Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 460 ByteDance! ?
After staying in Chen Pingjiang's office for almost half an hour and communicating a lot about some details, Zhang Yiming walked out of Chen Pingjiang's office in a daze.

After returning to his department, Zhang Yiming was still dizzy and excited at the same time. He still felt like he was dreaming until now.

This kind of thing is not something I have ever heard of or seen before, and it is even more incredible when it happens to me.

His original intention was to take the lead in the short video project and create a product that surpasses Toutiao, but he did not expect to have the opportunity to be transferred to a senior position.

Zhang Yiming is now full of energy, as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He has countless ideas in his mind that he wants to communicate with others, and he can't wait to promote the short video project immediately.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yiming picked up the phone and called his old classmate, "Lao Liang, the project I told you about last night has been completed. The big boss has agreed to it."

The person on the other end of the phone was called Liang Rubo, and they had such a good relationship that they could wear the same pants.

He is Zhang Yiming's long-term entrepreneurial partner, university classmate and roommate.

The two co-founded the vertical real estate search engine "Jiujiufang" in 2009.

However, after Chen Pingjiang took Zhang Yiming under his wing, Liang Rubo did not follow him. Instead, he stayed away for a while to get married and rest.

In the original timeline, ByteDance was also created by the two of them together.

Later, Zhang Yiming stepped down as CEO and handed over the position to Liang Rubo, which is enough to prove the close relationship between the two.

The two have been chatting a lot recently, and it can be said that the short video project was also a spark of collision of their ideas.

Liang Ruobo, who had just gotten married, had gained weight. He was wearing shorts and looked surprised. "Really? That's great. People say that Director Chen likes to delegate power, letting people take risks while he stands behind them to protect them. It's really good."

Zhang Yiming laughed: "Not only that, I have some great news for you. Mr. Chen suggested that I start my own business. He will provide me with start-up capital and follow-up financing. At the same time, Renren will also become a shareholder of the company."

Liang Ruobo on the other end of the phone was shocked when he heard the news and suspected that he had heard it wrongly.

"Lao Liang? Why aren't you talking? Are you scared?"

After a long while, Liang Ruobo lost his voice. "Is this true? I was really scared. Why did he do this? Putting the short video project on Renren.com, if we succeed, Renren.com's market value will be higher. Does he think so highly of you? Moreover, this kind of thing is easy to say but difficult to do, unless you can deal with all the shareholders."

"Yes, so I still feel like I'm dreaming, it's not real, but it happened. I don't know how to explain it, so I guess Mr. Chen is very optimistic about this project and us, right?"

The two thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

Because this doesn't make sense at all.

The worker and the boss suggested that this business was very good and could be done.

The boss waved his hand and said, "You do it, I'll invest, and we'll share the money if we make it."

It's exaggerated just to say it, let alone it really happened. Zhang Yiming continued: "Mr. Chen proposed to reserve 10% of the option pool for the new company as employee incentives, and allow me to take some core members with me, as long as it does not affect the existing business of Toutiao. At the same time, because I developed and maintained Toutiao, even if I leave now, the company will give me the stocks that were originally just dividends, and they can be converted into cash, so that I can use this money as startup capital for my business."

"The final result of the negotiation is that Mr. Liang can take 5% without paying a penny. I will personally invest in the operation and hold 25% of the shares. Renren will provide resources and part of the funds and hold 19% of the shares. Mr. Chen will take care of the rest and hold 41% of the shares. The option pool will be held by Mr. Chen on behalf of us."

On the other end of the phone, Liang Ruobo was somewhat touched: "You are really, how can I feel embarrassed about this? You don't have to spend a penny to get a 5% stake, which is equivalent to giving me a huge fortune. The short video project has Mr. Chen's investment and Renren's injection of resources, so how can I worry about it? It is almost certain to succeed. This 5% alone may be worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions in the future. Lao Zhang, Mr. Chen doesn't know me, you took the initiative to mention me, right?"

Zhang Yiming said nonchalantly: "Oh, isn't it just a few shares? As long as we move forward together, that's all. We have been brothers for many years, why are we still talking about this?"

"Okay, I won't say anything. Mr. Chen is a man of honor, and you are also a man of honor, Lao Zhang. I, Liang Ruobo, will sell you these two hundred kilograms. How about the new office location? I'll tell my wife and we'll leave for Dongjiang tomorrow."

Liang Rubo has a kind and honest personality and is a more orthodox technical guy. He is the kind of person you can trust to entrust the company to.

This is also why Zhang Yiming is willing to start a business with Liang Rubo.

Zhang Yiming already had the attributes of an "Internet celebrity" when he was in school. He was more responsible for charging, while Liang Rubo was responsible for defending.

"Okay, come over tomorrow and I'll show you around our company. By the way, Mr. Chen also wants to meet you. You don't have to thank me for the equity matter, just thank Mr. Chen." Zhang Yiming smiled happily. Everything was moving in the best direction.

The dream of starting a business again was realized, and it went extremely smoothly. The boss was particularly fond of me, and everything couldn't be better.

Just this 25% stake was something Zhang Yiming never dreamed of.

It is rare for ordinary entrepreneurs to retain so much equity after going through multiple rounds of financing. At best, they can only retain a voice.

Isn’t Cheng Wei the most typical example? After multiple rounds of financing and continuous mergers, his personal equity has dropped below 10%.

These are all normal things.

If there is an angel round, angel investors will take at least 10%-15%.

15%-25% is released in Round A, 15%-20% is released in Round B, and another 10% is released in Round C. After removing the option pool, how much equity is left for the founders?
Chen Pingjiang now promises that his 25% will not be diluted, which means that even if the company does not have enough funds and needs financing in the future, his equity will not be diluted.

This immediately made Zhang Yiming feel like a man would die for his friend.

"Mr. Chen must be a benefactor in my life, right?" Zhang Yiming hummed a little tune and thought to himself, "I must work hard to make a good product name to repay Mr. Chen."

On the other end of the phone, Liang Rubo smiled heartily: "No problem, I will be there tomorrow. I feel rusty after resting for so long. I can't wait to start my new job."

Before hanging up the phone, Zhang Yiming suddenly thought of something and said, "By the way, Mr. Chen has already given us a name for our new company. It's called ByteDance. How about this name?"

"It sounds nice, no doubt about it. Haha, I originally thought that Mr. Chen was not good at naming, and he thought of Renren, Renrengou, and Juzi. I didn't expect that he would come up with such a fashionable and nice name. It's very good, and it feels like a high-tech company."

(End of this chapter)