What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 399 (Simplified)
The Series B financing of Silicon Carbon Group went smoothly.

The company's R&D is incomprehensible, which presented both positive and negative aspects during this negotiation. Since it is incomprehensible, we dare not easily say what is good or bad about it.

However, institutional shareholders, trusting Yu Xing, have also set their sights on the next round of financing. The financing is now a quarter ahead of the original mid-year plan, and they will need to see a mature prototype vehicle before they can invest again next year.

While the technical parameters are incomprehensible to most, the materials provided by the Silicon Carbon Group include not only the parameters but also a timeline. A prototype vehicle will be available this year, and next year will see various upgrades and optimizations. Furthermore, by the end of next year, efforts are expected to be made to bring the vehicle to market.

If the goal is not achieved by the deadline, no matter what excuses are made, the institutions have sufficient grounds to launch an attack.

The Series B funding round was both easy and difficult. It was easy because the process didn't take long, but difficult because even Xiong Xiaoge expressed a serious stance in person at the meeting, putting considerable pressure on them.

Of course, Yu Xing didn't take this scene seriously when talking about it in private. Lao Xiong was just saying it for show. He had invested so much money in two rounds. Would he really not help his brother out when he encountered a small problem?
Sunk costs, sunk costs, if we don't lend a hand they'll truly sink.

碳硅集团这一轮融资的整体估值是按照15亿美元计算，相较于上一轮的10亿美元涨幅了50%，而红隼、IDG和今日资本都是出资6000万美元，首次进来的启明创投则是投资4500万美元持股3%。

The company’s equity structure is quite clear: the option pool is diluted to 8.075%, Red Falcon holds 12.075%, IDG and Today Capital each hold 7.23%, Qiming Venture Partners holds 3%, Yu Xing’s side is diluted to 58.14%, and other well-known but unnamed internet friends hold a total of 4.25%.

Because the company didn't keep the financing a secret, it quickly became known both inside and outside the company. Internally, everyone was overjoyed and quite excited, knowing that the next steps would not be hindered by funding.

As for the outside...

With the completion of two consecutive rounds of financing by Silicon Carbon Group, the industry seems to have suddenly come to realize that "they are serious" about this electric vehicle project located in Lingang.

From 2011, when Yu Xing first announced his intention to build cars, to 2013, with even prototypes about to be released, media reports still claiming that "Yu Xing is really going to build cars," which seems somewhat absurd and contradictory.

Yu Xing had seen similar comments on the latest trending topics, so he wasn't too surprised.

Behind all this talk of "Are they really going to build it?", "Are they really going to invest in it?", and "The valuation is so high!", lies a single core question: Can it really work?
Or to put it more pessimistically, it really won't work!

Yu Xingneng understands that ultimately, it all comes down to the market.

On March 25, Silicon Carbon Group received a new "gift": the Model S that had been ordered earlier finally arrived in Shanghai from Hong Kong, attracting a large crowd of employees who wanted to see the world's most prestigious electric vehicle.

Yu Xing was unable to experience it immediately because he had to attend a meeting at the silicon carbon data center. He could only ask his secretary to tell him not to dismantle it all at once.

Compared to the bustling atmosphere at Silicon Carbon Group, Silicon Carbon Data Company was much quieter.

Yu Xing convened this meeting to address internal integration. First, he merged "Financial Hotline" into "Latest Hot Topics." Second, he disbanded the "Laugh Bar" team and reassigned staff.

While the user base of the latest trending app has reached 6500 million thanks to the efforts of the pre-installation market, the financial hotline, which was established at the same time, only has 1300 million users. Although this is related to the focus of resource investment, the daily active users and monthly active users of the financial hotline are not good either.

The problem with Xiaoba is similar. Yu Xing is actually a little disappointed that the software failed to unleash its full potential, but with the combined forces of "funding," "pre-installation," and "universal key," he doesn't take this setback too seriously.

As a past entrepreneurial attempt, Zhai Yifei actually had reservations, but... that was all.

Carbon Silicon Data's software matrix once consisted of six programs. After being sold, merged, and dissolved, only three remain: "WiFi Master Key," "Latest Hotspots," and "Sing Karaoke Together." The future of "WiFi Master Key" is no secret among its core executives; ultimately, it will be squeezed dry before finding a buyer.

"I see everyone seems a bit reluctant; their faces don't look too good." After confirming the software's fate, Yu Xing scanned the executives in the conference room, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. "President Zhai, do you remember what our initial direct goal was in creating the software matrix?"

Zhai Yifei recalled the not-so-distant past and replied, "It was about generating traffic and also about cross-promotion with other apps."

Yu Xing nodded and smiled, "Yes, that's the direct goal of the software matrix. It's also to complete the cold start of the 'latest hot topic.' Its current user base exceeds 6500 million. You could say that we've gone from cold to hot, from fragmented to large-scale. What else is there to be reluctant about?"

"Here, I would also like to clarify the development of 'Universal Key'. China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom will definitely increase the speed and reduce the cost of data traffic. 'Universal Key' is just a tool-type app. It is not QQ, WeChat, or Wechat. It is just a tool similar to Xunlei or Sogou Input Method. Users open it, connect, close it, and that's it."

"Don't try to create more content or generate more revenue on 'Master Key'. Doing those things on a tool app is putting the cart before the horse. It has experienced super-fast growth due to the rapid growth of smartphones and the current state of traffic, but that doesn't mean its future aligns with our vision for silicon carbon data."

The boss's words were already very clear.

These words were not only spoken to "veteran" executives like Zhai Yifei and Zhong Zhiling, but also to technical executives who had jumped ship from Baidu, outlining the company's development direction.

Zhong Zhiling had no attachment to "Financial Hotline" and "Laugh Bar". He had actually considered shutting them down, but he always considered the opinions of Zhai Yifei and others. Now, seeing Xing Ge's decisiveness, he felt that he still had to learn from him.

He asked a question that many people had in mind: "Brother Xing, what about 'singing karaoke together'?"

It has been streamlined from version 6 to version 3, and the development of "Let's Sing Karaoke Together" has been lukewarm.

Yu Xing said without hesitation, "'Let's keep karaoke together'. Not only should we keep it, but we should also purchase and accumulate more music copyrights."

Zhai Yifei was somewhat surprised: "President Yu, why is that?"

Yu Xing took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Well, I quite like karaoke."

Laughter filled the meeting room, but the daily and monthly active user ratios of "Let's Sing Together" were indeed stronger than those of "Finance Hotline" and "Laugh Bar".

Zhong Zhiling muttered to himself, "So you like singing 'The Fake Monk,' huh?"

He was actually a little puzzled; responding to questions in a joking manner during meetings was quite different from Xing Ge's style.

But... maybe it's because Silicon Carbon Group is in a good mood after completing its financing?

Zhong Zhiling's slight confusion vanished in an instant. When it was his turn to speak, he emphasized the effectiveness of the algorithm improvements to the latest trending topics. According to the latest data from yesterday, the daily active users of "Latest Trending Topics" reached 1105 million.

With a user base of 6500 million and 1105 million daily active users.

Although Carbon Silicon Data set a daily active user target of 1000 million last year, the final percentage was only around 13% by the end of the year. The current performance of 17% is a significant improvement, and this...

Zhong Zhiling glanced at Zhai Yifei, who was in charge of technology, without making a sound. This obvious promotion actually secured Zhai's position.

When it was Zhai Yifei's turn to speak, he talked about the attempts and improvements to the new algorithm mechanism, and because of the results, he naturally spoke at length.

Zhong Zhiling quietly observed Xing Ge, and whether it was just his imagination or not, he felt that Xing Ge seemed to be taking Lao Zhai's speech very seriously.

The advancement of algorithms has triggered a chain reaction. Besides daily and monthly active users (DAU), advertising revenue has also begun to show lagging progress. This is also related to the advertising revenue sharing that Lü Haiying wants to promote for creators. "The current DAU data is still quite good," Yu Xing said after listening to the executives' speeches. Instead of putting pressure on them, he discussed the current situation, saying, "Our efforts in the pre-installation market will bring rapid user growth, but the activity level of these users may not be particularly high, which could drag down the overall data performance. Everyone should do their best and not put too much pressure on each other."

The ways to drive user growth have changed, and we need to adjust our focus on data performance as well.

Simply measuring daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU) is not a fair evaluation standard. Perhaps a more appropriate evaluation method would be the DAU/MAU ratio.

Yu Xing ended the meeting, but did not leave the conference room immediately. He then spoke with several senior technical executives, listening to their suggestions and needs.

At 7:30 p.m., Yu Xingcai left the office building of Silicon Carbon Data.

As soon as he got downstairs, he saw Zhong Zhiling smoking and waiting for him, with Lü Haiying making a phone call next to him.

"What about Zhong'ai?" Yu Xing asked casually.

“Grandpa and Grandma are taking care of her at home.” Zhong Zhiling smiled as he thought of his daughter. “Xing-ge, Zhong Ai told me about her goal yesterday. She said that when she grows up, she wants to be…”

Yu Xing waved his hand, refusing the cigarette Zhong Zhiling offered, and waited for what was to come.

“Workers.” Zhong Zhiling laughed heartily. “She describes adults as ‘workers.’ She wants to become a worker when she grows up so she can earn money to buy toys.”

Yu Xing smiled; the little girl was so adorable, it was a very interesting moment.

After finishing the phone call, Lu Haiying heard her daughter's amusing story and said with a smile, "Zhong'ai uses words she understands to describe things; she calls honey 'bee sweet sauce.'"

Upon hearing this word, Yu Xing couldn't help but burst into laughter.

It took him a while to stop laughing: "With a daughter like this at home, you two should hurry back."

“I just finished taking care of some things, and it’s about time. Senior brother, let’s go have dinner together,” Lu Haiying suggested.

Yu Xing thought for a moment: "There's nothing good to eat around here. I'd also like to go check out the Model S that arrived today."

At this moment, Zhang Yangxu, the secretary next to him, whispered, "President Yu, the car was taken to the racetrack by Ma Nana and the others, so it's not here right now."

Yu Xing: "..."

He no longer needed to make a decision: "Let's go eat."

Upon hearing the name Zhang Yangxu mentioned, Lü Haiying said with a smile, "That Malaysian Ma Nana, right? I've heard her name here; she's said to be a mixed-race beauty."

Yu Xing casually replied, "Really?"

Lu Haiying said with a serious expression, "Yes, senior brother, didn't you know? Everyone in the group calls her 'Ma Lianhua' now."

Yu Xing was unaware of this matter and had nothing to discuss. After taking a few steps, he suddenly felt that his junior sister seemed to be looking at him. He turned his head to look at Lü Haiying, then at Zhong Zhiling, and said, "If the car is well tuned, any flower will do; if it's not well tuned, no flower will work."

Lu Haiying smiled broadly, not mentioning the rumors she had heard. She had indeed met Ma Nana, who truly lived up to her nickname "Ma Lianhua" (meaning "lotus flower"). Moreover, the New Year's gift that Ma Nana gave to her senior brother was openly displayed in the president's office, claiming to be a racing simulator used by all race car drivers.

After hearing this news, an idea suddenly popped into her head. Everyone knows that her senior brother values ​​the tram project, so she's trying to win his favor in this roundabout way...

Lu Haiying got into the car and asked with a smile, "Senior brother, when are you going to have children? Don't you think Zhong'ai is adorable? She can keep you company when the time comes."

“She’s adorable, incredibly adorable,” Yu Xing replied with a smile. “So, it’s good to have her. Isn’t she my daughter too? Anyway, I didn’t treat her as an adopted daughter; I treated her as my own.”

Lü Haiying just laughed and stopped talking about the topic.

The dinner was very relaxed, and we even had a few rare drinks.

The next day, Yu Xing had a meeting at the Silicon Carbon Group early in the morning, and only then did he finally have time to come and see the Tesla Model S.

He was observing the Model S with Guo Chuan, the air suspension supplier who happened to be visiting.

"Tsk, it's an air suspension." Guo Chuan squatted down to examine the parts he was good at.

Yu Xing walked around twice, directing the lifting of the vehicle to inspect the chassis, and replied, "Its air suspension needs to be selected. This one is fully equipped. However, Tesla's production capacity does seem to be a problem. I had the company in Hong Kong place an order as soon as it came out last year, and it has taken more than half a year to arrive. It's really... slow."

The slowness stems from production capacity issues, and this kind of timeliness will inevitably result in the loss of many orders.

The Model S chassis was quickly revealed.

Yu Xing stepped forward to examine it closely, then turned to ask Hu Zhengnan, who was standing next to him, "It feels like a lot of aluminum alloy was used? It seems like everything I see is made of aluminum."

“Yes, Mr. Yu, I estimate it’s at least 90% aluminum alloy, but now we’ve confirmed that the rear bumper beam is made of steel,” Hu Zhengnan replied. “That should also be for the sake of lightweighting.”

Upon hearing this, Guo Chuan exclaimed in surprise, "So much aluminum alloy? The cost must be quite high."

Yu Xing shook his head slightly: "This car would cost seven or eight hundred thousand in China. It can be used like this. Hmm, compared to some brands, it is indeed not bad. But if we could get a car at this price, it would be usable too."

He took a couple of steps and suddenly asked, "Why are there two fans on this heat sink? Didn't everyone's research suggest that one cooling fan is perfectly sufficient for a gasoline-powered car?"

Hu Zhengnan uttered an "uh," and said, "Well..."

“Mr. Yu, it has a racing mode, and switching to that mode requires intense cooling.” Ma Nana, the deputy director of Lotus Engineering, arrived at the workshop at this time and explained, “I test drove it yesterday, and that should be the reason.”

Yu Xing nodded, then suddenly asked, "How does this car compare to your Lotus sports car?"

Mana's expression turned somewhat strange. After a few seconds of silence, she had to admit, "The development of trams is much faster than I imagined."

(End of this chapter)