Inside a cafe in Manhattan, New York.

Extremely hot but not boiling hot water is rinsed in a high-pressure posture in a grinded fine coffee powder.

The coffee solution of only fifty milliliters is extremely rich, and even if you just smell it gently, it will show an extremely fragrant smell.

The coffee was placed on a tray by the waiter and sent to the coffee table.

The man who had taken this cup of coffee shook the sticky coffee liquid and added a lot of milk and sugar cubes to it unscrupulously.

Dark brown coffee and milky milk blend together.

At the beginning, it was clearly divided, but gradually it mixed together and became a light brown liquid.

A large amount of sugar cube also sank into the solution while stirring.

"You're really a waste of coffee when you drink coffee like this." said the person sitting opposite the cup of coffee.

"Waste? What's not wasting it? Are you not wasting the air when you and I sit here? Even... We are playing such a game, aren't we wasting time?" The person who said, picked up two dice from the table, shook it gently, looked at the points above, and let his character take the corresponding steps.

It turned out that on this small coffee table, two people were playing the game "Monopoly".

Regardless of this, unlike the ordinary Monopoly, this Monopoly, which is known as purely "handmade", is more refined and more textured, and of course it is more expensive.

However, these two players are not sensitive to the price itself, because for them, the money is just a number.

After all, near this cafe is the famous Wall Street.

Of course, Wall Street in this era is not as famous as the future when the United States became the world hegemon.

However, Wall Street, which is now a financial center in North America, has also produced its unique glory.

For example, these two people are not considered big names on Wall Street, but they should have believed that North America's financial hegemony should be in the hands of Wall Street.

"The American bank in New Haven has been investigated. Its predecessor was the Eagle Bank of New Haven, which was established by Yale alumni fundraising and is the earliest and only commercial bank in New Haven.

It has been established for more than a hundred years, but in the past few years it encountered a business crisis. The previous president misappropriated funds to speculate in futures and lost a lot of money.

The new president launched a bank voucher program last year.

Taking advantage of the economic winter, we acquired a large number of small banks on the verge of bankruptcy. We used these banks to recycle and issue bank vouchers to earn the difference, allowing New Haven Eagle Bank to quickly recover.

However, at this time, someone appeared, the president of Clayden Investment Bank and the current president of Bank of America, Doug Clayden.

He is a disciple of the current principal of Yale. With Yale's acquiesce, he took many measures to acquire all the shares of Eagle Bank and reorganize. After the reorganization, Eagle Bank and its subordinate banks became the current Bank of America.

The source of funding for Clayden Investment Bank also comes from Bank of America.”

"Well, I'm investigating it here. Clayton Investment Bank and Bank of America are two banks that are one side. Bank of America uses savings business to attract funds, and then uses Clayton Investment Bank to invest in the past and seek profits.

According to the current star cases, the angel investment model of Clayden Investment Bank still has certain potential. However, if there is not enough financial support, I am very puzzled how long it can last."

"We conducted a survey on the source of funds for Bank of America. Their capital flow was unusually healthy. Not only did they issue a large number of banknotes, they also held metal currencies far exceeding previous estimates.

Because Doug Clayden also owns several companies, including the manufacturer that produces this Monopoly.

In their business transactions, they only charge US banknotes and metal currencies.

Now, the several companies owned by Doug Clayden are in better shape than they thought.

Not only does it have a large market in the United States, it has even opened up a stable trade path in Europe.

Perhaps because of this, Doug Clayden felt that his eyes were very good, and he thought of setting up an investment bank, right?”

"This is the passport of Clayden Investment Bank's Angel Investment Agreement. The agreement is divided into three stages.

The first stage is the initial investment stage. At this stage, the entrepreneurs who accept investment will discuss an investment amount with Clayden Investment Bank. Clayden Investment Bank will consider the potential of this entrepreneurial idea and the entrepreneur himself. While giving a certain investment amount, they will require 10 to 30% of the startup company shares.

The second stage is the betting stage, in which Clayden Investment Bank will set up several betting conditions with entrepreneurs.

When the milestone node reaches, the entrepreneur completes the betting conditions and Doug Clayden will make the corresponding amount of subsequent investment.

If the entrepreneur fails to complete the bet conditions, he has completed some of them. Clayden Investment Bank can make several actions including but not limited to reducing investment, requiring more shares to maintain investment, and conducting bankruptcy liquidation.

The third stage is the maturity stage. Enterprises at this stage have completed most milestones and entered a bottleneck period of development.

At this stage, entrepreneurs also have many choices. First, they can choose to sell all their shares to Clayton Investment Bank and cash out according to their valuation. Second, they can choose to integrate into the economic system of Clayton Investment Bank and into the trading system with Bank of America as the core.

The last one, they can buy back shares from Clayden Investment Bank, truly operating independently.

Nowadays, most of the invested companies are still in the first stage. Including the celebrity startups we are familiar with, there are less than ten companies entering the second stage.

However, these ten companies seem to have a relatively large room for growth for the time being.”

"What do you think of this investment model?"

"I think this investment model is more like a demon investment than an angel investment.

Although the above terms look beautiful, I am sure that most companies end up being annexed by Clayden Investment Bank.

However, there is nothing to surprise or condemn. Isn’t this what we do in banks?

If we can’t make money, why do we do so many things?

What I mean here is that I will start a similar angel investment business in the near future.

The purpose is not to incubate such excellent companies, but to maintain the number of talents and prevent the loss of talents from being too lost.

Recently, I have been working at Bank of America and Clayton Investment Bank and seeking investment. I have already gone to no less than ten of them.

Those who haven't left also began to fantasize about what kind of treatment they would get if they went there and what would they get if they succeeded in starting a business.

In order to maintain stability, the boss decided to start the angel investment business, are you there?"

"We are almost the same here. However, it is more radical than yours.

Because, before this, we have already supported some more successful companies.

However, these companies eventually broke out of control for various reasons.

This time, this angel investment model has made the person who is in charge of foreign investment have become very interested. He has already started to get crazy excited as if he had put out three pounds of blood.

The old man also had some intentions about this plan.

After all, how can a single bank be comparable to a bank protected by many companies?

Any industry has a barometer of this industry.

The banking industry is no exception.

If when the banking industry is raining and raining, the companies invested in other industries suddenly burst out with vigorous vitality. Wouldn’t there be more opportunities to seize, and wouldn’t the ability to resist risks be stronger?

The more industries you invest in, wouldn’t it be the safest as a core bank?

Even, it is possible to acquire other banks against the trend when they are weak. Just like what Bank of America does now.

However, I am not optimistic about this approach.

I think the banking industry should be pure banking industry.

People in banks may be very good at money, but they may not be very good at other things.

How do we judge whether a company can do it?

If you can't do it, wouldn't it be a waste of money and it would be a joke on the entire Wall Street?"

"Your old man is really pioneering." After taking a sip of the man mixed with a lot of milk and sugar coffee, he shook the dice and continued, "Maybe you can really become a more outstanding bank. But we are just for the sake of fewer people, haha..."

"Forget it, let's not talk about ourselves. How long do you think Clayden Investment Bank can survive?

I think it's very likely that it will disappear next year."

"Old rules?"

"Yeah, the old rules."

"Since you say that the year will disappear. Then take next year's December 31 as the benchmark. If before and after that, Clayton Investment Bank continues to exist and maintains its business, then you will lose."

"If it doesn't continue, you lose."

"How many bets?"

"One thousand dollars."

"You really don't like it. OK, it's only one thousand dollars."

Almost any part of the banking industry is an absolute gambler.

They pay a lot of money for what they believe.

However, the consequences of failure are not borne by them most of the time.

In the 1860s, two ordinary banking practitioners might have assets of one thousand US dollars, but the cash they could take out was far less than that.

Behind both of them, there is a group of financial supporters.

This group of financial owners may be the winners of the gold rush in the west or the planters in the south.

They handed over the funds to these banking practitioners in order to increase their value.

The value-added business they conduct not only includes futures and stocks, but also such bets.

These bets are no different from those of the workers in the tavern at the bottom, except for the larger amount and more complete procedures.

However, when this group of bank practitioners talk, they will package these bets as if they were the highest-end things in this world.
To be continued...