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The next day, on the 101 highway back to Silicon Valley, Lin Fan received a call from Eberhard.

"Mr. Lin, I have to inform you..."

The other end of the phone paused for a long time before continuing with a big smile: "Roadster has made a major breakthrough in technology. We think it's time to accept orders from external parties."

Damn it!

When Lin Fan heard the other party's pause, he thought the battery had exploded again, but his shock turned into surprise.

"Really? Can we start accepting orders from customers?"

Lin Fan's voice also sounded a bit joyful. It has been a year and a half since he invested in Tesla.

During this period, he injected a total of US$16.3 million into Tesla in two installments.

Among them, the Series A financing was US$7.5 million, of which he personally led US$6.3 million, taking 42% of the equity, which has now been diluted to 33.33%;

The B round of financing is US$13 million, with Lam Capital Lichun Fund leading the investment of US$10 million, taking 15.88% of the equity.

Taken together, he actually holds 49.21% of Tesla's shares, nearly half.

Therefore, he has always been extremely concerned about Tesla's development.

Since this year, he has focused more on the development, launch, work handover of Facebook, and the construction and creation of Lin Capital.

I didn’t go to the Tesla factory very often, but I still communicated with Eberhard once a week on the phone or once a week via work email.

How could he not be surprised to hear that Tesla has finally started accepting orders and selling cars?

But this is just the first step in a long journey of thousands of miles, and there are still many challenges ahead.

But in any case, this is also a quite landmark event.

After calming down, Lin Fan said with a smile: "Congratulations to you and all the employees, you have accomplished an amazing feat.

This step taken by Tesla is destined to leave a mark in the history of electric vehicle development."

Eberhard was also very happy on the other end of the phone. It had been three full years since he and Tarpenning established Tesla.

In the middle, they experienced a bankruptcy crisis and sacrificed their majority shareholder seats to attract venture capital in exchange for a chance of survival.

Now, finally, the dawn of victory has arrived.

As long as the car can be built and sold, and it can become an automaker as successful as Ford, selling the vast majority of its shares is worth it in his opinion.

Building electric cars is a crazy investment with huge investment, and it cannot be sustained for a long time by its own strength.

In the past, he underestimated the cost and difficulty and almost bankrupted Tesla. Fortunately, he brought in Lin Fan, a big financier.

He got along very well with Lin Fan, the major shareholder. He was not only familiar with the electric vehicle industry, but also very supportive of their work and money, and he never frowned.

No, he was planning to ask Lin Fan for money again.

"Mr. Lin, although we can get a certain amount of cash flow by accepting orders and collecting deposits, our research and development work cannot be stopped. We still need to invest another sum of money."

Lin Fan responded happily: "Okay, that's no problem. I'll be at Tesla soon and we'll have an interview."

"Okay, that's it."

Eberhard hung up the phone with a smile.

It took half an hour for the car to drive outside the Tesla factory.

After the car parked, Lin Fan opened the door and walked out quickly without waiting for Zhang Chenguang to open the door, and walked quickly into the factory.

Compared with before, there is an obvious feeling when entering the factory that there are more people.

Eberhard had a folder under his arm and was discussing something with Straubel.

Seeing Lin Fan approaching, the two stopped their discussion and bumped fists with Lin Fan one by one.

"Where's the car? Take me to see it."

The boss wanted to see the car, but Eberhard didn't dare to neglect it and trotted to get the keys.

After Eberhard left, Straubel, who is currently the battery technical director, accompanied Lin Fan to talk with him in a very friendly manner.

Lin Fan had many blessings for him, including the fact that he was regarded as a legend by his colleagues in the company, and the "battery arrangement and combination" technology that made him a god and led to promotion and salary increase all came from the proposal of the major shareholder and chairman in front of him.

point.

He didn't know why Lin Fan wanted to give himself this huge credit. This invention was recognized within the company as saving at least half a year of research and development time.

After much deliberation, he could only explain that Lin Fan wanted to cultivate himself and help him improve his prestige within the company.

In addition to Eberhard, Straubel also often called Lin Fan and sent work emails.

Lin Fan knew all about the company's big moves, or what Eberhard didn't tell him.

His career is too big, and sometimes it is inevitable that he cannot control it properly. At this time, he needs close friends like Straubel to play a role.

Soon, Eberhard got the key again and took Lin Fan to a warehouse near the factory.

When the warehouse door opened, Lin Fan couldn't take his eyes away when he saw eight Roadster sports cars parked neatly inside.

It is no longer the previous single lifeless black. Four of the cars are red, bright as fire and full of vitality.

"Go out and run around the track."

Lin Fan's order made Eberhard a little stunned, "Now?"

"Yes, call all the employees to see the Roadster on the track. This is inseparable from everyone's dedication. Everyone should be proud of it."

Eberhard instantly understood what Lin Fan meant, which was to cultivate a sense of honor and belonging among employees.

This is a good thing and must be supported!

So Eberhard ran to the nearby factory to call the employees.

After a while, dozens of employees ran over noisily, everyone with a bright smile on their face.

"Guys, the weather is so nice today, let's take our babies out to bask in the sun."

The old employees knew that this was the chairman. When they heard Lin Fan's words, they happily went to find Eberhard to get the car keys.

As for the new employees, some of them didn't know who this young Asian man was, so they went to ask the old employees in low voices.

After questioning him, the new employee thoroughly remembered this impressive chairman.

In the eyes of old employees, Lin Fan is a rich man who often pays benefits, is eclectic, and free-spirited. New employees also feel the same way.

CEO Eberhard usually treasures these prototype cars very much, for fear of getting bumped.

But as soon as the chairman comes, he waves his hand and drives as he pleases. How grand is this!

Soon after, another founder, Tarpenning, arrived from his office in the office building next door.

When he saw that eight Baby Carts had driven out of the warehouse and formed a long queue, ready to go somewhere, he was so anxious that he wanted to stop this wasteful and risky behavior on the spot.

Eberhard stepped forward to persuade the partner and informed him that it was Lin Fan's intention.

Tarpenning quickly looked at Lin Fan, who was nodding and smiling at him. He smacked his lips a few times, but finally said nothing.

Eight convertible Roadster sports cars lined up in a long queue and slowly drove out of the office area where Tesla is located, followed by dozens of cars.

Because the Roadster only has two seats, eight cars can only seat sixteen people.

Tesla currently has more than 80 employees.

The entire Tesla company, except for a few administrative employees who stayed behind, was out in force to witness the heroic appearance of the works in their hands on the field.

The fleet of eight red and black convertible sports cars became a beautiful scenery on the road, attracting many passers-by to stop and watch or take photos.

Lin Fan sat in the Rolls-Royce and kept his eyes on the motorcade in front of him.

The employees are quite well-behaved and know how valuable the car is. There is no noisy racing and they drive the car very gently.

At a car racing venue in San Francisco, four black and four red sports cars were racing on the track, performing a high-speed chase.

The test drivers were all Tesla engineers. Lin Fan, Eberhard, and Tarpenning were quietly observing from the sidelines, chatting from time to time, and commenting on the car.

"Mr. Lin, as you can see now, we already have the capability of large-scale production, and the first model basically has no defects."

Eberhard pointed to the field ahead, "Look, compared to fuel vehicles, they are almost not far behind."

As soon as he finished speaking, a red Tesla stopped at the edge of the track.

A young male white employee got out of the car. He walked aside silently, leaving the car where it was.

Lin Fan didn't take it seriously, thinking that it was a matter of discussion among the employees, and that everyone would take turns and everyone would have a share.

But not long after, the second car, the third car... a total of eight cars, all stopped.

After the driver got out of the car, no one came to replace them and continued driving.

"What are you doing? Why did you stop running after just a few minutes?"

Facing Lin Fan's question, Tarpenning smiled awkwardly, "I told them to avoid overheating the car body and take a break after driving for five minutes."

Lin Fan was immediately a little dissatisfied. He looked at Eberhard and said, "This is what you told me. There are almost no flaws. Compared with fuel vehicles, they are not inferior at all?"

When consumers buy this car, they can drive it in five minutes?
To be continued...