In August 1999, Ma Teng, the founder and chief executive officer of Tengxun Company, received two pieces of news brought to him by partners Zhang Dong and Chen Bin, one good news and one bad news.

The good news brought by CTO Zhang Dong is that only nine months after the release of OICQ in November last year, the number of registered users of OICQ has exceeded the one million mark! From now on, except for some special numbers reserved in advance, the six-digit OICQ number is no longer available, and the number will be released from the seven-digit number. Their achievements have left their competitors, CICQ, PICQ and Internet Elves far behind, and they are currently outstanding.

However, the chief administrative officer, CAO Chen Bin, brought bad news, the company's accounts are about to bottom, and there are only 10,000 yuan left.

10,000 yuan in cash is not enough to pay five partners a month's salary. If no new money comes in, the company will face bankruptcy.

This two good and bad news made Ma Teng experience a fire and ice, and immediately called the other two entrepreneurial veterans, CIO Li Tang and COO Li Xiaobo, into the office to discuss countermeasures together.

The small office was smoky, the atmosphere was solemn, and the five Tengxun five tiger generals who were once ambitious, but now anxious, thought about it for a long time, and finally thought of only two ways:

1. Increase capital and reduce salary!

2, find a next home for Tengxun to take over, sell a sum of money, everyone will divide the money and leave, so that they can get together and disperse!

Several young people have not graduated from college for a few years, except for Ma Teng's family, which is relatively rich. The other four didn't save a few dollars. Although Ma Teng is a rich second generation, his father is an executive of a listed company, and his family drives a rare Mercedes-Benz car. But in 1995, Ma Teng's father gave his son 50,000 yuan for him to establish Ponysoft. Ponysoft is a small website similar to BBS. This small website, except for Ma Teng to meet a group of Internet people, did not find a penny of money. In 1998, Ma Teng's father gave his son more than 200,000 yuan for him and Zhang Dong to establish SZ Tengxun Computer System Co., Ltd., during which three partners were successively absorbed. The five young men have been tinkering with it for almost a year, and they don't see any prospects for making a profit at the moment. Ma Teng's father was rich though. But it is impossible to give the silver to his son again and again.

However, the money that should have been invested has already been invested, and the five partners are also difficult to ride. After some painful discussions, it was unanimously decided to increase the share capital from the initial 500,000 to 1 million. Of course, only Ma Teng, a major shareholder with 47.5% of the shares, is the majority, and the rest are small. A few people gritted their teeth and paid a sum of money. Get through the difficulties in front of you first. At the same time, the five also decided to cut their own salaries. The salaries of the two founders, Ma Teng and Zhang Dong, were reduced from 5,000 to 2,500 per month, and the three partners, Li Xiaobo, Li Tang and Chen Bin, were reduced from 2,500 to 1,250, and everyone cut them in half. 1,250 yuan in the Shenzhen market in 1999, the rent and transportation expenses were divided, and the rest was only enough to fill the stomach.

The increase in capital and salary reduction is just a "reprieve" for Tengxun Company, which does not see any profit prospects. If you want to be completely liberated, you should be born as soon as possible. I have to find a pick-up man. As a result, the job of finding a buyer was also launched at the same time. Chief Executive Officer Ma Teng and COO Li Xiaobo began their difficult journey to sell Tengxun in the following month.

The first thing they found was the landlord of Tengxun Company, Shenzhen SEG Group. Ma Teng and Li Xiaobo made an appointment with Zhang Ao, deputy general manager of SEG Electronics, three times in a row, and listened to Ma Teng and Li Xiaobo's descriptions of their company's incomparably bright future prospects.

The lobbying of the landlord SEG Electronics ended in vain.

The second buyer that Tengxun thought of was Li Xiaobo's old employer, Guangzhou Telecom.

Li Xiaobo found Ding Haoqi, a senior manager at the 21CN division of Guangzhou Telecom. Ma Teng and Li Xiaobo trembled in front of Ding Haoqi, spitting and spitting, and there were charts and data, listing the OICQ of Tengxun Company from the beginning of last year's launch to the current crazy growth rate, the future potential is unlimited, now a dig, the future will definitely be a golden doll, a cash cow, balabala. However, Ding Haoqi's answer was similar to Zhang Ao's:

"Your company's OICQ does seem to be a good growth project right now, hehe, but to put it mildly, I am afraid that no one in the world knows how to make money with it. We spend a lot of money to buy a company that doesn't even know how to make money, what are we buying it for?"

Tengxun's chief consul and chief operating officer got a "hehe" here at Guangzhou Telecom.

After that, the two went north non-stop, and found the largest paging enterprise in North China, "Zhongbei Paging Group", through an acquaintance Ma Ning. Ma Ning introduced Ma Zeng and the others to the group's top management, and instigated the boss to buy OICQ, a "magical little thing". Ma Zeng and the others cheered up in front of the senior management of the Zhongbei Paging Group, and they were sharp again. The two high-level executives listened to Ma Teng and Li Xiaobo's speeches with a smile, and then said with a smile:

"Mr. Ma, Mr. Li, thank you for telling us a joke. But frankly, this joke between you two is not that funny. ”

Ma Teng and Li Xiaobo worked tirelessly and took dozens of hours on the green train to the imperial capital, but they only "told a joke".

Over the next week or two, the two looked for a few more companies, and then, almost all of the buyers they approached couldn't understand the value of the company's technology and intangible assets. There is an intention to acquire, but it is proposed that it can only be acquired according to the company's number of computers, servers, tables, chairs and benches and other physical property, and the company's offer, the highest one, is only 600,000, and there is a lot of gap between the bottom line of several partners of 1 million.

Chen Bin, one of the five tiger generals, was born in a financial family, and after seeing that the consul and the operation officer had been running for more than half a month, and the meat on his body had lost a few catties, and he had not run out of fame, he decided to go out in person and find a bank loan. The officer in charge of credit asked him what he could pledge. Chen Bin said that there are computers and servers. The director asked again, is the computer new or old? Chen Bin told the truth, old. The director smiled, pointed to the pawn shop across the street, and said, you are probably in the wrong place, and the one opposite may be more suitable for your company.

A month passed, and several partners ran around and did not sell the company. A month ago, it was said that the share capital would be increased to one million, but for a while, a few young people who have worked for a few years can not get it. At the beginning, the five of them invested 500,000 yuan together, and they were already in ruin, and they had to dig out their old bottoms, and now they want to take out 500,000 yuan, how can they get it?

Helpless, the cash flow on the company's account is about to be cut off, and the company's survival is at hand, no matter how embarrassed they are, a few young partners have to pull down their faces and cheekily go to their relatives and friends to borrow. People who know a little bit in the Shenzhen market have been borrowed by a few people. moved around, and finally scraped together another 50,000 yuan and transferred it to the company's account. When borrowing money, several people once said whether they could convert the loan into Tengxun's shares as a countervail, and all of them directly or tactfully refused. One of them generously said directly, if your company really goes bankrupt in the end, you don't want to pay back the money, but your company's stocks, forget it, you should keep it for yourself.

Time flies, and in an instant, it is the end of September, the beginning of October. The number of registered users of OICQ has increased exponentially every month, and during this time, the company has purchased a server and hosted it in the telecommunications office to cope with the expanding data processing demand. As soon as the server was bought, several people had been reduced to the minimum, and as soon as the wages of the landlord were paid, the landlord's rent was divided, and the 50,000 yuan that the five partners begged their father for last month was a little stretched, and there was not much left.

Faced with the dilemma that the company wanted to sell but could not sell it, Li Xiaobo, the company's chief operating officer, said to several partners: "Lao Ma and I used to look for enterprises and individuals in our circle, the information industry. These people, including us, can't see the future clearly, including the grandfather of instant messaging, and the ICQ in the United States has also been burning money and can't find a profit model. Therefore, we can't raise money in the circle, these people, they are old and fine, and they don't see rabbits and eagles. We should go to some more crazy people, VCs who don't pay attention to immediate interests, only focus on future potential, and arbitrage in the capital market through listing or secondary sales, Venture Capital, that is, venture capital! Yes, we should be like ICQ, go to venture capital and ask for money!" Li Xiaobo clenched his fists and pounded the coffee table in front of him, and said fiercely.

Ma Teng, Zhang Dong, Li Tang and Chen Bin, you look at me, I look at you. Ma Teng was about to nod, when he suddenly heard someone shouting outside:

"Is Mr. Ma here? May I ask Ma Teng, is Mr. Ma here?"

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Note: The content of this chapter,Half of it comes from Du Niang,A job comes from the old blind fabrication,If what Du Niang said is not bad,Uh,The situation of the Tencent empire in October 1999,That's basically it......

The COO is played by the book friend "Li Xiaobo".

The chief administrative officer, CAO is played by the book friend "Chen Bin".

The CIO is played by the book friend "Li Tang".

Zhang Ao is played by the book friend "Gao Dawei violently shook the Three Realms (Mr. Zhang)".

Ma Ning is played by the book friend "Happy Big Potato".

Ding Haoqi is decorated by the book friend "Pepsi KL". (To be continued.) )