Chapter 1170： Courageous red shirt

Menlo Park is a young, cutting-edge city.

It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the southeastern part of San Mateo County, California, and is one of the components of the definition of Silicon Valley.

Of course, the introduction is so much just to say that the headquarters of Sequoia Capital is here.

As a veteran vc that has invested in many innovative companies such as ale, google, , oracle, yahoo, linkedin, etc., Sequoia Capital has quite a lot of reserve funds.

In the vast tide of entrepreneurship, if the founding teams walking on the front line are responsible for setting the direction and charging into battle, then the venture capital funds like Red Shirt behind them are "strategizing" and looking for opportunities one by one. And help entrepreneurs become a reality.

In other words, Red Shirt actually goes out every year to find a large amount of industry teams to invest in. In the Hurun Global Top 100 Unicorn Active Institutions list, it often ranks in the top three, so naturally there are not so many activities. Kung Fu focuses on a subdivision of streaming media to start.

In fact, since that contact with Lehman did not match the expectations given by both parties, the team led by Ellen Deve had no motivation to continue negotiating progress on this matter. They have too many things to do, calm down For a period of time, I guess I also want to talk about it when Firefly burns money to the point where it can't bear the loss of its main business.

But the boss has a lot of work on his hands, and it's nothing if he doesn't pay attention. He can be the first to contact Amber for an offer, that is, Fuller French, the second-level investment director in the red shirt, but he is always attentive.

After all, although the red shirt is a fund system, the amount of funds reserved by the fund and the resources that can be used depend on the investment benefits of various teams. He himself thinks that Amber can become a ladder for his investment career.

In the venture capital world, there are no longer a minority of people who have "one night scenery".

He can only bet more energy on one transaction than the head man can stare at several major industries such as medical, mobile c, and cloud services to make a full range of bets.

Well, for the humble Amber, or people in the circle who feel that Mann Media, including Hollywood giants like Universal, is stupid to enter the Internet +, it is the focus of their attention.

Yes, the market share of traditional media companies such as hulu + amber is far from that of platforms dominated by Internet power such as Netflix + YouTube + Amazon. Innovation or the services of the platform itself, French is more interested in Mann Media behind Amber.

Especially with the recent explosion of "Guardians of the Galaxy", French, who has collected information from all parties and vaguely knows the criteria and censorship mechanism of Hollywood studios for A-type works, has become more and more concerned about Marvel or their entire production. Focusing on the output efficiency of the department, he tried to analyze a possible behavior.

Although it may seem silly to use analysis to explain things in the creative field, he always feels that Mann Media has mastered a new creative model, or it can explain why they are always more efficient than other established labels. output.

On the table, a large number of data files collected by newspapers and film market research institutions were thoroughly turned over by French, but it seems that there is no creative law at all, and even Mann Media always goes against the mainstream. He's invested heavily in original projects, supporting Mexican filmmakers, something that's rather alien in today's Hollywood.

French, who was trying to explain the cycle, got himself into a mental dilemma.

Later, he didn't want to look for any rules to endorse, but simply thought that Lehman was strong, and it was enough to convince the boss to vote for this person.

He put together a document and some graphs about Mann Media's film and television business, and went with a little courage.

…

Weird.

It stands to reason that film critics should be regarded as the most prejudiced group of comedies, but "Guardians of the Galaxy" means not being dissed, at least much better than those comedies starring Jim Carrey.

The latest issue of the "Los Angeles Times" entertainment edition, just when "Guardians of the Galaxy" broke 300 million worldwide, played a headline: "A space comedy movie loved by audiences around the world."

In the detailed reviews, they commented that the film's style is not novel, but the nostalgic golden song gm, the simple and beautiful story, and the framework that integrates into the interstellar and universe are all worthy of attention.

"This movie is not as boring as fans imagined before, it is not boring at all; for a multi-protagonist story that is not popular and needs to spend pen and ink to make it acceptable to the audience, this is a relatively good movie. "

Although the newspaper did not say it explicitly, it always felt that its subtext was comparing the performance of "Guardians of the Galaxy" with "Green Lantern".

The latter was criticized by many fans because of the time spent on the background and character creation without getting a good impression. More importantly, the box office was bad.

Compared with the conservative "Los Angeles Times", the attitude of other newspapers is much more positive:

"The vast majority of the media gave the film good reviews. The people who made this film must have had a very happy moment when they were filming. Because at the end of the year, to see such a non-pretentious film is a great experience. A wonderful thing.” —Wall Street Journal review

"Guardians of the Galaxy accomplished the impossible. It took a very unpopular comic book chapter, took it out, remade it, and turned it into a great, playful piece of work." —Rolling Stone Review

"James Gunn looks like he's working hard to make a comedy, and it's a good comedy. A lot of times it makes people smile." - Boston Globe

"Compared with Avengers, the film is more casual and casual, full of jokes." - "Chicago Tribune" Review

"The film looks like it's part George Lucas, part Chuck Jones. That is to say, it's an incredible mix of sci-fi, visual effects and comedy. More importantly, the film's The viewing value is still very high." - "The Pioneer" Review

…

Although this film has also been criticized, it is nothing compared to the praise of these mainstream newspapers.

In the office of the boss Ellen Deve, just in the new week of the film market, that is, on December 23, it was jointly created by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, and produced using "performance capture + cg animation". When the 3D cartoon "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" began to be released, Fuller-French was reporting what he believed to be.

"The excellence of Mann Media's production business is obvious to all. That doesn't mean anything? I know some Hollywood tycoons. Do you know what they say about Lyman?"

Ellen Deve laughed: "Steve in the 1980s and 1990s. Many directors have creative peaks in their careers, but for people as talented as them, the peak period is longer than most people."

"Maybe. But I have carefully checked the results of Mann Media's film and television department in the three years from 2007 to 2010. It is obvious that their upward curve is very obvious. On average for three years, the annual revenue growth rate is 42%. A magnitude that no Hollywood filmmaker has ever done."

French took out the data, "For this kind of growth, maybe everyone knows that they have such an exaggerated performance through the success of their adaptation of Marvel, but they can start when everyone is not optimistic about the value of the remaining Marvel characters. Not also proved Lyman's vision and ability.

According to their statement, "Game of Thrones" will be launched in a month or two, and it is difficult for me to think that they will fail under the support of this kind of data. And for us, if Amber has more than 1 million full users and no less than 8 million visits, it may be enough for that offer.

Originally, in our deduction, to achieve this step, Amber needed at least 2 years of accumulation, and there was no situation in the middle, and the current loss rate of less than 10% has been maintained. For the past two years, Netflix doesn't know where it is going. This is the reason why we let go and feel that it is not worthwhile.

But now it seems that it is possible to gamble. I have an 80% probability that Firefly will win. It is not necessarily an amazing increase, but in terms of the output of the project itself, it must be cost-effective.

Let's just say that last year, they invested less than 2.5 billion yuan to leverage more than 20 billion film and television revenue. Can't it explain anything?

Firefly is on the road to success, and Lehman himself has created too many investment miracles. Disney is not optimistic about the "Avatar", and Universal is not optimistic. He is optimistic, and Cameron thanked him for his support afterwards. I think we can completely win Amber's A-round shares, as if investing in him, he rarely loses. "

"You have some fate. It's a bit like our partner in the mainland, Mr. Shen. He likes to watch people's bets, rather than focusing on data and analyzing environmental prospects." Ellen Deve quipped.

"I really can't find the law of the market to support my opinion." French shrugged, "But I do feel that I can't miss it, and my heart tells me that I can't miss it. Even if there is a risk, I am willing to bear that kind of pressure. ."

"Content creation is full of uncertainty, but the audience market is regular. What a person likes to watch and what he likes always has his own set of criteria for judging. Just taking the data you gave as an example, Lehmann is really amazing. It felt like a pair of eyes looking through the fog.

But what are you going to do? The attitude we gave last time was already obvious, and looking back now, all fools know our urgent intentions. "Ellen Deve said in a deep voice.

He has been in this business for many years, and the proudest thing is that he spent 60 million invested in whatsa, and it took four years to push it to Facebook-

Hongshan is also a member of many Facebook investment institutions (in terms of proportion alone, it is not outstanding), and this merger and acquisition business, more of his own team successfully persuaded Facebook to acquire the instant messaging application whatsa at a high price of 19 billion Complement its core business map.

Now, the management of the two companies have already negotiated more clearly with him acting as an intermediary.

In the context of a high probability of becoming a fact, Ellen Deve exchanged a total of 60 million funds in exchange for 3 billion Facebook shares in circulation. Not a bad bet.

Therefore, his own investment philosophy has always been a small investment and a large output. He would rather cast a wide net than enter the market with a lot of money, but constantly open up new goals. This time, there are also some subordinates who have been working with him for a long time. persuade.

"Well, there seems to be no other way than to meet and talk sincerely. In addition, some peers are not optimistic about the profit prospects of the streaming media business, and think that Netflix's life will not be easy if the copyright price continues to rise. And what about the others. That's something we can make as well."

Fuller-French replied: "I need more support, and we can always talk about it. We have all analyzed it. Amber wants to continue to watch Qi Netflix, and it will burn more money than Netflix in all aspects. Their current spending Sales simply can’t keep up with the market. That’s a real problem for them to seek financing.”

"I hope you read it right," Ellen Deve said. "I'll get someone to file a report and get resources, but you still have to get that Lyman Last director, and I don't want to see even bets. The parties did not get it done.”

"I will."

…

"We meet again."

On the third day after the filming of "Big Shot", and the second day after Lehman returned to Burbank after having a meal, Ron called to inform him that the person who had come to him enthusiastically, and the place was in Lehman. mansion lawn.

"Sorry, I was filming earlier, and I haven't been able to spare any time..."

When Lyman saw him, he said politely.

"It's okay, you're busy, and I appreciate you giving me this opportunity."

Fuller French has a lower attitude than his boss, there is no way, Ellen Deve is a rich man with tens of billions of wealth, and he is not as proud of his strength in comparison.

What's more, he really needs a chance to talk face to face.

"I don't know why your attitudes have changed... er, a bit fast? Didn't we say last time that we would wait until "Game of Thrones" goes live to see the effect. If there is still no conclusion, no matter which one of us offers, there is a lack of mutual opinion. objective, isn't it?

Therefore, there is no need for you to make such an interview or something. I will give a general condition to the outside world at that time. I welcome anyone who wants to come, whether it is you or an investment bank like ****. "

Lehman really doesn't care who gives the financing money, anyway, as long as the conditions are met, anyone can help Amber grow.

"No, we have a conclusion."

French found that the other party's attitude towards red shirts was the same as that of other VCs, and there was nothing special about it, so he quickly said: "We talked about it a long time ago, didn't we? We wanted to invest at that time, but there was a little delay in the middle, but in general, We can come back again and definitely have an agreement.”

After receiving the affirmation of the boss's investment priority, he is not tempted by just taking chips. "We can do it after estimating 13 billion and finding a platform for traffic and downloads for you."

"Sorry, you promised that day and maybe it will happen, but now I don't care about waiting for a while. I have decided with my team to wait for "Game of Thrones" to be handed over to all interested investors after it goes live. an answer."

"Don't think about it anymore, they are still hesitating, we are not hesitating anymore. Let's all make the project together, and I can also promise not to interfere in the management of the copyright of the film library on behalf of Hongshan.

In this way, it is more convenient and less restrictive for your development space than just relying on the profits of Marvel and other businesses to fill the gaps in new businesses. "

"I need to lead the way. Netflix has a very good relationship with Microsoft. They always have an advantage over Amber in terms of access to some ports, but that doesn't mean we don't have a chance. I still spend a month or two. They are much bigger than us anyway, and they can't be much bigger."

"But you also know the importance of this industry to the cost of time. The threshold for streaming media is not high, but it is not low, not to mention chasing an industry leader who is already ahead too much."

"I have the confidence to chase, so where did your confidence come from?"

"Content." French was firm, "you have been emphasizing the content. After I went back, I watched a lot of your film and television works. In terms of content, I think I underestimated your quality control of content. As for Netflix's content in The lead in numbers is actually not difficult to catch up, at least they don’t have too much exclusive content.”

Lehman smiled, "I kind of know why Red Shirt has been able to achieve great results in less than 30 years after entering the venture capital industry..."

Turning the topic, UU reading "But will you stipulate where the money must be spent? If I say use your money to renovate the office environment, buy some units and then build a large server, or simply buy a building and some real estate ?"

"I believe that you definitely want to see Amber's success more than we do. Therefore, we only want a chance to enter the market. We don't care how it is spent, and we are always increasing the added value."

Lehman was silent for a while, "I can give you 4% of the shares with the same voting rights, 520 million, to promise my drainage and other value-added Internet investors, and not to interfere in the management of the film library. You can Convince and do it both, and I will agree."

"We will send some management directors, and he will only represent us." Fuller-French immediately offered conditions.

"Ha, you can help to go public, you don't ask us to provide you with professional talents, but in terms of content, I definitely don't want to hear advice from laymen, just like some of you feel that media production is not the same as the Internet field. In the same way, I don’t think people outside the entertainment industry can speak to our self-made and copyright purchases, not only your red shirts, but also those investors that we have attracted, can’t intervene.”

Lyman's somewhat self-deprecating warning.

In addition to signings, he is absolutely confident only in the selection and shooting.

"Don't worry, my initial work is to promote Amber... uh, our products are promoted. You can rest assured. Unless we encounter a major issue about pricing like Netflix, we generally do not refute the development of the original work." Lunch meant something.

"That's it, after you agree, you will help us get the location recommendations for ports such as the Apple App Market." Lehmann was a little indifferent.

"Ok."

Resource support and incubation products, Red Shirt is very familiar with it.