Back in 84, he became Jordan’s lifelong enemy!

Chapter 98 Invest in Starbucks!

"So, Sue, this is your sister?"

Su Shiwen and Kate Fry came to Seattle and stayed for a week. Su Wen also let them play here for a week to get familiar with the city.

When Kate Fry is put on the plane back to Hong Kong today, her cousin will be the only one left.

It was at this time that Su Wen called her agent Funing Valante over to contact her.

Valante came off the new production line built by Reebok in Seattle and rushed over. When he saw Su Shiwen, he immediately asked his employer to confirm that she would study with him.

"Ah."

Su Wen glanced at his slightly reserved cousin sitting next to him and nodded, "She will follow you for the next year."

"Is it a matter of brokerage business?" Valante asked.

He is currently leading a new person, who will become Su Wen's side in the future, playing a role similar to an assistant, helping with the brokerage business.

He thought that Su Shiwen was also in such a role. After learning with him for a period of time, he joined the brokerage team. Unexpectedly, Su Wen shook his head and said, "You can handle the brokerage business yourself."

"Unless you want to step down and let the people below you go, then I will arrange the people myself."

"She mainly runs other business with you, such as the business activities you are currently in contact with Reebok, such as looking for project investment. Anyway, except for the brokerage business, you can take her with you."

"It's always easier when you have someone to help you, isn't it?"

"Okay!" Valante had no objection. He looked at the well-behaved Su Shiwen and agreed, "Then she will follow me."

As he said that, he smiled at Su Wen and said, "I don't care about her salary."

Valante has separated from CAA and is working on his own. Currently, he is mainly responsible for all Su Wen's management matters.

But the job Su Wen gave him now was far beyond this scope.

It's easy to talk about contacting other merchants and preparing for future advertising cooperation. After all, it is still a first- and last-minute issue in the brokerage business.

However, supervising the Reebok production line and forming an angel investment company are beyond the scope of his work.

He is now like Su Wen's butler, taking care of everything except life affairs.

He has already done his best to not ask Su Wen to increase his salary, and now he has to take Su Wen's cousin with him.

She said she was looking for a helper for him, but wasn't she actually planning to train this girl?

If he were to pay the salary, it would be extremely excessive.

"I'll pay for her salary, so you don't have to worry about it." Su Wen smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "I asked you to form a company just to prevent my money from lying in the bank. It’s all in vain.”

"Are you still saying that you are sitting on your hands and eating nothing?"

Valante curled his lips and said speechlessly: "In the future, you will have more money coming in every year, not just from the bank."

"Even if you don't use it in the future, the interest it generates will be enough for your daily food and clothing."

"This is no longer just sitting on the fence, this is called robbing money!"

Su Wen disagreed.

If he just wants to be a stable rich man and only eat the interest from the bank, wouldn't this rebirth be a waste?

His ambition goes beyond that!

He put his arm around Valante's shoulders and said meaningfully: "Do you just want to be an agent in this life?"

"Following the players all day long? Only earning the agency fees?"

“Don’t want to make more?”

"Of course I do!" Valante snorted coldly: "Who doesn't want to make more money? Who would hate having less money?"

"That's enough." Su Wen let go of him and said with a serious face: "Now you help me set up this angel investment company. I will contribute the money and you will contribute. You will also be one of the shareholders, and we will make money together in the future. .”

"You won the pot, did you know that?"

Yes, yes, win!

Valante shook his head and smiled bitterly after hearing his novel words.

I don’t know if he will win in the future, but I definitely know that now he is just an errand boy.

Seeing that he didn't speak and his smile was forced, Su Wen didn't want to go into details. He couldn't possibly tell the other person that he was a reborn person and had a vision of the next forty years.

If the other party follows you, even if you can only drink a little soup, you will still make a lot of money and be extremely rich.

He pondered for a while and then suddenly asked: "By the way, Funing, have you seen that person?"

"You mean that Howard Schultz?"

As soon as Valante heard that he was going to talk about business, he immediately put aside all distracting thoughts and became serious.

He replied: "During this period, I have been going to that Starbucks whenever I have free time. I have also asked the owner of this coffee shop, but I can't find the person you mentioned."

"I heard from their boss Jerry Balvin that he has resigned and is currently missing."

"The phone number Balvin gave me is currently unreachable."

"Let's look for it again." Su Wen frowned, then relaxed quickly, "He just resigned and should still be in Seattle."

"Yeah, I guess he will still watch the game at your home court." Valante replied angrily.

Trying to find one person among Seattle's millions of people is like looking for a needle in a haystack, isn't it?

The most important thing is that he has no idea what Su Wen wants to do with this person.

Of course he didn't know.

Howard Schultz is the one who built Starbucks, which had only one store, into a market value of over 100 billion U.S. dollars, catching up with the food giant McDonald's.

And this Schultz is from Seattle.

He has just resigned from Starbucks and has not officially raised the money to acquire Starbucks.

A few years later, when he officially took over Starbucks, it was when the catering giant took off.

"It's really hard to tell."

Su Wen thought that Schultz would once be the boss of the SuperSonics after he became prosperous in the future. He was an out-and-out SuperSonics fan.

If it weren't for his poor management, which caused the Sonics to lose money and be scolded by fans for several years, he might not have sold the team and was eventually moved to Oklahoma City.

However, this person is not good at managing the team, but the catering aspect has always been the ceiling.

Su Wen didn't want to miss him.

"Keep working hard." Su Wen patted Valante on the shoulder again and encouraged: "He is our first investment project."

"Okay!" Valante sighed helplessly, thinking that this was the only way to go.

Seeing that he agreed, Su Wen asked with a smile, "Where's Microsoft? Is it possible for us to acquire some shares?"

Microsoft is still just a small technology company. It has not yet gone public and has not really developed.

But it was too late to enter the market at this time. Microsoft currently holds a lot of investors' funds, and it is only one opportunity away from taking off.

So does Apple.

Although the two companies are currently in a competitive relationship, they were established at about the same time, and are highly regarded in the industry. Someone has long been eyeing them, and it is not Su Wen's turn to enter the market at this time.

What Su Wen can do now is probably to buy stocks and wait for them to increase in value when these two companies go public.

But it would be 86 before they went public.

"No one wants to sell shares in a company that has already generated revenue of over 100 million US dollars. Su, they are already mature and there is no chance for us to come and give money to them."

Valante smiled bitterly and said: "Even if there is, how much can we buy with our limited funds?"

Also!

Su Wen nodded and gave up this plan.

Now we can only go all out to find Schultz and catch the train of this future catering giant.

"How about this."

Su Wen believes that instead of looking for someone so aimlessly and passively, it is better to take the initiative on his own.

He heard Valante say a few words, and the latter's eyes lit up instantly.

Then he asked doubtfully, "Is this possible?"

"Let's try it." Su Wen didn't know if it would work, so he just had the attitude of giving it a try.

"OK!"

Valante made an 'OK' gesture, stood up, and wanted to leave.

He looked at Su Wen, and then at Su Shiwen, who was still sitting upright, and thought to himself, this is really a good girl. She didn't move from beginning to end, and she kept sitting neatly.

Su Wen knew what he was waiting for, so he smiled and said, "She lives here."

"In two days, I'll ask her to find you again!"

"Okay!" After receiving Su Wen's feedback, Valante really left.

The NBA regular season is still going on.

As we enter mid-December, the SuperSonics, which has been gaining momentum since the start of the season, finally begins to show signs of weakness. They started losing games one after another in the second half of the month.

First, he was successfully avenged by his opponent in three games against the Los Angeles Lakers, which made Magic smile crookedly. Then he overturned in the game against the Clippers, losing two games in a row.

Immediately after a wave of away games, when they challenged the Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers, there was another wave of losing streak.

即将进入1月份时，他们已经输掉了32场比赛中的6场，战绩为26胜6负。

They were surpassed by the Boston Celtics and ranked second in the league, with only one win more than the Philadelphia 76ers.

Eastern Conference:

1. Boston Celtics, 26 wins and 5 losses;

2. Philadelphia 76ers, 24 wins and 6 losses;

3. Milwaukee Bucks, 21 wins and 11 losses;

4. Washington Bullets, 19 wins and 13 losses;

5. Detroit Pistons, 16 wins and 15 losses;

6. Chicago Bulls, 16 wins and 15 losses;

7. New Jersey Nets, 15 wins and 17 losses;

8. Atlanta Hawks, 13 wins and 19 losses.

Western Union:

1. Seattle SuperSonics, 26 wins and 6 losses;

2. Los Angeles Lakers, 22 wins and 10 losses;

3. Denver Nuggets, 19 wins and 12 losses;

4. Houston Rockets, 18 wins and 13 losses;

5. Phoenix Suns, 16 wins and 15 losses;

6. Dallas Mavericks, 15 wins and 15 losses;

7. Utah Jazz, 15 wins and 17 losses;

8. Portland Trail Blazers, 14 wins and 17 losses.

The main force almost couldn't catch up with the young Supersonics, but in the end they didn't hold back. Once they lost, a chain reaction started, leading to crazy losses.

Finally, as they were about to enter the New Year's Day of 85, they finally stopped their decline.

At this time, Su Wen, as the team's new hope and a super star of the 84 generation, was once again thrust into the spotlight.

His net worth was openly revealed by Valante during a television interview.

As Su Wen's agent, when he was talking about Su Wen on a local TV station in Seattle, he listed a bunch of endorsements Su Wen had and the approximate remuneration he earned, whether intentionally or not.

During the period when the team lost games one after another, Su Wen's state fluctuated, good and bad.

I could get 40+ in the last game, but almost fell below 20 in the next game.

And there were many 20+ games, which is quite a return to the previous state of four or five consecutive 20+ games.

Now that his net worth and the number of endorsement deals have been revealed, it has inevitably aroused dissatisfaction among Xiaopoke fans.

"Look, isn't this just youthful and energetic? At such a young age, you dive headfirst into the money pile and carry so many endorsements. If your status is not affected, God will not allow it."

"He's really lost! He's just made a name for himself. Now that he's famous, he's been approached for so many endorsements. He's simply fallen into a trap. How can he have time to train and improve himself?"

"Oh my God, he hasn't been famous for that long, and he's already making millions of dollars? It's incredible."

"You can tell at a glance that this Valante is not a good bird. As Su's agent, you are not responsible for his career. You only try your best to let Su accept various endorsements to make money. You only regard Su as a money-making tool. Now you still It’s so abominable to talk so loudly on a TV show!”

"Young people are easily distracted. They accept endorsements and shoot commercials every day and have no intention of playing basketball!"

"I hope the club or the coaching staff will talk to Su and stop letting him be disturbed by trivial matters off the court."

These fans criticized Su Wen in writing and verbally, and some sports columnists even named Su Wen in their writings to criticize Su Wen.

He was directly described as a typical person who became arrogant when he became famous at a young age, was proud and complacent, did not want to make progress, and did not know what to call a typical person.

Seeing these reports, Su Wen complained crazily.

Damn it, here we go again!

The last time he had a wave of 20+, he was questioned about his poor condition and hit the rookie wall.

This time, he is a symbol of greed and depravity.

What is this all about?

Who the hell can score 40 or 50 points in every game for an entire season?

Who can keep his form without ups and downs or fluctuations for an entire season?

Who is young and not energetic?

But it was just a complaint, and Su Wen didn't take it too seriously.

The main reason why the team has lost so many games in a row is because after entering a long game period, players will feel tired and bored in the middle and second half of the game.

For young players, this symptom is particularly obvious.

Because the old players at least have the experience to deal with this kind of long season, know how to adjust themselves in the process, and are used to such a schedule.

But what about young people?

When you first enter the league, you can play very well at the beginning and become famous in one fell swoop.

But correspondingly, you will also be studied and targeted by countless people.

Once people are familiar with your playing style and characteristics, your opponents will use a series of targeted arrangements to arrange you.

If you are targeted too much, your state will naturally fluctuate, and the players themselves will also become bored.

If there are too many negative emotions, it is easy to lose control and fall into an endless cycle of state fluctuations, and even collapse.

Especially for rookies living in big cities.

Their every move will be observed by countless media with magnifying glasses. As long as they are slightly unstable and expose their flaws, they will be magnified infinitely.

Fortunately for Su Wen, his many years of experience in the workplace in his previous life have made him very thick-skinned. He can laugh off the negative comments from fans and criticism from basketball commentators.

That's what he is now.

After complaining a few words, he put down the newspaper and still watched TV comfortably.

They got two days off on New Year's Day, and the next game will not be played until the evening of the 3rd.

This is still against the Philadelphia 76ers at home.

At this time, in a coffee shop called "Starbucks" near the Space Needle, a white man about 30 years old walked in with a newspaper.

He casually found a seat to sit down, said "business as usual" to the waiter at the bar, and then read the newspaper by himself.

The waiter quickly made the coffee and brought it to him.

After putting down the cup, the waiter smiled and looked at what the other person was reading. Seeing that he was reading news reporting on Su Wen, he said in a joking tone: "Su, I have been scolded again recently."

"Why don't they believe Su?"

"Don't they look at how good our results would be if it weren't for Su? At this time last season, we had lost almost 15 games."

"With him, we have only lost 6 games today. This is already a big improvement, isn't it, Mr. Schultz?"

"You're right, Feynman." Howard Schultz put down the newspaper and agreed with his words, "The bad state is only temporary. We must maintain enough confidence in Su."

"They seem to have forgotten that even if Su is not in good condition, he can still contribute 20+ per game. This is something that 99% of rookies cannot do."

"That kid in Chicago named Michael Jordan often scores 10+ points in a single game. Why don't they criticize him?"

"Perhaps they have been whetted by Su Yang. Su often scores 40+ points and averages 30+ points per game. Naturally, the standards for him have been infinitely higher. They already take these things for granted."

The waiter nodded vigorously with a very unhappy look on his face. He seemed to feel aggrieved for Su Wen and said, "They don't even think about it. Su is just a rookie who has just entered the league."

"He's not a real superstar yet!"

"However, with his performance, isn't he already a superstar?" Schultz glanced at the waiter with a smile, "Feynman, don't you think he is a superstar player?"

“He averaged 30+ points per game as a rookie, which is something that guys like George Gervin, Adrian Dantley and Alex English can do in their scoring-leading seasons. "

"Yes!" The waiter was heartbroken when he heard this, and said excitedly: "He is already a superstar!"

"He is a superstar player now!"

Su Wen received affirmation from Schultz, and the waiter felt very happy and quickly stepped back as if he had been affirmed.

After he left, Schultz turned his attention to the newspaper again, staring directly at Su Wen's current net worth, which was highlighted in the report.

As for the criticism above, he ignored it.

Did Su originally receive so many endorsements?

He quietly raised his head and looked at the waiter named 'Feynman' at the bar. He didn't know what he thought of, and suddenly asked: "Is Jerry in the store?"

"The boss is not here, Mr. Schultz." The waiter said as he cleaned the coffee cup and prepared it for the next customer.

Not here?

Schultz sighed secretly.

Just a month ago, he was still a senior manager of this store and its marketing and sales director.

Unfortunately, he resigned voluntarily because he disagreed with the store owner's business philosophy.

But he has always been very optimistic about this store and the potential of ‘Starbucks’. He believes that as long as we find the right direction, it will have great development prospects in the future.

Unfortunately, during more than a year after joining Starbucks, he worked hard for his boss and helped him expand his business and several branches.

When he used his achievements to persuade his boss to change his business direction, the two had a big quarrel.

The conservative boss did not approve of his ideas and severely warned him not to mess around.

Then in a fit of anger, he quit the job.

During the month he was at home, he was not idle either.

He still couldn't let go of Starbucks, and he would always come to visit from time to time, trying to persuade the boss again, and at the same time, he was also preparing for a comprehensive acquisition.

Since you are not willing, then I will buy it, be my own boss, and do it myself!

Now, what he lacks is funds!

Funding to acquire Starbucks!

He's looking for someone to raise money for!

　Please vote!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)