Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 196: The Methods of Old-School Capitalists
"Dear teachers, classmates, and guests, good afternoon..."

On the third Saturday of June 1978, in the Stanford stadium, Evelyn, wearing a black graduation cap and a dark blue graduate gown, was standing on a makeshift podium to give a speech.

Sitting on the lawn below was a dark crowd of people.

The outermost circle is this year's graduates. The gathering according to the college makes the tassels hanging naturally along the brims of their hats become a rainbow.

The square in the middle is composed of teachers from various colleges, departments, and majors. The biggest highlight of this square is that you can see a bright golden red at a glance.

If the clear-cut arrangement allows people to directly identify their identities, then the lineup at the front is very complicated, because those who can sit here are either the president and provost of Stanford, the deans of various colleges, or representatives of outstanding graduates, or special guests.

To put it bluntly, any one of them would have a certain reputation in academia or society, but Ethan Jones...

"Cough cough cough-"

"I am not talented, but I just happened to blend in."

To be honest, Ethan never thought that his viewing seat would be in the first row!
When this fact came out, he was immediately flattered!

After all, he had studied seriously in his previous life. When people have learned some knowledge, they will know how insignificant their personal accumulation is in the ocean of knowledge. Those big guys who can achieve certain results with their personal abilities are indeed worthy of respect.

This ranking of positions has nothing to do with money.

But when old principal Fred Terman showed up with a cane and sat down next to him...

Eh!
Ethan was no longer panicked!
Because the guy next to him had hit him with a cane before!

Not everyone can enjoy this kind of treatment, right?
This can prove that Ethan Jones still has a certain status in the academic field, right?

Hehe ~
Okay, I won’t be naughty anymore.

When he followed Evelyn to the school, the first people he saw were the bigwigs sitting in the first row, including the current president, who was a historian, the current provost, who was a biologist, and various well-known professors. They all greeted Ethan very friendly and chatted with him.

After all, Destiny Game is the first company to achieve real success after Stanford proposed the school-enterprise cooperation plan, the first company to bring positive feedback to the school, and the first company to donate to the school one year after its establishment to help the school solve student employment problems.

When countless firsts emerge, the first to try them out will naturally receive real preferential treatment from the school. What? Someone said HP? ...It can only be blamed on HP's success too early.

When HP succeeded, Fred Terman had not yet come up with a co-construction plan.

After the old man came up with the co-construction plan, Stanford has not successfully developed a business in more than 20 years.

The fact that I have persisted for 20 years and achieved nothing is actually very hurtful, but now...

The sky cleared up after the rain~
Stanford people swept an industry with the help of Stanford!
This success excites them!
It also allows them to continue along this path with confidence!
"Oh Ethan—why are you spaced out?"

While Ethan was daydreaming, a joking voice came into his ears, "Are you very moved by Evelyn's speech? It doesn't matter, cry if you want to—"

Fred Terman's whisper brought Ethan back to his senses, and then he heard the girl's words on the stage, "I am honored to be the representative of this year's outstanding graduates. I am standing here to tell you about the education and help the school has given us. I would also like to thank my family. Without their support and encouragement, I might not have achieved what I have now..."

"…especially my younger brother Ethan Jones. If he hadn't pulled me into starting a business and constantly showed me genius inspirations, I would definitely not be able to use the knowledge taught in school to bring more happiness to the world like I am now..."

"… and he also came here today to share the joy of graduation with me…"

At this point, the girl on the stage raised her left hand and pointed at Ethan.

The undisguised hint made Ethan quickly stand up and wave to the crowd behind him.

This interaction caused a burst of screams.

Ethan even heard a cry of surprise vaguely——

"Wow~ He's so handsome!"

"Thank you, thank you." Ethan responded in his heart.

"No, I'm just overwhelmed by the enthusiasm here."

After sitting down again, Ethan answered the old principal's questions.

Since he had no intention of hiding anything, all the leaders who heard his words laughed.

The dean of the law school even said, "Oh Ethan, your word choice is wrong."

"Barbara once told me that she had invited you to come to the law school. Although you are too busy to have time, this invitation is valid for a long time, right? In this case, we are all a family. Since we are all a family, then everyone's joy for you is a manifestation of love!"

Don't be so unreasonable. Her logic made the old men around her laugh.

Ethan clasped his hands together helplessly and admitted his mistake.

"Oh - Yeah, I used the wrong word."

"Then can you find some time to register for your studies?" the dean of the law school asked with a smile.

The Dean of the School of Engineering also turned his head to add fuel to the fire, "Yes, Ethan, if you register this year, you can graduate with your sister in two years."

In fact, Ethan always felt that his talent overshadowed his handsomeness.

If not, why do these guys always want him to go to school?

When they met and chatted earlier, these guys asked him if he had any plans for further studies. Even though his previous standardized test scores had expired and he had no academic achievements at all, it didn't matter. After all, college admissions in America are based on the subjective will of the school. If the school thinks you are capable, then you are capable.

If it was Ethan in his previous life, he would have immediately agreed, because this admission invitation was worth tens of millions! But now... he still declined.

It's not that enrolling in school will interfere with his business. To put it bluntly, after he nodded in agreement, the school would definitely issue him a certificate with its eyes closed. Rather, the identity of a high school graduate without receiving higher education is more in line with the American dream promoted by America.

If you want to pursue a career in politics or academic studies, academic qualifications are definitely important.

But if it's business...

The coat of the American dream is easier to wear.

And these people are talking about graduating with Evelyn...

That's because Evelyn is still pursuing a doctorate.

The reason why the girl made this decision was very simple. Fred Terman, who retired in 1976, was not used to the boring life of retirement, so he decided to accept the school's two-year re-employment and make a little final contribution to the school's educational cause.

Because the old man is in poor health, he is only supervising one doctoral student this time.

"Alright, alright, Ethan doesn't have time right now, so stop pushing him."

The deans' jokes made the old man tap his cane and said, "This is a graduation ceremony, not a closed-door tea party. Be serious, everyone? Okay?"

The old man's words made everyone laugh and stop talking.

Everyone's concentration also made Ethan turn around to thank him, but his politeness made the old man wave his hand, "We were just joking." After explaining, he said, "Robert called me and said that what you want is too complicated."

"He is confident that he can get what you want, but he still needs some time."

The Robert mentioned by the old principal is Robert Horry, the General Electric boss who undertook the optical storage research project of Destiny Game. In the past ten months, he has asked for two million research funds from Destiny Game and successfully burned it all.

Although Ethan knew that scientific research was very expensive, the speed was indeed too fast.

Perhaps because the old man also realized that there might be something wrong with his research, he called Fred Terman directly to explain.

And when the old principal acted as a middleman, Ethan naturally would not delve into the matter.

"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry."

Ethan said, "I also know that what I want is a little ahead of time, so I have the patience to wait. And I'm very busy recently. Even if he takes out the things, I don't have the energy to push them..."

These words made Fred Terman look at Ethan and shook his head: "Oh Ethan - although I like your attitude, you can't be too polite to them."

"Just telling the truth." Ethan shrugged.

Such an attitude made the old principal nod his head continuously. He stared at Ethan's cheek for a while, and then turned his gaze back to the podium. Since Ethan gave him face, the matter was over.

"There is one more thing." The old president changed the subject, "Starting from the fall semester, we at Stanford will officially purchase apples as teaching aids."

"Lawrence called me directly to tell me about this matter. He also said that this was my request and he was just doing it. He also hoped that I could help him get some schools."

"I looked at the Apple products he recommended. Stephen did a good job." "That disk..."

“To be honest, it’s better than IBM.”

While Ethan was making waves in the electronic game era, Apple Computer also had great success. After Winrock recruited Roger Corian from Pepsi for them, the five and a quarter floppy disk Disk II developed by the fat boy Steve Wozniak was finally released.

Ethan held a new product launch conference on May 20th, and they introduced their products to the world on June 1st. When each floppy disk had 35 tracks on one side, each track had 16 sectors, and each sector had 256 bytes of data...

The capacity of 140KB on one side and 280KB on both sides immediately ignited the market!
Because the emergence of this thing can free computers on the market from endless code operations!
When data storage, which used to be a headache, becomes a very simple thing...

Even though this thing costs as much as $495, there are still countless people who know the value of it and buy it up!
This situation also made Wenlock begin to fulfill his promise and prepare to use Rockefeller's influence to sell Apple to all schools in North America. The first target they wanted to conquer was Stanford. As for the reason why they chose this place...it was probably Lawrence Rockefeller's bad taste.

"He called you personally?" Ethan was speechless.

"Yes." The old principal nodded.

"Ah - this guy -" Ethan curled his lips and said, "If you helped me to get Apple into the education market, then why should I accept his investment?"

"He uses my resources to help me do what I want to do?"

"MFxxk..."

Ethan suddenly felt like a big fool!
If he had known that Lawrence Rockefeller would play this game, he would not have let this guy on board in the first place!

But the old principal shook his head and said with a smile: "Although I can help, it is Lawrence who will really solve this problem. The teaching aids market is not as simple as you think. Large-scale purchases by public schools must be supervised, and purchases by private schools must be explained to the board of directors. Even if I help, it is just to ask other schools to report project purchases. As for where the money for the purchases will come from? This matter has to be solved by the Rockefeller family's education foundation..."

As the old principal whispered, Ethan finally understood the ins and outs of education procurement.

No matter what kind of school it is, their annual funding is limited. It is impossible to purchase teaching aids on a whim. Even after being simplified, the process still has four steps.

The first step is to find a device on the market that has great educational features;

The second step is for the Development Committee and Education Committee under the Board of Directors to propose purchases and fill out reports;
The third step is to submit it to the senior management for approval. Since this type of purchase is usually unplanned, the process is very lengthy.
The fourth step is to start purchasing if approval is passed, or terminate the project if approval is not passed.

If you are doing serious business, merchants who want to enter the education market can only wait.

But if Fred Terman and Lawrence Rockefeller acted at the same time, all the waiting time could be eliminated. Fred Terman had the right to allow Stanford to directly purchase any equipment as teaching aids. This was a privilege given by the school board to thank him for his contributions to the school.

When Stanford bypassed all procedures and purchased directly, their behavior could be emulated by other schools, allowing them to directly pass the first step. The application form for the second step could also be filled out quickly under the guidance of Fred Terman. As for the third and fourth steps... that was Lawrence Rockefeller's business.

Pay the money directly and buy it for the school.

The Rockefeller family's education fund makes numerous donations to major colleges and universities every year. Part of the funds can be used freely by the colleges and universities, while the other part can be used for designated purposes.

When Lawrence Rockefeller said that of the one million dollars we Rockefeller donated to you this year, half a million dollars was a special fund for computer science...

The third and fourth steps in the procurement process of major universities can be directly eliminated.

Special funds for special purposes!
This rogue approach allows Apple to quickly gain an astonishing market share!

As for whether this approach will cause Rockefeller to lose a lot of money?
This is simply unnecessary worry.

Because U.S. charitable foundations have annual donation ratio requirements, the minimum is 5% of total assets. Even if there is no agreement on special funds, they still have to donate money.

In this case, using the money that must be donated to pay for their own businesses is what many wealthy people do, but when this happens in Rockefeller's hands...

They are powerful, wealthy and can directly change the landscape of an industry.

For other companies, this approach violates the principle of fair competition in the market.

but--

It was fine as long as Rockefeller didn't explicitly state when making the donation that the school had to purchase apples.

And this kind of thing...

"Many schools survive on donations. Not only will they not oppose Lawrence on this matter, but they will also do what Lawrence asks very well."

The old principal said with emotion: "So - you just need to work hard -"

"We will help you become the market leader this year, consolidate your position and increase profits next year, and you can go public the year after. Although Apple has no direct connection with Stanford, Stephen's relationship with HP and Lockheed will always exist... right?"

"Hahahaha—" This rhetorical question made Ethan laugh out loud.

"Yes," he admitted, nodding.

"Thank you."

"Hmm~" the old principal shrugged.

"Ethan~What are you laughing at? Did I make a fool of myself?" While Ethan was chatting with the old principal, Evelyn had returned from her speech, and as soon as she stepped down from the podium, she heard Ethan laughing.

“No, no…” Ethan quickly shook his head and said, “We are chatting.”

"Chat? Didn't you listen to my speech?" The girl raised her eyebrows.

"I heard it..." How could Ethan admit it.

"Why are you laughing after hearing that?" Evelyn continued to ask.

"..."

This vicious circle made Ethan turn his head and look at the old principal.

"Ahem - I'm old, I need to go to the toilet -"

The old principal ignored him, stomped his cane, and asked his entourage to help him away.

Ethan's eyes widened at this behavior.

He really didn't expect that the guy who was laughing with him just now would just run away!

And Evelyn's eyes were wider than his.

He stared at Ethan for two seconds, then sat down unhappily.

The process of Stanford graduate graduation ceremony is not much different from that of other universities. The president announces the start of the graduation ceremony, guests and speakers go on stage to give speeches, and then degree certificates are issued.

The dean of each college will come to the stage and announce the list of graduates of his college. The people whose names are called will come to the stage, and then the president will formally confer them degrees and straighten their tassels.

After everyone has received their certificates, the principal will make a summary speech, thanking everyone for choosing the school and wishing everyone greater success in their future lives.

After he announces the end of the graduation ceremony, the participants will leave in an orderly manner, and then each college will carry out different activities according to its own preferences and preparations.

For example, the engineering school where Evelyn studied held a weird concert this time.

Although Ethan had experienced these things in his previous life, it was still quite interesting to watch them again as a bystander, especially when some engineering students were singing and dancing on the stage. He couldn't help laughing at the uncoordinated limbs and stiff necks.

Of course, he still clapped when Evelyn sang Barbra Streisand songs.

It was a pity that even if he clapped loudly, Evelin still gave him a sanitary eye.

What attracted Ethan's attention most was the dance of a fat boy from the School of Engineering.

After the opening, he pointed his right hand at the sky at a 45-degree angle, making a very handsome pose.

Then, as if walking in a circle, he pointed at the people in the stands with his left hand, put his right hand on his waist, and twisted his hips continuously to the rhythm of the music.

The slightly old-fashioned disco moves made everyone at the scene laugh.

At first, Ethan just thought that this guy's dance was funny, but when someone nearby screamed "John Travolta", Ethan realized that the dance in front of him was very familiar.

The next second, he even asked Evelin beside him, “Do you want to go to the movies?”

“What?” Evelin was a little stunned by the incoherent words.

"Grease." Ethan actually gave the name of the movie.

(End of this chapter)