Part of the reason for the surprise attack was Chen Pingjiang's personal bad taste.
He wanted to see how embarrassed Wang Tao, who would dominate in the future, was at the moment.
It also allowed them to see the real environment of Dajiang, which would be very beneficial for the next round of negotiations and bargaining.
The next day, by just 11 AM, Chen Pingjiang and his group arrived in Shenzhen.
When they arrived at Dajiang's address, Chen Pingjiang was still a little dumbfounded.
Dajiang's current office was still in a three-bedroom house, looking from the outside, it was at most about ninety square meters.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
Bu Housheng stepped forward:
"We are Tianyuan Capital, is Mr. Wang Tao in?"
"Yes, yes, I'll take you there."
Amidst a sea of parts and circuit boards, Chen Pingjiang met Wang Tao.
Wang Tao, who had pulled another all-nighter, looked a bit tired, his already sparse hair was shiny with oil, and his whole person looked quite haggard.
"Old Wang, someone's looking for you."
Wang Tao, who was stretching and yawning, froze for a moment, then turned to see three "successful individuals" dressed in suits.
The conversation also attracted the attention of other Dajiang members.
"Can't you recognize him? It's Mr. Chen Pingjiang."
Wang Tao suddenly realized after being reminded:
"No wonder I thought he looked familiar. Sorry, Mr. Chen, you look a bit different from how you appear on TV."
Chen Pingjiang smiled and looked around:
"Is your whole team here?"
"Our Marketing Manager Guo Jia is out securing orders, and Teacher Zhu, he'll be here this afternoon."
The Dajiang team members all seemed very excited; anyone who wasn't a fool understood what it meant to meet Chen Pingjiang here.
Someone silently prayed:
"Please don't mess up the negotiations."
"Shall we find a place to talk?"
Chen Pingjiang noticed there wasn't even an extra chair in the small space.
The group finally chose a private room in a nearby teahouse.
After sitting down, Chen Pingjiang's first question was asked out of curiosity:
"Your annual sales are already around three million, why haven't you moved to a different place?"
Wang Tao smiled sheepishly:
"Three million isn't enough; after deducting costs and staff salaries, there's not much left, and then there's R&D."
With sales of three million, even with a fifty percent profit, that's only 1.5 million.
If the average salary is 5,000, and the team now has eight people, that's 40,000 a month, totaling 480,000 a year.
Add social security and other administrative expenses, and there really isn't much money left.
As they were speaking, an old man and a young man entered the private room together.
Wang Tao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them; it was good that Guo Jia and Zhu Xiaorui had arrived.
He knew he wasn't good with words and rarely dealt with people, fearing that if he said something wrong, it would ruin the cooperation.
"Mr. Chen, this is Zhu Xiaorui, formerly a doctoral supervisor at Harbin Institute of Technology, now our company's chief scientist. This is my childhood friend, now our company's marketing manager. They are also shareholders of our company."
When Zhu Xiaorui and Guo Jia received the call, they were both stunned.
They never imagined that Chen Pingjiang, a popular celebrity figure in China, would come in person, so they rushed over as quickly as possible.
Chen Pingjiang didn't know these two; he figured they were already Dajiang's second-generation founders.
Because the first generation of founders all ran off.
Due to exhaustion, prolonged stress, and equity issues.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, Wang Tao had no experience in company management and focused entirely on technology.
When the company first started, everyone was very excited and promised large shares.
Eventually, Wang Tao felt uncomfortable; he had the strongest technology and contributed the most, but didn't have corresponding shares, so he adjusted them down twice.
This also made others unhappy, and combined with other factors, they left.
After exchanging pleasantries with the two, Chen Pingjiang got straight to the point:
"The reason I'm here today is naturally because I'm interested in your company. Investing money is a given, but the exact amount and the shares I'll take require further discussion. It depends on how you convince me."
The three tech guys, even with a technical master like Zhu Xiaorui, couldn't help but freeze; they were somewhat unaccustomed to Chen Pingjiang's direct and forceful style.
"Our helicopter flight control system is very good, and it's considered leading domestically."
"Our team's technology is incredibly strong."
Several of them spoke up, one after another.
Unexpectedly, Chen Pingjiang shook his head:
"All this information is in the materials. You've been looking for investment for a while now, haven't you? Has anyone else expressed interest besides me? Your current annual sales are only 3 million. Even if I multiply that by 10, it's only 30 million, which is still far from enough."
Finally, the experienced and steady Zhu Xiaorui said:
"Mr. Chen, please speak your mind directly about any ideas you have, and we'll analyze them."
"It's simple: abandon helicopter flight controls and switch to other products."
"What products?"
"Consumer drones! Multi-rotor ones."
This concept was still very novel at the time.
The market in 2010 was either model aircraft, helicopters, or military-grade drones.
"We've also researched multi-rotor model aircraft before, but their stability is very poor."
"It's precisely because there's a gap that it's worth researching. If there were already competitors in the market, why would I come to you? If it can't hover, research flight control technology. If the image shakes, research gimbals,"
Chen Pingjiang said with a smile.
Wang Tao was still a bit confused:
"Will anyone buy something like this? A single drone model costs over a hundred thousand yuan."
"How will you know if no one buys it if you don't make it?"
The process of such a future-leading industry giant bypassing detours was quite interesting.
Historically, Dajiang first made a name for itself with the Zenmuse gimbal before turning to integrated aerial photography consumer drones – the Dajiang Phantom 1.
Chen Pingjiang continued:
"I know your company might not be worth much right now, but I'm willing to invest 100 million RMB for only forty percent of the shares. Additionally, I will build a building for you at the Orange Mobile Phone Terminal Base, which is Qingshan Lake, to serve as Dajiang's headquarters.
With readily available talent, existing foundries, and promotional and sales channels, I dare say that as long as you can produce a prototype that meets the requirements, I can make it quickly capture the market."
Wang Tao, Zhu Xiaorui, and Guo Jia exchanged glances, all seeing the fervor in each other's eyes.
They even somewhat disbelieved their own ears.
This proposal was too tempting.
At present, Dajiang at most was worth twenty to thirty million, but Chen Pingjiang forcibly raised the valuation to the billion-level.
Most critically, with the empowerment of Orange Mobile, future production and sales would no longer be a concern.
Bu Housheng, standing by, was somewhat at a loss.
Is this how investments are made?
Isn't this too unrestrained?
If it were someone else discussing things here, Bu Housheng would have scoffed.
Who can guarantee that after investing money, providing a venue, and a host of resources, a qualified product will definitely be made?
If it can't be made, wouldn't everything be wasted?
Zhu Xiaorui was experienced and couldn't help but ask:
"If I may ask, Mr. Chen, why are you so optimistic about us? To be honest, these conditions are almost too good, so good that we can hardly believe them."
Chen Pingjiang glanced at them:
"I've looked into your helicopter flight control system, and it is indeed good. Furthermore, I personally express great admiration for your team's strength, especially Professor Zhu and Wang Tao's individual capabilities."
"I've always wanted to create an affordable and high-quality consumer aerial photography drone, but I haven't found a company that caught my eye. You happen to be one of them. Professional matters should be handled by professionals, and I have high hopes for you."
"Drones are a direction I am optimistic about for the future. Besides that, rocket launches, nuclear fusion, virtual reality, and AI are all my interests."
Wang Tao swallowed, as a tech enthusiast, these concepts all sounded exciting to him.
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Chen Pingjiang differently.
A big shot is a big shot, what they play with is also different from us.
Oh, not just us, but different from all other rich people in the world.
Big shots are playing with innovation and disruption, all high-tech stuff.
Look at their vision and mission?
What a sense of social responsibility?
Chen Pingjiang's voice continued:
"To say something that won't make people laugh, my current wealth is enough for me to squander for ten lifetimes. I no longer have any motivation for making money.
The reason I haven't 'laid flat' to enjoy life yet is purely because I still have some expectations for this world. I believe that technological innovation can solve the problems humanity faces, such as climate change, energy crises, space exploration, and so on.
Humanity needs to move towards a beautiful future, free from wars, poverty, and disease; we cannot merely pursue our own interests but should focus on the entire community of shared future for mankind."
Grand! Great! Noble!
This was everyone's immediate feeling.
Wang Tao felt his blood boiling from the speech, his eyes shining as he looked at Chen Pingjiang.
Zhu Xiaorui was also somewhat moved.
If an ordinary person were to talk extensively about a community of shared future for mankind in front of them, they would certainly scoff.
But when that person became Chen Pingjiang, the meaning was different.
He might actually be able to do it!
And whether he achieves it or not, the sentiment behind this wealth is enough to command respect.
Looking at their gazes, Chen Pingjiang felt this tactic was too effective.
No wonder Musk later had so many fervent followers.
How many people regarded him as an object of worship.
The internet was filled with praise and compliments for him.
In the eyes of the world, he was different from other entrepreneurs.
Chen Pingjiang naturally didn't deny Musk's awesomeness, but the key lay in the clever establishment of his persona.
"No problem, Mr. Chen, your conditions are excellent, I accept."
"Mm, we too."
Chen Pingjiang confirmed:
"Is it too fast? Do you need to think about it more?"
Wang Tao waved his hand:
"What is there to consider with such excellent conditions? Anyone else would just exploit us, but you are different; you truly understand technology and genuinely respect it. Compared to the vast starry sky you envision, if we don't get on board now, we'd seem too pretentious and unappreciative."
"Good! Then it's settled. You can pack up tomorrow, and I'll find a vehicle to transport them to Dongjiang. Once there, we'll sign the contract and make the payment."
Chen Pingjiang stood up with a smile:
"Then I wish us a future where we can definitely change the world!"
Everyone else, one by one, stood up and high-fived together.
(End of chapter)