After leaving Apple, Lin Chen and Shen Yue went straight back to their hotel. They didn't have time to go back to New York today, so they had to stay another night.
The two went to the front desk to extend their stay. The receptionist smiled and asked, "Guests, were you satisfied with your stay yesterday? Do you have any comments or suggestions?"
Before Lin Chen could speak, Shen Yue said with a wooden expression, "The bed is too hard, bad review."
Then, with a flourish, he took the room key and turned to leave.
Although the bed was hard, the young lady still knocked on Lin Chen's door as usual that night.
The next day, after getting up and having breakfast, Lin Chen and Shen Yue were about to take a taxi to the airport.
Suddenly, a Tesla sports car parked in front of the hotel caught Lin Chen's attention.
"Wow, Lin Chen, what brand is this car? It's so cool!"
"This is a Tesla, an electric car."
"An electric car? Can it even run on electricity? Aren't electric vehicles mostly electric donkeys and electric cars for the elderly?"
"Hehe, that's what makes this brand of car so amazing. How about we skip going back to New York and go check out Tesla headquarters instead?"
"Sure, school hasn't started yet anyway."
Just then, the car owner walked over and saw Lin Chen and the other person standing next to his sports car, looking at his car.
"Hey bro, isn't my car cool?"
Lin Chen looked up and exclaimed, "Good heavens! I don't even need to go to Tesla headquarters anymore. Isn't this Elon Musk?"
"Awesome, absolutely awesome! I recognize you, you're Elon Musk."
"Oh my god, you actually know me? That's so cool. Looks like you're a Tesla enthusiast too."
"Haha, I'm not only interested in Tesla's sports cars, I'm also interested in Tesla stock."
"I didn't expect you to be a shareholder of our company, hahaha."
"No, I haven't bought it yet. It's just that fate gave me the opportunity to meet you by chance. Why don't I just buy it from you directly? Let's get to know each other again. My name is Lin Chen, I'm from China, and I run an internet company."
"Friends from the mysterious Eastern country, would you like to test drive my ROADSTER sports car?"
"e on!"
Although the Tesla Roadster is a two-door sports car, it actually has four seats, although getting into the back seats is a little more complicated.
After all three got into the car, Lin Chen started driving the ROADSTER sports car around the streets.
Actually, Musk invited Lin Chen to test drive the car in order to attract some investment. Although Tesla received a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy last year, Tesla still has many places where it needs to burn money.
Not only do we need to develop new cars, but we also need to develop motors, continuously debug the three-electric system (battery, motor, and electronic control system), and build charging stations, etc.
There are many places to spend money, but almost no places to make money.
Aside from selling his own sports car on the market, he has absolutely no other source of income.
And when it comes to sports cars, those who know, know.
Those who don't have money won't buy it, and those who have money, who would buy a pure electric sports car?
The roar of an engine is a man's romance.
Therefore, they had no choice but to go public to raise more funds. However, the IPO price was only $17. If you calculate it, Tesla's market value was only $1.7 billion when it went public. A year later, it is only $1.9 billion now. Musk almost vomited blood.
It's worth noting that Ford's market capitalization in 2010 was approximately $40 billion. Both companies manufacture cars, so the difference is enormous.
Therefore, he is currently very short of money, so much so that when he saw Lin Chen showing interest in his sports car, he wanted to take the opportunity to sell one to him.
Unexpectedly, Lin Chen was interested in his company's stock.
He had just secretly checked Lin Chen's information and found that Lin Chen was indeed the boss of a very famous internet company in China. Moreover, the valuation of Lin Chen's company was even higher than that of Tesla, which was already listed, which was outrageous.
Isn't this just like the God of Wealth arriving? What was the point of my IPO? Wasn't it just to raise funds by selling shares?
After test driving it for a while, Lin Chen exclaimed that it was exhilarating, and that the electric car's acceleration was truly impressive.
"This car feels amazing."
"Haha, would you like to visit our company?"
"Let's go."
The two switched seats, and Musk drove to Tesla's headquarters.
Tesla's headquarters, like Apple's, are in Silicon Valley, but not in the same location.
Upon arriving at Tesla's headquarters, Musk treated Lin Chen like an investor, showing him around the company.
He went on and on, practically telling Lin Chen how amazing Tesla was.
After the tour, Musk led Lin Chen to the meeting room.
"Mr. Lin, what do you think of Tesla?"
"It's alright."
Musk sensed the perfunctory tone in Lin Chen's voice and was a little confused. Shouldn't you be shouting "Awesome!"?
Lin Chen wasn't stupid; he could certainly sense that Musk had just acted like he was treating investors.
It's the same routine as when official leaders go on research trips.
They'll show you how well we've developed, how awesome we are, and then ask you for money.
At this point, if you show great interest or do a good job, the other party will start making exorbitant demands.
What might have originally cost 10 million could increase by 1 million if you just say one compliment, with no upper limit.
Having prepared for the civil service exam for so many years in his previous life, Lin Chen said he was very familiar with these routines.
Seeing Musk's bewilderment, Lin Chen continued, "Your electric cars are fun to drive, but you can't travel long distances because there's nowhere to charge them."
"Furthermore, you just said that charging takes one or two hours, but if I were a gas-powered car, refueling would only take five minutes."
Ah... Musk didn't expect Lin Chen to pinpoint Tesla's current pain point with just one sentence.
Indeed, there aren't many Tesla charging stations available right now, and the charging time is too long.
This problem was not actually solved even in 2024. There were just more charging stations, but the problem of long charging times still existed.
After Lin Chen finished asking these two questions, Musk was about to ask for money, but the words stuck in his throat, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable.
After a long silence, Musk finally spoke: "It seems Mr. Lin has a deep understanding of Tesla. We are working on these problems and will overcome them. Once we overcome these difficulties, Tesla will definitely take off."
Lin Chen thought to himself, "Forget it, even if you have another ten years, you still won't be able to overcome it. All you'll do is burn money building charging stations."
"However, I am still very interested in Tesla stock, and I believe that Tesla will get better and better under your leadership."
"You're absolutely right, hahaha, Mr. Lin, you certainly have excellent taste."
"Then let's talk about investing."
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