Silicon Valley is the kingdom of today's electronics industry and computer industry, where countless high-tech companies that have influenced the world have been born and born, and it is also a paradise for countless related practitioners and entrepreneurs.

Of course, for some, it's hell too.

In addition to the electronics industry and the computer industry, Silicon Valley is most famous for investment companies, which are undoubtedly the biggest boon for entrepreneurs.

Tomding is a salesman who has just joined Century Investment, in fact, he doesn't like this job very much, his favorite job is related to games or movies, and his previous occupation was a screenwriter in Hollywood.

"Boss, you have to believe me, Instagarm is a software, just like "Plants vs. Zombies", it is absolutely genius and fully worth our investment."

The report that had been produced in a hurry had already been handed over to his boss by Tom Ding.

When his boss looked through the report, Tomding introduced: "I have been following this company since the launch of Plants vs. Zombies, and I have to say that the creator of this little game is a genius. And this time, their new product Instagarm is even more incredible, with more than 5 million registered users in just 24 hours after it was launched......

When he heard about 24 hours and 5 million registered users, Tomding's boss sat up straight, and I believe that any investment company in the world will attach great importance to this kind of achievement.

"How did they get so many registered users? Does the app charge a fee? ”

Tomding's boss raised two very critical issues, for software in the conventional sense, the acquisition of registered users means that users can be retained, and the charging of no fees means that they can obtain benefits.

Still a little emotional, Thomding replied, "Their Plants vs. Zombies has a limited number of levels, and it took me a week to complete all of them. ”

Actually, Tomding lied, and it only took him two days to complete all the levels of Plants vs. Zombies. Moreover, it was done during off-hours. However, when dealing with his boss, it is naturally impossible to answer so directly, otherwise, the boss will think that Tomding is playing games during work hours.

"This kind of mini-game, after the level is over, the playability is greatly reduced. Two days ago, "Plants vs. Zombies" pushed an advertisement, which will launch a special edition update at 12 noon yesterday, this update is free, but the premise is to download and register the Instagarm software. ”

When the boss heard this, he also saw the relevant content in the report.

"Social apps? Share a photo? ”

"Yes, it's a free trial that allows users to beautify their photos and share them among users on Instagram, as well as share them on social networking sites like Facebook with one click," Tomding explains. ”

Hearing this, Tomding's boss was much less interested in this software, and the lack of charge was only one of the reasons, and the most important reason was that this software was a functional software.

However, with the progress of technology and hardware, all functional software will lag behind the times and be eliminated by the market.

"Pseudo social application software, and the way to acquire users is tantamount to spending money to buy users, what kind of loyalty does such a user have?"

"However, being able to have more than 5 million users also proves that the owner of this company has sufficient marketing tools," said Tomding's boss. I authorize you to negotiate financing with the other party, but there are a few preconditions. ”

Despite the drop in interest, Thomding's boss saw the software and the benefits Apple could create for them, so they decided to invest in it.

Thomding got serious and began to follow his boss's orders.

"First, we have to get about 33% of the original equity. Second, the amount of financing we can raise cannot exceed $5 million. Third, the other party must not separate the ownership of Instagram or Plants vs. Zombies from Apple. ”

When Tom Ding heard this, his heart was cold, this financing bottom line, let alone the founder of Apple, even he could not accept it.

Thomding's boss added: "Of course, the $5 million funding floor is not absolute for our first round of exploratory negotiations. When you negotiate with the other party, I will ask the risk control department to evaluate it, and if the evaluation result exceeds 5 million US dollars, we can appropriately increase the financing amount, but you must not show this in front of the other party. ”

Venture capital firms face huge returns as well as huge risks, and in order to reduce their own risks, they often expect to get more equity for the least amount of money.

Because of this sentence added by the boss, Tom Ding breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Boss, you can take a closer look at Apple's revenue last month in the report, although this revenue amount is not announced by Apple, but I roughly guessed it through their downloads and payment ratio." So I think the risk control department will definitely increase the amount of financing this time, and it is a very big increase. ”

Although Thomding's report was improvised, it was dozens of pages long, and in such a short period of time, it was impossible for his superiors to read it, let alone read it in detail.

According to Tom Ding's introduction, the boss turned the report to the page of Apple's revenue estimate, looked at it, and stood up directly from the boss's chair.

"$60 million? Are you kidding me? ”

With a monthly revenue of $60 million, it is naturally not a big company for a powerful company like Century Investment in the United States. But the report begins with a clear statement that the company, called Apple, has only been created for a little over a month.

Tomding liked his boss's surprise and forced a smile and said, "I'm not kidding, and besides, the sales of Plants vs. Zombies haven't stopped, and although the popularity has decreased, they will definitely be able to reap $100 million in cash revenue in the next three months." Boss, they don't have any costs. ”

Tomding's boss frowned, sat down slowly, and said, "In this way, they don't lack funds to run the Instagarm software. ”

Tomding nodded and said, "However, they lack operational channels, as well as future acquisition channels. If they are not willing to be acquired, then they lack access to the market. ”

A software that does not charge for a certain amount of users, when the number of users reaches a certain level, it is natural to find a way to convert the number of users into revenue.

Generally speaking, the easiest way is to package the user and the product together with the capital that can generate profits from it. The second is to operate the product, and then go public to make money.

The most difficult thing is to convert the existing non-paying users into paying users.

After reading the report for a while, Tomding's boss said: "You should contact them first, and wait for the analysis results of the risk control department for the specific investment amount." ”

Thomding nodded, and was about to leave when he heard his boss say, "Thomding, the purpose of my invitation is to let you focus on investment projects that can change the IP." Although you did a good job this time, it didn't fit the company's positioning for you, do you know what I mean? ”

Tomding smiled awkwardly and said, "Actually, my original purpose was to want the IP of the game "Plants vs. Zombies". ”

His boss looked at him and said, "Play less games, and don't forget how you went from being a well-known Hollywood screenwriter to a salesman." ”