“The future is certainly promising, but let’s not celebrate too early. After debugging, the product basically has no issues, and I am confident in that, but it still needs market validation.”
Lu An looked around at the employees present and said methodically, “In less than two months, the 2013 International Rehabilitation Aids Exhibition will be held. Our core task now is to participate in the exhibition.”
“Then everyone will have to work hard for a while longer to produce a batch of Bionic Prosthetic Limbss.”
“Currently, the company’s conditions are limited, with limited funds and equipment. We are basically relying on manual production, and efficiency is not high. Everyone will have to work like oxen and horses for a while.”
“Once the company generates revenue and its financial situation improves, we will expand our workforce, add new equipment, and build a more complete production line. Then everyone will have an easier time.”
Listening to their boss, He Liang, Zhang Wenjie, and the other employees all nodded.
Lu An smiled and finally added, “As long as the company’s finances improve—no, I can be more direct and clear: starting next year, everyone here will see their salaries increase by 50% on the spot, and the previously promised stock options will also be distributed.”
As soon as he said this, the employees present were overjoyed. Someone immediately started to applaud, and soon thunderous applause filled the room.
A salary increase is absolutely what every worker loves to hear.
At this moment, everyone became even more convinced that they had followed the right person. The boss wasn’t playing games; although they had been driven like oxen and horses for the past few months, the boss truly paid them.
Their current salaries were already higher than their peers in Jianing City, and with a 50% increase after the New Year, their monthly salaries would easily exceed ten thousand yuan.
Moreover, the boss said that stock options would also follow.
Most importantly, looking at the Bionic Prosthetic Limbs mechanical arm on the table, everyone believed even more strongly than when they joined that the company would survive. The grand vision the boss painted had now become a tangible reality.
Lu An continued to speak a few more words before adjourning the meeting. He went to his office, and everyone else returned to their respective duties.
A moment later, Meng Qiuyan came to Lu An’s office and closed the door behind her.
“The company account has less than 800,000 yuan left, which is barely enough to pay salaries for three months, let alone the 50% salary increase next year. And you plan to produce a batch of prosthetics, but now there’s no money to purchase materials.”
Meng Qiuyan pulled over a chair and sat down next to him, then continued, “You should have asked Qin Yiyun for 10 million yuan earlier. It wouldn’t be so financially tight now.”
Lu An smiled and said, “No need, I’ve planned everything. The company’s current cash flow is roughly within my estimated range.”
Meng Qiuyan looked at him, puzzled. “What’s going on?”
Lu An said in a deep voice, “Bringing in this batch of employees as founding team members and veterans of Metaverse Intelligent Control, their lack of ability isn’t a big problem; we can spend time training them.”
“But they still need to undergo a veiled test. Only if they pass can I initially consider them core personnel, to be promoted and nurtured as appropriate in the future.”
Hearing this, Meng Qiuyan showed a hint of surprise. “There’s that consideration too? How do you plan to do it?”
Lu An smiled and said, “It’s simple. Isn’t the company short on money right now? Before they joined, didn’t I promise them that we would share the fruits of our labor? Tomorrow, we’ll have an all-hands meeting. I plan to fulfill that promise by offering a portion of the equity as stock options, but it won’t be free. They will have to exercise their options by paying to buy them.”
This operation was equivalent to an internal fundraising round for the company, with the 30 founding team members acting as investors.
This way, it would both fulfill the initial promise and solve the company’s urgent funding problem.
In fact, this wasn’t Lu An’s original idea. Huawei had also done something similar in the past, also due to insufficient funds, but not wanting to seek external capital. They eventually raised money through such a method.
Lu An said in a deep voice, “This matter must be strictly compliant. Don’t turn it into illegal fundraising. We must follow regular procedures strictly.”
This operation would both solve the company’s current financial problems and serve as a veiled test for the founding team.
If Lu An had proposed this stock option plan a few months ago, when the product was still just an idea, it would have seemed like a trick.
Unless they had absolute trust in him and knew his capabilities, no normal person would have paid to exercise options to buy company stock at that time.
But now, it was definitely different.
The Bionic Prosthetic Limbs prototype product had already been developed, and the employees had all participated in the process.
Whether it would be a big success depended on market validation.
At this point, Lu An offering a stock option plan could no longer be called a trick.
Moreover, the stock option distribution had to happen before the product received market validation.
Because it hadn’t yet been market-validated, it meant there was still some suspense—it could be a big seller, but it could also fail, so there was still a certain degree of potential risk.
If the stock option plan were offered only after it had truly become a big seller, then it wouldn’t be a test, but rather a distribution of money.
When everyone knows it’s a risk-free, guaranteed profit, a sure-fire deal, they would even take out loans or high-interest loans to exercise their options and buy up their full share of stock.
Clearly, Lu An intended to use this to test their courage and boldness, as well as their basic foresight.
The product had already been developed. If they lacked even this much courage and boldness, this much foresight, and were unwilling to take any risks at all, then it also meant they would be incapable of taking on great responsibilities in the future.
In that case, there would be no need to expend too much effort on training them; they could just be ordinary grassroots employees, earning their regular salaries. At most, they might climb a few ranks based on seniority to become mid-to-lower-level department heads.
Conversely, if they passed the test, they could be trained and promoted to higher, more important positions.
Those willing to pay to exercise their options during the company’s difficult period, accepting the inherent potential risks, deserved to share more of the company’s dividends.
After all, with courage and boldness, they also made a genuinely greater contribution to the company than others.
Meng Qiuyan asked, “How many stock options do you plan to offer?”
Lu An pondered for a moment and then said, “The stock options will be allocated based on a total company valuation of 500 million yuan, with a total share capital of 100 million shares. The exercise price will be 5 yuan per share. Each person can exercise a maximum of 100,000 shares, with a minimum of 20,000 shares.”
In other words, Lu An gave the 30 members of the founding team a maximum allocation of 100,000 shares each, with a minimum of 20,000 shares to exercise.
Employees could choose between 20,000 and 100,000 shares based on their financial situation. The company’s total share capital was set at 100 million shares. If an employee exercised the full 100,000 shares, that would mean acquiring 0.1% of Metaverse Intelligent Control’s original equity for 500,000 yuan.
If all 30 employees fully exercised their options, they would collectively hold 3% of the company’s total equity, and the company would raise 15 million yuan from them.
However, in reality, it was unlikely that everyone would spend 500,000 yuan to fully exercise 100,000 shares. This would certainly be a minority, and it depended on how these 30 employees chose.
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