The Overly Competent Junior Employee

“This is our new business team.”

Dokyung and Han Dahyun were touring the company, greeting Tribe’s employees who came to welcome them.

Han Dahyun’s new client wanted to invest in startups, and they had chosen Tribe from the list of companies Han Dahyun had curated.

“What kind of work does the new business team do?”

Han Dahyun was conducting due diligence by asking questions to Heo Jun-soo, Tribe’s CEO who was guiding them.

“The new business team does various things. You can think of it as a Task Force. Currently, it’s a team planning and developing NFTs.”

“Does the team’s nature change every time you start a new business?”

“Yes, that’s right. The previous new business team is now established as the advertising team.”

Dokyung and Han Dahyun nodded at Heo Jun-soo’s words and looked around the office.

“The team seems small for a planning team.”

At Dokyung’s words, Heo Jun-soo nodded with a somewhat bitter smile.

“I suppose it’s the limitation of a startup like ours. Even if we try to supplement our workforce, who would want to come here? Naturally, the salaries for developers are higher at large corporations.”

“So the current workforce is…”

“As you can see, it consists of two blockchain developers, three designers developing BJ products to be included in NFTs, one PR person, and one project manager.”

Dokyung quietly looked around the team, and it seemed to be composed of the personnel Heo Jun-soo mentioned.

“Then the people here now…”

“We newly hired the blockchain developers.”

“I understand there’s a severe shortage of blockchain developers…”

Previously, when people thought of blockchain, everyone thought of coins. But recently, as various businesses have been trying to introduce NFTs, finding blockchain developers has become as difficult as catching a star in the sky.

“Yes. It took us about six months just to form this team. As you mentioned, the most difficult part was finding blockchain developers.”

“That’s interesting. Even game developers and large IT companies are saying it’s difficult to find blockchain developers these days, yet a startup managed to hire them.”

At Dokyung’s words, Han Dahyun, who was standing next to him, looked at him with a surprised expression.

It was because he spoke in a tone that seemed somewhat hostile towards Heo Jun-soo, unlike the Dokyung she knew.

“Pardon?”

Heo Jun-soo looked bewildered as Dokyung, who had been smiling brightly when they first exchanged greetings, showed a 180-degree change in reaction.

“Ah, we tend to be a bit sharp when we come out for investment due diligence. After all, money is involved…”

Han Dahyun stepped in and spoke to Heo Jun-soo, who nodded with a smile.

“I understand. Still, you’re much milder compared to other investment company representatives.”

Heo Jun-soo said this while looking at Dokyung.

“We brought them in saying we’d exit within a year. That shows how serious we are about this business. They probably came with the expectation of being able to exercise stock options.”

Stock options give employees the right to buy company stock at a specific price.

In other words, if the company goes public in six months and the price per share is 50,000 won, the stock option gives employees the right to purchase shares at a lower price.

One reason people are reluctant to join or transfer to startups is the uncertainty about whether they’ll be able to exercise their stock options.

“I see.”

Among first-generation startups, especially gaming companies, there were occasional articles about employees hitting the jackpot when the companies went public.

This was thanks to stock options.

Inspired by such rosy dreams, numerous startups emerged, but since then, there haven’t been many stories of stock option jackpots.

It was rare for companies to go public, let alone survive.

Of course, as Heo Jun-soo said, when management aimed for an exit, they sometimes partially exercised stock options to recognize share value when the company was sold to another entity.

It seemed that Tribe’s developers were aiming for this.

“How’s the response to the new business?”

Han Dahyun asked Heo Jun-soo about the business, as if trying to lighten the serious atmosphere.

“It’s very good. If nothing else, we have representative BJs compared to the two giant internet broadcasting platforms.”

There were several reasons why Tribe was able to survive in this red ocean, but the most important was the power of the creators broadcasting here.

“Sleeping Turtle is exclusive, right?”

“Yes, there are still 3 years left on the contract.”

Han Dahyun nodded at Heo Jun-soo’s words.

After all, there needed to be famous creators for people to come watch broadcasts here, and for the platform to survive.

Tribe wisely knew this, so they tied up famous creators with exclusive contracts by offering huge signing bonuses and transfer fees.

“Recent sales from the new business have been good, so we’re thinking of expanding it.”

Dokyung, Han Dahyun, and Heo Jun-soo had moved to a small conference room to discuss the investment in earnest.

“We experimentally released a limited quantity of NFTs and shared the revenue with the creators, and still recorded about 1.5 billion won in sales for us. If we increase the quantity and sell them regularly…”

Heo Jun-soo continued, alternating his gaze between Dokyung and Han Dahyun.

“If we create and sell other derivative products, I think it could remain a successful case.”

Han Dahyun nodded at Heo Jun-soo’s explanation and spoke.

“I understand you’re aiming for an exit soon. Is there a reason why you need our investment?”

Heo Jun-soo smiled at Han Dahyun’s question and began to speak.

“It seems we need to receive short-term investment as there’s been a request to recover part of the first round of investment.”

As Dokyung and Han Dahyun had expected, it seemed that due to the recent difficult market conditions, some investors had requested to recover their investments without waiting for the exit.

“You mentioned investing about 7 billion won, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then it seems the entire 7 billion won will need to be used for investment recovery funds.”

“In that case, how much value will you assign to the 7 billion won?”

Heo Jun-soo spoke with a stern expression at Han Dahyun’s question.

“What we can offer is part of the shares being recovered. We can’t value it as much as the first round of investment, but we’ll try to narrow the gap as much as possible based on the current company value if you give us your perspective.”

“You mentioned short-term…”

“Yes. We think an exit will be possible within 6 months. I’d like to say you could see a return of 1.5 to 2 times the 7 billion won investment.”

Han Dahyun looked surprised at Heo Jun-soo’s words. It was unusual for the investment recipient to predict and state the return on investment.

It was as good as saying he was confident about the exit.

“You seem very certain.”

“Yes. We’re currently in contact with potential acquirers.”

“Pardon?”

Han Dahyun asked again, seemingly surprised once more.

“Due to the NDA (Non-disclosure agreement), I can’t tell you everything, but we’ve had contact regarding acquisition with one of the largest private equity funds in Korea.”

“A private equity fund? So it’s in progress?”

“Yes. We’ve finished the first meeting and are discussing the next schedule favorably with the other party.”

At those words, Han Dahyun nodded with a smile. As he said, if acquisition negotiations were underway, they could see investment returns in the near future.

“The reason I’m so confident is, if I may boast a bit, I have some school connections with the other party.”

“Ah, school connections.”

“Yes. I want to convey that the talks are proceeding in a very favorable situation.”

Heo Jun-soo continued to speak as if the acquisition negotiations were as good as finished, and Dokyung looked at him with a stern expression.

“May I ask a question as well?”

“Yes, of course.”

At Dokyung’s words, Han Dahyun and Heo Jun-soo looked at him.

“You’ve only given positive news about the new business and the acquisition, but it seems the most important thing is missing.”

“The most important thing?”

“Yes. I understand that Tribe’s main revenue comes from T-coins, the platform’s virtual currency. Is that correct?”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

Heo Jun-soo answered hesitantly, and Dokyung looked at him as he asked his question.

“I’d like to hear about the sales of your main product and its growth rate.”

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“I could tell he was an individual who wanted to appear extremely competent.”

Meanwhile, in the CEO’s office at KFSG headquarters.

Kang Sung-ho spoke as he recalled Heo Jun-soo, the CEO of Tribe, whom he had met a week ago.

“Mentioning his school connection with me, and inflating the value of the new business.”

Kang Sung-ho had been in this field for a long time, making dozens or hundreds of investments, and the investments he had rejected were more than ten times those he had executed.

He had met various individuals and could now gauge what kind of person someone was just by listening to them speak.

“Regardless of what kind of person the CEO is, the business seems to be doing well.”

As the person in charge of this investment said this, Kang Sung-ho sighed.

“Even though sales of the main product are declining?”

“Of course, sales from the exchange fees of T-coins, the main product, are declining, but this isn’t just a problem for Tribe.”

The person in charge looked at Kang Sung-ho as he continued speaking.

To an outsider, it might look like the two were stubbornly refusing to yield their opinions, but this was a common sight within KFSG.

It was an organizational culture designed to allow even staff to confidently express their opinions to the CEO, Kang Sung-ho.

“Domestic companies like FreeWorld or overseas companies like WePlay are also experiencing declining sales from exchange fees for their virtual currencies like ‘star balloons’ and ‘bits’ respectively.”

The domestic company FreeWorld was even listed on the stock market.

“This is a phenomenon occurring as users are not recharging these virtual currencies due to the global inflationary impact.”

“So you’re saying that even though giant platforms are experiencing this, it’s the right time to acquire Tribe?”

“It’s what you’ve always said, Representative-nim. That times like these are when we should look for opportunities to create new value.”

At the staff member’s words, Kang Sung-ho pressed his lips together.

It was true. As long as a company’s value didn’t change, fluctuations due to economic conditions would always be resolved eventually.

In other words, he was saying that it could be an opportunity because Tribe’s valuation might have decreased due to the economic situation, potentially lowering the acquisition price depending on negotiations.

“Moreover, as sales of their main product declined, Tribe broke through with new businesses. This was an excellent judgment from a management perspective.”

Kang Sung-ho nodded at the staff member’s words.

As he said, it was something that should be praised. However, he couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.

An uneasiness he couldn’t articulate clearly.

“What’s the due diligence team’s conclusion?”

“Based on the due diligence results, Tribe’s financial structure is excellent. We’ve met many startups, but few have managed so systematically. The CEO’s philosophy is also sound enough that he could continue in the CEO position even after the acquisition.”

At the staff member’s high praise, Kang Sung-ho pondered for a moment before nodding reluctantly.

“Then let’s proceed. However.”

As Kang Sung-ho added a condition, the staff member looked at him quizzically.

“Let’s proceed slowly. We’re not in a hurry. Let’s take another look at the company from multiple angles.”

“Yes, understood.”

“You know I’m not doing this because I doubt Director Kim’s skills and judgment…”

“I understand. I’ll follow your instructions, Representative.”

The staff member said this, bowed, and left the CEO’s office. Kang Sung-ho continued to rub his chin, still seeming uneasy about something.