Chapter 51. CoolCloud (2)

"Who is that?"

In response to Rolf's question, Alex explained.

"He's an investor who worked at Victory Investment. He successfully made several major investments."

After hearing the explanation, Rolf tilted his head.

"Isn't he a has-been now?"

"You shouldn't underestimate him. He's quite capable."

"But the company went bankrupt, right? How can he be skilled?"

"That wasn't his fault."

Given his family's background, Alex had relatively accurate access to Wall Street information, so he was well aware of the circumstances surrounding Victory Investment's bankruptcy.

"So, what are you going to do? You're not thinking of getting an investment, are you?"

"No."

Alex knew that his older brother had tried to hire him, even spreading negative rumors about him to facilitate this.

He had heard that the recruitment had failed, but he didn't expect him to show up in Silicon Valley.

'Just how skilled must he be for my brother to go to such lengths to get him?'

If his brother wanted him, he must be exceptionally talented. Thinking about this, Alex felt a surge of curiosity.

'If I can bring him to my side, that would be even better.'

What expression would his older brother have if David Rockheart became his own man?

Alex smiled and said,

"Since he's gone through so much trouble to get here, it wouldn't be difficult to meet him once."

* * *

Fortunately, we received a response agreeing to meet.

We called Iver and headed to CoolCloud's headquarters in San Jose.

The exterior looked like a warehouse, but inside, the ceiling was high and the space was open. We were immediately led to a conference room.

After a short wait, two young white men entered.

Alex Preston.

He is 27 years old, the same age as me.

He stands at an impressive 195 cm. He has a manly face, broad shoulders, and muscular arms. I know he was a quarterback for the Harvard football team.

I once read an interview where he said he would have become a football player if he hadn't become an investor. Meeting him in person, I think he would have done well in sports too.

The man next to him is Rolf Butch.

He is 29 years old.

While he is slightly shorter than Alex, he is still 183 cm tall and a handsome man. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is so good-looking that it's said his appearance, along with his genius-level skills, contributed to his stardom in Silicon Valley.

However, he seems to have a lot of envy and is somewhat superficial. This might be because I know about him.

Both of them seemed more mature than their age.

Well, when you have more money than me, you tend to act more grown-up.

While the children of wealthy families in Korea are causing all sorts of trouble, young entrepreneurs in the U.S. are leading the growth of new industries.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

We exchanged greetings and took our seats.

Alex looked at me and David and asked,

"I heard you left Victory Investment, but I didn't know you started a new investment firm. What is Continu Capital?"

On the surface, we are co-CEOs of Continu Capital.

Alex must know a lot about David Rockheart, so he's probably curious about me.

He might think, 'Who is this guy? If I just sit here, will he think I'm just a rich Asian?'

To others, it might seem like I provide the capital and David runs the company. To some extent, that's true.

David answered as he had prepared.

"It's a new investment firm. Currently, we focus on venture capital investments."

"What is the asset size?"

"It's not very large at the moment."

"Are there any notable LPs?"

"That information is not yet ready to be disclosed."

LP stands for Limited Partner.

They are investors who invest money in investment firms. In the case of a fund set up by a famous investor, sovereign wealth funds or pension funds might provide the capital.

Just receiving an investment from a well-known LP can increase the value of an investment firm. Unfortunately, Continu Capital hasn't received any investments, so we can't disclose anything.

After a few questions, Alex nodded, as if he had a general understanding.

Now it was my turn to ask questions.

"I'd like to know more about CoolCloud."

Alex explained,

"CoolCloud is a cloud-based data platform. We provide a service that allows companies to easily manage and utilize all the data they need for their operations."

Data generated by companies is stored in the cloud. By aggregating and analyzing this information, it can be used for various purposes.

Therefore, it's not an exaggeration to say that all companies, not just IT companies, are directly or indirectly connected to the cloud.

"Are there many companies that offer similar services?"

AMZ's ZWS, NS's Azure, and Google's BigStorage.

The Big3, which dominate 60% of the global cloud market, also provide their own data warehouses to companies. Many people think AMZ is an online shopping company and NS is a software company that makes Windows and Office, but in reality, more than half of their revenue comes from cloud services.

The reason this is not well known is that cloud services are primarily B2B.

"CoolCloud's strength is its strong compatibility. We work closely with the Big3 in the cloud. Additionally, we provide the most affordable and accurate information."

Rolf said, boasting,

"All of this is possible because of Minerva."

Minerva is the core program of CoolCloud and the name of the cloud service it operates.

"I know about Minerva, but I'd like to hear a direct explanation."

"That's no problem."

He confidently explained,

"Minerva is an AI program I developed. It's the core function of CoolCloud. The results can vary greatly depending on what data is collected and how it is interpreted."

When collecting and interpreting statistics, if the sample is collected incorrectly or interpreted incorrectly, the results can be completely off.

A well-known example is survivorship bias.

During World War II, when the U.S. military analyzed planes that returned from enemy territory, they found that most had been hit in the wings and body.

Experts concluded that the wings and body needed to be reinforced, but one statistician argued the opposite.

He said the engine and cockpit, which were not hit, needed to be reinforced.

It's easy to see that this is correct. Planes that were hit in the wings and body returned, but those hit in the engine and cockpit were shot down and did not return.

This is a case where the sample was collected incorrectly, leading to a wrong conclusion.

Similar examples can be found today.

Recently, a delivery app in Korea released statistics showing that 20-30-year-old men were the primary users. Looking at this statistic alone, one might think women don't use delivery services much.

However, there's a point to consider: when men and women order food together, the man usually places the order.

Additionally, when ordering in groups at work or gatherings, the senior person, often a man, usually places the order. Also, some women who live alone register as men to avoid crime and privacy issues.

Therefore, it's not right to conclude that women don't use delivery apps based on this statistic alone.

"To solve such problems, we have an AI program capable of deep learning. It can make accurate analyses without needing to input correction values manually. Initially, there were many errors, but by analyzing and learning from the causes of failure, it now provides more accurate results than experts."

I was impressed and asked,

"If the company's value is 100, what would be the value of Minerva?"

Rolf smiled.

"More than 50. Without Minerva, CoolCloud wouldn't exist. Conversely, with Minerva alone, we could create a new CoolCloud."

That's a lot of confidence.

As a developer of Minerva, he has every right to be this confident.

"Do you have a reason for naming the program Minerva?"

"As you know, Minerva is the goddess of wisdom in Greek and Roman mythology. Doesn't it fit my program perfectly?"

"You're right."

Actually, there's a name that fits even better. If I tell him, he'll be surprised.

Alex added,

"Once a customer uses our service, they don't leave CoolCloud. We have over 1,000 customers, including several companies valued at over $10 billion. Our goal for next year is to double that."

This is not an unrealistic goal.

For a manufacturing company to double production, they would need to double the number of factories and employees.

However, a cloud company doesn't need factories or employees. They just need to secure enough server resources to handle the customers.

The more I hear, the more I want this company.

So, I need to acquire it before it grows further.

"The reason I came here today is that I want to invest in CoolCloud."

"What scale of investment are you considering?"

I looked at the two of them and said,

"I don't just want to invest; I want to acquire CoolCloud."

They seemed slightly surprised, not expecting me to bring up acquisition.

Alex asked, intrigued,

"What acquisition price are you thinking of?"

"How about $70 billion?"

It's not a funny joke, but Rolf laughed out loud.

"Ha ha! Just $70 billion?"

Alex also smiled and said,

"I'm sorry, but we have no intention of selling the company. Even if we did, we wouldn't sell it for such a low price of $70 billion."

$70 billion is a low price.

From their reaction, it seems the Redstone investment deal fell through.

I noticed David was also slightly taken aback. His expression seemed to say, 'You don't have the money, so what acquisition?'

I don't have $70 billion.

"Then, what price would you consider selling the company?"

"Let's see. If it were around $100 billion, we might consider it."

Given that the company was valued at over $180 billion after its IPO next year, this isn't an unrealistic figure.

Of course, we need to consider the large-scale investment they received and the 30% new shares issued.

During the IPO, the two of them sold some of their shares, reducing their ownership to around 20% each. However, this was still enough to place them among the world's richest people.

"I see. Then, an acquisition is out of the question."

"If we ever need an investment, we'll contact you."

"Sure. Thank you."

There might be an investment opportunity when they issue new shares, but by then, the company's value will be three times higher.

Waiting that long would be foolish.

If not now, I won't have another chance to acquire this company.

"Since I'm here, can I take a tour of the company?"

Alex smiled warmly and said,

"Sure, follow me. I'll show you around."