Reborn with Consumption System

On the second day, the last Sunday of March 2014, Liu Minghao started working.

Meanwhile, Han Lie invited Zhang Yiming to climb the Badaling Great Wall.

Honestly, hanging out with old Zhang is quite dull.

This guy’s mind never rests; if he’s not pondering technical problems, he’s chasing Han Lie for insights on international affairs and financial environments.

Nowadays, Zhang Yiming has a lot he doesn’t know, but he’s incredibly eager to learn.

Even though some things he learns are useless, his thirst for knowledge marks him and Han Lie as different types of people.

Dog Lie makes money for power, status, and enjoyment, never letting work interfere with his leisure.

Zhang Yiming’s ambition for his career is much purer.

However, this might be the very secret to his success.

Among the internet moguls, those obsessed with indulgence and showing off tend to plateau at a certain level, while those uninterested in money grow larger.

Don’t laugh; ordinarily, indulgence and progress contradict each other.

Except for Han Lie, who seems to defy all odds, who can play wildly and still succeed effortlessly?

Most need extreme focus, working like dogs.

So, even if Han Lie and Zhang Yiming chatted a lot, his mind wasn’t really there.

When paths diverge, partnerships cease, Yiming, you’re out, bye-bye!

After parting ways, Dog Lie unhesitatingly boarded the return flight, leaving Liu Minghao alone in the Imperial Capital.

Then, upon returning to the company, Zhang Yiming was completely baffled by Liu Minghao’s details.

"What?! Is this really all the terms they offered?!"

Zhang Lidong, holding those few sheets of paper, excitedly nodded: "Yes! It’s basically confirmed; the letter of intent can be signed anytime!"

The joy definitely has its reasons.

The conditions Liu Minghao offered were not harsh at all; quite the opposite, they were as considerate as a father.

A typical PE investment contract, besides general terms, focuses primarily on investor power terms and constraints for the invested enterprise.

The investor rights section includes all the legal powers Tianhang could possibly obtain.

Such as:

Capital increase rights, dividend distribution rights, liquidation rights, redemption rights, anti-dilution rights, new shares preferential subscription rights, most-favored rights, first refusal rights, co-sale rights, equity lock-up provisions, transfer rights, information rights, board seats, preferential purchase rights, preferential assignment rights, piggyback sale rights, preferential repayment rights, compulsory liquidation rights, repurchase agreement, and so on.

Over a dozen major items, with hundreds of minor ones, complex enough to make a normal person’s brain buzz just by reading it all.

Investors want all the rights to ensure investment security and maximize benefits.

The invested enterprises hope to grant as few rights as possible to avoid entanglement and to prevent working for the investor for free.

This is a fundamental contradiction, resulting in negotiations taking a long time, with each minor clause carefully hashed out until both sides can accept it.

Thus, every financing round leaves negotiation teams and legal departments exhausted.

But how did Liu Minghao handle it?

Besides basic rights, he only made demands in the anti-dilution rule, leaving the rest open!

No betting terms or performance commitments.

No repurchase terms.

Not even a demand for preferential repayment rights or compulsory liquidation rights!

So it was all settled in one Sunday, creating the fastest record ever.

Zhang Yiming was bewildered like a husky: "So... Han Lie genuinely doesn’t want any exit protection? How confident is he in us?"

Zhang Lidong sighed: "In my life, I’ve never seen such a generous investor... except for basic profit protection, he nearly gave us the entire team’s authority, and isn’t afraid we might trick him?"

Zhang Yiming rubbed his forehead: "No need, there are basic terms there. The only way we can trick him is by crashing ByteDance and starting anew... My god! If ByteDance truly fails, Han Lie wouldn’t get a dime back?"

"Yes."

Zhang Lidong nodded in agreement, exclaiming: "This kind of trust... it makes me feel the urge to die for my confidant!"

"That’s great, I’ve no objections, let’s sign the intent."

Zhang Yiming happily pushed the contract draft forward, advising: "Make sure to amend the contract, give them all the rights they deserve, be proactive. From the looks of it, Teacher Han genuinely wants to partner with us as a pure financial investor, so let’s not belittle our vision."

"I understand."

Zhang Lidong nodded: "However, this contract might not even be necessary; Teacher Han is someone who can be easily negotiated with. Even if discrepancies occur in the future, internal discussions would resolve it without the need for a contract."

The founding team’s goodwill towards Han Lie shot up.

Willingly offering more funds, having strategic foresight, and not giving undue directives, where else can you find such a great person?!

From now on, we are beloved friends, dear family brothers, for sure!

The more Zhang Yiming and Zhang Lidong thought about it, the happier they became, merrily proceeding to sign the letter of intent.

Then...

Shen Nanpeng was bewildered.

The negotiations for Series B financing had already begun, with various investment institutions aware of one another, currently in contract grinding phase.

The general routine for discussing financing is — each talks with ByteDance to form a preliminary intent, then ByteDance decides a shortlist, after which ByteDance presents the best terms to see which shortlisted investors will follow.

If all can keep up, ByteDance then selectively picks, deciding whose investment they’ll ultimately accept.