the great gatsby

Chapter 241 Uber
Travis Kalanick and his friend Garrett Kemp observe the visiting guests, young Asians, probably in their teens, and the Asian woman next to them looks to be 20 years old (For these Americans, the age of Asians is a mystery), such a combination should ask them to discuss cooperation?

Gatsby observed Uber's office with a smile. As a start-up company, it was pretty good. At this time, Travis Kalanick was no longer as penniless as when he first started his business. There is capital.

Travis Kalanick’s first entrepreneurial memories were not so pleasant. He founded the Scour.com website with six friends.Initially they just wanted to be an online search engine, but unexpectedly it turned into the world's first P6P file download resource search engine.However, the website was sued by 2 Hollywood companies for copyright infringement and claimed US$29 million.Although the two parties eventually reached an out-of-court settlement, the company declared bankruptcy after paying $2.5 million. Kalanick was very hurt by this venture.

The second time I started my business was to start a technology company.Its main business is to provide services to enterprises, improve the way their files are spread on the network, increase the speed of file transfer, and help enterprises save server expenses.

This time, the trouble came from within the company. The partners tried to lead the development team to move to Sony, and the company’s capital chain also had problems. The largest investor, Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, demanded a divestment.At the most difficult time, he had to move back to his mother's house to "chew the old".Once he attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and because he had no money, he had to sleep in a rental car and shower like a bum in the bathroom of a nearby casino.

However, the most difficult days have passed. In 07, his company improved, and the company sold 1900 million US dollars, so this time he started Uber. Startups can only work in garages.

Kalanick said with a smile: "Mr. Gatsby is much younger than I imagined. This year, Mr. Gatsby's name really spread throughout North America!"

Gatsby smiled and said, "Mr. Kalanick is also young and promising. He has such a promising company at the age of 30."

Kalanick was surprised: "Mr. Gatsby is interested in my company?"

Gatsby nodded and said, "That's why I'm here today. I want to be a partner in the company."

Kalanick said happily: "We very much welcome collaborators, especially celebrities like Mr. Gatsby who are well-known in North America."

Kalanick doesn’t dislike people coming to him to cooperate, but he is very happy, because the company he founded is still in its infancy stage, and the software structure has just begun. Someone came to him to invest, and a fool would not want to cooperate. Woolen cloth.

The taxi-hailing software is not Kalanick’s first initiative. There are already many taxi-hailing software on the market. Uber’s positioning is to provide high-end taxi-hailing services. For the promotion of the software in the early stage, it is definitely more effective.

Gatsby smiled and said, "Mr. Kalanick is welcome, I'm afraid you won't share this gold mine with others."

Garrett Camp laughed and said: "Mr. Gatsby is really joking. There is no way to be self-conscious about being a technology company. Naturally, we need many investors to support our great cause. We alone cannot grow. We welcome any investment." People, let alone a high-quality partner like Mr. Gatsby.”

Gatsby laughed and said, "I wonder how many shares you two can give?"

Kemp and Kalanick looked at each other, and Kalanick asked, "I wonder how much Mr. Gatsby can invest?"

Gatsby glanced at Li Wanyu and said, "1000 million dollars."

Kalanick estimated and said: "We can give you 10% of the shares."

Gatsby frowned: "You only have one concept now, and this concept is not even your own, and there are similar software on the market now, no one can be sure that Uber's software can survive and generate profits, now you Just value it at $1 million?"

As a prophet, Gatsby certainly knows how rapidly Uber will develop under Kalanick's iron fist. In just a few years, Uber's valuation will expand to 500 billion US dollars. Now is the most appropriate time to buy. Getting 1000% of the shares for US$10 million is already very cost-effective. By 2014, US$1000 million will expand to US$50 billion, but Gatsby wants more!

Kalanick said decisively: "Mr. Gatsby, our estimate is at least [-] million. Of course, we can make concessions in terms of shares, if you can give more chips."

Kalanick has the iron-blooded wrist and strong character of a general. Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, a billionaire investor, and a former entrepreneurial mentor for Kalanick, once said: "Kalanick is the biggest The advantage is to achieve the goal, not to hit the south wall and not look back; and his biggest weakness is to achieve the goal, not to hit the south wall and not to look back. This is also the most appropriate way to summarize this person’s character.”

This is enough to show how radical Kalanick’s character is. It took only four years for Uber to successfully deploy in more than 22 cities in 60 countries around the world. In 2015, Uber’s market share in the United States exceeded 90%. %s reason.

Gatsby nodded and pondered for a while: "What if I can be an Uber promotional ambassador?"

Kalanick and Kemp looked at each other in surprise. They knew Gatsby's influence too well. Gatsby cannot be simply regarded as an NBA star. He was born in Hollywood, and he still has a large number of fans in North America. Almost everyone knows that if Gatsby can serve as a promotional ambassador, Uber’s growth rate will be unprecedented, and all competitors will fall behind, and Uber will be shaped into a high-end and luxurious image—Gatsby is different from Among other NBA players, he looks elegant and noble, like a prince from the mysterious East.

Not only that, Gatsby is also backed by a Chinese market. If Gatsby can be the spokesperson of Uber, then it is foreseeable that Uber will develop extremely fast in China-this is more than Gatsby's investment A 2000 million is more practical!

Kalanick said decisively: "Mr. Gatsby, if this is the case, then you can get 20% of Uber's shares, but we have a requirement, you must cede the decision-making power!"

(End of this chapter)