2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 485 The Young Couple's Future Plans
It was past 10 p.m. when Sun Tongyu left the residential area.

After nearly two hours of communication, both parties had actually reached an agreement on the onboarding issue, but they could not make it official at the moment.

Strictly speaking, Tan Jincheng didn't find a CEO for Orange Products, but rather a new investor for Orange Technology. As Sun Tongyu joked, they not only wanted him, but also his money.

"How old are you? You're already thinking about returning to family life?" Tan Jincheng gently embraced Gu Qingqing.

What he just said to Sun Tongyu was something Gu Qingqing had instructed him to say beforehand. Neither of them knew how Sun Tongyu would react beforehand, but they had already discussed the details of how to recruit him.

Gu Qingqing turned around and chuckled, "No, not really. The CEO position does seem a bit tedious. I can manage it when the company is small, but I don't have the energy for it when the company gets bigger."

This was her true feeling. At the beginning, Orange Technology had less than 30 people in total, including the two teams and the logistics team. In addition, the people brought by her cousin were all recent college graduates. Cheng Hao's team was also under Cheng Hao's supervision, so it was easy to manage.

After the Series A funding, Orange Technology began to expand its scale and launched agricultural assistance projects and liaison with SF Express, among other things. Although she had the assistance of Cheng Hao and Tan Jincheng, her workload had begun to increase significantly.

Now that the Orange Products Club project is operational, Orange Technology's total number of employees is more than ten times what it was when it was founded, and the number of employees is still increasing.

All of this is because they didn't build their own logistics like Jingdong did.

After each round of financing, internet companies experience rapid expansion, and Orange Technology is no exception. Perhaps in a few years, Orange Technology will also have its own headquarters, just like Flash Group.

In the years she spent with Tan Jincheng, Gu Qingqing learned a great deal and was exposed to many things she could never have imagined before. Her personal wealth and reputation have reached a level she never dared to dream of when she entered university.

But every gain has its loss. First of all, her studies were greatly affected. She went from being an excellent freshman to someone who frequently skipped classes and even had to rely on the college for help with exams.

In fact, her personal life has been greatly affected. She has been interviewed no less than Tan Jincheng, and perhaps even more. Female entrepreneurs are already a focus of attention, let alone a female college student in her twenties.

Ningbo University now uses Gu Qingqing as its flagship, with the university frequently seeking her cooperation on various activities. In addition, people in Yiwu also like to interview her.

She finds it difficult to refuse interviews from her school and hometown unless there's something truly important. These strange interviews take up a lot of her time, and although most of them involve her coming to Beicang to assist her, they still significantly impact her life.

The success of Orange Products makes it almost certain that Orange Technology will grow into a large company. The core of the company is small and beautiful, but this "small" only applies to large Internet companies, not to how small the scale is.

If she stays in the CEO position, it will be difficult for her to take care of her family after she gets married. It's true that she is career-minded, but she is still young and doesn't want to give up her life.

Therefore, finding a strong leader for Orange Technology, while she steps back to the sidelines to become an investor and run some charitable foundations, is the best option.

We discussed it when we were in Beijing last time. We'll set up a family trust after we get married, and someone will be needed to manage it.

"Isn't this a bit unfair to you? You've contributed a lot to Orange Technology, and you're certainly capable as a CEO."

“A family always has to have someone make a sacrifice. It’s not possible for both of you to be public figures, constantly being watched by the media. How would you live like that? If you’re in the physical business, you don’t have that much exposure, and you can refuse some things. But I don’t have your ability to refuse anyone right now.”

The department leaders discussed having her cooperate with an interview, and she couldn't refuse, could she? There's also some publicity going on in her hometown, and they wanted her to cooperate; she couldn't refuse that either, could she?

Another thing that internet companies need is exposure. Positive exposure for company leaders can, to a certain extent, increase market value, so she can't refuse this exposure.

“That’s true. Nowadays, mobile phone cameras have higher and higher resolutions. Once internet speeds improve, anyone can become a media outlet and post a photo online without anyone noticing.” Tan Jincheng agreed with this point.

"Yes, just imagine how annoying it would be if we went out and someone took pictures of us. Besides, I'm not going to be a housewife, I'm just not going to be in the public eye anymore."

Behind-the-scenes investors don't have as much exposure and don't have to worry too much about affecting the company, so they have a lot more freedom, which is indeed a good choice. Tan Jincheng also agrees with this.

There's no need to be coy about this: "Alright, let's squeeze more money out of Old Sun this time, cash out more, and prepare for our future."

The difference between internet companies and traditional businesses lies in the equity ratio. Currently, the two individuals hold a combined 57.6% stake in Orange Technology, which has already completed its Series B funding round. This is quite unusual for any internet company.

Normally, after Series B funding, the founders' shares are only around 40%, and after Series C and IPO, the founders' shares will be diluted to less than 30%, but this does not affect the founders' control over the company.

Pony Ma's shareholding in Tencent was already very low, but that didn't change his control over the company. The Series C funding round brought Orange Technology's shareholding back to the level of a normal internet company; both companies could sell more than 20% of their equity, resulting in a substantial amount of cash.

"You really haven't changed your style of always trying to take advantage of others. You ask people to do your work but you're also eyeing their money. It was the same when you were selling oranges. You even managed to get 300 million from my dad. But he definitely can't eat that much by himself."

"Yeah, if he can get 10%, that's already considered going all in. But it's okay, there are still three investment institutions, they have plenty of money. Let's get a bigger share this time."

After the Series C funding round, Tan Jincheng's shareholding remained above 33%. Even without considering Gu Qingqing's shareholding, this was enough to ensure that Tan Jincheng personally had absolute control over Orange Technology.

Therefore, they have a considerable amount of room to choose which percentage of equity to sell in this round.

"In this round, I'll cash out a bit more of my shares, keeping it around 5%, right?"

Tan Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "That's about right. Let's transfer a total of 15% of the shares. 10% of the funds will go to the company, and we'll cash out the remaining 5%."

Transferring 15% of the shares to four investment institutions, including Sun Tongyu, ensures that everyone benefits equally. As for the specific allocation method, that depends on their own discussion.

Compared to the Series B financing, the method Tan Jincheng designed for the two of them to directly transfer equity was procedurally simpler. After calculating the valuation, they just transferred the money.

This approach is also to avoid dragging things out. If the internet investment boom continues and the timeline is pushed to next year, no matter how much your company grows, the way you calculate valuations will have to be lowered.

Before the financial crisis breaks out, they want to scam as many people as possible. As for whether Sun Tongyu will realize his mistake and blame Tan Jincheng later.

There's absolutely no need to worry. They're more professional than Tan Jincheng when it comes to this. It's the same principle as buying stocks: you're responsible for your own profits. If you buy at a high point, you have to accept it. Blaming others doesn't make you a mature investor.

On the contrary, he will work even harder to ensure that his shares continue to appreciate in value, so that his investment will be worthwhile.

"After this round of financing, you can pay off your debts." Gu Qingqing still remembered the huge debt that Tan Jincheng owed to Hongshan.

"That's true. I should pay him back after the financing. Although I really don't want to pay him back, I've been using his services for so long for nothing."

Why should money borrowed through one's own ability be repaid?
Boss Tan really doesn't want to pay it back. If he really wants to pay it back, it would be best to do so next year. However, he can't do this too dishonestly. It's fine if you don't pay back when you're broke, but it would seem a bit like being a scoundrel if you pay back after cashing out a large sum of money.

"Forget it, just pay him back. But after this round of financing, you'll definitely be a rich woman. You'll be much richer than me then."

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingqing turned around, hooked her arms around Tan Jincheng's neck, and said with seductive eyes, "That's right, I'll take care of you then."

By maintaining a 5% stake, Gu Qingqing will be able to cash out 9.05% of the shares in this round. After the second round of financing, Orange Technology's valuation is 7.6 million yuan. Currently, Orange Products, which is favored by the market, will be able to occupy more than 2% of the online shopping market.

Even without considering any bubble in the Series C funding growth rate, based solely on the valuation systems of Ali or Jingdong, Orange Technology's valuation should exceed 20 billion yuan. And this doesn't even take into account the Kaixin.com business with its huge cash flow!

In other words, Orange Technology, which is about to complete its Series C funding round, is already valued at over 20 billion yuan. That's how dramatic internet companies are; they either soar to great heights or go bankrupt.

Based on a base of 20 billion, Gu Qingqing will be able to cash out at least 1.8 million yuan in this round, while Tan Jincheng, in order to maintain his controlling stake, will be able to cash out significantly less.

However you calculate it, the amount the two could cash out exceeded 3 million yuan. ByteDance's cash flow exceeded 3 million yuan, which is quite a sum at the end of 2007.

"Then thank you, little rich lady. I need to hurry up and try to please her."

He picked up Gu Qingqing and walked towards the master bedroom.

"Oh, I haven't taken a shower yet."

"Why wash? You have to wash afterward anyway, it's just an extra step."

"But you smell of alcohol on your breath."

(End of this chapter)