Reborn, back to a small county town to become a wealthy family

Chapter 681 Financing and Ecological Chain
It was already a little after six in the afternoon when Luo Yang's flight landed at the Capital International Airport.

This time was exactly the evening rush hour after work, and the roads leading to the city were extremely crowded. It was already past eight o'clock in the evening when I got to the hotel from the airport.

Zhang Yiming kept his promise and treated Luo Yang to hotpot.

"On a hot day like this, hot pot should be served with ice cream."

Young people in their early twenties have good physical strength and also feel hungry easily. After Luo Yang arrived at the restaurant, he didn't bother to exchange pleasantries with Zhang Yiming. He picked up his chopsticks as soon as he sat down and didn't speak until he was three-quarters full.

"I really envy Brother Luo for having such a good appetite"

Zhang Yiming looked at Luo Yang who was eating with big mouthfuls of food and said, "Unlike me, my life has become more and more irregular since I left school, plus I have to socialize from time to time, so my stomach is not as big as before."

"I am only a few years younger. In a few years I will not be able to escape the same situation as you, unless I retire early and start living a life facing the sea and enjoying the spring flowers after I turn 30."

While eating mutton, Luo Yang said, "Brother Zhang, let's work hard and try to retire before we are 40 years old."

“Before 40.”

Zhang Yiming was born in 83 and is 31 years old this year.

After listening to Luo Yang's words, he smiled and said, "Then I only have nine years left to work hard."

"The wave of mobile Internet has already started, and the opportunity is just around the corner. Nine years is enough."

Luo Yang said affirmatively: "It doesn't even take that long."

"Brother Luo, are you so optimistic about Toutiao?"

"I'm not optimistic about Toutiao, but I'm optimistic about you, Brother Zhang."

Because we have no intention of interfering with the normal development trajectory of Toutiao, we will not provide any "awesome" suggestions. Under this premise, success can only be attributed to the individual.

"Brother Luo, you are really..."

When Zhang Yiming saw Luo Yang praising him so much, he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"What Mr. Luo said just now is correct. The future of Toutiao is worth looking forward to."

Just when Zhang Yiming didn't know what to say, Guo Jichun, who was sitting next to him, spoke up; "Since its founding, Toutiao has been on the right track, especially the user growth rate has shown exaggerated data."

This is not an exaggeration by Guo Jichun. It took only 1000 days for Toutiao to have 90 million users from its launch!
“That’s a remarkable statistic.”

Luo Yang knew that Toutiao would be very successful, but he didn’t expect it to be so successful in its early stages.

So this statement is said with sincerity.

"In order to ensure that the company can maintain such a high user growth rate in the future, Toutiao needs to raise funds."

The matter of financing actually came from Guo Jichun's mouth. I don't know if it was a deliberate arrangement or a coincidence.

Luo Yang paused halfway with the chopsticks he stretched out to pick up the food.

As I recall, on another timeline, Toutiao's first round of financing took place between January and July 2012, with a total financing amount of US$1 million.

Investors in this round of financing include Sustainability Asia and several individual angel investors.

But now the angel investor has become Luo Yang, and he only spent 500 million local currency to acquire 30% of the shares.

This investment is obviously not much.

In addition, Zhang Yiming's initial capital was only about 500 million, so it is not easy for him to sustain until now.

"Brother Zhang, I said when I first invested that I would not interfere with Toutiao's business decisions."

Luo Yang glanced at Guo Jichun, and then turned his attention to Zhang Yiming: "You are the founder of Toutiao. You know the operation status of the project better than me. If you think you need financing, then raise funds."

The main point is that I have no opinion and you have the final say.

“This time we plan to release 10% of our equity and raise 3000 million local currency.”

Since Luo Yang was talking to Zhang Yiming, he should definitely answer. "There are two potential investors, one is Haina Asia and the other is Qianfan Capital. In addition to institutions, there are also some angel investors like Brother Luo."

When Luo Yang heard the name of Haina Asia among the potential financing companies, he was slightly stunned.

The inertia of space and time?
Or is it to “set things right”?
"Mr. Luo, what do you think?"

"I have no objection."

Luo Yang came back to his senses and said to Zhang Yiming with a smile: "Brother Zhang, I give you all my voting rights. You can choose whichever company you think is good. You can accept the investment from the angel investor who is beneficial to the future development of Toutiao."

After he said this, a satisfied smile immediately appeared on Guo Jichun's face.

"Brother Luo, do you need additional capital?"

I don't know what Zhang Yiming was thinking, but he suddenly said this.

Luo Yang was stunned immediately.

Lao Zhang's subordinate Guo Jichun's face suddenly changed, and he winked at him anxiously.

Even if the valuation of Toutiao is calculated at 3 million yuan, if Luo Yang wants to maintain his 30% stake unchanged, he only needs to take out 2500 million yuan in cash.

For him now, this money is not a big deal.

"Forget it, I won't increase my capital."

Luo Yang thought for a moment and replied, "Toutiao should have more rounds of financing in the future. If I increase capital now, the company's subsequent financing will be difficult. It is better to leave more room for operation for you, Brother Zhang."

In fact, Zhang Yiming felt a little regretful after he spoke just now.

Of course, he regretted it in his heart, but he agreed to go out. If Luo Yang really took out another 2500 million, he would still keep his promise.

Fortunately, Luo Yang did not accept it.

His decision deeply touched Zhang Yiming.

Accepting Luo Yang’s investment was undoubtedly the right decision.

"Okay, since Brother Luo doesn't want to increase his capital, I won't force him to do so."

Zhang Yiming breathed a sigh of relief, and then said happily: "If there are other opportunities in the future, I will definitely give priority to Brother Luo's investment."

Well, that's what I was waiting for.

It is impossible to get the shares of ByteDance, the parent company of Toutiao, but it seems that the shares of Tik Tok cannot be lost.

Although in another timeline, Douyin was looking for investors in the early stage, many large investment institutions known for their vision and some powerful angel investors were not optimistic about this project.

Based on a lot of information disclosed in later generations, plus the personal testimonies of some bigwigs, it is enough to prove that this news is not groundless.

Zhang Yiming failed to obtain funding from those famous institutions as he wished, and could only develop slowly and accumulate strength quietly in the early stages.

"Anyway, I still say the same thing."

Luo Yang was in a good mood, and he kept eating with his chopsticks. He said as he ate, "I will definitely invest in any project started by Brother Zhang, and the shareholding model can be copied from Toutiao. I only want the equity, and as for the voting rights on the board of directors in the future, I will also entrust them all to you, Brother Zhang."

Guo Jichun was also stunned.

When I turned around and looked at Luo Yang, I felt like I was in the film and entertainment industry meeting a coal boss from Shanxi Province.

"Hahaha"

From the moment he sat down to eat hotpot, Luo Yang never expressed any subjective opinions. As long as it was related to Toutiao, he would immediately act as if Zhang Yiming had the final say.

It is such a pleasure to meet such an investor.

Zhang Yiming laughed happily and said, "Brother Luo, do you have time tomorrow afternoon? I will take you to meet the vice president of Haina Asia."

"No need."

Luo Yang said without even looking up: "I don't know what to say when we meet, you guys make the decision."

The vice president of Haina Asia is not as good as lamb rolled in sesame paste.

Zhang Yiming was not dissatisfied with being rejected so straightforwardly. Instead, he smiled and said, "I called you to come to the capital to discuss financing. You can't take a flight for several hours and then drive for more than two hours just to have a shabu-shabu hotpot?"

"You know what, I've also tried copper pot mutton hotpots like this in Shanghai, but they just don't taste as good as the ones in the capital."

Luo Yang picked up the mutton wrapped in sesame paste and gestured, "I like this one."

Zhang Yiming: “.”

Guo Jichun: “.”

"There is one other thing, though. If I can connect them, this trip to the capital won't be in vain."

After eating about 80% full, Luo Yang finally put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhang Yiming and said, "Are there any financing institutions or angel investors of Toutiao who are familiar with the film, television and entertainment industry? If so, you can introduce them to me!"

"Film and TV entertainment industry?"

Zhang Yiming was stunned for a moment: "Brother Luo, you want to invest in film and television production?"

"I own a film and television company in Shanghai. I have participated in the investment of two big screen movies and two TV series. I also invested in a movie. It was just finished yesterday and is scheduled to be screened during the National Day holiday."

"I didn't expect Mr. Luo to have made achievements in film and television entertainment."

Guo Jichun's eyes flickered repeatedly: "In the future development of Toutiao, it will definitely be linked to the film and entertainment industry. Even in the construction of the ecosystem, the support of film and television stars and film and television works is indispensable. As a shareholder of the company, Mr. Luo will facilitate future cooperation."

The film, television and entertainment sector belongs to the industry's ecological chain, which is reflected on the TikTok platform and is the short video industry that everyone later became familiar with.

The reason why this industry has grown and prospered is that they never go it alone.

It is true that anyone can shoot short videos with just a mobile phone. However, a short video is produced in the form of high-quality content, and merchants use high-quality content to generate user stickiness and user conversion. Behind this is the intersection of multiple industries.

Taking beauty as an example, in addition to Douyin itself, it also involves OEM/DEM, brands, agents, terminals, Internet celebrity incubators, Internet companies, film and television companies, advertising companies, etc.

These surrounding related industries constitute a complete ecological chain, which is one of the reasons why Douyin became so powerful.

In Guo Jichun's view, Luo Yang's film and television industry has what they need.

It may still be just a feeling now, given that some ideas derived from short video content have not yet reached the level of short video content.

This alone is enough to show how outstanding Guo Jichun is.

Of course, in addition to the industry ecological chain, there is also a personal ecological chain.

In the era of mobile Internet, especially after 2017, Tik Tok became popular.

When we talk about a person's identity, we look at the label attached to him, which is a very popular term nowadays: slash youth. A more commercial term is personal IP or personality.

Whether you have commercial value and whether you can drive sales depends on how many fans your personal IP can attract and how many passers-by fans you can attract to have a good impression of you.

Although the number of consumption by passers-by fans is not high, the base is very large. Even if they only consume once a year, their sales contribution cannot be ignored.

The Douyin platform has been committed to helping users build their own personal ecosystems to promote the platform's stickiness to users.

Another thing is the e-commerce ecosystem.

With the rapid development of social media, TikTok has become one of the short video platforms with the largest number of users and the highest activity in the world. However, TikTok is not just an entertainment and social platform, it is also gradually emerging as a powerful e-commerce ecosystem.

In this e-commerce ecosystem, there are many platforms that can help merchants achieve sales and promotion on Douyin.

The three major ecological chains build the diversity and richness of the content on the Douyin platform, allowing various industries to find business opportunities in it, making the platform and merchants complement and achieve each other.

A hotpot meal and a few simple descriptions can immediately remind you of the development of your own business.

This is how top talent thinks.

They have a clear path for the company's future development in their minds, and they can immediately make the connection in any situation as long as information related to this aspect appears.

Luo Yang's men are lacking such a general.

"Mr. Guo, please forgive me for making a fool of myself."

Luo Yang admired such talents very much, so he replied in a modest tone: "My film and television company is not large. If I want to develop and expand it further, it is not only a matter of investing money, but also requires support from other resources."

"If we talk about the richness of film and television resources, it has to be the capital."

Zhang Yiming has been in the capital's circle for quite some time, so he naturally understands this.

So he thought about it and said, "Then I'll call them tomorrow and ask who has connections and resources in this area, and then I'll introduce you to them."

"No matter if it succeeds or not, I'm here to thank you, brother!"

Luo Yang expressed his gratitude by drinking tea instead of wine.

"By the way, Brother Luo, you can't just run back to the Magic City without caring about anything."

Zhang Yiming brought the topic back: "This financing meeting will be held on Monday at the company headquarters. As one of the shareholders, you must attend, and your signature will be required for any subsequent changes in equity."

"Yes, Mr. Luo, as the major shareholder of our company, needs to go to the headquarters to check out the gate."

Guo Jichun smiled and said, "Especially the other executives in the company, they have admired Mr. Luo for a long time and they all want to meet you!"

Zhang Yiming's words are true, and Guo Jichun's words are just for listening.

"Brother, can you finish it on Monday?"

Luo Yang frowned slightly and said, "There is an important matter waiting to be dealt with in the Magic City. I have booked a flight at around 6pm, so I have to rush back that night."

"No problem, no problem."

Guo Jichun replied with a smile: "One morning is enough."

For Zhang Yiming and his team, the less attention Luo Yang pays, the better it is.

(End of this chapter)