My Age of Investment

  Chapter 199 Musk

  In the office of AC Drive, Xia Jingxing and the two founders of Tesla met the famous Musk.

  At this moment, Musk is not yet 33 years old. It is when he is young and vigorous, wearing a light gray suit, he is full of vigor and self-confidence.

He smiled and shook hands with Xia Jingxing, "I've heard of you, Darren Xia, the CEO of Facebook's most promising company in Silicon Valley. · Yang".

   Nice to meet you, my name is Elon Musk, and I am currently running a space technology exploration company called "SpaceX". "

Xia Jingxing shook the opponent's hand, shook it vigorously, and looked at each other with a smile: "I have also heard of you, a successful serial entrepreneur. It is amazing. What SpaceX is doing is also admired by us entrepreneurs. Endless."

  Businesses held each other for a while, Eberhard and Tarpening also shook hands with Musk one by one and introduced themselves.

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

  As the referrer, Tom knew that the two parties had secrets to discuss, so he left the office and left the space for four people.

   "In fact, I started to pay attention to electric vehicles a few years ago, and I haven't found a suitable entry opportunity."

   Musk said with a smile: "Later I heard Tom say that a company called Tesla is preparing to build electric sports cars in Silicon Valley, and I immediately became interested.

  Although the sound of bad-mouthing electric cars is everywhere now, I firmly believe that this is the direction of the future! A great success will surely be ushered in!

  Guys, your business is so cool! "

   Musk praised, making Eberhard and Tarpening overjoyed, while Xia Jingxing smiled lightly.

  "After I sold PayPal, I founded SpaceX with the dream of exploring the living space for mankind..."

   Musk talked about the entrepreneurial ideals of tall and large, and then talked about Tesla.

  "Oil is a non-renewable resource, and fuel-burning vehicles have a lot of air pollution. Tesla's entrepreneurial direction actually suits my appetite, because it is also exploring the living space for mankind."

   Musk glanced at the three of them, and seeing that the fire was almost over, he began to enter the topic: "I really want to join your team and build this great career with you."

  Tapening and Eberhard both nodded secretly. They had a very good view of Musk, and they were not too resistant to this person's joining, but they had to ask the major shareholders for advice, so they looked to Xia Jingxing.

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

  "Dalun, I also know some engineering technology, and I am optimistic about the future of electric vehicles, and I am willing to invest money and resources in this business all the time.

  You let me join Tesla. It will definitely not be a bad decision. "

  "How much do you want to invest?"

  Xia Jingxing did not answer Musk directly, but decided to understand the other's appetite before talking.

   Musk smiled and asked: “Before this, can I understand Tesla’s current shareholding structure?”

Xia Jingxing happily explained to him: "At present, I hold 42% of Tesla, Eberhard holds 27.5%, Tarpening holds 12.5%, SDL and Compass each hold 4%. , 10% of the employee option pool..."

   Musk slowly nodded, "In other words, Darren, you are the company's largest shareholder, chairman and actual controller, right?"

   "Yes, that's right!" Xia Jingxing responded with a smile.

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

  "15 million U.S. dollars!" Xia Jingxing replied lightly.

   Musk nodded and looked into Xia Jingxing’s eyes and said, “Is that okay? I invested 10 million US dollars in you at a valuation of 20 million US dollars. I hold 33.33% of the shares and become the largest shareholder.”

   After finishing speaking, Musk glanced at the three of them, and saw that they did not answer, and continued to throw new plans: "Or, you can sell me a part of the equity at a valuation of 20 million U.S. dollars.

  I put out a total of 10 million U.S. dollars. Except for the acquisition of some of the old stocks, all the rest was injected into Tesla to expand the share capital. Based on the pre-investment valuation of 20 million U.S. dollars, I issued new shares to me. "

   Musk feels he is full of sincerity.

  Tesla was valued at only 15 million U.S. dollars last month, and now he directly mentioned 20 million U.S. dollars, giving it a certain premium.

  Moreover, he also allowed three people to sell some of their old stocks. Generally, companies with only A-round financing don't have this treatment. What if the founders who understand the technology cash out? Major shareholders should be the takeover man?

  Xia Jingxing thought to himself that Musk allowed them to sell "part of old stocks", and this "part" must have a limit.

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

  He guessed that the main target of the other party's remarks must be aimed at him, and he wanted to buy some of his old stocks.

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

  In other words, if he sells all 42% of his equity to Musk, he can get 8.4 million U.S. dollars, and the net profit of buying Tesla is 2.1 million U.S. dollars in just one month.

  The two original founders of Tesla were interested and kept giving Xia Jingxing's eyes 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 want to inject 10 million dollars into Tesla, I can increase the capital by 10 million dollars at the same valuation."

  Xia Jingxing stared at Musk and said something like this.

   Musk puts out a posture that is not bad for money, he naturally can't show weakness.

  Isn’t it just a competition for financial resources, if you’re afraid you won’t make it?

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

  Heart, don’t you two dance happily?

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

  Tapening and Eberhard are not idiots either, they immediately stopped their small movements, because they also realized that the serious problem lay in front of them.

   Reckless! Reckless!

  If Musk invests 10 million U.S. dollars and Xia Jingxing invests another 10 million U.S. dollars, then Tesla is valued at 20 million before the investment and 40 million after the investment.

  They have no money to follow suit, which means that their equity will be reduced by half again.

  Last month, their shareholdings have been compressed by half, and then compressed by half, only a quarter of the amount before the A round of financing.

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

  Because they know that Tesla burns a lot of money. 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 integrated.

  It's only been a month since the A round of financing, and the B round has started again. The money is in place, but it is not cost-effective.

For normal financing, the money for the A round of financing should be spent seven or eighty eight, prototype cars should be built, and Tesla's valuation should be increased several times, and then B round of financing should be carried out to plan for the next step of mass production. jobs.

  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 he thought of something, and suddenly laughed, "Daren, did you sell the shares of Facebook?"

  Xia Jingxing's face calmly shook her head.

   Musk asked again: "Then you pledged Facebook equity?"

  Xia Jingxing shook his head again.

  In fact, he pledged part of the equity to First Securities, but at that time, he borrowed 5 million US dollars mainly to invest in Amicco, which had nothing to do with investing in Tesla.

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

  So, he said that, it can't be regarded as deceiving Musk.

   Musk is happy.

  He is a person who has started a business. He knows how hard the founders were before startups were merged and listed.

  Don’t look at Facebook, which is now valued at more than US$500 million. It sounds awesome, but it’s actually just superficial.

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

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

  He asked these words for two purposes. 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 U.S. dollars, if you say you add it, you can add it without blinking your brows.

  Plus the 6.3 million US dollars last time, that is 16.3 million US dollars.

  So much money, one is only twenty years old, and the company only got the founder of the A round of financing to get it?

   And neither sold Facebook shares nor pledged equity, where did the funds come from?

  He sold PayPal and made more than 170 million U.S. dollars. This is something the entire Silicon Valley knows.

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

  And Xia Jingxing’s 10 million dollars will not fall from the sky.

   Musk glanced at the two Tesla founders with a smile, and wanted to see how they reacted.

  As a result, he was disappointed.

  The two people have no reaction at all, do you really believe this kid can get ten million dollars?

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

   "Yes, I own stocks of a listed company with a market value of tens of millions of dollars!"

  This is nothing unspeakable, and Xia Jingxing told Musk straightforwardly and honestly.

  The purpose is very simple, he just wants Musk to know, don’t pretend to be here, I also have money, not necessarily financially worse than you.

  Sure enough!

  The expression on Musk’s face is wonderful!

  "Do you still hold stocks in a listed company? Do you still hold a market value of tens of millions?"

   Musk asked in disbelief, “Aren’t you a Chinese student who came to Stanford before?”

  There are a lot of questions. Xia Jingxing didn't want to explain, so he gave Eberhard a look.

  (End of this chapter)