Returning to his senior year of high school, he went all in and made billions by buying at the botto

The next morning at nine o'clock, the largest conference room of Douyin Group was already full of people.

Sequoia Capital, IDG Capital, and several other USD and RMB funds.

Many people arrived in the provincial capital last night and hadn't even had time to unpack their hotel luggage before rushing to the Douyin office this morning.

They originally thought today would be a normal fundraising meeting.

After all, Douyin has only been online for less than a month.

The data is indeed impressive.

With tens of millions of daily active users and a retention rate of over 50%, the program has spread extremely rapidly among campus and young users.

But no matter how beautiful it is, it's still just a product in its early stages.

There are many similar mobile video tools on the market, such as Meipai, Miaopai, and Xiaokaxiu, which were all quite popular at the time.

They came because they saw potential, not because they were ready to grovel for money.

Until Lin Wan projected the financing plan onto the screen.

The meeting room suddenly fell silent.

Series A funding.

Post-investment valuation: two billion US dollars.

Release of shares, tentatively set at seven percent.

The amount of funding raised was approximately US$150 million.

A few seconds later, an investment manager sitting in the back row couldn't help but chuckle, and his partner next to him didn't look too pleased either.

"President Lin."

One of the fund partners spoke first.

"I admit Douyin's data is good, but isn't a valuation of two billion US dollars too exaggerated?"

Lin Wan stood beside the screen, her expression calm.

"This is the result of discussions between the company's management and existing shareholders."

"Shall we discuss this together?"

The other person looked at Zhang Ming.

"Does Mr. Zhang also agree with this price?"

Zhang Ming sat to one side, not speaking immediately.

To be honest, when he first heard about the two billion dollars last night, he also thought Chen Mo had gone mad.

But after looking at the data all night, he calmed down.

Douyin's growth is not that of an ordinary viral hit.

Its user behavior is so sticky that once the recommendation mechanism is working, the growth flywheel will accelerate.

More importantly, Chen Mo had provided a complete profit plan behind Douyin, which is completely different from other phenomenal apps that are still exploring their own paths.

Zhang Ming raised his head: "I agree."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Many people's expressions changed slightly.

After all, some investors had met Zhang Ming before and knew he wasn't someone who spoke carelessly, and the growth of Toutiao was also evident to all.

Lin Wan broke the silence: "Everyone, please read the rules first. If you cannot accept the valuation of two billion US dollars, you can leave now."

The words fell.

The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became tense.

Someone was looking down and flipping through documents.

Someone is sending a message on their phone.

Some people looked dissatisfied.

A few minutes later, the fund partner who had spoken first closed the document.

"I'm sorry, we cannot accept this price."

He stood up, and the two men who came with him also immediately stood up.

Soon after, another fund followed suit and left.

The third person hesitated for a moment before also putting away their computer.

The door opened and closed, and six or seven people were missing from the conference room.

A muffled murmur of complaint drifted from the hallway outside.

"Are you crazy?"

"Two billion dollars in just one month?"

"Do they really think capital is full of fools?"

"Let them play by themselves."

The door closed again.

The meeting room was actually quieter.

Those who remained were not in a hurry to speak.

Because most of those who left were ordinary funds, or investment managers who did not have real decision-making power.

The few companies that were actually sitting in the front row are still there.

Sequoia Capital, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, Qiming Venture Partners.

There are also two US dollar funds.

There was surprise and hesitation on their faces, but no one left.

The Sequoia partner looked down at the report, his finger hovering over the "Day 1 Retention 50%" column for a long time.

IDG's people are looking at the shareholding structure.

Star Technology, 60%.

Bytes, 35%.

Chen Liping, 5%.

This structure is very unusual.

Star Technology Holdings.

ByteDance is deeply involved.

Chen Liping holds a minority stake.

If it were just Douyin itself, they would find it too expensive, but the major shareholder, Xingchen Technology, is different.

Recently, there have been many rumors about Xingchen Technology in the domestic capital circle.

Jiangcheng Gold Mine, Xingxin Mining, Shanxi Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Douyin.

Even the mysterious young boss has begun to be the subject of various rumors.

No one can find out the whole story, but the more unclear it is, the more it shows that this company is not simple.

One of Qiming's female partners closed the file.

"Mr. Lin, with a valuation of two billion US dollars, we can continue discussing."

A few people nearby glanced at her.

She ignored him and continued, "But releasing only seven percent is too little."

Lin Wan looked at her.

"You mean... we hope to receive no less than three percent on our own?"

The people from Jingwei immediately laughed.

"Mr. Liu, you've got quite the appetite. Who wouldn't want to get a bigger slice of an early-stage project?"

"The problem is, if you take it, what will others take?"

As everyone was arguing, the meeting room door was suddenly pushed open, and Chen Mo walked in.

White shirt, dark thin jacket, no materials in his hands.

Chen Liping and Zhang Nan followed behind.

The several organizations that had been exchanging hushed words suddenly fell silent.

Many people's first reaction was not surprise.

Instead, I was puzzled; they were too young.

But the expressions of the people sitting in the front row changed.

The Sequoia partner was the first to stand up.

Immediately afterwards, the IDG staff also stood up.

Qiming's female partner looked at Chen Mo, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, and then she also stood up.

Even the people from Jingwei's side were a beat slow to stand up.

Seeing this, several investment managers in the back row quickly stood up as well.

The chairs in the conference room creaked softly.

The group of people who were just vying for the lead in the bidding suddenly seemed to have their rhythm stopped by some unseen force.

Zhang Ming sat to one side, watching this scene, his heart filled with emotion.

These people certainly didn't stand up because Chen Mo was young.

They recognized him, or at least, they had heard his name.

Taichu Capital, Xingchen Technology.

Recently, news about Chen Mo has no longer been completely closed off in Kyoto's financial and venture capital circles.

Not many people know about it.

However, some of the leading institutions that are sitting here have very deep access to information.

They may not know everything, but they already know enough about some of the legends surrounding this young man.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have heard of a $20 billion Series A valuation that's still sitting there and not moving forward.

Unexpectedly, this young legend actually showed up in person.

Chen Mo glanced around the conference room; several seats that had been occupied by people leaving were still empty.

He didn't ask; only those who remained needed to continue the conversation.

"Please be seated."

He walked over and sat down next to the head of the table.

Then everyone took their seats one after another.

Lin Wan stood to the side, her expression calm.

Chen Mo looked up at the crowd.

Let me introduce myself.

Chen Mo, founder of Star Technology.

The sentence was short, but no one in the meeting room dared to underestimate it.

The Sequoia partner spoke first.

"Mr. Chen, I've heard so much about you."

The IDG representative nodded slightly.

"I never expected to see President Chen here today."

Qiming's female partner looked at him and smiled.

"There's been a lot of talk in the industry about how the young boss behind Star Technology is very mysterious."

"It now seems that the rumors were overly conservative."

Chen Mo did not accept these polite formalities.

He opened the Douyin data report on the table, glanced at it, and then closed it again.

Were you all discussing valuation just now?

The Sequoia partner nodded.

"Two billion US dollars is indeed beyond many people's expectations."

"normal."

Chen Mo said, "If everyone thinks it's cheap, then it means we quoted too low a price."

Someone chuckled softly in the conference room.

Chen Mo continued, "Douyin has had tens of millions of daily active users in less than a month since its launch, and the next-day retention rate is over 50%."

"These are the data, but I don't want to talk about just the data today."

He looked at several institutions.

"If Douyin is just a filming tool, then two billion dollars is very expensive."

"If it's just the next Meipai or Miaopai, it's still very expensive."

"But Douyin is different; it's the next-generation content distribution portal."

"Text, images, and long videos all require users to actively filter them, but short videos are different."

"It compresses content to a few seconds or even ten seconds, and uses a recommendation system to constantly test user interests."

"Users don't need to search, subscribe, or follow too many people; they just need to scroll down, and the content will come to them on its own."

The meeting room fell silent.

Many people had stopped watching the projection and were now looking at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo's voice was not loud.

"What does this mean?"

"This means that Douyin will not be competing with any particular video app for market share in the future."

"It's stealing users' time."

"Where young people linger, commercial value will grow."

He paused for a moment after saying this.

"The app you all voted for today is not one that has only been online for a month."

"This is an early ticket for this entrance."

The Sequoia partner tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Mr. Chen, you have a very big vision for the future of Douyin."

"It's big, that's why it's cheap."

Chen Mo answered quickly.

The people at IDG couldn't help but ask, "Two billion dollars is cheap?"

"Cheap."

Chen Mo looked at him.

"If we wait another three months, until the daily active users reach 30 million, until brands and influencers start to come to us, and until campus users spread to lower-tier markets across the country."

"If you come back then, you won't be able to buy a ticket for two billion dollars."

No one spoke in the meeting room.

This statement is not an exaggeration; based on Douyin's current data, it is indeed experiencing an unusually high level of growth.

No one can say for sure what will happen three months from now. More importantly, Xingchen Technology is not short of money, or rather, this Mr. Chen is not short of money at all.