If Li Mu wanted to act shamelessly, ordinary people wouldn't be able to stop him.
Ding Zhenglin was speechless by Li Mu's rhetorical question. Makino Technology didn't say anything about financing. The news came from Hui Ka Ming's Mingcheng Capital. However, venture capital firms all knew that Mingcheng Capital and Makino Technology had a close relationship. Not only did they have capital cooperation, but Hui Ka Ming and Li Mu also had a good personal relationship. Therefore, the news from Mingcheng Capital was regarded as official news by these venture capital firms who were eager for Makino Technology. They didn't doubt its authenticity at all.
At this moment, Ding Zhenglin also realized that he had made a mistake. Since it wasn't Li Mu who said it, it was really inappropriate for him to reprimand Li Mu in front of Li Mu.
Ding Zhenglin, who was embarrassed and ashamed, hesitated for a long time before wiping the sweat on his forehead. He stammered, "I'm sorry, Li Zong. I was impulsive just now. I take back what I said. I hope you can forgive me. I'm really sorry!"
Li Mu shook his head with a smile and said, "I'm not as narrow-minded as you think. Let's sit down and talk."
Ding Zhenglin hurriedly nodded and sat back in his seat anxiously. He asked tentatively, "Li Zong, since Makino Technology isn't going to finance Series C, then why did you ask me to meet …"
Li Mu smiled and said, "I asked you out today because I wanted to have more direct communication with the professionals in the investment industry. Since the development of Muye Technology, we have had very little contact with the real investment industry. It can even be said that we have no contact at all."
Ding Zhenglin nodded, but he was cursing in his heart. "You're not going to finance, but you asked me to meet you. You've contacted people in the investment industry. How can I explain it to them when I go back? Is it all a misunderstanding and Makino Technology isn't going to finance Series C? I'm afraid the boss won't believe it at all. They'd rather believe that I don't have the ability to win this investment. "
Seeing Ding Zhenglin's thoughtful look, Li Mu didn't answer, so he asked him with a smile, "Mr. Ding, in your opinion, where do you think Makino Technology needs to improve its financial operations?"
Ding Zhenglin put away his depression and said hurriedly, "Li Zong, Makino Technology is now the top Internet company in China in terms of volume. I'm just a worker in a venture capital firm. I don't dare to comment."
Li Mu said with a smile, "Our volume is built up by our products, users, and business models. We basically don't have much strength in financial operations. You're an expert in financial operations. I believe that in your eyes, Makino Technology must have a lot to improve."
Ding Zhenglin hesitated for a moment. He thought that since Li Mu wasn't going to talk about financing, he didn't have to be so cautious. So, he reached out and unbuttoned the front button of his suit, took it off, and carefully folded it in half before placing it on his lap. After doing this, Ding Zhenglin let out a long sigh and said to Li Mu, "I'm sorry, Mr. Li. It's really too hot …"
Li Mu smiled unkindly, and Lin Ching-ah, who was next to him, also pursed her lips and laughed. Ding Zhenglin didn't have any psychological burden, so he was much more natural in front of Li Mu. He loosened his tie with one hand and said seriously, "Li Zong, to be honest, it's rare for a company of the size of Makino Technology to not pay attention to financial operations. On one hand, it's one thing, and on the other hand, it's also another. Makino Technology has very few financial operations on its own, except for two rounds of financing and the breakup of Yi Ting Technology. Other than that, there are no other actions. Even more so, the companies that have capital connections with Makino Technology are still your own industries. Strictly speaking, Makino Technology doesn't have real external financial operations yet."
Li Mu nodded and said with a serious face, "You're right. Attempts and operations in the direction of financial capital are indeed a relatively blank field for Makino Technology."
Ding Zhenglin continued, "Since the rise of Makino Technology, the development of the domestic Internet has obviously accelerated a lot. There are a lot of new companies emerging, and there are also a lot of new business models emerging. We're always paying attention to the development of the Internet industry and looking for potential investment targets. Not only us, but several of the larger Internet companies in the industry have also been making frequent moves in the area of financial capital. NetEase has just acquired two online game development companies, Kingsoft has invested and acquired a number of security software development companies, and Sina has set up or acquired a number of shell companies in order to do a good job in mobile value-added services. While everyone is doing their own business, they are not idle outside. However, Makino Technology hasn't made any moves in the outside world. It seems that apart from the acquisition of Hao123, there hasn't been any other moves."
Li Mu deeply agreed with what Ding Zhenglin mentioned. Ever since he established Makino Technology, there were only three problems on his mind: products, operations, and revenue. His energy was almost exhausted by these three problems. He never had the time and energy to study the overall development trend of the Internet, and he didn't have the time and energy to study which future great companies were still struggling in the early stages of their business.
If he looked at this problem from the perspective of Makino Technology, investment and acquisition could quickly solve the problems of horizontal development and strategic layout for Makino Technology. If Li Mu wanted to expand and strengthen the game business like Teng Xun in the future, he could start to acquire game development companies. If Li Mu wanted to add a security software to Makino Technology's ecological closed loop, such as 360 Security Guard, he could also directly acquire a security software development company, and then use its product for secondary development. Then, he could quickly come up with a mature product. If he wanted to add a download tool, he could directly acquire Internet Ant or Internet Express.
Li Mu's needs for financial operations were not as simple as registering an offshore company, carrying out offshore transactions, preparing for financing, or even going public. What he needed was a person who was good at spending money and could focus on the company's business and spend every penny on the right things. With such a person as his right-hand man, once he started to operate external capital, the company could develop at a higher speed under his precise vision and operation.
Teng Xun's rise had a classic method that many people loved and hated at the same time, and that was its investment strategy. Its early rise relied on imitation, but after it had a certain level of strength, it no longer bothered to imitate. Imitation was too tiring, and there were so many new models being born every day. It was too busy to rely on imitation alone. Therefore, its truly awesome classic method was financial capital operation. Once there was a business or product that it was interested in, to save time and energy, it would directly invest in or acquire it. If the other party rejected its investment or acquisition, Teng Xun also had its own complete response strategy. The first choice was to immediately invest in another similar type of company, give it money, give it resources, and let it rise quickly so that it could get rid of the company that rejected it before. If that still didn't work, then it would do it itself.
After being established for more than a decade, Teng Xun had invested in hundreds of companies, such as online literature, Didi Taxi, Jingdong, Meishuo, Dianping, Alibaba, Bilibili, Micro Shadow Age, and so on. From then on, it had more or less participated in all the business lines on the internet.
In 2016, it would be almost impossible to find an internet field that Teng Xun had not stepped into. Teng Xun also used this method to maintain its diversified development. If Teng Xun relied on itself to slowly expand its territory, it would be impossible for it to achieve a market value of hundreds of billions of US dollars in the future. This showed the importance of financial capital operation.
Li Mu also realized that it was getting harder and harder for his energy to deal with the diversified development of the internet industry. Therefore, he urgently needed an expert like Ding Zhenglin, who had a unique vision and a high success rate, to join him. If he had someone like Ding Zhenglin to help him expand his territory, all his energy would gradually be retracted from his major products. In the near future, he would no longer care about the stable old business, and after the new business was formed and developed steadily, he would slowly hand it over to other capable people to replace him. What he needed to do in the next stage was to set his sights on the big strategic level and focus his energy on YY and Taobao, the two products that could be called nuclear reactors. As long as these two products remained strong, they could nourish countless kinds of "internet factories." Once the era of the mobile internet arrived, he would build a third nuclear reactor — WeChat. The era of WeChat was the era of the mobile internet, and also the era of data. At that time, he would also be able to start a fourth nuclear reactor — the cloud computing business.
Once Li Mu started these four nuclear reactors and made them bigger and stronger, Li Mu would be invincible in the world of the internet.
Therefore, Li Mu did not beat around the bush. Instead, he asked Ding Zhenglin solemnly, "If I invite you to be the director of the investment department of Makino Technology, would you be interested?"
Ding Zhenglin was stunned. He looked at Li Mu and did not speak for a long time. Finally, he understood what Li Mu meant with his vague words at the beginning. It was not a few stops before the listing, but how many people would get on the bus after the listing. So that was what he meant!
Ding Zhenglin did not consider changing jobs. He had always felt that he was suitable for the financial investment industry. Moreover, as the most well-known multinational VC, Sequoia was indeed an impeccable development platform. In front of a super financial giant like Sequoia, Makino Technology was still somewhat insignificant. Therefore, Li Mu's proposal was not really attractive to him.
After being stunned for a moment, Ding Zhenglin said seriously, "Li Zong, thank you for your appreciation, but I really have no plans to change jobs now."
Li Mu was not surprised by this answer. Instead, he asked him, "Can you tell me the reason?"
Ding Zhenglin said, "Sequoia is a unique platform. I feel that under this platform, I can display and realize my own ambitions to the greatest extent."
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