At ICQ Headquarters...
The decision was made: Series A financing (selling shares to get more money) was happening.
Zane Blackwood wasn't thrilled, but he knew he couldn't stop it.
"I just wanted to be a quiet shareholder and collect my money," he thought with a sigh. "But everyone else is forcing my hand!"
He knew it would be smarter to make money peacefully. But in business, if you don't fight, other people will fight you.
Starting a company was hard work. Zane already owned several companies, and he spent a lot of time studying business just to keep up.
Being a time traveler was cool, but it didn't make him a superhero! He couldn't know everything. If he wasn't smart, the "wolves" of Wall Street would eat him alive.
He felt like a little kid carrying a bag of gold through a dangerous market.
9:00 AM.
Before the big meeting with the investors, Zane met with the other ICQ founders, Weisger and Vardi.
"Yossi," Zane said to Weisger (the CEO), "you guys decided to sell shares. I accept that. But... who do you want to partner with? Which big companies will help us the most?"
Weisger smiled, happy that Zane wasn't fighting them anymore. "My friend, I'm glad you agree!"
Zane shook his head and laughed. "I never said I wouldn't ever agree. I just wanted to wait a little longer. But okay, let's do this."
Vardi jumped in. "We need to choose the right allies. It will decide our future."
Ahem!
Weisger cleared his throat. "Our number one target must be Microsoft. It has to be Microsoft!"
"Why?" he explained. "Microsoft is the king of computers. If they decide to make their own chat program, we can't beat them. But... if we make them our partner, maybe they won't attack us. Or at least, it will buy us some time."
Everyone nodded. Zane agreed, too.
In the 1990s, Microsoft was famous for being... aggressive.
Just look at Netscape. Netscape was the first big internet browser. Everyone loved it. But Microsoft got jealous. They forced everyone who used Windows to use their browser (Internet Explorer) instead. In less than a year, Netscape was crushed.
ICQ was amazing. It was the first big chat program. But Zane knew that Microsoft was planning to launch MSN Messenger soon. They would use the same dirty tricks to crush ICQ.
So, bringing Microsoft onto the team now was a smart move to protect themselves.
...
Seven Days Later.
The deal was done!
ICQ sold 30% of the company to five new, powerful partners. The company was now valued at $200 million.
Here's who bought a piece:
Microsoft: 10% (The computer king).
Goldman Sachs: 5% (A giant bank).
News Corp: 5% (The owner of 20th Century Fox).
Sequoia Capital: 5% (Experts in Asian markets).
HP: 5% (The computer maker).
The original founders (including Zane) still owned 70% of the company, so they were still in charge.
Even though Zane and Weisger had argued, they were on the same team now. They had to work together to protect their company from being eaten by the giants.
Because new partners joined, Zane's share of the company got smaller. He now owned 35%.
But... was he sad? No way!
His 35% was now worth $70 million!
Just six months ago, he had invested less than $2 million. He had made a massive profit.
Thanks to Zane's help, ICQ was doing even better than it did in his old life. They had $60 million in new cash and powerful friends all over the world. They were in the fast lane!
Weisger and Vardi were super excited. They started planning how to make ICQ even bigger.
But Zane had a different idea.
He was thinking about taking his shares to the bank. He wanted to use them to get a loan... so he could start his own new internet company.
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