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

Chapter 773 The Gradually Perfecting Concept

Throughout the morning, not only did Luo Yang and Vic Cohen have a pleasant conversation, but the project presentation in the conference room also achieved excellent results.

After the two sides reunited, Kelvin Martin and Annie McKinney learned that Luo Yang had reached a series of cooperation agreements with the president and was preparing to hold a signing ceremony in the afternoon to formalize the agreed matters into a contract.

After having lunch at IDG headquarters, the group returned to their hotel for a midday rest.

"Boss, I notified the legal team before dinner, and they are on their way from New York."

On the way back to the hotel, Wen Wan, who was sitting in the front seat of the van, reported to Luo Yang: "We expect to arrive at IDG headquarters before 1:30 pm, which will not affect the signing ceremony that starts at 2 pm."

"Well, I see."

Luo Yang nodded: "Nobody expected that we could finalize the cooperation today."

Indeed, he wasn't the only one who thought so.

Based on the discussions before departure, even if a cooperation agreement is reached with IDG, it is estimated that it will take several days, and there is even a possibility that the agreement will not be reached. Everyone has made follow-up preparations for this.

So after returning to the hotel, Song Wan and Xiao Wei did not go back to their own rooms, but followed Luo Yang to his suite.

"President Luo, I thought this afternoon would be very long, and that we might have to go through three or four tough negotiations before we could achieve anything."

Song Wan exclaimed to Luo Yang with great admiration, "I never expected that you could get the president of IDG and finalize the cooperation agreement in just one morning—no, no, only two or three hours. I'm very curious now, can you reveal the details of the cooperation?"

At this moment, not only Song Wan, but also Xiao Wei and several others were staring at Luo Yang with curious expressions.

"What was the reaction of Kelvin Martin and Annie McKinney when you were explaining the sharing economy to them in the meeting room?"

Instead of revealing the contents of the cooperation agreement, Luo Yang asked about what happened in the conference room after he left.

"They are very interested."

Song Wan replied truthfully: "They asked more than a dozen questions in this part alone. What was supposed to be a half-hour PPT presentation ended up taking more than an hour because of this concept."

“Actually, while you were away, Kelvin Martin and Annie McKinn were already in the conference room talking to us about the collaboration.”

Xiao Wei added from the side, "Of course, no specific details were discussed. We only talked about the intention to cooperate, the future development direction of the market, and the future prospects of the project. But from their expressions, we could tell that IDG is inclined to cooperate with us to develop the US and European markets. It's just that we didn't discuss the cooperation methods or the amount of investment."

"Ultimately, it's our project that's more attractive."

Luo Yang smiled and said, "Even if Vic Cohen and I didn't reach an agreement this morning, it could only be due to disagreements on certain details. You'll need to discuss those details yourselves further later."

“You and Vic Cohen are both big bosses, so you can make decisions on many things with a single word, which makes it quick to talk things over.”

Song Wan smiled and said, "Unlike our subordinates who negotiate, we have to maneuver within your authorized scope, like dancing in shackles—we can't go fast even if we want to."

Indeed, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what was said.

In project cooperation negotiations like these, the terms of cooperation are often not something subordinates can decide on the spot.

Take the issue of project valuation, for example. It can fluctuate by tens of millions of yuan at a time, and even Song Wan wouldn't dare to make a promise easily.

For example, when it comes to choosing between the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets, even IDG's Vice President Kelvin Martin wouldn't dare to simply hand the choice to Luo Yang like Vic Cohen did. Instead, he would inevitably have to engage in a fierce competition with Song Wan, haggling over every little detail.

Therefore, Luo Yang's negotiations were completed in just a few hours, not because he was more capable than Song Wan or Kelvin Martin, but because his position and the power he held determined the speed of the negotiations.

"You need to learn to gauge the appropriate level of appropriateness."

Luo Yang replied to Song Wan, "I'll be joining Guobao Film & Television next year. At that time, the company will have two or three hundred million yuan in its accounts. I'll have to make my own decisions about what kind of scripts to acquire, which artists to sign, or even which film and television dramas to invest in."

At this point, he turned his gaze to Xiao Wei.

"You too, once President Song hands over the CEO position to you, you need to learn how to make decisions."

Luo Yang said very seriously, "In the future, there will be more than a dozen independent companies spun off from the group. I don't have the energy to pay attention to every little thing. Therefore, a large part of the decision-making power will be appropriately delegated according to your abilities. Don't always rely on me."

"President Luo is quite clear on this point."

Song Wan remarked with deep feeling, "Take Luo Shengtang as an example. President An is very capable, so President Luo basically doesn't interfere with the company's operations and management, only providing some guidance on strategic development."

Xiao Wei nodded thoughtfully.

But what they talked about next made her panic.

“Vic Cohen and I have roughly finalized the details of our cooperation. The agreement to be signed this afternoon is still quite rough. You and Xiao Wei will need to follow up on some of the subsequent negotiations.”

The topic was quickly brought back to the forefront within minutes.

Luo Yang began to reveal the contents of the cooperation agreement to Song Wan and Xiao Wei: "Regarding the shared bicycle company Huaxia, IDG will participate in the second round of financing and take 5% of the equity. This is what I negotiated with Mr. Shen of Sequoia Capital. Sequoia Capital will give up this part of the equity."

This clause was not unexpected for Song Wan and Xiao Wei, because Luo Yang had already discussed it back in China.

"We will first establish a company in the United States, around March or April next year. Whether it is earlier or later depends on the development of our domestic market. If the first batch of bike operations in first-tier cities achieves good results, we will come to the United States to develop the market sooner."

Luo Yang thought for a moment and said, "Of course, perhaps it can be earlier, because when I talked to Vic Cohen, I mentioned that we would start in the United States, beginning on campuses. We already have quite mature experience in this area."

"Mr. Luo, we need to leverage IDG's resources for campus promotion in the US, right?"

Song Wan smiled and said, "Edifier Technology Company is an outsider here, completely clueless."

Don't naively assume that the United States is a free market. It also values ​​interpersonal relationships and connections. If shared bikes want to enter American universities or high schools, without the help of resources, the time, energy, and money spent on market operation and promotion will be a huge cost.

When Song Wan Gang said this, she wasn't showing off her understanding of the US market, but rather subtly probing and inquiring, because Edifier Technology's shortcomings in this area would definitely require concessions in the cooperation.

If she were negotiating with Kelvin Martin, he would definitely seize on this point to force Edifier Technology to make concessions.

"yes."

Luo Yang understood the underlying meaning in Song Wan's words, so he sighed and said, "After the company is established in the United States, IDG and Sequoia Capital will not make a one-time investment. They will take part in the angel round, and then invest part in the Series A and Series B rounds respectively."

"IDG is very shrewd. They are probably trying to attract the attention of US investment institutions to the bike-sharing project."

Song Wan immediately saw through IDG's purpose in doing this.

"What was the valuation IDG gave us in the angel round?" Xiao Wei's concerns differed from Song Wan's.

"It's alright. The angel round valued us at 2000 million US dollars, and we planned to reach a valuation of 1 million US dollars in the Series A round."

These details will be revealed in the cooperation agreement this afternoon. In addition, Song Wan and Xiao Wei are both senior executives of Edifier Technology, not to mention Wen Wan and Sun Wei, so Luo Yang has no need to hide anything.

"IDG certainly has big ambitions."

After listening to Luo Yang's disclosure, Song Wan muttered, "They are taking on equity in the bike-sharing project in batches in order to attract more attention from US domestic investment institutions. Perhaps even before the B round, several investment institutions will come to their attention during the A round of financing, and the project valuation may even be further increased."

Luo Yang simply nodded without saying anything more.

Keep in mind that this is the location of IDG's headquarters, and the hotel is not far away.

Even assuming the worst, the other party might have even installed a bugging device in the hotel room. If Luo Yang were to bluntly tell his subordinates that he was not optimistic about the project in the first place and planned to clear out all his shares during the C or D round, what would Vic Cohen think?
Of course, because of the idea of ​​a registered user ecosystem, Luo Yang felt that the shared bicycle project was still worth pursuing, but no one had 100% confidence in its success, and the possibility of it failing was still quite significant.

Never underestimate those elites. Who can be sure that the founding team of Mobike Technology didn't think of doing this?
Perhaps they've already tried it and found that this path is blocked.

Luo Yang simply didn't know this information.

Therefore, it's best to keep something in reserve.

"That's how it's handled in Europe too."

Luo Yang didn't let Song Wan continue her divergent thinking, because this woman knew a little about his attitude towards the shared bicycle project, and if he let her continue, who knew what scary things she might say.

He continued, "Besides the European and American markets, Vic Cohen and I also discussed the market division in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Considering the power of the domestic conglomerates in East Asia, even if our company expanded into the market, we wouldn't be able to hold onto it because external factors were too fatal. So we ceded it to IDG. I only acted as the nominal founder, holding 10% of the shares, and did not participate in the specific operations and management."

"The Southeast Asian market has been given to us?"

Song Wan exclaimed in surprise, "Apart from a very few major cities where it might work, I think the bike-sharing model is not suitable for other parts of Southeast Asia."

It's still 2012. Vietnam is like our country in the 1990s. Putting aside everything else, just in terms of transportation, even in their big cities, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, motorcycles and bicycles are everywhere.

How can bike-sharing be promoted in a city like this?

Luo Yang smiled but didn't say anything.

In the 1990s, bike sharing was not allowed to be promoted in China, but more than a decade later, Edifier Technology was founded in China.

Although Southeast Asian countries cannot develop at the same pace as our country, there is still a high possibility that one or two major cities will develop first.

Besides, is what Luo Yang really looking for the promotion of shared bicycles?
What he might want is just registered users. If shared bikes don't work now, how about shared electric bikes later?

There are always more solutions than problems. Just like the story of the shoe seller in Africa, changing your perspective can open up new avenues of thought.

By this point in the conversation, Song Wan and Xiao Wei had a general understanding of the contents of the cooperation agreement that Luo Yang and Vic Cohen had reached.

Of course, there's a lot of psychological warfare involved, which they wouldn't know.

They were even less clear about Luo Yang's plans for the future.

"Boss, this result isn't bad for Edifier Technology; in fact, you could say we've gotten a slight advantage."

Xiao Wei recalled what Luo Yang had just revealed and then summarized, "In the subsequent detailed negotiations, could we make some concessions to sign the complete cooperation agreement as soon as possible?"

In her opinion, Edifier Technology still got some benefits.

The fact that such an outcome was achieved in the cooperation between Europe and the United States means that the contract should have been signed sooner rather than later, otherwise things might change.

"No compromises need to be made on the details."

Luo Yang smiled and said, "IDG is very keen on cooperating on this project, so it's reasonable for them to make some concessions."

Xiao Wei: "."

"Our CEO Luo is at Versailles again, huh?"

Seeing that Luo Yang was in a good mood, Song Wan joked, "But that makes sense. President Luo's eloquence has always been powerful. Back when he was discussing bike-sharing financing with Shen Nanpeng at the Yintao Golf Course, he didn't even talk about the project's operating model. He just got Shen to invest in him personally, which resulted in a valuation of 4000 million!"

Wen Wan and the others laughed, and then asked Song Wan about the scene at that time.

"What do you know?"

Luo Yang pursed his lips and said, "Besides the PPT, I provided another idea. That idea could even be described as a stroke of genius. Without this idea, Vic Cohen wouldn't have made the decision to cooperate with us so easily and quickly."

"Thoughts beyond the PPT content?"

Upon hearing this, Song Wan immediately stopped talking to Wen Wan and the others, and turned to Luo Yang, saying, "Improvisation?"

"That's right"

Luo Yang clicked his tongue and said, "This idea can't be said to have come out of thin air. It should be a combination of some successful experiences from Tencent and Apple, plus the burst of Internet thinking."

"Mr. Luo, what exactly is the idea?"

Song Wan's eyes lit up immediately, eager to know what was going on.

"Ecosystem!"

"Ecosystem?"

"Yes, ecosystem, that's what Apple is doing right now."

After a pause, Luo Yang explained, "Apple's ecosystem is a comprehensive product and service system created by Apple Inc.

"Mr. Luo, what do you mean?"

Song Wan looked at Luo Yang in shock: "You plan to use the bike-sharing project to build an ecosystem?"

(End of this chapter)