Chapter 267 - 204: That’s What You Call a Realm

Chapter 267: Chapter 204: That’s What You Call a Realm

Although Peng Yifeng agreed verbally, he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

’What did a 500 million valuation even mean?’

It meant that if Chen Lin wanted to, he could immediately dilute his equity by 10% and walk away with fifty million in cash.

For any startup less than six months old, cash flow was incredibly scarce. It wasn’t unheard of for founders to go around begging for just a few hundred thousand.

’And yet, Chen Lin had rejected it so nonchalantly?’

’Wasn’t he short on cash?’

Just as Peng Yifeng was racking his brain, completely baffled, Chen Lin’s voice came through the phone again, tinged with amusement.

"President Peng, I know what you’re thinking."

Chen Lin leaned back in his ergonomic chair, settling into a more comfortable position. He explained slowly, "Yanhai Company’s monthly expenses are, at most, three hundred thousand. The funds I currently have are more than enough to support the company’s growth."

"So, I’m really not short on cash."

Of course, Chen Lin had no intention of telling anyone the secret of the Little Financial Planner.

But he could express it in a more subtle way.

As Chen Lin saw it, the math was actually quite simple.

Those investment firms were willing to offer a five-hundred-million valuation simply because they saw Yanhai Company’s future potential and wanted to get in early for a piece of the pie.

But for Chen Lin, equity was his most critical asset.

Because of the heaven-defying effects of the Little Financial Planner title, the value of his company shares was included when calculating his personal net worth!

The higher Yanhai Company’s valuation, the more cash he received each month.

The five hundred million President Peng had mentioned was the valuation given by those two other firms. The Little Financial Planner’s true valuation of Yanhai Company was 350 million. With Chen Lin holding 46% of the shares, that amounted to 161 million in assets.

From this portion alone, the Little Financial Planner brought him 32.2 million in cash every month!

And that wasn’t even counting the returns generated by the tens of millions in cash he already had.

Therefore, as long as the company wasn’t in urgent need of money, there was no real difference between holding equity and having the equivalent in cash for Chen Lin.

On the contrary, not only did he have no desire to sell his shares, he was actually itching to buy back all the stock held by Tiansheng Investment.

Chen Lin was convinced that Yanhai Company’s valuation would only climb higher, meaning the shares were currently at their lowest possible value.

The more shares he had, the fatter his "golden goose" would be, and the bigger the "golden eggs" it would lay!

On the other end of the line, Peng Yifeng let out a wry laugh. "President Chen, you’ve really opened my eyes. I’ve been in the investment game for many years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a founder turn down an investment of this magnitude."

But now, Peng Yifeng’s admiration for Chen Lin was genuine and came from the heart.

He had gone against the consensus to invest in Yanhai at a fifteen-million valuation, a move that sparked considerable controversy within Tiansheng Group.

Many people thought he was insane for spending five million to invest in a "ragtag team" composed of a single university student.

And the result?

In just four short months, Yanhai’s valuation had increased twenty- to thirty-fold!

Now, Peng Yifeng practically walked with a swagger throughout Tiansheng Group. His status had risen with the tide, and he had become a veritable leader among the younger generation of executives.

And this was all thanks to Chen Lin.

That was why Peng Yifeng would give his full support to any decision Chen Lin made.

Chen Lin suddenly remembered something and changed the subject. "Oh, right, President Peng, I remember that when Tiansheng Investment made its offer, I retained a priority buyback option on 5% of the shares, correct? As for the other 28%, what does Tiansheng Group plan to do with them?"

Hearing this, Peng Yifeng’s voice immediately grew more alert. "President Chen, I was just about to bring that up. The group’s senior executives have already held two special meetings about this matter recently."

"Oh?" Chen Lin raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued.

"The final decision is," Peng Yifeng said, his tone tinged with emotion, "that of the 33% of shares we hold, we will retain 18%. The remaining 15%..."

Peng Yifeng paused, then corrected himself. "Actually, 10%. We can’t touch the 5% you have the buyback option on. The group intends to take the remaining 10% to market, find the highest bidder, and liquidate it for cash."

Chen Lin couldn’t help but smile when he heard this.

"It seems Tiansheng Group is quite bullish on Yanhai’s future prospects."

This wasn’t just Chen Lin being polite; it was what he genuinely thought.

After all, for an investment in a startup to see its value increase by more than thirty-fold in just four short months was a massive temptation for any investment firm.

Logically, most firms would choose to cash out immediately and pocket the profits.

Yet Tiansheng Group had resisted the temptation, choosing to sell only a small fraction while holding onto the majority of their equity.

This went beyond mere optimism; they were practically grooming Yanhai to be a unicorn!

"Of course!" Peng Yifeng’s tone was filled with pride. "To be honest, President Chen, the senior executives’ decision was heavily influenced by my recommendation."

"Back when you were still selling consulting services on Xianyu, I told you I believed your future accomplishments would be absolutely limitless," Peng Yifeng said with a sigh. "Looking at it now, I was being far too conservative."

Chen Lin, also in high spirits, replied half-jokingly, "Well then, I’d better work even harder to make sure you can keep stealing the show at Tiansheng Group."

"Haha, I’ll hold you to that!" Peng Yifeng laughed heartily.

As his laughter subsided, he seemed to recall something else, his tone taking on a nostalgic quality, as if looking back on a different era.

"You know, President Chen, I still remember when we signed the investment agreement. You proactively offered Tiansheng an extra 5% of the shares, but with a clause attached: that after a three-year term, you would have the priority option to buy them back at ten times the price."

Peng Yifeng let out a long sigh, his voice filled with the shock that only comes with hindsight.

"At the time, I thought you might be a little overconfident. A fifteen-million valuation... ten times that is 150 million. For a startup’s valuation to increase tenfold in three years would be considered a huge success story in the investment world."

"But now?" Peng Yifeng’s voice was filled with wry amusement.

"It’s only been three months! Yanhai’s valuation has already shot far past ten times that!"

"I’m only now realizing that you weren’t being overconfident back then. It was my own foresight and perspective that were too limited. I completely failed to grasp your true capabilities!"

Listening to Peng Yifeng’s heartfelt words on the other end, Chen Lin simply smiled without saying anything.

’Some things are just no fun to brag about yourself.’

’It’s a whole other level to have others do the bragging for you, straight from the heart.’

After exchanging a few more words with Peng Yifeng, Chen Lin hung up.

Just then, Sun Yu walked over to Chen Lin’s desk with a peculiar expression on his face.

"President Chen, there’s a rather unusual client who’s specifically requesting a video conference with you."

As he spoke, Sun Yu sent Chen Lin a screenshot via WeChat.

"He claims to be a Computer Science Ph.D. from Stanford University. He said he saw the video from your mathematics conference and has some questions he’d like to ask you."