My Age of Investment

In the office of ac drive company, Xia Jingxing and the two founders of Tesla met the famous Musk.

At this moment, Musk is not yet 33 years old, when he is young and strong, wearing a light gray suit, the whole person is full of heroism and self-confidence.

He smiled and shook hands with Xia Jingxing, "I've heard of you, Darren Xia, the CEO of Facebook, the most promising company in Silicon Valley, who dropped out of school to start a business, known as the next "Bill Gates", "Jerry" · Yang".

Nice to meet you, my name is Elon Musk, now running a space technology exploration company called "sacex". "

Xia Jingxing held the other party's hand, shook it forcefully, and looked at the other party with a smile: "I've heard of you too, a successful serial entrepreneur, it's amazing, what sacex is doing is also admired by us entrepreneurs. Endless."

The business held each other for a while, and Eberhard and Tarpenning also stepped forward to shake hands with Musk and introduced themselves.

After the greeting, the four of them sat down one by one.

As the introducer, Tom knew that the two sides had confidential discussions, so he left the office and left the space for four people.

"Actually, I started paying attention to electric vehicles a few years ago, and I haven't found a suitable opportunity to cut in."

Musk said with a smile: "Later I heard from Tom that a company called Tesla was going to build an electric sports car in Silicon Valley, and I immediately became interested.

Although the voices of bad electric vehicles are everywhere now, I firmly believe that this is the direction of the future! It is sure to usher in great success!

Guys, your business is so cool! "

Musk's praise made Eberhard and Tarpenning overjoyed, while Xia Jingxing smiled slightly.

"After selling PayPal, I started sacex with the dream of exploring the living space for mankind..."

Musk talked about his lofty entrepreneurial ideals, and then he touched on Tesla.

"Oil is a non-renewable resource, and fuel vehicles pollute the air a lot. Tesla's entrepreneurial direction is actually very appealing to me, because it is also exploring the living space for human beings."

Musk glanced at the three of them, and seeing that the heat was almost over, he began to get to the point: "I really want to join your team and build this great cause with you."

Both Tarpenning and Eberhard nodded secretly. They had a good impression of Musk, and they were not too opposed to the addition of this person, but they had to ask the major shareholders for instructions on this matter, so they looked at Xia Jingxing.

When he noticed that both of them were looking at the young Asian man, Musk instantly understood that this was the one who made the decision. He looked at Xia Jingxing and said with a smile:

"Darren, I know some engineering, and I'm bullish on the future of electric vehicles, and I'm willing to keep putting money and resources into the cause.

It certainly wouldn't be a bad decision for you to let me join Tesla. "

"How much do you want to invest?"

Xia Jingxing did not answer Musk directly, and decided to understand the other party's appetite first.

Musk asked with a smile: "Before this, can I understand Tesla's current ownership structure?"

Xia Jingxing happily explained to him: "At present, Tesla, I hold 42 shares, Eberhard holds 275 shares, Tarpenning holds 125 shares, SDL and Compass each hold 4 shares, and the employee option pool 10…”

Musk nodded slowly, "That is to say, Darren, you are the company's largest shareholder, chairman, and actual controller, right?"

“Yes, that’s right!” Xia Jingxing responded with a smile.

Musk didn't speak. After thinking for a few seconds, he continued to ask: "What is Tesla's current valuation?"

“Five million dollars!” Xia Jingxing replied lightly.

Musk nodded, looked into Xia Jingxing's eyes and said, "Is this okay? I will invest 10 million US dollars in you according to the valuation of 20 million US dollars, and I will hold 3333 shares and become the largest shareholder."

After speaking, Musk glanced at the three of them and saw that they did not answer,

He continued to throw a new plan: "Or, you can sell a part of the equity to me at a valuation of 20 million US dollars.

I put out a total of 10 million US dollars. Except for the acquisition of some old shares, the rest was injected into Tesla to expand the share capital. According to the pre-investment valuation of 20 million US dollars, I issued new shares. "

Musk considers himself to be sincere.

Tesla’s valuation was only $15 million last month, and now he directly mentioned $20 million, giving a certain premium.

Moreover, he also allowed the three of them to sell some of their old shares. Generally, companies that have only raised a round of financing do not have this treatment. What if the founder who understands the technology cashes out and runs away? The major shareholder should be the pick-up man?

Xia Jingxing thought to himself that Musk said that they were allowed to sell "a part of the old stocks", and there must be a limit to this "part".

The two original founders of Tesla are regarded as the core assets of the company, and it is definitely not allowed to cash out too much, so as to avoid the two leaving the company and the brain drain.

He guessed that the main target of the other party's remarks must be aimed at him, wanting to buy some old shares in his hands.

In this way, the original two founders of Tesla do not have to worry about the dilution of their equity, and Musk, a strong teammate, has also joined the ranks of shareholders, and they have the best of both worlds!

In other words, if he sells all 42 shares in his hand to Musk, he will get $8.4 million, and he will make a net profit of $2.1 million in just one month by investing in Tesla.

The two original founders of Tesla were moved and kept giving Xia Jingxing hints.

Xia Jingxing naturally understood what the two of them meant, but he would not dilute or sell Tesla shares at this stage.

"If you're going to invest $10 million in Tesla, I can add $10 million at the same valuation."

Xia Jingxing looked straight at Musk and said such words.

Musk took out a posture of not bad money, and he naturally couldn't show weakness.

Isn't it just a competition for financial resources, I'm afraid you won't succeed?

After finishing speaking, Xia Jingxing glanced at Tarpenning and Eberhard again.

Heart, don't you two dance happily?

If I agree to let Musk in, I will also increase the capital. In the end, it will only be diluted by the two of you and the shares of the other two venture capital and employee option pools.

Tarpenning and Eberhard were not idiots either, and immediately stopped their petty actions, because they also realized that the serious problems lay before them.

Reckless! Reckless!

If Musk invests 10 million US dollars and Xia Jingxing invests another 10 million US dollars, then Tesla will be valued at 20 million before the investment and 40 million after the investment.

They have no money to follow the investment, which means that their equity will be cut in half again.

Last month, the equity of the two of them has been compressed by half, and if it is compressed by half, it will only be a quarter of what it was before the A round of financing.

The two have no particular resistance to the dilution of their equity.

Because they know that Tesla is very expensive, and it is impossible to succeed only by relying on the strength and capital of the two of them, and even a prototype car cannot be built.

But financing is not so easy.

The A round has only been funded for a month, and the B round has begun. The money is in place, but it is not cost-effective.

For normal financing, you should spend seven to eighty-eight of the money in the A round of financing, build a prototype car, push Tesla's valuation several times higher, and then carry out the B round of financing to make financial planning for the next mass production. Work.

Thinking of this, the two calmed down and began to weigh the pros and cons in their hearts.

Musk was silent for a while, then thought of something, and suddenly laughed, "Daren, did you sell your Facebook shares?"

Xia Jingxing shook his head calmly.

Musk asked again: "Then you pledged Facebook?"

Xia Jingxing shook his head again.

In fact, he pledged part of his equity to Firstrade, but at that time he borrowed 5 million US dollars mainly to invest in Amic, and had nothing to do with investing in Tesla.

Last month, he borrowed 5 million US dollars again, and Liu Jinhang did not ask him to increase the equity pledge ratio.

So, he said so, it can not be considered to deceive Musk.

Musk is happy.

He is a person who has started a business and knows how hard the founders are before the startup company is merged and listed.

Don't look at Facebook's current valuation of more than 500 million US dollars, it sounds very powerful, but it is actually a glossy surface.

The company is indeed rich, but that does not belong to the founder alone, but to all the shareholders.

In addition, investors will also monitor the financing to prevent founders from messing around and infringing on the interests of their investors.

The reason why he asked this question was for two reasons. One was to understand where Xia Jingxing's confidence came from, and the other was to remind the two original founders of Tesla not to be fooled by this kid.

10 million US dollars, if you say it will be added, it will be added without even blinking your brows.

Add in the last $6.3 million, and that's $16.3 million.

So much money, one is only 20 years old, and the founder of the company has only received A round of financing?

Moreover, neither Facebook shares were sold nor pledged, so where did the funds come from?

He sold PayPal and made more than $1.7 billion, something the whole of Silicon Valley knows.

He said that with an investment of 10 million U.S. dollars, there is no doubt about its strength.

And Xia Jingxing's ten million dollars would not fall from the sky.

Musk glanced at the two founders of Tesla with a half-smile, wanting to see how the two would react.

As a result, he was disappointed.

The two of them didn't react at all. Do you really believe that this kid can get 10 million dollars?

With all kinds of questions, Musk said again: "Daren, do you have other assets besides Facebook?"

"Yes, I hold shares of a listed company with a market value of tens of millions of dollars!"

This is not an unspeakable thing, Xia Jingxing told Musk directly and aboveboard.

The purpose is very simple, he just wants to let Musk know, don't force me here, I also have money, not necessarily worse than yours.

really!

The expression on Musk's face is wonderful!

"Do you still hold shares in a listed company? Is the market value of your holdings still tens of millions?"

Musk asked in disbelief, "Aren't you a Chinese student who came to Stanford to study before?"

There were a lot of questions, Xia Jingxing didn't want to explain and gave Eberhard a look.