King of Capital

Chapter 105 Li Ka-shing

If Silicon Valley is regarded as the kingdom of high-tech startups, then its capital should be San Jose, but this capital does not have direct flights from the country.

Xie Jing Xing had to first land at the airport in the neighboring city of San Francisco with his assistant and bodyguards, and then drive for 40 minutes, all the way to the Zoom headquarters office in San Jose.

Perhaps because the company's main business is remote video conferencing, the office style of Zoom looks rougher than most Internet companies that advocate flat management. There is a ceiling with no ceiling to expose the basic pipes, the wall paint has fallen off and the cement corners can be seen, and there are messy skirtings.

"Well, I take this as a manifestation of some kind of vitality." Xie Jingxing commented after racking his brains.

Yuan Zheng, the founder of ZOOM, was beside him and said with a smile: "Most of our company's funds are used for product development... Watch your step, come over here..."

"This is the state a startup should be in. Your company has a high percentage of Chinese employees?" Xie Jingxing stepped over a stick that was placed across the floor next to his workstation and whose purpose was unknown.

Song Anli also remained calm as she walked in her seven-centimeter stilettos, and even had the leisure to look around and observe the environment. After all, she had worked as a programmer motivator in Kuaishou's residential office, so this little scene was not worth mentioning.

The three of them walked into the office while talking. Yuan Zheng had no assistant available, so he made a few cups of coffee himself: "The founding team members of our company all came from WebEx, and the subsequent recruitment of employees was basically internal referrals, so Chinese employees account for more than 60%."

"I have heard of Mr. Zhu Min's name for a long time. He is a legendary figure in the Chinese community in Silicon Valley."

Xie Jingxing said in agreement, and then turned and said, "Do you know Liu Qiangdong?"

"...Someone said that I look a bit like him." Yuan Zheng shrugged with a smile.

Xie Jing Xing joked: "You and him not only look alike, but your backgrounds are also very similar."

Yuan Zheng and Da Qiangzi are of the same age. The latter believes that studying can change one's destiny and one must leave the countryside and go to big cities; the former believes that the Internet can change the world and one must leave China and go to Silicon Valley. He applied for a US visa nine times before it was approved.

When he arrived in Silicon Valley, he named himself "Eric Yuan" and joined Chinese entrepreneur Zhu Min's company Netcom, which mainly engaged in PC network video conferencing business.

In the past few years, the two giants, Microsoft and Cisco, were fighting each other in the enterprise office market, but Netcom quietly came in and became the market leader in the online video conferencing business.

The same story as when Zuckerberg wanted to acquire WhatsApp, Cisco shouted, "I have money," and directly acquired Netcom as a whole at a premium.

Yuan Zheng might have been unhappy working at Cisco, so after waiting for some time to get his option dividends, he simply jumped ship and started ZOOM. He also poached a technical team of dozens of people from Netcom, and Netcom founder Yu Min gave him an angel investment.

A high-quality founding team, clear business direction and market prospects, plus a good investor background.

This startup company can be summarized with a word that sounds a little awkward - mature. Yuan Zheng is over 40 years old and used to be an executive at Cisco. He is a ripe old eggplant.

You can't be like Cui A Liu, a newcomer who just washed, peeled and ate the grapes in a rigid manner. You have to change your way and follow the rules of the underworld to discuss the past, thinking back to how many streets you have chopped and how many people I have killed.

"Mr. Liu's girlfriend is studying at Barnard College. If there's a chance next time he comes to the U.S., I can organize a party for them to get to know each other."

Xie Jingxing sat in the semi-soft sofa with his legs crossed, looking like a man with a wide range of friends and connections spread across half of the Internet.

Backed by the WhatsApp acquisition, which took alliances to the extreme, Yuan Zheng was 80% confident and didn't think there was anything wrong with the young man, who was 20 years younger than him, talking to him with his legs crossed.

Now, major universities are using the WhatsApp acquisition as a classic case study. It seems that overseas companies have found a new way to invade the United States, which is even more decisive and fierce than the case of Sony swallowing up Columbia Pictures in the late 1980s.

It knelt so swiftly that Zuckerberg didn't even have a chance to fight back. Facebook's stock price plummeted during this period until a few days ago when it announced the acquisition of Snap for $6 billion.

The American Time magazine's exclusive interview with Xie Jingxing called him "only and one", a unique genius. Until now, many professionals are still paying attention to the follow-up development of the WhatsApp acquisition case and analyzing how Tencent will finally recover its equity scattered in Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon.

The ultimate arrows of a large number of analyses all point to Xie Jingxing, who owns a 7% stake in WhatsApp, and his company Grapefruit Capital (USA). This is the fundamental reason why Yuan Zheng is willing to meet with him today.

"In fact, our next development direction may be to look forward to investors with marketing resources coming in."

Giving Xie Jingxing enough room to show off, Yuan Zheng said modestly: "To be honest, our product has been online for more than a year, and we only had our first marketing employee last month."

"I looked at your data before I came here, and I was thinking of suggesting to you in person that you enter the TOB market." Xie Jingxing sat up straight unconsciously.

Yuan Zheng shook his head and said frankly: "Our strategic direction is always undergoing some adjustments in details. Our personal user growth data in the TOC field is very good, and there is no urgent demand for the TOB market."

"That's what I wanted to say as well. Entering the TOB market is a long-term development need, and I also value ZOOM's performance in the TOC market. You can't ignore a strong competitor like Vidvo. I heard that its financing pace this year is very fast?" Xie Jingxing asked, interposing his hands.

Song Anli couldn't help but look up. In a few words, the conversation suddenly fast-forwarded to the bargaining stage, which made her a little unable to keep up with the train of thought.

It is very easy to promote ZOOM's remote video conferencing product in the personal market because it has the property of "person-to-person transmission". As long as the initiator of the meeting uses ZOOM, he or she is helping ZOOM develop customers.

This is completely different for the enterprise-oriented TOB side. Microsoft and Cisco firmly control the entire enterprise software service market and have long formed a deep moat.

For example, if a company buys a Microsoft office software package that comes with a remote video conferencing function, how can ZOOM motivate this company to spend more money and purchase a similar product from ZOOM separately?
In addition to polishing the product itself, a strong marketing team is not available. Marketing specialists are needed to negotiate with companies one by one and snatch customers from Microsoft and Cisco. Yuan Zheng said that if he wanted investors with marketing resources to enter the market, he was just asking for a price. I want to enter TOB and work for Cisco and Microsoft. You have to be able to help me before I am willing to take your money.

Xie Jingxing's attitude was also very clear. We hit it off immediately. Before I came here, I planned to help you work for Cisco and Microsoft.

But when Yuan Zheng saw this, he immediately emphasized that there is no rush to defeat Cisco and Microsoft, as our market share in the TOC market has not yet reached its upper limit. Can you see if you can give us some other benefits?

Xie Jingxing counterattacked and mentioned ZOOM's direct competitor. The future market size of remote video conferencing services is expected to be in the tens of billions of US dollars, but the actual market size is only about 2 billion US dollars.

In this $2 billion market, ZOOM has two direct competitors in the TOC market, including Vidvo, with a post-investment valuation of over $100 million. It is still unknown whether ZOOM can beat these two competitors. What else do you want...

Since following Xie Jingxing, Song Anli has had the opportunity to meet many outstanding founders frequently. They are all short of money and resources. When they see Xie Jingxing, they not only bow down to him, but also talk about the company's business situation in a proper manner. The two sides reach an agreement on strategic development and finally discuss the financing price openly.

This was the first time that Yuan Zheng had tied financing negotiations to the understanding of the strategic development direction. The advantage was that as long as the development strategy was agreed upon, investors would most likely make concessions on financing.

The downside is that once there are differences in strategic development, the talks will easily break down.

Of course, if the invested company is WhatsApp, this statement does not apply. If you question our development strategy, then get out. We have no shortage of investors.

Doesn’t ZOOM lack investors?

Obviously, even with the support of Zhu Min and his wife, this cannot be guaranteed, at least there is no guarantee that there will be no shortage of investors of Xie Jingxing's caliber. So the question is, why does Yuan Zheng take a slightly risky approach to raise his own net worth?

Song Anli sorted out her logic and stood up thoughtfully and walked out of the office quietly. Xie Jingxing and Yuan Zheng were chatting intently and no one noticed her.

"Hello, could you print out a letter of intent for me?"

I heard a voice full of British accent, and the slightly fat Chinese programmer said without looking up: "Go straight to the end and turn right. There is a printer."

"Uh, sorry, can you help me find a general template for a term sheet that complies with local Silicon Valley laws? I just came from China..."

The slightly plump Chinese programmer stopped what he was doing, looked at the pretty young girl with a blushing face standing in front of him, lazily moved back on the chair wheels with his legs, and looked into Yuan Zheng's office.

He scratched his hair helplessly and complained in Mandarin: "You have a really big heart. You just graduated, right?"

"Yes, I'm really sorry to trouble you. I just graduated this year." Song Anli's pretty face drooped with shame and she counted on her fingers.

The programmer thought for a moment and asked, "Are you sure that a template for the investment letter of intent can be used?"

"It seems to be okay. Let me prepare one first, otherwise my leader will scold me later." Song Anli said pitifully with her lips pursed.

"Really satisfied."

The programmer said as he pulled his seat back with his legs and clicked on the computer screen to open a folder: "You studied in the UK?"

"Uh-huh, LSE, what about you, teacher?"

"As for me, I am an undergraduate from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and a graduate student from Chicago."

"Teacher, you are amazing. The University of Chicago is very difficult to get into. I applied to the top ten universities in the United States as QS, but failed, so I went to the UK."

"Chicago is OK. If I hadn't been given a full scholarship, I would have gone to Stanford."

While the two were talking, the programmer finished modifying the general investment letter of intent template in the folder. Song Anli's eyes were shining with admiration, and she clasped her hands together and thanked him repeatedly.

"If you really want to thank me, after the investment is successful, spend some money to find an assistant for Lao Yuan."

The programmer was still not satisfied and wanted to talk a little more, but Song Anli waved her hand and left with a gust of fragrant wind, and walked straight to the end to find the printer.

I shouldn't have told you where the printer is.

The printer spit out sheets of paper with a creaking sound. Song Anli took out her mobile phone, opened Google, and typed in the name of a venture capital firm that she had just seen on the investment letter template - Horizons Ventures.

【Li Ka-shing.】

The screen jumped to the Wikipedia interface and the name of the founder of Horizons Ventures popped up prominently.

(End of this chapter)