(PS: Chapter 504 has been lifted, everyone go back and subscribe to pull the data, it's a little hurt to block it like this)

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An hour later, Cao Yi came to Toutiao's office address and learned that a VC had come to the door in person, and Wang Qiong, the general manager of Toutiao's angel investor Haina Asia, was very surprised.

This is very rare, the capital market was not very optimistic about the headlines in the early days, this year Bluestar Technology and Ali have extended an olive branch, and the founder Zhang Yiming and arrogantly refused.

In the reception room, Zhang Yiming, the founder of Toutiao, Wang Qiong, an angel investor of Toutiao, and Cao Yi, who came to visit, gathered together.

"To be honest, I actually can't understand the model of Toutiao, and the reason why I'm interested is because of the favor of Bluestar Technology." Cao Yi said.

These words made Zhang Yiming dumbfounded, it has indeed become different recently, because of Bluestar Technology, suddenly there are many VCs who take the initiative to call for consultation, no, there are already VCs who come to visit.

The words Bluestar Technology seem to have a peculiar magic.

Cao Yi said: "But the real problem is that the entire information market has basically been carved up, and the news clients such as Net, Soarc, Tengxun, and Phoenix have covered almost all users." As an investor, I would like to ask: there is already a portal. Both Netsun and Soarc claim to have 200 million users. In addition, there are fresh fruits, no search, ZAKER and the like, is there any room for your headlines? ”

Cao Yi added: "As for how to make money with this product, commercialization and the like, the current situation of Toutiao can't talk about that step, as an investor, we are only discussing whether this market can still accommodate a new information client, the product is good?" But the market has been carved up. ”

Zhang Yiming said succinctly: "Toutiao is a slow-heating product. ”

At this time, Ms. Wang Qiong also spoke: "I remember that last year I went out with Yiming to show our products to others, and everyone thought that the technology was good, but how much does technology have to do with success? The existing portals do not use this technology, and they all meet the needs of users very well, so they will question, is the value and benefits brought by this technology to users? ”

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Yiming said frankly: "We can't answer these questions immediately, we can only rely on the follow-up numbers to speak." ”

As the exchange continued to advance, Wang Qiong began to introduce the past development of Toutiao to Cao Yi.

"In October last year, Yiming went out for a spin with the product, and it was really not smooth. At that time, we judged that smartphone shipments would continue to increase this year, or even surpass last year, so we must seize this opportunity. So at the end of last year, Haina Asia invested an additional $1 million in Toutiao's A+ round and provided a $1 million bridge loan, which was to make Toutiao have enough time to grow bigger and the data more convincing. ”

Hearing this, Cao Yi asked concisely: "How is the current data?" ”

Zhang Yiming: "As of March, Toutiao has 3 million daily active data, and it has been steadily increasing. ”

Wang Qiong, who was sitting next to her, joked to herself: "In the past days, I relied on brushing my face and brushing at least 20 friends in the investment industry to meet with them and introduce Yiming's products. But after walking in a circle, no one is optimistic about the headlines. Recently, there are one or two companies that are willing to invest because of Bluestar Technology, but the offer is too low and does not meet our expectations. ”

In fact, what makes Zhang Yiming even more frustrated now is that the current capital market understands him and Toutiao is Bluestar Technology, but it is precisely what he is unwilling to accept, because he does not want to be the little brother under the command of any giant.

On the other hand, it actually frightened Zhang Yiming, Toutiao's technology is an intelligent recommendation engine, and the intelligence of this piece of Blue Star Technology is undoubtedly the most slippery one, or the Cote d'Azur, anyway, Luo Sheng is now the number one AI player.

Now that he has rejected Bluestar Technology, Zhang Yiming knows very well that once Bluestar Technology really makes a force, the probability of Toutiao wanting to stand out in the competition is almost zero.

Not only will his dream of becoming the world's largest content creation platform come to naught, but he also feels sorry for Haina, an investor, because Toutiao is the only angel project of Haina and has participated in the entire process of Toutiao from 0 to 1.

Cao Yi looked at Zhang Yiming and said in an orderly manner: "In today's Internet entrepreneurship circle, 'burning money' seems to be a problem that every startup company encounters every day. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Yiming thought for a moment before answering: "If the overall efficiency of your system is much higher than that of your opponent, in fact, by simply burning money, the competitiveness it can generate is very small." For example, if the conversion of two cars from fuel combustion to power is several times different, then if it only relies on burning oil, in fact, the larger the scale, the greater the loss, so whether it burns money or not, it should be under the premise of this efficiency. ”

Cao Yi continued to ask: "We must face up to a very realistic problem, in the competition, no matter what, the LAT triumvirate is a topic that cannot be bypassed, and they may face a choice, which queue should they stand in, this is already a choice question that everyone in the Internet entrepreneurship circle has to face, has Toutiao ever thought about this?" ”

Zhang Yiming replied without hesitation: "Thinking is to try not to stand in line." ”

Cao Yi looked at him: "What you said seems to be trying not to stand in line." ”

Zhang Yiming: "Speak realistically. Maybe we have to use Luo Sheng's AI technology, and there is no doubt about the technical potential of Bluestar Technology. ”

Cao Yi smiled: "Frankly speaking, I appreciate your kind of reality very much, but if you stand in line, what impact will it have on the development of Toutiao?" ”

Zhang Yiming replied: "Entering the new year, the two giants of Bluestar Technology and Ali are fighting around the payment market, and the whole industry is in a hurry, because the giants are guarding against each other and entering each other's fields, if you stand in line, the competition may be more intense, which is very likely." I think the main thing is this, we didn't say that we absolutely can't stand in line, or can't stand in line, I think if there is a chance to be relatively independent and bigger, it may be more meaningful. ”

After a pause, Zhang Yiming added: "Because in fact, the current pattern of the domestic Internet has been relatively long, more than ten years, if there can be new companies and emerging platforms, I think this itself is also a good demonstration." ”

Cao Yi suddenly laughed and said: "Mr. Zhang's approach is very direct, and the industry has also seen it, at the beginning of the month, there were rumors that Bluestar Technology was going to take a stake in the headlines, and you directly said, don't come, I still want to do it alone." Is this true for Bluestar Technology, for Alibaba, and for all giants? ”

Zhang Yiming looked at Cao Yi with a serious expression and replied: "When I saw the news at the time, a colleague came to ask me, saying that I joined Toutiao not to become an employee of Bluestar Technology, maybe he is a former employee of Bluestar Technology I don't know, he said that I am not here to become an employee of Bluestar Technology, so I responded to him that in fact, I did not create Toutiao to become an employee of Bluestar Technology." But this is not to say that we have any problems cooperating with Bluestar Technology or competing, but I want to express that we want to be able to become a platform-level company with great value to the society, so this statement has no specific meaning. ”

Cao Yi: "It's not that it's boring for others to become shareholder, but how boring it is for not being able to grow up by yourself?" ”

Zhang Yiming nodded: "Yes, the main thing I want to express to employees or the industry is that Toutiao still has its own ambitions." ”

This answer is almost the same as the original response to Pang Lei, but Cao Yi didn't know this, and he didn't know that his big boss behind the scenes was actually the ultimate boss of Bluestar Technology.

Cao Yikan asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, are you worried that your attitude or expression will make any of Bluestar Technology and Ali unhappy?" ”

Hearing such a question, Zhang Yiming couldn't help touching the bridge of his nose, lowered his eyebrows and thought for a while, and said with a self-mocking smile: "I think they are all very smart, whether it is Mr. Luo or Mr. Ma, they are both great entrepreneurs with a big picture in mind, and they shouldn't be angry because of this." ”

Zhang Yiming's story has been told for almost forty or fifty minutes, and Cao Yi feels that it is almost, on the one hand, he really wants to listen to the story told by the founder, and on the other hand, what Cao Yi did not say is that his boss clearly gave the task to invest in Toutiao and invest in Zhang Yiming.

It's just that as a qualified and excellent VC, this sense of urgent need has not been exposed throughout the whole process.

Cao Yi smiled: "Before I met you, I was skeptical, but with your communication, I began to believe that Mr. Zhang can make a company." ”

Zhang Yiming has a very holistic view in the process of telling the story, not eager for quick success, conceited but not proud, very studious, and is closer to being able to do big things than other founders.

Wang Qiong couldn't help but be overjoyed when she heard Cao Yi's words, this VC has a play.

Zhang Yiming smiled modestly and politely and said goodbye, but he didn't say anything about the award.

Cao Yi really began to appreciate him, and also admired the boss of the headquarters for his insight, the potential of the startup almost depends on the founder, and then said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, on behalf of Anaheim Asia Technology Venture Capital Fund, I hope to lead the B round of financing of your company, I brought 70 million US dollars this time, and I want to hand it over to you." ”

Zhang Yiming: "......"

Wang Qiong: "......"

Hearing the figure of 70 million US dollars, it really scared the two of them, and they didn't have time to understand the so-called Anaheim Technology Venture Capital Fund, what is the investment background, what is the strength, etc.

But as soon as these words came out, it was 70 million US dollars to shake the face, not to mention anything else, at least it proves that this North American venture capital institution is not bad for money.

Zhang Yiming suddenly felt that even if he didn't rely on the giants, Toutiao was about to usher in a new dawn.

Chinese Net