Instalink (1)
Silicon Valley is littered with startups.
New companies spring up every day, and just as many vanish.
To survive here, one thing is essential.
Capital.
Startups run endless investment rounds just to stay alive. Seed money first, then Series A, B, C… The further down the alphabet, the more the valuation explodes geometrically.
Assuming they live long enough to reach those stages, of course.
“Instalink.”
Chae Eunchae had done her homework on Instalink. The app had only launched two years ago, but its growth was terrifying.
“A hundred million users in two years?”
She downloaded it herself. The reason became obvious the moment she opened it. The interface was clean, intuitive. And addictive. Scroll long enough and hours simply disappeared.
“This is it!”
Time to ride the real wave.
She’d almost fallen off Facenote. But Instalink was different. Lee Jaseung had recommended it himself.
If Instalink becomes a unicorn… no, if it becomes more than that… this time it’s a real jackpot!
She flew to Silicon Valley at once. She met the Instalink CEO in person, and he was encouraging.
“Your timing’s perfect. We were just about to open the Series B round.”
Chae Eunchae’s heart hammered.
The exact day she landed, Series B began?
This was destiny!
Then the problem appeared.
Instalink was too hot.
“Sequoia Capital has agreed to lead.”
“Sequoia?”
She froze solid.
Sequoia Capital. The living legend of venture capital. Google, YouTube, Airbnb, Dropbox… line up the companies they built and you fill a hall of fame with room to spare.
Is there even a gap for me?
There wasn’t.
Their private league had already closed ranks.
Chae Eunchae scrambled through networking events, knocking on every door.
“Chae Partners… never heard of them.”
“Almost entirely Korean companies in their portfolio. Still, they seem well-connected back home. Grandfather’s a famous capital player, apparently.”
“Hmm. Asian money doesn’t really fit our model. No standout track record either. Last year’s returns lagged the benchmark.”
Chae Eunchae wanted to explode.
“I’m offering ten million dollars! I’m putting up my own cash and I still have to sit through interviews?!”
“Ohhh, ten million!”
The moment the number left her mouth, every pair of eyes in the room changed.
The look of people who had just spotted an easy mark.
Rich Asian heiress on a Silicon Valley shopping trip.
A woman in her twenties, playing investor with grandpa’s money. Perfect for gentle fleecing.
“Miss Chae, getting into the Instalink B round is honestly tough. But I know another excellent opportunity…”
“What is it?”
“My roommate’s startup. Ten million dollars in now, five hundred percent upside in four years…”
“You little shit, do I look like a sucker to you?!”
“Actually, I could arrange B-round participation. I’m a partner at Sequoia.”
“Really?”
“In exchange, tonight you and I could talk things over slowly…”
“FXCK AWAY!”
She heard every possible line Silicon Valley could throw at her.
And the angrier she got, the more anxious she became.
If these people were defending the walls this hard, Instalink really was a guaranteed winner.
The problem was that she had no way through those walls.
I have to make this one succeed!
A lot of her LPs’ commitment periods were ending this year. If large redemptions came in…
No!!!
So the moment she landed back in Seoul, Chae Eunchae hunted down Lee Jaseung and clung to him.
“Oppa, help me!”
“I don’t know…”
“Please! I’ll do anything!”
Lee Jaseung calmly took stock.
One failure on the Yuseong Steel acquisition. Two on the Facenote IPO. Another miss here makes three in a row.
When the other party was this desperate, he could extract far more than the effort he put in.
The only question was what exactly he wanted in return.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
The casual answer made Chae Eunchae’s eyes go wide.
“For real?”
“Yeah. It’s not like there’s no way.”
“There’s a way? What way? Oh—and by the way, I’m a Platinum member, right? We already agreed on quarterly intel, so how about we just count this as my Q3 information?”
Classic Chae Eunchae. The second a solution appeared, she started looking for the cheapest way to take it.
Lee Jaseung gave a short laugh.
“I wouldn’t mind, but can you pull it off alone?”
“What is it? You’re just going to get me a seat in the round, right?”
“No. I’m going to overturn the round itself.”
“……?”
“We’re flipping the entire table the Silicon Valley insiders already claimed, so you take the whole thing.”
Chae Eunchae’s jaw dropped. Lee Jaseung smiled faintly.
“Well? Think you can handle it?”
She shrank.
“I’ll sign the contract.”
Makers shall provide strategic advisory services to enable Chae Partners to secure equity in Instalink Inc.
Should this consulting engagement succeed and Chae Partners acquire equity in Instalink, Chae Partners shall transfer thirty percent (30%) of the acquired equity to Makers.
Chae Eunchae read every line carefully, then sighed.
“Thirty percent? Isn’t that a little much?”
“Take it or leave it.”
“No—I’m taking it! I’ll sign.”
She scribbled her signature in a hurry and looked up.
“Now tell me the method. Overturn an investment round? How is that even possible?”
“Simple. A new investor appears.”
“Me?”
“Not you. If Instalink has to choose between your hand and a top-tier VC’s, they’ll take the VC every time.”
“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?”
“Propose equity participation contingent on an M&A.”
Contingent Value Rights. In the field they called it a CVR—an investment opportunity that only vests if a specific condition, such as a completed acquisition, is met.
Chae Eunchae stared.
“You want me to close an M&A too?”
“Of course. You need a card that big before Instalink will even look at your offer. What’s the most important thing for a startup?”
“Growth. And exit.”
“Exactly. Their CEO is right at the stage where exit starts keeping him up at night.”
A founder makes money in two ways: explosive growth, and a well-timed exit. M&A is one of the main exit routes.
“Instalink has already run two funding rounds. The CEO’s stake is heavily diluted. If they run another one…”
“It drops to thirty percent.”
“Right. Which means his personal upside on exit shrinks.”
Sell the company for a billion dollars and walk away with only three hundred million? Any founder would feel the sting.
“But if you walk in and say, ‘Skip Series B. I’ll bring you an acquirer right now. You exit at a better price with zero further dilution…’”
“!”
Chae Eunchae’s eyes lit up.
That actually makes sense. With this, I have a real shot.
As always, Lee Jaseung’s proposals sounded persuasive.
At the same time, she hesitated.
This is getting huge.
She had only wanted to ride a trend. Suddenly an entire M&A board was being laid out.
“If you don’t like it, tear up the contract. Then the Instalink deal disappears, and your LPs start redeem—”
“I’ll do it! Okay, I’ll do it!”
She waved her hands frantically.
“So where do I find the buyer? Do I start circulating pitch decks?”
As always, Lee Jaseung already had the answer.
“I already have one.”
“What? Who?”
“Facenote.”
“???”
“What, not good enough?”
Chae Eunchae jumped.
“No—if it works it’s perfect. But will Facenote even listen to us? They’re not some soft target. Just getting a meeting with the CEO is already a nightmare…”
Lee Jaseung already knew the truth: Facenote would discover Instalink on its own and decide to acquire it. He understood the exact logic that would drive the decision, so persuasion itself would not be difficult.
The real problem, as she said, was how to get in front of them and take control of the deal.
And, as always, he already had a solution for that too.
“You seem to have forgotten—my fund is a major shareholder of Facenote.”
“Ah! That’s right!”
She brightened at once. The fund that had raised a trillion won and gone all-in on Facenote.
“How much do you own?”
“About three percent.”
Not enough to call himself a controlling shareholder, but more than enough to arrange a conversation with the CEO.
For Lee Jaseung, that was plenty.
“I’ll handle Facenote. You handle Instalink.”
After that, all they had to do was put both sides on the same stage.
Chae Eunchae prepared the video conference with Instalink.
Across from her, Lee Jaseung sat quietly, watching.
The screen came alive and a young man appeared.
Kevin, CEO of Instalink.
“Miss Chae, thank you for reaching out again.”
He remained polite. Even if the VCs ignored her, to Instalink she was still a serious potential investor.
“We’re very interested in the Asian markets, including Korea. A local partner like you could create real synergy.”
Then his expression turned apologetic.
“Unfortunately Series B is essentially locked. Sequoia is leading and the co-investors are already set. I’m truly sorry.”
Chae Eunchae glanced at Lee Jaseung.
He gave a slight nod. Proceed as planned.
“I’ve prepared a different proposal.”
“A different proposal?”
“Yes. Instead of Series B, I’d like to participate another way. I believe your biggest concern right now is exit strategy.”
“Exit is every founder’s eternal homework, but… Sequoia is the largest VC in Silicon Valley. Walking away from a committed round with them would be… uncomfortable for me as well.”
A fair concern.
But the equation changed when the other party was Big Tech.
“I’ll connect you with Facenote as the acquirer.”
“Facenote?”
“Even Sequoia can’t do anything about Facenote.”
Kevin hesitated. Facenote. If it worked it would be extraordinary—but he was skeptical.
“Would Facenote even be interested in us? They’re already enormous…”
“Facenote desperately needs a mobile strategy right now. That’s exactly why their stock still hasn’t recovered to the IPO price. And Instalink? It’s mobile-native. A hundred million users are already accessing it from smartphones. You could be the key that lets Facenote enter the mobile era.”
“In theory, yes, but…”
Still unconvinced, Kevin finally spoke frankly.
“Does Miss Chae actually have the ability to broker a deal of that size? No offense, but Chae Partners…”
“We have a partner who holds three percent of Facenote.”
“!”
“And we’re already arranging a meeting with them.”
“!!”
“We will intermediate the M&A. In return, we want the opportunity to invest in Instalink—via CVR.”
“Invest… how much?”
“Fifteen percent.”
Kevin’s fingers flew across a calculator.
If we do Series B I give up thirty percent. If Facenote acquires us now, I only give up half of that—fifteen percent—and still exit. Facenote’s balance sheet needs no explanation, and once I’m under their umbrella even Sequoia can’t touch me.
From every angle it was a perfect acquirer. His interest was real.
“And if the M&A fails?”
“If the deal doesn’t close, we walk away with nothing.”
In practice Instalink had zero downside. Success meant a far better exit into Facenote. Failure meant they simply ran the original funding round.
Even so, he did not decide on the spot.
He needed to confirm whether Chae Eunchae could truly deliver Facenote.
“It’s an attractive proposal. Incidentally, next month there’s an important event—The Tech Interactive Gala, Silicon Valley’s most famous charity gala. Facenote attends every year, though usually they only send executives. Would it be possible for me to speak with their CEO in person that night?”
The intent was crystal clear.
If your words are true, put me in a room with the Facenote CEO.
Chae Eunchae lifted her eyes just enough to meet Lee Jaseung’s. He nodded once.
“Done. We’ll have Facenote persuaded by then.”
“Perfect. See you that night.”
A few days later, Chae Eunchae received an email from Instalink.
She immediately showed it off to Lee Jaseung.
“Oppa, this is the Tech Gala invitation. Hosted by the Silicon Valley Founders Association. All the big names show up. Want to come with me? I’ll specially take you as my plus-one. We have to meet the Facenote CEO anyway, right?”
Lee Jaseung let out a quiet snort.
Who exactly was “taking” whom?
Chae Eunchae was barely getting in as a guest—and only as a regular attendee at that.
He searched the schedule for this year’s Tech Gala.
Thursday of the third week of September, 8:00 p.m. start
Thursday evening…
These networking parties routinely ran until dawn. An 8 p.m. Thursday start that stretched past midnight became Friday morning.
Friday, 3:00 a.m.
A glint entered Lee Jaseung’s eyes.
If every heavyweight in Silicon Valley is gathered in one place at that exact moment… and I can glimpse their futures…
It might turn out to be an excellent opportunity.
“A charity gala means there’s an auction.”
“Yeah. I looked it up—the auction’s famous. All kinds of crazy stuff shows up. Some early Apple computer prototype sold for a fortune…”
Lee Jaseung rose and walked to the display case on one side of his office.
His private collection of art pieces.
Among them sat one item that had received special conservation treatment.
“This should do.”
“You’re not seriously donating that, are you?”
“I am.”
Chae Eunchae snorted in disbelief.
“That’s just the rubber ball you play with.”
“And?”
“Okay, some of the designs are pretty, I’ll give you that. But who’s going to bid on something like that?”
Something like that.
To dismiss his art so casually…
The corner of Lee Jaseung’s mouth curved in a dangerous smile—the signal that he had been scratched. Chae Eunchae completely missed it.
“Want to bet?”
“Bet? What kind of bet?”
“We send this rubber ball to the organizing committee. If we get invited as VIP guests, I win. If we stay regular attendees, you win.”
Chae Eunchae’s expression immediately turned wary.
She had never walked away from a bet with Lee Jaseung looking good.
Is there something special about that ball?
She squinted at it. Just a vintage-looking rubber ball.
To get VIP treatment you’d need at least a pair of Steve Jobs’s old sandals, right?
This wasn’t just any gala. It was the Tech Gala. Only objects with recognized scientific or technological value earned VIP status.
“Fine. If I win, you come to my office, get on your knees, and beg me to take you as my partner!”
Lee Jaseung laughed, clearly entertained.
“And if I win, we reverse it. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Two weeks later the organizing committee replied.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
This work is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, place names, and events appearing herein are entirely fictional and bear no relation to any real persons or entities. Professional knowledge depicted has been restructured and dramatized for narrative purposes and may differ from actual information.