New York 2006

Chapter 284 New forces in Silicon Valley

Luo Ji and Kristen set off from Burbank and took a car all the way to Silicon Valley, which is even more famous than Burbank.It is a world-famous science and technology holy place.

Like Burbank, a huge industrial scale has also been formed here.Venture capital, startups, software, and hardware companies are all available.Countless venture capital companies and technology startups are gathered here.

For example, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Intel, Oracle, Sequoia Capital, and KPCB are all here.

Luo Ji's Internet companies Holi and Wechat are both located in New York's "Silicon Alley". Although it is worse than Silicon Valley, the industrial chain there is still relatively complete, and New York is his base, and it has been very solid after three years of operation.

The reason why he came to Silicon Valley was not to visit these large companies. He came here to visit his own company.There is a venture capital firm here that he set up, led by Erin Lee as CEO.

The company is located on the fifth floor of an office building, and the entire floor is rented by the company. The space is larger than Logic Investment Company.

Eileen Lee introduced as she walked: "Now our venture capital company actually only has ten employees, and we have rented other places to individual entrepreneurs for free. Through this, we can exchange 10% to 15% of their company's shares. .”

"Yeah." Luo Ji nodded. There are many companies like this in Silicon Valley.Provide them with space and guidance in exchange for shares in the startup.

Luo Ji looked around the entire office. The majority of people inside were of East Asian descent, followed by white people and Indians.There are only a few blacks and Latinos.

These entrepreneurs also saw him and Christine and were eager to come up and say hello.However, no one took any action. Just looking from a distance, they all looked like otakus with some social fears.

Erin Li led Luo Ji and Christine to continue the introduction: "These entrepreneurs, according to your requirements, I will try my best to choose Internet companies."

Luo Ji asked, "Which project are you most optimistic about?"

Eileen Li pointed not far away: "That Expensify company, they have started to make profits less than three months after their establishment. Their business is to provide software services to companies and governments. As long as you enter financial information, reports can be automatically generated. It can be applied to scenarios such as tax filing and financial statements.”

"Yeah." Luo Ji nodded, and then asked, "Is the success rate of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley high?"

"Not high." Eileen Lee said: "Many people think that starting a business is easy, but that is just the survivor effect. It has been almost a year since we were founded here, and there have been more than 50 startups, but now the survivors Less than ten. The success rate is less than 20%.”

"It's indeed a bit low." Luo Ji sighed.

Eileen Li Youyou said: "This is the current situation of entrepreneurs."

…………

Luo Ji and Christine spent four hours interacting with the company's entrepreneurs, basically taking care of every entrepreneurial team.

During this period, Luo Ji also learned about their projects in detail, but none of them stood out to Luo Ji and aroused his "intuition" or "apocalypse."

It seems that as Erin Lee said, there are always only a few successful people.

Several people came to Eileen Lee's office and chatted while drinking coffee.

Luo Ji said: "The company that developed the software just now is called Expensify, right? Their software is really easy to use. In this way, you ask him to contact a few of my companies, and I will ask them to purchase their software. This should increase the number of Less office efficiency.”

"Okay." Erin Lee said.

Luo Ji took a sip of coffee and said, "Supporting these entrepreneurs is just our side business. Are there any venture capital projects you are optimistic about recently?"

Erin Lee said: "Twitter has a financing plan recently. Do you want to invest?"

Luo Ji felt a little sad when he heard this. He was actually one of the first users to start using Twitter.He has been using this platform since 2007.

However, the platform was relatively small at that time and there were not many users.He became famous on YouTube. Over time, his focus was concentrated on YouTube, and he basically stopped posting messages on Twitter.

Who would have thought that when Obama was campaigning last year, he would promote it on Twitter.Oprah took up residence on the platform again this year.This platform immediately attracted public attention.

After entering June this year, problems arose in the situation in Iran, and this platform suddenly became the best communication channel.The number of users increased instantly.

Facebook wanted to acquire Twitter but failed. Google bought Twitter's competitor Jaiku and wanted to compete, but it never competed.Twitter is here to stay.

Twitter is now valued at at least $5 million, which is almost the same level as his Holi gaming company.

Microblog Twitter, group buying website Groupon, streaming music service provider Spotify, as well as Luo Ji’s mobile game and social game company Holi.It has been called the best Internet startup company in the past two years by the media.

What made Luo Ji a little unhappy was that his Holi was ranked at the bottom.

and.In addition to the group buying website Groupon, he had already been exposed to Twitter and Spotify, but he failed to seize the investment opportunity.

Twitter has already mentioned before that the reason why he came into contact with Spotify is because his music company receives money from this music streaming media every month.

It's just that he has never used the Spotify product. He usually listens to music on Apple's iTunes.

When Spotify became famous and widely reported by the media, he tried it belatedly. Isn't this the same future as Netflix?
Streaming media, listening to music online on Spotify, watching movies and TV online on Netflix.It’s the general trend!
It's a pity that it's too late. Spotify just raised a sum of funds last year before the financial crisis, and now it is not short of money.

Luo Ji also wanted to find his competitors, but unfortunately, his competitors on the market were all weak, and their technology was too inferior, so they had no investment value at all.

If there was no profit, it was a loss. Luo Ji was heartbroken.

Christine asked with concern: "Feili, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay." Luo Ji calmed down and then looked at Eileen Li: "You should contact Twitter first and see the situation. If they are willing to admit me to the board of directors, I will invest. If they are not willing, forget it. Erin Lee asked doubtfully: "Why do you want to join the Twitter board of directors? Just like the new energy start-ups we invest in, we just need to invest."

Luo Ji started to explain: "I have no shortage of investment channels now. My private equity funds are more stable than this and the profits are not bad. What I want now is influence."

"Okay. I'll ask Twitter." Erin Lee nodded.

Luo Ji was already keenly aware of Twitter.

This platform has the potential to disrupt existing traditional media.Whether it is timeliness, dissemination, or the number of “journalists,” traditional media cannot compare to the Internet platform Twitter.

You know, Twitter is a Web 2.0 Internet company, and every user can become a "journalist." How can traditional media compare?

If he can join Twitter's board of directors, he can influence the company's decisions.His influence will grow even further.

Luo Ji can ask Twitter to help him promote movies and music.If an enemy attacks him, Luo Ji can also ask Twitter to help him fight back.

There are simply not too many benefits to controlling public opinion.

In order to increase the success rate, Luo Ji then said: "Tell Twitter, if they are willing to accept me on the board of directors, I can get a large number of celebrities to open accounts on Twitter. And I will also help them promote Twitter like I promote YouTube. special."

"Okay." Erin Li nodded.

Christine said from the side: "Feili, can you take me with you in this investment?"

Luo Ji waved his hand and refused: "You have too little money, and Twitter's current valuation is too high. Even if you invest, it doesn't make sense."

Kristine's eyes dimmed slightly and she whispered: "Okay!"

Luo Ji didn't notice his girlfriend's emotions and continued to ask, "Are there any other projects you are optimistic about? The kind that require large investments."

Erin Lee said: "Have you heard of Tumblr? A blog similar to Twitter."

Luo Ji smiled and said, "Hahaha, of course I've heard of it. Tumblr is a gathering place for veteran drivers."

Eileen Lee continued: "Their number of users has been growing very fast recently."

Luo Ji touched his chin and then said: "Forget it, this software media has a bad reputation. Most of it contains pornographic content. I don't want to have anything to do with them."

"Okay." Eileen Lee continued: "You should be able to make money by investing in this software, but where are the government policies, they can't do much."

"Any other projects?"

Erin Li took out a document and handed it to Luo Ji: "Next are some start-ups. These are the recent start-ups in Los Angeles. I have already screened them, and I am more optimistic about them."

Luo Ji took it and looked at it. There were many companies inside.Some are engaged in network security, some are making games, and some are developing apps in Apple and Android stores. There are about a dozen companies.

As he watched, Luo Ji's eyes suddenly lit up.

Airbnb, Airbnb Inc.The company was founded last September.

The main business of this company is to build a platform to connect people who want to rent a house with people who want to rent a house outside.Perfectly fits the concept of web2.0.

Moreover, this company's business prospects are very promising and it has great room for imagination.

Luo Ji said, "Airbnb is a very good company. Contact them and ask them if they need investment."

After hearing this, Eileen Li showed a regretful expression: "We found out too late. They just received 4 yuan in financing led by Sequoia Capital in April this year. It has attracted the attention of the Silicon Valley investment circle. If they Financing, valuations should rise significantly.”

Sequoia Capital, a famous investment company in Silicon Valley, has completely established its reputation and formed a brand effect.As long as the companies they have invested in, the valuation of the next round of financing will inevitably rise significantly.

For some start-ups, even if some venture capital firms give the company a higher valuation than Sequoia Capital, they will still choose famous venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital.

I don’t know when Logic Venture Capital will grow into a brand like them.

Luo Ji thought for a while and said, "If the valuation is high, then the valuation is high. Contact them."

"Okay." Erin Li nodded.

Luo Ji touched his chin and continued: "In the future, pay more attention to Web 2.0 start-ups, as well as start-ups related to the smartphone industry."

"Ok."

The two chatted for about an hour before Luo Ji ended the conversation.Only then did he realize that his girlfriend Christine beside him was depressed and didn't speak during the whole process.

Luo Ji hugged her and said, "My dear, why do you look unhappy?"

"fine."

(End of this chapter)