Chapter 404: Precious Face

“My and Mr. Lei’s face?”

Xu Qingshan had a strange expression.

In fact, some industry insiders had already conducted some preliminary assessments when Xiaomi was first established. At that time, Xiaomi’s valuation should have been around 2 million yuan, and this high price was almost given just for the sake of Lei Jun and the group of talented people he had brought together.

As we all know, valuation is not equal to the true market value.

Especially for start-ups, this valuation is mostly used for bragging, to paint a rosy picture for investors and to talk about ideals to users, and the main purpose is to deceive people.

Xiaomi was able to obtain such a high initial valuation, although it was because of face, but in fact this face refers to Lei Jun’s tough market strategy and marketing methods, as well as their ability to integrate resources as a group of experts who have been certified by the market and the industry, and their abundant funds.

A valuation of $2 million is understandable.

But now it has only been more than four months since Xiaomi was founded.

What can be done in four months?
Even for a small beverage shop or street vendor, it is not certain that they can make a profit, let alone for a company.

Xiaomi is still a company that claims to be a domestic brand of enthusiast mobile phones. Making mobile phones is not a career that can produce results in a short period of time, not to mention that the concept of the mobile phone that Lei Jun wants to make is still in the direction of technology and enthusiasts.

But the capital market still gave an answer, a valuation of US$8 million.

In fact, what Qiu Jing said was still conservative.

“In fact, Mr. Lei mentioned that the $8 million valuation increase was most likely due to your winning the Fields Medal in India and proving the Riemann hypothesis.”

“No? What does my winning math awards and proving math problems have to do with the valuation of a mobile phone company?”

Even though Xu Qingshan understood business, he still didn’t realize that winning an award could increase the company’s valuation several times over? Then why should he invest? Wouldn’t it be enough to just win the award?
amount.

It seems that for normal people, it is much more difficult to win awards all the time than to succeed in starting a business.

After all, when it comes to starting a business, in addition to strength, it is sometimes a matter of chance. When luck comes, it cannot be stopped. When the wind blows, even a pig will be blown high up.

But mathematics is different.

If you can’t do it, you really can’t do it. Even if there is an eight-force gale a hundred times, you still won’t be able to solve it.

“Boss, why don’t you ask Mr. Lei about this?”

Qiu Jing’s voice was dry and she seemed a little embarrassed.

Although she is currently Xu Qingshan’s investment manager and Qingshan Capital is basically invested by her, she is the one who increases the value of the working capital. However, for core businesses such as Xiaomi and Meituan, whether it was discussing investment or signing contracts, Qiu Jing was at most just there to sign.

She was indeed unaware of the specific matters.

This time, Wang Xing and Lei Jun were just worried about disturbing Xu Qingshan, so they asked her to contact Xu Qingshan temporarily.

After all, in their opinion, Qiu Jing is Xu Qingshan’s direct descendant, and the frequency of her contact with Xu Qingshan must be higher than theirs.

“Okay, let me ask, but we have followed up on the angel rounds of Xiaomi and Meituan, so the funds should be sufficient, right?”

Xu Qingshan also thought of this and spoke up.

“We still have sufficient funds. The construction of Qingshan University has not started yet. Chief Engineer Jiang said it is still in the planning and design stage. However, our fund has also reserved enough cash flow to cope with the first phase of construction. Don’t worry, there will be no problem following the angel round.”

“Okay, by the way, how is the situation over there with Huang Zheng?”

After the party, Xu Qingshan had originally wanted to make an appointment with Huang Zheng to discuss in detail the future entrepreneurial path, but Huang Zheng still attached great importance to his current project and had no plans to start Pinduoduo for the time being. It was impossible for Xu Qingshan to guide the other party too subjectively.

Huang Zheng could only leave his contact information. If his current project needs investment, Qingshan Capital can provide some help.

Letting Qiu Jing pay attention from time to time can be considered as building a good relationship and cultivating feelings in advance, so that she can become one of the first angel investors in the future.

In fact, Xu Qingshan has thought about setting the direction himself and creating things like Pinduoduo and Douyin first.

But he knew better: first, he did not have enough energy to control the direction of business. Second, there were many possibilities and accidents on the entrepreneurial path, which did not mean that if he seized the opportunity and grasped the right direction for the future, he would definitely have the last laugh.

There are already specific cases to refer to in many industries in China, and even the pioneers are unlikely to be the strongest.

Whether it is Douyin or Pinduoduo, there were competitors with the same positioning and development in the early days of their establishment, but they were able to have the last laugh. Xu Qingshan believes that the biggest factor lies in the ability and luck of the founders and the founding team.

Yes, luck.

Perhaps this is a bit too metaphysical and fatalistic.

But Xu Qingshan did not intend to disrupt the normal development order of things for his own ideas, which would disrupt his predictions and backbone for the future.

After all, the butterfly effect is inevitable.

Just like China’s current international status in mathematics, compared with the original time and space on the same timeline, it has changed a lot.

Xu Qingshan talked with Qiu Jing for a while and agreed on a meeting time at the Longjiang base tomorrow. He thought about it and called Lei Jun.

“Qingshan, congratulations on winning the Fields Medal! It’s really…”

Lei Jun’s call was connected. Before Xu Qingshan even opened his mouth to say hello, Lei Jun had already started talking fluently.

He was so excited, as if he had won the award himself.

“Brother Jun, let’s not talk about those polite words. Qiu Jing just called me to talk about the financing. Has the angel round of financing really reached 8 million?”

“Oh? Qingshan, have you not checked Weibo recently?”

Lei Jun asked Xu Qingshan instead.

“It’s been too noisy outside lately, and the internet is too busy. I can’t handle it all, so I just stay at home.”

Xu Qingshan smiled bitterly.

Did he not read it or not want to read it? He simply couldn’t read it all, and once he picked up his phone, there were endless messages to reply to. How could he have the time to pay attention to the comments about himself?
However, he had surfed on the cusp of the storm many times and could anticipate that scene.

“But what about Weibo? They should just be discussing the Fields Medal and the Riemann Hypothesis, right? In fact, the discussion is just like that. I’m afraid that if I read too much, I will become arrogant.”

“That’s no wonder. It’s not about the math award. It’s about you being discovered by netizens as our company’s chief scientist. Now Xiaomi’s popularity is rising along with you.”

Lei Jun’s Mandarin left Xu Qingshan stunned.

Now he knew the reason for the surge in Xiaomi’s valuation.

If Meituan was noticed by the capital market because of its complete company scale and excellent market development capabilities, then Xiaomi was noticed purely because of the strong bond between Xiaomi and Xu Qingshan.

Xiaomi itself is quite reliable because it has an excellent helmsman like Lei Jun. If you take a closer look at Xiaomi’s current core team and senior executives, this level of trust will be infinitely raised.

With both internal and external talents, all kinds of generalists and experts, a future and implementation, it can be called an all-round team. With such a team foundation, it is only a matter of time for this company to develop.

Moreover, according to the default rules of the capital market, the degree of public attention a company receives, or the so-called traffic popularity, is itself part of the company’s valuation.

Especially for companies like Xiaomi that directly face consumers, traffic and popularity will to some extent affect the company’s product sales and online public opinion base.

This gave rise to the saying “face is precious”.

There is no doubt that Xu Qingshan is the most popular and sought-after personal IP in China right now.

Perhaps the mainstream society doesn’t mention the concept of IP much now, let alone personal IP.

However, the capital market, which has always been at the forefront of society and relies on its keen sense of smell to pan for gold, is different. They have already realized what Xu Qingshan’s continuously growing personal influence might bring.

Xiaomi’s technological attributes are highly consistent and relevant with Xu Qingshan’s identity.

They have reason to believe that in the future Chinese market, Xiaomi will be able to rely on the keyword “technology” to have its own place in the mobile phone market.

They have the courage to take a gamble on this part of the investment.

“Brother Jun, tell me the truth.”

Xu Qingshan thought about it and suddenly spoke again.

“Does this incident involving Xiaomi and me personally have anything to do with you?”

When Xu Qingshan asked this question, his tone was not strong, but Lei Jun on the other end of the phone suddenly began to sweat on his forehead.

“Qingshan, you know me.”

Lei Jun said immediately.

“You have received such a high honor this time, it is definitely a good opportunity, no problem, but marketing still has to be prioritized. We have to wait until this wave of popularity reaches its peak before we make an official announcement to achieve a better conversion rate. This time it really has nothing to do with me. If Xiaomi really needs your help with marketing, then we will definitely inform you in advance.”

The sweat on his forehead was not because of anything else, but simply because he was worried that Xu Qingshan didn’t want to have a strong connection with Xiaomi.

After all, when they signed the contract, there was no requirement for Xu Qingshan to come out and endorse Xiaomi.

However, some of these scientists are quite protective of their reputation and do not want their academic reputation to be ruined in business.

If Xu Qingshan has any objections, no matter how Xiaomi handles it, its valuation will definitely drop.

“Brother Jun, don’t be impatient. I don’t mean to question you.”

Xu Qingshan smiled.

“What I mean is, we can make an official announcement. Didn’t we take a group photo when Xiaomi was founded? Instead of letting others dig up the information, why don’t we be more generous and admit it ourselves? And it’s about time you start operating on social media.”

Xu Qingshan gave Lei Jun a small suggestion.

“Our Xiaomi products are aimed at technology enthusiasts, but our prices are affordable. The Internet is our natural platform. Whether it is Xiaomi’s official Weibo or your personal Weibo, it is very suitable for interacting with our fans. Xiaomi has the potential to develop fan economy.”

“We should also be more down-to-earth when operating, like chatting with family and friends in daily life, talk about the original intention of founding Xiaomi from time to time, share our entrepreneurial experience, synchronize our current R&D stage and steps with fans, and let them participate in the production process of the mobile phone. I don’t mean that you should leak the key technology and appearance of our mobile phone, but use text and some suggestive pictures to make fans feel involved. By then, most of them should be willing to pay for the mobile phone they have participated in.”

“As for my identity, I am the chief scientist of Xiaomi, and I am also a major shareholder and investor. Marketing is nothing, but Jun, don’t forget that you are the core founder of Xiaomi. Don’t put the cart before the horse.”

Xu Qingshan wouldn’t mind a strong connection between Xiaomi and himself, but he wouldn’t only be strongly connected with Xiaomi.

His situation is different from Lei Jun’s.

Ren Zhengfei to Huawei, Lei Jun to Xiaomi, Ding Sanshi to NetEase, Jack Ma to Alibaba, and Dong Ge to JD.com are all typical representatives of the strong connection between individuals and enterprises. A great enterprise will inevitably give birth to a world-famous leader.

But even if Alibaba goes bankrupt, it will not affect the reputation of SoftBank and Masayoshi Son.

This is exactly what Xu Qingshan wants.

He won’t just have one Xiaomi in his hand.

As for reputation, Xu Qingshan himself doesn’t care much about it. Not to mention that although Xiaomi does have some areas worthy of criticism in the future, this will not affect its becoming a top company.

For an investor, the biggest failure is when a business fails to grow and his investment fails to appreciate in value, not when his reputation is lost.

As for whether it would dirty one’s feathers.

Xu Qingshan didn’t care even more.

As long as I am still alive, can continue to make breakthroughs in scientific research, and continue to contribute to society and the country, those rumors will naturally be self-defeating and harmless.

Moreover.

Once Aoyama University is established, I don’t know whether my actions will be interpreted as a great character.

People don’t need to care about temporary gains and losses.

Lei Jun was particularly interested in the online marketing plan that Xu Qingshan mentioned. Xiaomi’s planned route was also an online position, so he pulled Xu Qingshan aside to chat for a while longer.

After they finished talking, Xu Qingshan had some free time and went home to start cooking, when he suddenly realized a problem.

No one talks about their other industries that are still laying golden eggs.

Just the original investment of 2500 million US dollars in Xiaomi and Meituan has skyrocketed to more than 4 million US dollars in just 1.5 months, even if the actual valuation is slightly suppressed.

It’s really a huge profit.

No wonder most startups end up heading towards financial investment.

Waving money in your hands, letting others work for you, sitting at home and enjoying the fruits of their labor, while enjoying immeasurable profits, this is truly everyone’s dream life.

only.

He is different from those capitalists who only pursue personal wealth.

He has his own goals and ideals.

He made money so that he could better realize his ideals and provide greater support for the development of China’s scientific research and technology.

The financing went smoothly.

Not only Xiaomi took advantage of Xu Qingshan’s popularity, but even Meituan, at the instruction of Xu Qingshan, took advantage of the traffic and raised its valuation.

Xu Qingshan has truly succeeded in monetizing traffic and can be considered one of the pioneers of the internet celebrity economy.

(End of this chapter)