My Age of Investment

Musk left with regret.

Before leaving, he gave the three of them a week to consider.

If he doesn't accept his investment, he builds his own car.

Not threatening people, but his true inner thoughts.

Back in Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing asked the two founders of Tesla for their opinions.

"Let him build it, the market is big enough to accommodate two electric car companies."

Tarpenning's reaction was calm, Xia Jingxing didn't know if it was his true thoughts.

Eberhard's reaction was much more, and he said with a heavy face: "Musk is not a simple person, before sacex, he has successfully started a business twice.

Now he even dares to build a rocket, let alone something running on the ground?

This is a man with money, rich business experience, and a strong heart.

If he builds a car, I'm sure it will be a serious competitor to us. "

Tarpenning said with a smile: "Tesla has already done the groundwork, just waiting to build the first prototype.

If Musk wants to build a car, he will definitely spend more time and energy.

If we're running on the same track, we've already started and he's still tying his shoelaces.

We had a first-mover advantage, and Daeron gave us a steady stream of financial support.

I don't think you should be too afraid of competition.

On the contrary, I even hope that more players will join the field of electric vehicles, and we will compete together to promote the prosperity of the industry. "

What the two said made sense, Xia Jingxing nodded and smiled, and asked, "Weighing the pros and cons, do you think it is better for Tesla to accept his investment, or is it better for everyone to compete together?

Don't hide your true thoughts, let's discuss together. "

Tarpenning frowned and said, "At present, financing, for Tesla, the more funds, the more certainty of a share.

And with Musk joining in, we have one less enemy.

This is good for Tesla.

But for us shareholders, it's not a good thing, the shares will be heavily diluted, and the dilution will be cheap. "

Eberhard shook his head, "But if Musk succeeds in building his own car, it will be a good thing for Tesla and our shareholders?"

"So each has its pros and cons. I don't think it matters whether I accept his investment or not."

Tarpenning glanced at Xia Jingxing, "It all depends on you!"

Eberhard nodded, "Yes, Darren, if you make Musk a major shareholder of Tesla, we have no objection.

If you reject him, we will also focus on making Tesla cars well and competing well with Musk. "

Hearing this, combined with the scene of meeting and chatting with Musk before, Xia Jingxing touched the true attitude of the two people's hearts.

Like him, the two of them were also a bit tangled.

After all, if you can have one more friend, no one wants to have one more competitor.

The ideal state is for Musk to take the equity of two venture capital institutions and become a Tesla shareholder without diluting the equity of others.

As for the latter, we will talk about it later.

Right now, this is the best solution, and no one suffers.

If Xia Jingxing himself transferred his equity to Musk, ceded his position as a major shareholder of Facebook, and retired as the second shareholder, the two founders should not object.

They care about their own equity and the future development of Tesla, but they don't care who Tesla's major shareholder and second shareholder are.

Major shareholder Musk, second shareholder Darren;

Or the other way around, they don't care because they no longer have control of the company.

Perhaps the most anticipated state of the two is that the two millionaires are tied to Tesla's chariot.

Maybe in their hearts, they still expect me to give way to Musk? Xia Jingxing thought so in his heart.

Because Musk won't budge, he's the only one who has to budge.

But the two founders must not say such words, otherwise they will offend him, the major shareholder, and it is not worth it!

want to understand this,

Xia Jingxing was no longer confused.

The problem still lies with himself and Musk.

I want Musk to be a second shareholder, and Musk probably thinks the same way.

He and Musk must have a priority.

After pondering for a while, Xia Jingxing no longer had any illusions about Musk.

Why should I give in? Just because you're Iron Man?

Little Mazi was almost killed by himself, plus a Musk, what was it?

Fate still has to be in your own hands, don't worry!

Then compete with Musk once!

…………

…………

For the next week, Xia Jingxing stayed in Tesla’s office, and Facebook gradually delegated power to Kristina.

He didn't get too involved in Tesla's prototype car development. After all, he promised that these daily tasks would be handed over to the two founders.

If you intervene too much, in addition to the layman commanding the expert, it will also make the two founders have bad ideas.

His main work is to understand the progress of Tesla's prototype car research and development, and to talk about strategies with the two founders.

After receiving an investment of $7.5 million, Tesla has expanded its office space, and the original factory is still reserved as a workshop for dismantling vehicles and engaging in hardware research and development.

However, the office changed its location and moved to an office building with a better environment next to it, and did not continue to shrink in the factory area.

Tesla's workforce has also expanded, from a few people to more than 20 people.

Of these employees, all but a few administrative staff are engineers.

This arrangement is also because the work at this stage is mainly about research and development, and the company has no other business, just a few administrative staff such as finance and personnel.

…………

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late at night.

As CEO, Eberhard accompanied Xia Jingxing to visit Tesla's factory at night.

Although it's long past get off work hours, the entire factory is still brightly lit, and it looks like it's working in full swing!

There is no reluctance, all because of work, voluntarily stay and work overtime.

This was Eberhard's explanation to Xia Jingxing.

In the workshop, the metal friction sound of the cutting machine, the roar of the motor, the "sizzle" sound of the electric welding... all kinds of sounds are ringing non-stop.

Several engineers, wearing stained overalls and lighting, were cutting the body of a Lotus, then assembling the various wiring around the car and welding various metals.

The conditions are very difficult, pure hand-made cars!

Xia Jingxing stood by and watched the group of people without speaking, silently watching their work.

Eberhard, who was standing next to him, thought that the major shareholder had an idea, and explained with a smile: "Haha, the prototype car, everything starts from scratch, you can only experiment with a car first, it is impossible to build a car by hand all the time. "

Xia Jingxing nodded, "The current conditions are a bit difficult, but everything will be fine."

Then, he followed Eberhard to another corner of the factory.

There are a few engineers there working on Lotus' basic software system, drawing a bunch of model drawings and throwing them on the table, trying to figure out how the car's pedals, dash, and other mechanics fit together. of.

Seeing that they were discussing, Xia Jingxing did not disturb them and walked away with Eberhard.

The real difficulty is the battery technology research that another R\u0026D group is responsible for.

Xia Jingxing followed Eberhard and continued. In another corner of the factory, several engineers were sitting around a large table full of batteries.

These engineers are using strong adhesive to glue the cylindrical cells into a "brick", which is then brought to the instrument for testing.

While observing and understanding the changes in the current conduction mode, various experimental data are recorded.

Another engineer assembled 10 battery bricks and put them into test equipment to record the heat dissipation mechanism of different gases and liquids.

Although Tesla is not big, the division of labor is very clear. Several groups of engineers are responsible for a research direction, and everyone in each group is responsible for their own work.

Gene Bodichevsky, who was gluing the battery, saw Xia Jing walking over and waved to him very happily, "Daren~"

Gene was the one who dropped out of school on the same day as Xia Jingxing. He was originally a member of Stanford University's Solar Car Club.

After being fooled and crippled by Eberhard, they cried and shouted to drop out of school to sweep the floor for Tesla.

After he dropped out of school to join Tesla, the company didn't really let him sweep the floor, just let him stick the battery.

The sticky battery is actually just a side business. His real main business is to use the computer to design the three-dimensional model of the car power system, as well as the battery model.

At present, the company does not have enough staff, so stick to the battery by the way.

When Xia Jingxing saw his old friend, he told Eberhard and walked towards Jim alone.

Jim also stopped what he was doing and started chatting with Xia Jingxing about his recent work.

"...It's so comfortable here, no exams, no need to earn credits, even sticking to batteries, it's so fun."

Gene gently stroked the battery on the table and muttered, looking extremely intoxicated.

Xia Jingxing shook his head, alas, another crazy one.

The employees in Tesla are like this. If I have to use one word to describe it, that is fanaticism.

Everyone is working crazy overtime, wanting to see prototypes born soon, wanting to change the world...

"...no one has tried connecting hundreds of lithium-ion batteries in parallel before, and Tesla is the first to do so.

So in this sense, Tesla is undoubtedly at the forefront of battery technology. "

Gene's mouth was like a machine gun, and he kept talking about how awesome he was doing.

Xia Jingxing was very clear about these things, but the other party was very excited, so he had to agree with the other party, nodding constantly, "Yes, yes, battery technology is the core of our core.

We are indeed the first company to do this. Once successful, this initiative will shock the world! Tesla's name will also be known to billions of people! "

As soon as Gene heard these words, it was like a chicken blood, and he was about to start a new round of machine gun fire.

Xia Jingxing quickly stopped and took the initiative to change the subject: "By the way, did you encounter any problems in the process of researching batteries?

For example, the number of batteries in the battery brick, the connection method? "