of fate."

Ethan didn't talk about continuing to invest, because the proportion of the company's shares was wrong if he invested again.

He could have added money, but what about Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs?These two guys couldn't spend as much money as he did.

When his follow-up investment will seriously dilute the shares of the two founders, this kind of thing is not advisable. First, he really does not have time to manage two companies at the same time. Second, Apple must have Steve. Wozniak and Steve Jobs, the former is the real technical guarantee and background guarantee, the latter... Ethan admits that even if the current thin version of Jobs is not the future fat version of Jobs, but his Personal luck is absolutely top notch.

Ethan didn't believe in luck, but Jobs did help him out of countless troubles.

"Oh Ethan, I personally think external investment is very necessary."

Jobs smiled and said: "To lay a complete sales network in North America, the money from the bank loan is not enough at all. As for you to borrow? Of course I am willing to ask you to borrow money, but how much can you lend to the company? You said it all." , you need and need a North American sales network, is the money earned from "Star Wars" enough for you to squander?"

'...'

This question actually asked Ethan.

Because he didn't know how much it would cost to lay a sales network in this era.

Especially when he also has to study optical storage.

Although video games come in quickly, you have to save everything.

As for what is said that Apple and Destiny Games jointly funded and established a subsidiary to jointly establish a sales network?This is impossible.He can borrow money, but the two companies cannot be bound on the surface.

"Okay, what you said makes sense." Ethan nodded in agreement.

Jobs, on the other hand, sighed, touched the cup and said: "There is another reason, that is, after starting the company, I realized how difficult it is to start a good company."

"On the surface, absorbing external funds is to sell the company's shares, just to let the company enter the fast lane of rapid development, but in fact, those investment companies can not only bring us money, but also bring us certain resources. For example, suitable managers and more channel providers.”

"To be honest, after more than a year, I found that I may only be suitable for making products for the time being."

"When Stephen and I are together, we can always collide with interesting ideas, but managing the company... neither of us may be very good at this aspect..."

"If it was just a small company, I would definitely run it alone, but Apple is already very big, and it cannot be maintained by one person, and if it wants to continue to grow, it must absorb some talents. It could be financial, it could be management, after all... I'm just a kid who didn't finish college..."

'...' Ethan's head was full of black lines.

"Oh Steve! What are you doing talking like me?" he yelled angrily.

At this moment, the resentment in his heart was also washed away by Jobs' sincere words.

"Hahaha——" Jobs patted his thigh with a smile, "I'm telling the truth."

What Jobs did say is true, investing in this industry is not for everyone.

Unless it is those companies that are extremely short of money, without the help of external funds, they may go bankrupt in a second. In addition, any company that needs investment is not only eager for simple money, but also for those companies. The resources and connections in the hands of investors.

If Jobs' goals were these...

Then Ethan had no reason to stop him.

most……

'Hold on to the shares. '

'Don't make any investors kick me out of the company. '

'That would be funny. '

"Yes, your thoughts are very careful, it seems that you have already made your own decision."

"Then you support me?"

"If you are here for the better development of the company, then I will definitely support you."

"Oh Ethan - my brother - thank you so much for understanding me -"

"You don't have to do this, I want to know, what's going on with Stephen? What's his idea?"

Stephen Wozniak's idea was simpler.

When Ethan and Xiao Qiao came to his house, the little fat man nestled in front of the workbench raised his head directly, "What do I think? I'm not interested in money because my dad is rich."

"So, whether to accept external investment or not, it's up to the two of you to decide."

"I have only one requirement from the beginning to the end, the company's decision-making must be able to serve the product, if attracting external investors can make our computer serve more people, then I absolutely support it!"

Got it!

Fatty is indeed an idealist.

And since the little fat man has no objection, it will be easier to handle this matter.

Although it is impossible to decide on this kind of cooperation before the Chinese New Year, it is not a problem to look at the terms.

However, when Xiao Qiao invited Venrock to meet at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, the staff of Venrock who came to discuss investment matters offered a price that the three of them thought was ignorant.

"According to our Venrock calculations, the current valuation of Apple Computer is 1000 million...We are willing to spend 20.00 million US dollars and certain auxiliary resources to acquire [-]% of your shares...At the same time, we ask you to set up a nine-person The board of directors... we need at least three seats, and finally, we need to obtain the right to appoint and remove the company's CEO and chief financial officer, and we also need anti-dilution clauses for future financing and an agreed agreement to go public within three years."

Hearing such a price, the eyelids of the three twitched.

"Are you sick?" Steve Jobs was the first to rant, "Our company's revenue this year has reached [-] million! In this case, you give us a valuation of [-] million?"

"Did you forget to bring your brain when you went out?"

"Uh... I don't think your terms are sincere." Steve Wozniak nodded and said, "Our company is worth more than 1000 million yuan, and we use 20.00 million yuan and verbally promised resources to get [-]% of the shares? This is impossible..."

Since the two Steves are not satisfied, Ethan will not speak.

The person who looked directly at Venrock with a look of evil pen.

And even if he was scolded by Jobs, Venrock's white investment manager was not angry. He looked at the unshaven Steve Wozniak with a smile and said, "Lockheed?"

Then he turned his gaze to Ethan, "Winton Cerf? Barbara Babcock?"

"Your background doesn't help you build a consumer electronics distribution channel in North America."

The investment manager spread his arms and showed his white teeth.

Upon hearing this, Woz and Ethan frowned immediately.

And the blunt words and deeds of the white manager also made Steve Jobs a little unhappy.

"You mean you can?" Classmate Xiao Qiao showed a fierce look.

"Of course, if you don't believe me, I can invest in your competitors and prove it to you. Do you want to have a try?" Venrock's investment manager smiled.

"Are you a threat?" Ethan thought this guy might be beeping crazy!
Taking the initiative to come to the door to obtain shares in the company, and then acting so arrogantly?
What the hell!

Who gave you the courage!
Liang Jingru?

As if seeing Ethan's surprise, Venrock's investment manager immediately smiled and said——

"Mr. Jones, I'm just telling the truth."

"It's a pity that we, the founders of Venrock, didn't vote for your destiny game before."

"Now, he thinks Apple is good, so he wants to help you grow faster."

"Before coming again, our founder told me that if I am lucky enough to meet you, then I must convey his sincere regards to you on his behalf."

"Mr. Jones, Mr. Rockefeller sends you his regards—"

While speaking, he also took out a business card holder from his coat pocket.

He took out a hot gold business card and pushed it in front of Ethan.

Take a look, there are only three words on it——

Laurance S. Rockefeller
　Note: ①Venrock is the venture capital company of the Rockefeller family. In reality, it invested in Apple.And Apple's unscrupulous development has something to do with the fact that its backers can't afford to offend anyone. As for Sequoia Capital... it's just little Karami.This company has always been there, and so far it is operating the eighth batch of funds.In the past few decades, they have invested in a series of successful companies such as Intel, Apple, 3com, DoubleClick and so on.That's right, the companies they invest in have a survival rate of more than [-]. Rockefeller has never disappeared and has always been there.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)