Silicon Valley is a magical place, and He Zhengcheng has seen many strange companies these past few days.
For example, in e-commerce, both B2C and C2C have already appeared. Amazon was not the first to do B2C, nor was it the first to build its own logistics system. A company called Webvan had already embarked on the great endeavor of fresh food e-commerce. It's unclear why the name of this company was never heard of later; it likely burned through its capital.
Oh, and the prototype of social networking has also appeared, a company called GeoCities. There's also pets.com, a company where you can buy pets online.
"How about it, do you have any targets these past few days?" Ji Jiasheng finally had some free time after being busy for several days.
"If possible, we'll specialize in internet companies that are about to go public, or directly participate in IPOs and new stock offerings," He Zhengcheng said.
"Doing that would require a larger amount of capital," Ji Jiasheng replied.
"But I feel like things are a bit crazy here. Both investors and entrepreneurs are somewhat insane. A small project that hasn't even started yet demands millions in financing. And the equity offered is less than ten percent," He Zhengcheng said. There's a street in Silicon Valley entirely dedicated to venture capital, along with several coffee shops, and discussions about startups are everywhere. There's no need to worry about not finding projects, but while there are many projects, most of them aren't impressive.
"Is that so? If every company had the kind of returns eBay does, why wouldn't investors be crazy?" Ji Jiasheng remarked.
"Never mind, let's not talk about that. Actually, there are quite a few others, like Webvan and HomeGrocer. Both of these companies are online shopping companies; one does fresh food e-commerce, and the other does online supermarkets," He Zhengcheng said. If purely from a strategic direction, both of these companies are on the right path, so never underestimate anyone. Those who are reborn and want to get rich with just one idea can only live in an illusory reality.
There are countless people in this world who are smarter, richer, and more talented than you. Only the luckiest, most rational, most resolute, and those who can size up the situation and adapt flexibly can achieve victory. Many of these requirements are inherently contradictory.
Some entrepreneurs go down the wrong path initially. If they can't change direction and stubbornly stick to one path until the end, they definitely won't succeed. But if there are only minor obstacles ahead, and they give up at the first sign of difficulty, such entrepreneurs also won't succeed.
He Zhengcheng doesn't know what kind of people these B2C entrepreneurs were, but ultimately, they failed, and only Amazon survived. How much of that was accidental and how much was inevitable? If He Zhengcheng had been involved, would the outcome still have been predestined?
"Perhaps it was predetermined from the start. The comprehensive quality of an entrepreneur affects a company's highest achievements. As a returnee, Li Yanhong persisted in wrongdoing for a considerable period. Was this a matter of vision or moral character?
eBay, from the beginning, adopted the management approach of traditional enterprises. Did this determine their future developmental DNA?" He Zhengcheng pondered, head bowed.
"What did you say? Have you been to these two companies?" Ji Jiasheng asked, seeing He Zhengcheng distracted.
"Webvan is building a warehousing and logistics system. How much money do we need to burn for him? HomeGrocer seems a bit better, but it's six of one, half a dozen of the other with Webvan. Do these massively capital-intensive projects really have a future?" He Zhengcheng questioned.
There was a reason why JD.com initially received no investment. Venture capitalists had learned from bloody lessons and then perfectly missed out on some high-quality companies in Daxia Country.
Only those inexperienced small venture capitalists, like Xu Xin, dared to charge directly into Daxia Country, which is why her venture capital legend came to be.
"How do you plan to proceed with your work in Silicon Valley?" Ji Jiasheng asked.
"I don't know, maybe go to eBay, get to know a few more people..." He Zhengcheng replied.
"Is that how you get to know people?" Ji Jiasheng retorted.
He Zhengcheng mostly ignored people at eBay; he focused more on the engineering team, wanting to address their needs.
"The current eBay is very different from the eBay I expected!" Ji Jiasheng exclaimed.
"But that's not something we can change," Ji Jiasheng conceded.
"That's why I find those startups in Silicon Valley acting like headless chickens, yet also arrogant and conceited, quite disgusting," He Zhengcheng said.
"That's why we don't want to come to Silicon Valley, but rather to Wall Street to expand the market. The discrimination here is much more than you imagine," Ji Jiasheng explained.
"Moreover, efficiency is highly valued here. Our investors are mainly in Asia-Pacific. Even if I have a project here, reporting it up and having them consider it wastes a lot of time back and forth. It's very troublesome," He Zhengcheng said. He had already mentioned that Shanhai Capital is a small company. Although they raised nearly 300 million US dollars, much of the capital has restrictions on its use and isn't actually in hand, making many things difficult.
"I can't do anything about this either," Ji Jiasheng said.
"Perhaps we can change our model. For large projects, we raise funds, but for other projects, the funds must be disbursed immediately and without restrictions," He Zhengcheng suggested.
"After we complete these few deals, there might be a significant improvement," Ji Jiasheng remarked.
Their investment in eBay this time was truly fortunate. If the news of LTCM using super leverage and likely going bankrupt hadn't leaked early, triggering turmoil on Wall Street and causing a sharp decline in NASDAQ, they wouldn't have had this opportunity.
Just from the eBay investment alone, their profit is close to 300%. This is also because eBay's stock price has continued to rise these past few days, approaching 50 US dollars per share.
In just one month, they made over 66 million US dollars, about 500 million Hong Kong dollars in profit. How could such an income not be enticing? If Lenovo and the CIC project could be operated successfully, they would have the right to say no to capital.
"By the way, how are things domestically?" He Zhengcheng asked. The rise in eBay's stock price made him eager to buy more shares. However, domestic matters were more important, so he temporarily put aside these small thoughts.
"Xu Xin is currently negotiating with Liu Chuanzhi. This time, our becoming a major shareholder of eBay and joining its board of directors has significantly changed Lenovo's management's perception of us," Ji Jiasheng said with a hint of pride.
"So we have a chance to join Lenovo's board of directors?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"That's right, and it's a good chance," Ji Jiasheng confirmed.
From no chance at all to a very good chance now, this was truly an unexpected surprise.
"What about the CIC project?" He Zhengcheng inquired.
"You mean the Zhonghua Net project. We are planning to cooperate and establish the largest portal website in Daxia Country, striving for an early listing," Ji Jiasheng explained.
"Zhonghua Net?" He Zhengcheng seemed to have heard this name before.
"Mainly because its domain name is excellent, and it holds domain names for Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, plus the English name of Daxia Country. They are very sincere," Ji Jiasheng said.
"If it's going to be listed, it's best to do it quickly, preferably before the middle of next year," He Zhengcheng advised.
"Mid-next year? That's too fast, impossible," Ji Jiasheng replied.
"Are you sure NASDAQ doesn't have a bubble right now, and that this bubble won't burst?" He Zhengcheng pressed.
"But listing within half a year is really too difficult," Ji Jiasheng admitted.
"Offer concessions, then, and let capable investment banks join in," He Zhengcheng suggested. In history, Zhonghua Net was indeed managed by Lehman Brothers.
"I'll go back and discuss it..." Ji Jiasheng was a bit reluctant but helpless. Being weak meant lacking people, money, and reputation, which couldn't be changed overnight.