Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 278 Financing (Two in One)

Regarding Yike Technology's A round of financing, this is Fang Zhuo's first priority after arriving in New York.

Market development takes time, and litigation and counter-litigation require a process. Then, the A-round financing that was contacted years ago and returned to China to find new investors has become an urgent matter to be finalized.

IDG America, IDG Huaxia, and Xiangjiang Huanyu will become the main investors in the A round of financing. Capital Today and Shenxin Kechuang, which have successively invested in the Angel round and PreA, will also make a small amount of follow-up investment.

At the same time, taking into account the health of the equity structure, this round of financing will also set up an option pool for rewarding senior executives.

Originally, Fang Zhuo did not intend to set up an option pool in the A round, but he only decided to join a Xiangjiang venture capital. Even if Xiong Xiaoge repeatedly guaranteed the independence of IDG Huaxia, he was still willing to let the valuation of the shares in his hands be lowered in disguise, and let IDG's shareholding ratio was subsequently weakened.

The setting of the option pool has the most reasonable reasons, but it has an additional use here.

Fang Zhuo had notified Xiong Xiaoge and Huanyu Liang Qihua before leaving the country. Their itinerary was scheduled for three days later. As for Capital Today and Shenxin Kechuang, the two said that they only need to attend the meeting by phone. After all, they don’t have much money. Everyone join in the fun.

In order to confirm that the arrangement was correct, Fang Zhuo politely called Miller of IDG America and reminded the other party of the financing negotiation at the agreed time.

However, before the people from China arrived in New York, Miller went to meet Fang Zhuo in person the afternoon after the call and chatted about his investment intentions.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but Fang Zhuo felt that Miller, who was backed by IDG this time, seemed to be more eager behind his still reserved back.

He thought about it while communicating, and felt that it didn't seem like a change caused by performance, so he simply pretended to be a straight person and asked the other party when he was parting.

"Mr. Miller, I feel that you seem to be more optimistic about Yi Ke than before. Why?"

Miller did not hide his reasons: "RIAA is suing Yike, and SESAC is said to be sending you a lawyer's letter. I think companies including Sony Music may also initiate lawsuits against Yike."

Fang Zhuo frowned slightly. This sounded like a price cut before the A round.

"Just like Apple, which has already received many infringement lawsuits, the more people want to sue Yike, the more it shows that Yike's growth is very threatening." Miller laughed, "How can IDG miss this kind of growth? Fang, the old music forces are already working to prevent the arrival of the new era."

Fang Zhuo had goosebumps.

He didn't know if he had this kind of tone when he encouraged others, but hearing this guy say it was really... not moved.

The young president just nodded and said: "Yes, this is good, good for Yike."

Miller nodded approvingly, shook hands and said goodbye: "I am very pleased to see the release of iMusic. This is exactly the value of the scene you mentioned for the first time. It will form a closed loop of hardware and software and create a new industry. ecology."

Fang Zhuo shook hands with this IDG executive with a smile on his face, oh no, this is not called a handshake, this is called the empowerment of venture capital institutions to entrepreneurs, and everyone will reach a closed loop with far-reaching influence on the flow of funds.

When the door of the conference room was pushed open, Miller left Yike with his assistants, and Yu Hong, Kong Yu and others who were waiting for the closed-door negotiation outside surrounded him.

"Mr. Fang, how did the talk go?" Yu Hong asked with concern.

Fang Zhuo refined the central idea: "IDG mainly expresses a meaning, the more Yike lawsuits, the more excited they will be."

Kong Yu, who returned to New York early after the Spring Festival, is helping Yu Hong recently. He is doing Yike-related work at hand. He was the first to react: "IDG America will actively participate in the A round? Will they invest? "

"It should be. I had a good chat with Miller." Fang Zhuo nodded, "In this case, it will be easy to convince Xiangjiang Huanyu."

Liang Qihua from Xiangjiang Huanyu was quite optimistic about Yike when they first contacted in Beijing, but there was a twist in the middle of it. When they investigated Yike's situation in the United States, they learned that RIAA had filed an infringement lawsuit, which made them retreat.

Just like an employee of Yike in the United States who was frightened to resign after hearing about the lawsuit, Xiangjiang Huanyu also felt that it was not easy to accept, for fear that his investment would be in vain—after all, Huanyu found out that President Fang’s record was Somewhat amazing.

Therefore, when it is confirmed that Miller’s attitude is more positive, the main task of the financing talks is to let Xiangjiang Huanyu pay for it smoothly, and let Shenxin Kechuang and Capital Today pay as much as possible. As for Xiong Xiaoge, he is an ally who is firmly optimistic about Yike .

For the next three days, Fang Zhuo did nothing but organize materials and pick up people twice at the international airport.

He rented a business car in a serious manner, and after a brief exchange of greetings at the meeting, he displayed the information, first practiced with Xiong Xiaoge, and then prepared to communicate with Liang Qihua.

Xiong Xiaoge was quite puzzled when he didn't realize it at first, and he didn't taste it until he got close to the hotel: "I know a lot of what you said along the way, and this and that, let's put it aside for military training ? Prepare for the talks?"

"What can we do at the meeting? Why don't we communicate well in advance, especially with Mr. Xiong." Fang Zhuo just smiled, "Well, to pick up Liang Qihua tomorrow, we have to dispel his worries first."

Xiong Xiaoge was stunned, and nodded sarcastically: "I understand, I understand, you must not show mercy."

Fang Zhuo said seriously: "I have seen so many venture capitalists, raised so much money, and been accused so many times. My heart is as cold as my knife."

He sighed again: "The history of enterprise development is simply the history of financing. It is not easy to ask for money from this company and that company. Let you be optimistic about it today, and let him be optimistic about it tomorrow."

It was even more difficult for Xiong Xiaoge to nod: "So, you just poach people from the partners and let people who are familiar with both parties A and B come to help, right?"

He turned his head and looked at the former subordinate Pan Ben who had been silent and showed no sense of presence.

Pan Ben showed a weak and friendly smile, feeling that he really shouldn't come with his former boss on this trip, and felt like sitting on pins and needles along the way.

"Don't talk about the past. Looking forward, we will need more help from Mr. Xiong for the meeting the day after tomorrow." Fang Zhuo always has to be as sincere and sincere as possible when raising money.

Xiong Xiaoge also mentioned by the way that his trip is not only for financing, but also to see how Yike is doing in the United States.

With the discussion with President Xiong of IDG, Fang Zhuo's contact with Liang Qihua the next day was very handy.

The sun is shining and the wind is smooth.

When Fang Zhuo came to pick up the plane at the international airport, he almost heard a magpie cry.

"Mr. Liang, Mr. Liang, hello, hello, I'm really glad to see you in the overseas market."

"Come on, let me introduce you. This is Yu Hong, the marketing director of Yike, and Pan Ben, the vice president of our planning department."

Liang Qihua saw the battle as soon as he got off the plane, he was flattered and at the same time raised his vigilance in his heart, and shook hands one by one.

Today, two commercial vehicles arrived at the airport. In the first car were the three senior executives of Yike, Liang Qihua and another deputy director of Huanyu, and in the second car were the young assistants of Huanyu.

"Mr. Liang, I won't say more if you are being polite. Let Mr. Yu introduce to you the progress of our overseas work."

Fang Zhuo smiled and handed over the materials in his hand. This is to be used in the meeting, so let someone have a look at it first.

As a company that came to the United States from China, from November last year to the end of March this year, Yike launched two hardware products M11 and P3 overseas, released a software product iMusic, and opened up Chao Crowe, the second largest chain store in the United States. It is about to discuss cooperation with Wal-Mart, the largest supermarket.

However, Liang Qihua saw in the materials that Yike did not introduce Kroger and Wal-Mart much, but spent a lot of space explaining the channel sinking of the product.

"Boss Fang, this channel is sinking..."

Fang Zhuo nodded and said: "Mr. Liang, first of all, although Apple, our competitor in the United States, does not support Microsoft, it must change. By then, the advantage of our products is price, and the sinking of channels is The best way to show the price advantage."

"Apple's sales channels are mainly concentrated in big cities. Once it turns around to support Microsoft, we will compete head-on. Considering this, channel sinking means staggering the battlefield. The United States is different from ours. The following cities also have quite strong sales channels. Spending power."

"Whether it is Internet infrastructure or fixed music terminals in cities and towns, these can allow Yike to quickly distribute goods."

"In order to distribute the goods, Yike will sell most of the profits, and the number of users must be blown up like a balloon, which is different from the domestic situation."

Liang Qihua frowned and said, "Sell most of the profits? Then what? After the number of users increases?"

"The more users, the more bargaining chips we have with SESAC, Sony Music and other companies. It is like the start screen of our iMusic. The accumulated user volume is like the positive side. With music authorization, the positive side can be combined with the negative side to become one. Complete Tai Chi, you can download paid music, and you can open up the prospect of hardware and software." Fang Zhuo is very serious.

Liang Qihua didn't know enough about the American market, so he questioned: "Can music companies do such licensing? Isn't this destroying their other businesses?"

"No company can ignore the booming number of users. Users who buy music players are the most accurate customer group in music." Fang Zhuo said with reason, "The development of MP3 format music has already shown its power. Music companies will weigh the pros and cons."

He continued: "The problem in this link is only how to distribute the benefits between us and the music company. This is a difficult point, but the authorization itself is not."

"So, we have to accumulate user numbers in front of Apple to convince music companies. This accumulation process is not to mention giving up most of the profits, even burning money."

Liang Qihua was quite refreshed by what he heard.

Looking at the current Internet companies, not to mention the mainland and Xiangjiang, but the United States and Europe, no matter whether it is the strategy of channel sinking or the goal of encircling the number of users, no one seems to have done this, but it sounds like there is a logic Self-consistent.

The car is quiet, save for slight engine and tire noise.

Liang Qihua pondered for a long time, and felt that he could not be easily persuaded like this.

He coughed and wanted to speak.

Fang Zhuo was the first to speak, and said calmly and confidently: "A new business model is unfolding before our eyes. IDG America has confirmed that it will actively participate in the A round of financing. If you are still hesitating, Mr. Liang, you can see it tomorrow." It's up to everyone to judge."

He smiled: "These materials can always be researched and studied with your team. We won't talk about this just after getting off the plane. You must be tired all the way."

President Yi Ke, who had been talking all the way, directly changed the topic, and Liang Qihua's dispensable words were held back in his heart.

Yu Hong, who introduced the market situation earlier, and Pan Ben, who had been watching, felt that the boss's speech rhythm was excellent, especially Pan Ben, who had the feeling that rumors had come into reality. Is this a venture capital hunter?
However, Pan Ben soon saw the true demeanor of the hunter.

IDG Huaxia and Xiangjiang Huanyu arrived in New York, China Capital Today and Shenxin Kechuang confirmed the time, and Yike’s A-round financing talks were held without twists and turns.

This meeting was different from what some people imagined. It almost turned into Fang Zhuo's speech on the business model by himself.

Pan Ben, who followed Fang Zhuo to New York from Shanghai, really heard the young president's ambitious design of Yike.

The integration of software and hardware is what Fang Zhuo said a long time ago.

Channel expansion, this is what Fang Zhuo has been doing.

Music authorization, this is a related contact that Fang Zhuo considers.

These are not new, but when they are put together and spoken coherently, they seem to have a lot of charm all at once.

Pan Ben has never understood what a closed loop is, or in other words, he has always understood it literally. When what he saw and done was outlined in the president's mouth with confidence, he was really impressed by the goal of iMusic digital music media. hit.

This is exactly the reason he and Xiong Xiaoge said, being in a company has a sense of excitement and participation that is changing the industry, rather than VCs watching from the sidelines.

"The significance of iMusic is not only the moat of our M1 series products, but also the new music media camp that we will persistently build."

"Whether it's hardware profits or software music downloads, this is a vibrant sunrise industry. It can be said that due to Apple's stubbornness, we are already at the forefront of the world."

"Of course, Yike also faces many problems. What we can do is to solve every problem in front of us, whether it is the RIAA lawsuit or the change of competitors."

"You see, this is Yike's plan node, product upgrades, channel kneading, commercial marketing, copyright negotiation... Yike is walking on the most correct path."

"What we are doing is to develop a new business model, to serve more user groups, and to lead the development of Internet music."

"I don't think there should be much discussion at today's meeting about channel sinking and cost reduction."

"Because what we want to talk about is not the technology of business, but the art of business."

Fang Zhuo looked firm and his voice was clear. He looked around at the executives representing different organizations in the conference room, and smiled: "Of course, those questions are not unimportant. Those who have doubts can also be raised, and I can still answer them."

Two IDGs, Oneworld One Hong Kong, and two domestic companies, a total of five organizations attended the meeting.

Xiong Xiaoge nodded like a dog and said, "I have no problem. I think it's time for the next session, the discussion on investment and shares."

Wang Fengyi, who attended Shenxin Kechuang on the phone, heard this and said it twice in Chinese and English: "I second the proposal."

Miller from IDG USA made the third speech: "Very good, Fang's speech is very good, we are discussing the art of business, we will develop a new business model, which is excellent."

Xu Xin from Capital Today also agreed to advance the link by phone.

Liang Qihua of Xiangjiang Huanyu hesitated for two seconds. He felt like he was attending a class today, but regardless of Xiong Xiaoge or Miller, President Fang had already responded to the interspersed questions between them.

The team's material research yesterday, and the presentation at today's meeting, the information from the two mixed together in my mind to draw a conclusion.

"Well, Huanyu is fine."

Fang Zhuo drank the first sip of water since the start of today's meeting, well, this is a substantial progress in Yi Ke's internal skills, not bad.

(End of this chapter)