Silicon Valley

Chapter 10 Investment

Ford Brook came again three days later, with a smile on his face. This guy may think that he has the wisdom beads and has further support from Sequoia Capital, so he is confident that this financing negotiation will be very successful!

Reach out and don't hit the smiling man, let him smile for a while.

The bullet still has to fly, and it hurts at the end.

Henry and Bosak invited Ford Brook into the conference room, poured him a cup of coffee, and then chatted with him, talking a lot of nonsense, and not talking about financing anyway. When negotiating such a thing, whoever is in a hurry will be at a disadvantage.

But Ford Brook is not a fuel-efficient lamp, too. He has patience, and is very eloquent, and he talks endlessly.

Henry was finally speechless.

Senior talent, senior talent.

Ford Brook has not been defeated, but his own side has failed! This guy Bosak is still highly technical. How can he be proficient in these corners of the negotiation? Although Henry had reminded her before, but Ford Brook kept his tongue, citing the financing aspects one by one, and finally Bosack was recruited.

At this time, Henry said to Ford Brook straight to the point: "Financing is OK, but if it's the same as last time, then forget it!"

Ford Brook said with a smile: "Don't worry, our conditions this time will definitely satisfy you!"

Then, Ford Brook came up with a plan, which was similar to the last plan, but made some changes in the amount of financing and the proportion of shares.

This time, Sequoia Capital offered $40 million for a 33.3% stake in Cisco! This price is really sincere for the average person. But the point is, Henry is not an ordinary person. He is a traveler. He clearly knows how powerful Cisco will be in the future. Do you think this price is confusing?

The Posac couple are excited, and they are very excited. Compared with the last time, the investment amount is a world of difference! However, their excitement was useless. Whether Cisco raises money or not depends on Henry, who is the controlling shareholder.

Ford Brook was drinking coffee at this time, with a confident smile on his face!

"To be honest, Cisco is not short of money." Henry said in a flat tone, "If it were another venture capital firm, we might not have talked to him. What I value is something other than capital, which is the red flag. All kinds of resources owned by Shan Capital. Therefore, we will not agree to sell you so many shares!!!”

Ford Brook was stunned for a while, looking at Henry with surprise, his young and immature face had a sense of maturity that was extremely incompatible with his age, and those bright little eyes were piercing, exuding amazing wisdom. Astonished at Henry's words, Ford Brook couldn't help sitting upright, and then looked at Henry seriously. At the same time, in his heart, he is more determined and optimistic about Cisco's future!

Investing is a science. Investing in a company, the most important thing is people and teams. The same computer company, why investors are optimistic about Apple, it is because of the leader of Steve Jobs, because of the excellent Apple team! Only a good leader and a good team will have innovation, vitality, and allow investors to make money! ! !

Undoubtedly, Henry is a qualified leader in the eyes of Ford Brook!

"Then how many shares are you going to sell?" Ford Brook said in an unprecedented sincere tone. He had decided to buy Cisco's shares!

Henry thought for a while and said, "Up to 10% in the early stage. However, I can promise you that Sequoia Capital has the right to second priority financing!"

Ford Brook agreed without thinking: "That's fine!"

"Well, since that's the case, let's talk now, how much can you Sequoia Capital invest to get 10% of the shares!" Henry said.

"Ten million dollars!!!" Ford Brook shouted.

Henry shook his head: "10 million can only account for 5%."

"This is impossible, Cisco is not worth so much money now!!" Ford Brook immediately called out.

"Cisco is not worth so much money now, but it has infinite potential. You have to know that since the establishment of the National Science Foundation of China, Cisco's performance has been rising, and maybe it may double several times in half a year. I think you should have this situation too. As I understand, otherwise I wouldn’t be in a hurry to invest in Cisco. Mr. Brook, if you don’t want to, we can talk about it after half a year.” Henry took a sip of coffee and said lazily, “But after half a year, maybe not Today's price..."

Hearing Henry's words, Ford Brook's smile stagnated, and he couldn't help showing a hesitant look on his face, and there was a hint of anxiety in the vagueness.

He couldn't wait either. The Internet age is changing with each passing day. Who knows what Cisco will look like in half a year. At that time, Henry asked the sky again, should Sequoia Capital buy it or not?

Tangled! ! ! Very confused! ! !

Ford Brook was embarrassed for a while, sitting in the chair and thinking for a while, Henry and Bosac didn't bother him, just waited quietly.

At this moment, Ford Brook suddenly raised his head and said, "I need to make a call!"

"Please!"

Ford Brook went to make a phone call, and Henry winked at Bosack, indicating that the victory was in sight. Posac saw Henry's ingenuity and admired him. But how did he know that "After the fact Zhuge" is N times more powerful than the real Zhuge, Henry, as a traveler, "After the fact Zhuge" every day! ! !

Therefore, in Bosak's eyes, Henry is very good. But in fact, he is not so good, maybe after a few years, after a period of growth and tempering, he may be so good, and he is still running!

Without further ado, Ford Brook is back from calling!

He had a wry smile on his face when he came back, and there was a hint of joy in the wry smile. Henry knew that Sequoia Capital probably agreed with his asking price. Ford Brook walked up to Henry and stretched out his hand, saying, "You little guy is the toughest kid I've ever seen!!! Well, if you win, the company agrees to your request and decides to invest 20 million dollars , only holds a 10% stake in Cisco! However, you must give us Sequoia Capital priority financing!"

"No problem! Haha, happy cooperation!" Henry smiled and reached out and shook his hand.

"Hehe, happy cooperation!"

Sequoia Capital invested 20 million US dollars and only got 10% of Cisco's shares, which is quite bold. However, this is also unexpected. Cisco is now dealing with a monopoly in the market, so what kind of business is best to do? What could it be but a monopoly! Sequoia Capital naturally recognized this, and bought Cisco shares at a high price. Speaking of which, I have to thank Microsoft. Microsoft went public this year, the stock has soared, and it has performed a legend on the Nasdaq! ! ! Sequoia Capital may also be stimulated, trying to seek the same potential stocks as Microsoft. Obviously, Cisco is one of their targets.

And according to their intelligence analysis, as computers become more and more popular, the development of future networks will become more and more important, and the importance of Cisco will become more and more prominent. For such a company that will play an important role in the future, if Sequoia Capital does not eat this piece of cake, it is simply inconsistent with their depraved capitalist style!

Three days later, Cisco signed an investment agreement with Sequoia Capital. That day, Cisco had $20 million more on its books. The shares of Henry and the Posacs were reduced accordingly. The final shareholding ratio of Cisco shareholders is that Henry holds 67.5%, the Bosaks hold 22.5%, and Sequoia Capital holds 10%.

In line with the idea of ​​making a fortune in silence, the content of the agreement was not announced to any media. Taking advantage of the fact that Cisco is now monopolizing the market, after Sequoia Capital invested in Cisco, the two sides immediately launched a series of close cooperation!

First, in terms of enterprise management, Sequoia Capital has very rich experience and plays a very important role in the optimization of the entire Cisco internal management. At the same time, Sequoia Capital helped Cisco to dig out many outstanding talents from large companies, and one of them surprised Henry. This man is John Chambers! In the past life, Cisco really developed into a giant in the hands of John Chambers! The American "Business Week" twice named him one of the top 25 senior corporate presidents in the world in just 3 years!

John Chambers has three diplomas: Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Laws, MBA in Finance and Management. He has held executive positions in IBM and Wang An Computer successively.

For such a talent, Henry couldn't help but be overjoyed and appointed him as a senior executive of the global operations department to participate in the formulation of major company decisions! If it weren't for Posack's current CEO position, and the fact that John Chambers was new to Cisco, he wasn't qualified enough to be convincing. Otherwise, Henry will directly designate Chambers as the CEO of the company and take control of the overall situation!

The addition of John Chambers makes Henry more confident in Cisco! He is the chairman of the company. He usually doesn't care about anything. Bosak can be said to be a big guy in terms of technology, but in terms of management, it's just average. Henry was obstructing Bosac's face, and it was difficult to say that he should be relieved of the CEO position. Fortunately, with John Chambers assisting him, Henry felt at ease. After John Chambers emerged, Henry suggested that he step down as CEO and become the company's chief technology officer!

Second, Cisco uses Sequoia Capital's channel resources and personal connections to launch tough actions in the global market.

Third, because of sufficient funds, Cisco immediately expanded its scale and showed its fangs, embarking on a no-return road of mergers and acquisitions! ! !

Henry and others first purchased a 10,000-square-meter site outside San Jose to start building a new factory and recruited workers for training. Subsequently, the headquarters was relocated to an office building on the bustling floor of San Jose. Then we recruited a lot of technical talents, improved and innovated the router, and started to develop second-generation products, so that Cisco has always been in a leading position in technology!

After the company cooperated with Sequoia Capital, Henry was also busy for a while. Time travel does not mean invincibility. Any change may have a butterfly effect. Henry understands this. Therefore, while managing the company, he is still studying hard, studying books on business administration and finance. The so-called people who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black, and the environment can really easily change a person.

Henry works with a group of great gods and can learn a lot every day!

With Cisco's growth step by step, many media have begun to pay attention to this company.

"On June 1, 1986, the world's first network consisting of 10,000 routers was finally born. The network is based on the Arpanet, with many famous universities in the United States, the US Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As the core, many companies are nodes, consisting of more than 40,000 computers!" The ARPANET is the predecessor of the Internet. Since 1969, the US Department of Defense was established. The University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford University Research Institute, Four major computers at the University of California and the University of Utah are linked.

Once the news was released, the industry was shocked! ! !

Forty thousand computers can communicate with each other on the Internet. What is the concept? ! ! Simply a little internet! ! !

"New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", "Washington Post" and other large and small newspapers have reported this incident, and major broadcast media in the United States have called this incident an epoch-making significance! ! ! Soon after the report, many companies joined the network! Cisco's development suddenly leaps and bounds. Moreover, the U.S. Congress has also made a decision to hand over the National Science Foundation Network to some companies in the United States, so that the network can develop faster!

These companies are very powerful companies in the United States, such as IBM, MCI... and what they will do in the future is like what telecommunications are doing! The backbone network is the center, and countless computers must be connected to the backbone network to access the Internet! Because all network data will circulate in the backbone network, without joining this backbone network, there is no way to communicate!

Cisco wants to join, but without this strength, it can only be done in vain!

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