Chapter 456 This Investor Is Weird
After many twists and turns, it took Li Xiaofan and others more than an hour to successfully pass the customs.
In the arrival hall of Ben Gurion International Airport, a young man of similar age to Li Xiaofan has been waiting for Lin Muchiu and Li Xiaofan for a long time with a sign. This young man is Arik Vardi, one of the founders of Mirabilis Technology Company. .
Lin Muchiu stepped forward to say hello to Arik Vardy. After everyone was introduced and exchanged greetings, Arik Vardy drove Li Xiaofan and others out of Ben-Gurion International Airport.
On the way, Arik Vardi introduced to Li Xiaofan and the others that the full name of Tel Aviv is Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Tel Aviv means spring hill in Hebrew, and the original meaning of Jaffa's name is beauty.
However, due to its special history, Tel Aviv in the twentieth century was a victim of violent attacks and terrorist activities. Just in March this year, during the Purim holiday, a suicide bomb exploded near an ATM, killing 18 citizens...
Now Li Xiaofan could understand why the immigration inspection was so strict just now.
However, Arik Vardi proudly introduced that Tel Aviv, where they live, is actually a very liberal city.
Li Xiaofan can see graffiti and people skateboarding everywhere on the streets of Tel Aviv. As Arik Vardi said, there are also French music and opera houses here, attracting creative talents, and there are "first Known as the "Second Silicon Valley"...
More than an hour later they arrived at Mirabilis Technology's office in Tel Aviv.
The office of their Mirabilis technology company is actually in the basement. The layout is very simple, with just a few computers. It gives Li Xiaofan the feeling that it is even simpler than the original Yahoo company.
In the basement, Li Xiaofan also met the other founders of ICQ, Weisig and Goldfinger.
Several founders, including Arik Vardi, Weisig and Goldfinger, all look young. They have just completed their military service and are about the same age as Li Xiaofan.
I heard that Li Xiaofan is a Chinese from Singapore, and he was the first to invest in the famous Yahoo company with Sequoia Capital. They are very friendly to Li Xiaofan and they have a feeling of great admiration.
Speaking of their feelings for China, several young Israelis remember that special period of history. During World War II, the Jews were persecuted by the German Nazis. It was the Chinese ambassador to Germany at that time who helped the Jews to print a large number of visas, which allowed a large number of Jews to escape. Hundreds of thousands of Jews escaped and hid in Shanghai after obtaining visas. At that time, the mainland was also under tremendous pressure to accommodate them. Later, when the Jews went to the Middle East to establish their country, they always remembered this kindness, so they were very friendly to mainland China...
"Why did you think of developing this ICQ software in the first place?" Li Xiaofan asked Arik Vardi and others.
Arik Vardi replied: "In the first half of the year, after our good friends completed their military service together, we faced the choice of life, find a job or start our own business. Mr. Li, it is the Internet projects such as Yahoo and Netscape that you invested in. The success stories inspired us. A few of us felt that the current Internet opportunities were great, and began to look for Internet entrepreneurial opportunities..."
“Later, we discovered that e-mail boxes on the Internet are often filled with a lot of unimportant information, and we receive a large number of advertisements and spam messages every day, while some very important emails and information are flooded and do not receive the attention and attention they deserve. Timely feedback. So, after discussion, several of us decided to develop a software that transmits information more quickly and directly on the Internet, so we locked ourselves in this room and agreed not to do anything related to the Internet. Inventions will no longer come out..." Arik Vardy laughed.
Li Xiaofan asked: "Then you developed the ICQ software?"
Arik Vardy continued: "Well, we spent more than two months developing this version 1.0 of ICQ. Currently, this version 1.0 of ICQ supports chatting, sending messages, and transferring files on the Internet. and other functions. Later we applied for an independent ICQ website, and with the support of my father, we registered Mirabilis Technology Company to provide Internet instant messaging services to registered users..."
After the introduction, Arik Vardi demonstrated the ICQ function of version 1.0 to Li Xiaofan and others on the computer.
On Arik Vardy's computer, Li Xiaofan saw the world's first version 1.0 of ICQ that had not yet been officially released.
Although there are only basic functions such as Internet chatting, sending messages, and transferring files, Li Xiaofan became extremely friendly after seeing it. You must know that AOL acquired ICQ for US$400 million two years later in the previous life, and the Tencent empire that later flourished started on the basis of ICQ...
"Well, it's very good. This ICQ seems to be really convenient to use. Arik, is there anyone currently investing in your Mirabilis technology company?" Li Xiaofan asked.
Arik Vardi told Li Xiaofan that after they developed version 1.0 of the ICQ software a few days ago, they approached several investment institutions in Israel, and none of them seemed to be very interested in this free gadget.
The first entrepreneur they contacted even sneered at the young men who had just finished their military service: You little brats don’t understand the business model at all. Can this thing make money?
At present, this project relies on the support of Arik Vardi’s father, Yossi Vardi, who gave them a sum of money to support them.
Arik Vardi, Weissger, Goldfinger and other founders are very curious about how Li Xiaofan, who is far away in Singapore, knows about the ICQ software developed by them, because they have not promoted it online at all. At present, the money given by Arik Vardi’s father is only enough to maintain the company’s daily expenses and some basic program development.
Li Xiaofan had to laugh and say that they got some information from the Israeli Industrial Research and Development Center MATIMOP...
Listening to Li Xiaofan’s explanation, Lin Muchu beside him was confused.
She was very curious. The young boss beside her often had some strange ideas. For example, in the previous negotiation with Cyrix, he actually wanted to raise a lot of money to invest in a semiconductor company that was on the decline. Now he came all the way to Tel Aviv to invest in a small program that a few kids were playing with. She didn't quite understand Li Xiaofan's routine.
But the previous success had proved that the young boss beside her was a business genius, so although Lin Muchu was confused, she was still full of curiosity and expectation.
Finally, Li Xiaofan said to Arik Vardi and other founders:
"Arik, I am very interested in investing in your ICQ project. Can you give me a price?"
Hearing this, Arik Vardi, Vardi, Goldfinger and other founders showed joy on their faces and exchanged glances. They excitedly communicated in Hebrew for a few minutes. Afterwards, after Arik Vardi spoke with the project's sponsor and his father, Yossi Vardi, on the phone, he said to Li Xiaofan:
"Mr. Li, our ICQ project is currently valued at $500,000 after investment. We hope to sell 20% of the shares and get an investment of $100,000..."
"$500,000 is too low. I will give you a post-investment valuation of $1 million for this project. I am willing to invest $400,000 and hold a 40% stake. How about that?"
Li Xiaofan's answer surprised Arik Vardi, Vardi, Goldfinger and other founders. There are actually investors who dislike founders for offering too low a price?