NCCnovel Chapter 395 Acquisition of Fingerworks
Chapter 395 Acquisition of Fingerworks
June 15, 2001, 2:00 PM. Newark, Delaware.
Ling Yun arrived at the address given by Nelson. Before him stood a two-story wooden building with white paint on the exterior walls. The paint was a bit old, and in some places it was peeling, revealing the grayish-brown wooden planks underneath.
If it weren't for a piece of paper next to the doorbell that read "FingerWorks," Lingyun would have thought it was someone's country villa. There were also several cars parked in front, all dirty and old pickup trucks, one of which had its bumper taped shut.
Lingyun pushed open the door and went in. The first floor was an open-plan office area, not large, about a hundred square meters. Several long tables were set up, piled with circuit boards, oscilloscopes, laptops, power cords, and coffee cups. The floor was also littered with cardboard boxes, component boxes, and crumpled blueprints. The air smelled of pine resin and the bitterness of coffee. The walls were covered with sticky notes, some with formulas, some with sketches, and some with "TODO" and dates. In the corner was a whiteboard with circuit diagrams drawn on it and a few lines of code next to them. Several oscilloscope screens were lit up, green waveforms jumping around, but no one was looking at them.
A man in his thirties came out from the inner room. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and jeans, with slightly long hair, a stubble beard, and a layer of dust on his glasses. He saw Ling Yun, paused for a moment, and then quickly walked over.
"Mr. Ling? I'm Wayne Westerman. Nelson told me you were coming today."
Ling Yun extended his hand and shook it. Wayne said, "This way, please. Let's talk inside."
He led Lingyun through the office area to a small conference room. The conference room was small, with a round table, a few chairs, and a whiteboard on the wall covered with writing.
On the table sat a laptop and a small black plastic box, about a size larger than the mouse, with several cables attached to it. Wayne picked up the box and handed it to Lingyun.
"This is our latest prototype. It's a capacitive multi-touch pad that can recognize multiple fingers operating simultaneously. Zooming, rotating, and three-finger swipes are all possible. Give it a try."
Ling Yun took the box and turned it over to look at the bottom. The bottom was covered with a thin black film with fine grid lines on it, making it difficult to see clearly.
He placed the box on the table, traced it with his finger, and the cursor followed.
He pinched it with two fingers, and an image on the screen shrank.
He spread two fingers, and the image zoomed in. He swiped three fingers to the left, switching to the next image. The movements were smooth, without delay, and the cursor didn't drift.
Wayne watched from the side, his hands in his pockets, without saying a word.
Ling Yun tried it for about two minutes, then put the box down. He looked up at Wayne and asked, "Is this technology ready?"
Wayne said, "It's not mature enough yet. We've been running it in the lab for almost a year. Accuracy, response speed, and power consumption still don't meet commercial standards. Another important issue is cost. The sensors we're using now are expensive. If we can mass-produce them, we estimate the cost could drop by a third."
Lingyun asked him, "After mass production, how much can the cost be reduced?"
Wayne said, "The current BOM cost is $52. If we mass-produce, the price can drop further. $35 for a million pieces. It can't go any lower than that unless we can have a better production process to guarantee the yield rate."
Ling Yun nodded. He pulled out a chair and sat down. Wayne also sat down opposite him. Zhao Hu stood in the doorway, not coming in.
Ling Yun said, "I want this technology. The conditions are as follows. First, I will provide the capital and take 67% of the shares. You can keep 33%, and then divide it among the other members of the technical team. The company will not relocate, there will be no layoffs, and I will not interfere with daily management. You can determine the technical direction, the product roadmap, and lead the team. I only need one board seat and one veto right. Major decisions, such as selling the company, changing the main business, or moving out of Delaware, require my approval. Everything else is up to you."
Wayne didn't say anything. He picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip, and put it down.
"Mr. Ling, I built this company from scratch. It's been five years, starting from a basement and now in this run-down office. No investors, no loans, no clients, all on my own."
He paused, picked up his water glass, and took another sip.
"The terms you're offering are excellent. Better than any investor I've ever met. I'm not stupid. But..."
Wayne continued, "But this technology is my creation. It grew from my brain, it was made by my own hands. It didn't come off an assembly line. You own the majority of the company, so is this technology yours or mine?"
Ling Yun looked at him and said, "It's yours. It's your technology, your products, your company. I'm just providing the money. I understand how you feel. When I left Xingchen, I had nothing but money. Xingchen Technology, which I had spent several years building, had become someone else's battlefield."
"But I started a new company, Xinghuo Technology. I estimate that it won't be long before Xinghuo replaces Xingchen. Because if I can make Xingchen successful, I can make another one. The technology is mine. I could make it when I didn't have money, and now that I have money, I can make it even more successful."
Wayne looked at him for about ten seconds. He clenched his fist, nodded, and said, "Okay, I'll do it."
Ling Yun took a document out of his bag and placed it on the table. The document wasn't thick, just a few pages, with "Investment Agreement" printed on the cover. He flipped to the last page and wrote his name in the signature section. He pushed the document over and placed his pen on it.
Wayne picked up the pen, wrote his name in the signature column, put down the pen, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long sigh.
Ling Yun put the file away and placed it in his bag. He looked at Wayne and said, "There's one more thing. Both the aliens and the Starlight Notebooks will use your products. This isn't procurement, it's collaboration. Fingerworks provides the technology, and Starlight provides the products. The touch technology will be put on the notebooks and mass-produced for users. We need enough users to optimize the algorithms. The data from the lab is still too small; we need more users, more data, and user feedback. Starlight can provide you with users, data, and feedback. You provide Starlight with good products. It's a win-win situation."
Wayne froze. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. After a few seconds, he said, "You mean, we should go straight to mass production?"
Ling Yun said, "Yes. We'll go straight to small-batch mass production equipment. We'll start with Xinghuo's office laptops. Business and HR personnel are more receptive to new products and like to spend money on them. But their requirements are also quite high; accuracy, response speed, and multi-touch gestures are all key performance indicators. Once they've used it and have a good experience, it will be easy to promote it in the market."
Wayne nodded. "Data feedback can indeed optimize algorithms better. This data is priceless. Ten thousand tests in the lab are not as effective as one day of user interaction."
"For mass production, we need to find a contract manufacturer. For small-batch use, we can produce them in the laboratory."
"I'll figure out the contract manufacturing. You guys focus on R&D, and I'll handle the production. I'll acquire an LCD or OLED manufacturing plant to prepare a factory for our future large-scale production."
"Mr. Ling, when do you need the first batch of goods?"
Ling Yun said, "The sooner the better. Let's make 500 engineering prototypes first. After three months, we'll get user feedback, and then you can continue to optimize. Aim for the product to be fully commercially viable within a year. Can you do that?"
Wayne thought for a moment and said, "Yes. We can work overtime."
Ling Yun nodded.