game trailblazer

Chapter 302 Acquisition of DigiScent
Joel Berenson flipped through the reports sent by his subordinates. Last month was a loss again. He couldn't help shaking his head and sighed to his companion sitting across from him: "Dirk, the situation is not good!"

Dexter Smith sighed, he was also worried about the current situation of the company.I think how relaxed the two were when they just left PangeaSystems, a biotechnology company they founded. It was because they were busy with research work for a long time, and they took a long vacation to relax, so they packaged and sold PangeaSystems to others, and then the two Each came to Miami Beach with checks of millions of dollars and enjoyed a long period of fine wine, sunshine, sand and passionate Miami girls.

If it weren't for Joel Berenson's whim while visiting the famous South Beach (South Beach), maybe the two would never come back without spending their last dollar.At that time, Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith were strolling on the beach with their female companions in their arms. They happened to find that there was a long line of perfume shops not far from the beach, drifting out from the shops. The fragrant smell, mixed with the unique smell of sea water and sun oil in South Beach, coupled with the aroma of food in the beach cafeteria, made both of them stop for a long time, in order to feel the unique olfactory experience.

Suddenly Joel Berenson seemed to have thought of something, and shouted at Dexter Smith: "Dirk, I thought of a good idea!"

"Hmm..." Dexter Smith broke away from his female companion's passionate lips, turned around and asked, "Joe, what's a good idea?"

Joel Berenson smiled mysteriously and said, "Let's find a place to have a drink or two."

Dexter Smith nodded knowingly, took out two banknotes and stuffed them into the bikinis of the two female companions, then patted their smooth shoulders, and said enthusiastically: "Girls, go to the beach first Play, me and Joe will come to you later."

After sending the two women away, Dexter Smith pointed to a relatively secluded beach food bar next to him, and said, "This place looks good, let's go and sit there."

Joel Berenson nodded, and the two came to the beach food bar together, ordered a few skewers of barbecue and a few cans of beer, and chatted while eating and drinking.

"Joe, what is the good idea you just said?" Dexter Smith couldn't help asking after taking a sip of beer.

Joel Berenson put the beer in his hand on the table with a "pop" and said excitedly: "Smell! Digital smell!"

"The smell of digitalization?" Dexter Smith pondered for a while as if he understood something: "Did you think of it when you smelled the mixed smell of the perfume shop and the beach on the beach just now?"

"Yeah, I also had a flash of inspiration, and this idea suddenly came to my mind." Joel Berenson drank the beer in his hand in one gulp, put down the empty beer can, and then said: "If you can design a A machine that can reproduce the common smells in daily life according to the instructions in the computer and TV. For example, if there is a Texas veal roll on the screen, the machine will release a scent similar to the Texas veal roll. It is definitely better than just looking at the screen. I have a feeling. And now, when selling perfume online, customers can’t try it in person like in a physical store. If there is such a scent machine, then this problem will be solved.”

"That's right, if you can still smell the aroma of French fries when you see a McDonald's advertisement on TV, many people will definitely not be able to help but buy some right away." Dexter Smith's thoughts were overwhelmed. Inspired, he even thought further: "There are also computer games. If war games are paired with the smell of gunpowder on the battlefield, and "Tomb Raider" is added with the scent of Laura, "Might and Magic" will move forward. When you are in the wilderness, with some earthy fragrance, maybe the game will be more attractive to players.”

"How about we do this, let's invent this scent machine!" Joel Berenson held out his hand.

"Okay, Joe, I support you!" Dexter Smith also stretched out his hand, holding Joel Berenson's hand tightly...

It was this grasp that gave birth to the establishment of DigiScent.Four months after this meeting on Miami Beach, in February 1999, Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith co-founded Digital Smell for $2 Launched, and received another $25 million in financing from private investors, and the research team, marketing team, and administrative team were also established.By December 1000, the size of the company had expanded from the initial two people to 99 people. The smell machine conceived by Joel Berenson also had a prototype. A very fashionable name "iSmell".

The size of the prototype is still relatively large. After a period of optimization and design, "iSmell" has completed the final product design. The overall volume has been greatly reduced. From the appearance, it looks like a small disc with a shark fin inserted , a bit like an alternative computer speaker, you can carry it around with one hand.Inside the small disc is a seasoning plate similar to a palette, filled with basic scented oils, which can be combined to generate tens of thousands of different scents in a shark fin-like mixing zone.The control command can be issued through the USB interface or serial port of "iSmell". It is also very simple for the user to use, just connect the "iSmell" to the personal computer, then when the website or application calls the fragrance command, the user can smell it corresponding smell.

At that time, Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith could be said to be in high spirits. They planned to launch "iSmell" in the United States in the spring of 2000. Replacing sesame oil trays, each set is about 200 US dollars), mainly for game software, beauty products and food, etc. According to the estimates of the two, they believe that by the end of the year, more than 40 "iSmell" will be sold, after all The smell experience is a gimmick.

It’s a pity that there is often a huge gap between people’s ideas and reality. Today’s Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith have a deep understanding of this. When the “iSmell” prototype came out, they were still full of ambition. Investor Nelson was also very happy and even opened champagne to celebrate.Even two months ago, they still felt that the future of "iSmell" was full of infinite hope. At that time, they had just officially exhibited their "iSmell" finished products, and most of the newspapers and magazines on the market were full of "iSmell"'s whimsical ideas. And praised again and again, Mark Kanter, the founder of Macromedia, praised DigiScent's smell digitalization as a business that makes a lot of money. The famous Procter & Gamble is also considering introducing "iSmell" into the newly established perfume customization website. They and their team Still worrying about choosing Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs as IPO underwriter.

But now everything is different. The words of praise have long since disappeared, replaced by doubts about "iSmell" and digital scent technology. Some media quoted USWeb/CKS Chairman Mike Ke Fanmei as saying "...DigiScents is mainly for games and The beauty product market, may not be able to attract the attention of mainstream customers... Besides, 'iSmell' charges $200, I doubt how many customers are willing to pay that money...", used to criticize the practicality of "iSmell".

Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs investment managers who used to call several times a day never heard from them again. Even Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith called in person and could only hear a few polite words. Obviously, there is no need to think about IPO or anything.Of course, this can only be blamed on DigiScent's untimely birth. It was hard to come up with something to earn money from the IPO, but it happened to be a "good day" when the Nasdaq index plummeted, so that Dexter. The news that Smith deliberately released the news of entering China did not even turn up a bubble. If it can be three or five months in the morning, it will be the golden period of IPO. .com" can get tens of millions of dollars from investors, and if you add an "E" logo in front of it, you can directly go public on NASDAQ.

The hope of getting money from the stock market was shattered. Nelson, the investor of DigiScent, obviously lost his previous patience, but the "iSmell" digital scent generator has not sold even one so far, which makes Joel Bay Renson and Dexter Smith's faces were dull.

Dexter Smith still remembers the ruthless words sent by investor Nelson two days ago: "Dirk, I don't care what you think, even if you go to Africa, you have to sell a few 'iSmell', otherwise Don’t think about follow-up investment or anything…”

Dexter Smith can quite understand what Nelson said. After all, the 1000 million US dollars he paid has been almost spent. Except for the research funds, the rest has basically become almost [-] "iSmell" finished products. Unfortunately, except for the few samples given to the magazine, none of them have been sold, and they are all piled up in the warehouse.If this situation continues, the remaining cash of the company can basically last for three or four months. If it is really delayed until then, I am afraid that the only way left is to close down.

In fact, Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith have worked very hard. While contacting the perfume website, they also contacted many well-known game companies, such as Nintendo, Sega's North American company, Mindscape and Acclaim These local companies, at the beginning, those companies expressed strong interest, and even sent people to visit the company, but there was no follow-up.Joel Berenson felt that these game companies didn't understand what digital smell was, but what could they do? They were the ones who paid for it.

Later, the two set their sights on the legendary magical land of China. According to many people who have been there, gold is almost everywhere there. There is another saying that "people are stupid and rich", but when Dex After Te Smith hurriedly led the team to China, he realized that sometimes legends are just legends.The gold everywhere was not caught, and the foolish and rich Kaizi was not caught, but after they paid for two "iSmell" smell generators as samples, what they got in exchange was a magazine that was more expensive than tofu cubes. Small simple report.

In the end, Joel Berenson and Dexter Smith had nothing to do. They even planned to abdicate and give up the position of president of the company to someone more capable, so as to help DigiScent get rid of the current situation. It's a pity that they can't afford to invite those who can afford it, and they can't look down on those who can afford it, so for the time being, they can only hang around without embarrassment or embarrassment, imagining that a miracle will happen.

The phone on the desk rang suddenly, and at the same time, the red indicator light representing the internal line also lit up. Joel Berenson picked up the phone and asked weakly: "What's the matter?"

The voice of Jennifer at the front desk came from the phone: "Boss, someone who claims to be the investment manager of Dongfang International Investment Bank is calling for you. Would you like to transfer you in?"

"Oriental International Investment Bank...Investment Bank!" Joel Berenson repeated unconsciously, his eyes suddenly lit up, could this be the legendary Kaizi who is stupid and rich, he said in a hurry : "Turn in, turn in, turn in now!"

Dexter Smith looked at Joel Berenson's strange performance with a look of bewilderment. Fortunately, Joel Berenson took advantage of the vacancy of the call transfer to give a brief explanation, and he realized that it was Dongfang International Someone from the investment bank came to contact him, and hope rose in his heart.

A gentle and elegant female voice came from the phone: "Hello, I am Qin Yue, Investment Manager of North America Region of Orient International Investment Bank, you can also call me Katherine, I hope to make an appointment with you for an interview... "

Of course, Joel Berenson would not have any objections to this, and he even hoped that the other party would come over right now. Of course, from the perspective of business talks, this kind of thinking is still too urgent, and it is easy to put himself in a disadvantageous position. So he didn't show it on the phone, but said lightly: "No problem, Catherine. It's just three o'clock this afternoon, in our company."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Berenson, and I'll be there on time."

After finishing the conversation and hanging up the phone, Joel Berenson made a victory gesture to his partner Dexter Smith. Although he still doesn't know what Catherine is going to talk about, but as an investment bank Obviously, the other party will not come here to chat with him, and he is always interested in something from DigiScent.To be honest, Joel Berenson can't hold on any longer, now he can come to any cat or dog, as long as he is willing to pay, he is willing to sell anything.

……

At three o'clock in the afternoon, DigiScent company conference room
Joel Berenson looked at the woman across from him, and sure enough, she looked like she was born in high society, with the same name as Catherine, with beautiful and elegant manners.If it is not a business negotiation now, he must show his gentlemanly demeanor, but unfortunately the time is not right.

"Catherine, what are you here for?" Joel Berenson asked slightly serious.

"Mr. Berenson, I am here on behalf of Orient International Investment Bank, and I want to talk to you about our company." Qin Yue said with a kind smile.

"Our company?" Joel Berenson was confused at once, and muttered to himself: "What'our company', what does your company have to do with me?"

"Mr. Berenson, maybe you don't know that Mr. Nelson has already sold all the shares in his hands to Dongfang International Investment Bank, so DigiScent is now 'our' company!" Qin Yue still smiled very much kind.

"What!" Joel Berenson turned pale with shock. He originally thought that Orient International Investment Bank might be optimistic about the digital smell technology and planned to invest some capital in exchange for some shares. .Fortunately, they have already obtained the shares in Nelson's hands quietly, which means that Orient International Investment Bank is already the major shareholder of DigiScent, so he has nothing to talk about.

After calming down a little, Joel Berenson said with some frustration: "Catherine, I don't know what else we have to talk about?"

"Of course it's DigiScent's future development plan. We Dongfang International Investment Bank did not buy the shares for charity. We naturally hope that DigiScent will develop better in the future. Otherwise, we might as well use the money to buy some oil fields, mines, etc. .You say so, Mr. Berenson."

Joel Berenson's heart suddenly ignited hope. Since Orient International Investment Bank still values ​​this investment and also considers the future development of DigiScent, then the digital scent technology has the opportunity to continue to improve. He feels that he The dream once again had a chance to come true.

"Catherine, we already have a whole set of future development plans. We hope to promote 'iSmell' to all the places that can be applied to smell, including games, websites, TV networks, etc..." Joel Berenson excitedly peddled With his own vision for the future, he hopes to impress the representative of the major shareholder in front of him and strive for more financial support.

"We already know what you said. Our investors hope that you will set your short-term goal on games. Mr. Berenson, have you heard of the Dreambox128 game console?"

Joel Berenson nodded: "I heard that I have a nephew who is very obsessed with that game console."

"Very good, our investors hope that you can first consider developing a dedicated scent generator for the Dreambox128 game console, but there is one requirement. The cost must be reduced. The types of scents can be slightly less, but the price must be able to Keep it below 100 US dollars, and it is best to control the refill box within 20 US dollars in the future. If necessary, we can also help you contact the production plant in mainland China. Made in China can reduce a lot of costs. As for funds, we will As a guarantee, a loan of about 2000 million US dollars from Standard Chartered Bank will be used as DigiScent's future development funds." Qin Yue still maintained a kind smile on his face.

Joel Berenson couldn’t help but frown on what Qin Yue said earlier about reducing costs. He knows the design of “iSmell” best. It is very difficult to reduce costs in a short period of time unless the continuous work of “iSmell” is sacrificed. time or reduce the number of baseline scents, then "iSmell" would be less than perfect in his opinion.However, when he heard the mention of funds later, his complexion immediately improved. DigiScent’s biggest difficulty now is the lack of funds. As long as there is still money flowing in, he has the confidence to do a good job of "iSmell". Anyway, it is for the production of game consoles. Is it a special smell generator? They had this kind of consideration in the first place.

"Catherine, no problem, but it will take some time to redesign to reduce costs, but you should also know the current situation of the company, and it is very necessary to supplement operating funds, otherwise..."

"Mr. Berenson, please rest assured that as long as we both have no objection to DigiScent's future development, the funds will be in place soon. In addition, I can tell you that if the cost of 'iSmell' can be kept down, then The purchase volume in the future will definitely not be less than 100 million units, or even tens of millions of units.”

"1000 million units?" Joel Berenson made some calculations in his mind. Even if each unit only earns 5 US dollars, it is 5000 million US dollars, and the smell box needs to be replenished every three months or so. If you only earn 1 US dollar at a time, you will have almost 4000 million US dollars in that year. If this is the case, even if you can’t make money when promoting "iSmell", it is still worth it. After all, as long as players get used to it, scent box replenishment is a long-term thing.Thinking of this, he couldn't help but exclaimed, "Oh God!"

Qin Yue looked at Joel Berenson whose face was a little distorted because of excitement, and secretly laughed in his heart: "I'm so excited with only 1000 million units. If you tell the scale of hundreds of millions of units estimated by the big boss, then this guy is still Not sure what it's going to be like."

Both parties held the goal of developing DigiScent, and the atmosphere of the subsequent talks became very harmonious, especially when Joel Berenson learned that a new president was coming, he was in a happier mood. He wants to do research with peace of mind, and now someone can share the burden, which is what he wishes for. I believe Dexter Smith thinks so too.

(End of this chapter)