Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 373 The Elements of Success

When Xinghai Group was raising angel investment in Yahoo, Masato Takeshita was busy spending time with his Chinese wife and children.

Now that he has plenty of time, he might as well take advantage of Yahoo's Series A funding opportunity to meet two pioneers in the internet industry.

"Mr. Yang, Mr. David, I am Masato Takeshita, the chairman of Xinghai Group. It's a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you in the future."

"President Takeshita, you're too kind. We're glad you don't mind us bothering you."

"President Takeshita, please take good care of me."

The two men knew Takeshita Masato better than the average American.

Because they both love Japanese culture and had studied in Japan for a period of time, Jerry Yang even found a Japanese girlfriend, who will be his future wife.

Therefore, the two admired Masato Takeshita even more, admiring his ability to build such a large company from scratch.

After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, they were led by Yang Zhiyuan to a slightly messy small conference room.

"Sorry, it looks like someone was eating here. I'll clean up first."

Although the company has grown in size and number of employees, Yahoo remains the same new internet company that advocates flat management.

There isn't a strong hierarchical relationship between the companies, and everyone can do whatever they want outside of work.

Of course, for Jerry Yang, the current environment is already very good.

During his time at Stanford, his room was littered with pizza boxes, and it was hard to even find a place to step.

"It's okay, it's a newly established internet company, these things are normal."

The newly established internet company has employees who are full of energy and passion for their work.

Often, while eating, an idea will suddenly strike, and people will immediately drop their lunch and rush back to the office to organize their thoughts.

It's perfectly normal for hygiene conditions to be a little poor.

"Thank you, thank you for your understanding, Chairman Takeshita."

After offering a polite remark, Yang Zhiyuan quickly began explaining to the young man the reason for the mess in the meeting room.

As he guessed, the employee did indeed have a sudden inspiration and simply left the pizza box on the table without throwing it away.

The hygiene issue was quickly put aside, and then Jerry Yang began to explain to Masato Takeshita the greatness of Yahoo and the company's future ways of making money.

"Yahoo aims to become a global portal platform, not only linking major websites but also delivering the latest domestic and international news to users worldwide."

At that time, Yahoo's search business was insignificant.

The company mainly uses manual labor to link well-known websites to Yahoo, somewhat similar to later Chinese online navigation sites like hao123.

As for portal websites, anyone with basic internet experience understands them.

It makes it easier for netizens to read news and quickly understand domestic and international hot topics.

"A very smart move; Yahoo is sure to achieve great success."

Yahoo has since faded into obscurity, representing outdated internet technology.

But at this moment, Yahoo was like the sun at five or six o'clock in the morning, poised to rise.

In 1995, the number of internet users worldwide began to grow at an even faster rate. Yahoo's web navigation feature provided these novice users with the most convenient way to access the internet.

People are not familiar with how to find website addresses, nor do they know how to use website addresses to find similar websites.

This is where Yahoo's advantage of being simple and clear becomes apparent, helping users quickly find the content they like.

"Yes, Yahoo is growing very fast right now, with over 40 clicks in 24 hours."

"As for the daily number of clicks, it exceeds three million."

Yang Zhiyuan was full of vigor and confidence, like a young student.

He certainly has the right to be confident.

If the Internet laid the foundation for the Internet age, then Yahoo! was the key that truly allowed people to enter the Internet age.

Without Yahoo, the internet would probably still only be popular among a small elite group. It was Yahoo that made the internet popular rapidly.

"A very cool product. I believe Yahoo will be a symbol of an era."

“With me and David, that’s for sure.”

Jerry Yang put his arm around David Filo's shoulder, never forgetting his partner on the road to success.

In fact, Jerry Yang and David Filo have very different personalities.

Jerry Yang was more outgoing, enjoyed making friends with all sorts of people, and loved communicating with different kinds of people. Therefore, he was primarily responsible for Yahoo's external affairs, and he did an excellent job.

David Fello, on the other hand, preferred to do behind-the-scenes research work and had a very dedicated and hardworking spirit.

But these two people with such different personalities became best friends.

This is thanks to Jerry Yang's respect for his partners. He often brings David Filo along when introducing the company to highlight the importance of his partners.

Unlike Bill Gates of Microsoft, or Steve Jobs of Apple, both were extremely greedy people.

In their minds, their partner was a threat to their reputation and had to be suppressed in many ways.

Whether it's Microsoft or Apple, there can only be one voice.

David Filo was used to Jerry Yang's sudden attacks, but he still couldn't take it and immediately broke free.

He doesn't like overly intimate contact, not even with close friends.

As they chatted, Masato Takeshita casually asked a question.

"What is the length of your cooperation agreement with Netscape?"

When innovative companies raise funds, they value not only the money but also the resources of their partners.

For example, one of the key factors that led Yahoo to agree to Xinghai Venture Capital's offer was that Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance could place Yahoo on the computer interface in internet cafes.

In addition, you can leverage your influence to place Yahoo in the most prominent position in Netscape Navigator.

This was originally Sequoia Capital's job, but Xinghai Venture Capital snatched it up beforehand.

"Not yet, we've only reached a preliminary cooperation agreement."

"I see. Then when Sequoia Capital comes this afternoon, we'll add this condition to our investment agreement."

Netscape must provide Yahoo with a prominent spot in its admiring section for three years.

Sequoia Capital also invested in Netscape, and Valentine and Clark have a very good relationship.

This condition is no problem for Sequoia Capital at present.

"no problem."

This matter would benefit Yahoo, so Jerry Yang naturally wouldn't refuse.

His decision to bring in Sequoia Capital was partly motivated by a desire to prevent Xinghai Venture Capital from becoming too dominant.

Xinghai Venture Capital has far fewer resources in the United States than Sequoia Capital, and offers far fewer conveniences.

Taking human resources as an example, Sequoia Capital can easily find suitable management and R&D talent in the internet field, while Xinghai Venture Capital cannot.

"By the way, after bringing in Sequoia Capital, we'll be considering the company's profit model. What are your thoughts on that now?"

"We already have an action plan in place for this, which is to sell advertising directly on the website."

Yang Zhiyuan spoke casually, without any intention of keeping it a secret.

"There are over 300 million internet users in the United States, and the number is constantly increasing. This means that as long as a company buys advertising space on Yahoo, it can be seen by millions of users."

"The key is that these users are all very high-quality clients, which can provide us and advertisers with a lot of revenue." Jerry Yang recognized the significance of selling advertising for internet companies early on, and the company's development strategy can be said to be very clear.

Later American internet giants like Google and Facebook followed this strategy.

However, the current development path of the internet industry differs somewhat from what Jerry Yang envisioned.

Before the 21st century, there simply weren't many ads available on the internet.

The vast majority of advertisements are simply internet companies of all sizes inflating each other's sales figures.

Yes, it's like website A advertising on website B, and then website B reciprocating by advertising on website A.

In this way, the performance and data of both parties will increase exponentially.

What to do about the losses?
That's not a problem at all.

In the early days of internet companies, the most important thing was to generate traffic. With more traffic, investors would naturally come to invest in you.

The current internet industry is a game of musical chairs, with only a very few companies having the potential to rise to prominence.

There's no way around it; it's easy for speculators and swindlers to emerge in the early stages of an industry's development.

The photovoltaic industry and electric vehicle industry in China in later generations are classic examples.

However, as the tides sift through the sands, true gold will shine ever brighter in the process.

"A brilliant idea. It seems we'll need Sequoia Capital to help us find the right advertising and marketing genius."

Masato Takeshita subconsciously thought of Kalinsky, but quickly put it out of his mind.

Kalinsky was a genius he found for his own company, and putting him at Yahoo would be a waste of his talent.

Yahoo doesn't need such a top-notch marketing genius right now.

Besides, Kalinsky has always been active in the semi-industrial sector, so whether he can understand the internet is also a question.

If another case of a Pepsi president joining Apple and achieving nothing is repeated, it would be a lose-lose-lose situation.

Kalinsky was unfairly criticized, Starsea Ventures lost its influence at Yahoo, and Starsea Entertainment lost a super manager who could have propelled it onto the global stage.

"Yes, we are currently lacking talent who are familiar with the traditional media industry and are also interested in the Internet."

Jerry Yang's requirements are a bit high; the candidate must be a seasoned media professional who can directly help Yahoo attract customers without caring about the Yahoo brand.

To put it simply, even if the giant companies don't care about Yahoo, they will still invest a small amount out of respect for this media personality.

What Yahoo is lacking right now is face-saving media talent.

Of course, the requirements for this type of talent are usually quite high. Stock options are a necessity, and in large quantities.

After all, people abandon traditional jobs to join emerging internet companies in order to realize their dream of getting rich quick.

Although Masato Takeshita is usually quiet and reserved, he can be quite talkative in important situations, so the group had a very pleasant conversation.

However, most of the time, it was Jerry Yang and Masato Takeshita who were talking, while Shinji Kikuno and David Filo listened attentively.

As we chatted, it became lunchtime.

"There's a really good Japanese restaurant nearby, shall we go?"

"Can we go to another one?"

When you go to a new place, you should try the local specialties, even if they are not very tasty. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of your trip?

"Mine, then let's go over there and have Spanish food, it's pretty good too."

"Okay, this is good."

California was once Mexican territory, so there should be many good Mexican and Spanish restaurants.

And compared to the extreme spiciness of Mexican food, Spanish food is clearly more suitable for him.

After lunch and a short rest, Sequoia Capital partner Moritz arrived at Yahoo's headquarters with his lawyer, secretary, and other staff.

After exchanging polite greetings, the two sides immediately began today's negotiations.

"No problem, it's our pleasure."

Moritz readily agreed to Yahoo's talent requirements.

This is a great opportunity to enhance Sequoia Capital's influence, and he certainly wouldn't miss it.

"OK, and also help Yahoo secure a three-year contract for Netscape's most prominent section."

"Okay, leave it to us."

After thinking it over, Moritz concluded that Netscape would probably give him the courtesy.

Netscape's browser also requires more content support, and Yahoo can provide content services very well.

"What I want is exclusivity; Netscape Navigator cannot have a second website similar to it."

If Yahoo isn't exclusive, then it makes no sense.

Jerry Yang wants to be treated as an equal with Netscape, not as a toy that can be discarded at any time.

"I'm not so sure about that. But I'm confident that Netscape won't agree, and the best spot will belong to Yahoo."

"Okay, then I have no problem."

With this guarantee, Jerry Yang is confident that Yahoo will always remain number one.

As for AOL, which competes with Yahoo, Netscape is shrewd and would not choose it.

AOL is just too powerful; Netscape could easily be swallowed up. Yahoo doesn't have this problem; it's under Netscape's control.

After the contract was signed, the two parties shook hands amicably.

When it was Takeshita Masato's turn, the young man kindly offered, "Congratulations! We'll be partners from now on."

Moritz did not dare to be negligent in the face of the young man's overtures.

Masato Takeshita is a financial miracle, holding a large amount of cash.

If he acts too arrogantly and is targeted by the Xinghai Group, Valentine will probably fire him directly.

He was very clear about who he could offend and who he couldn't.

Therefore, Moritz, with a somewhat ingratiating expression, grasped Takeshita Masato's right hand and said, "Congratulations! We will definitely be able to work closely together to make Yahoo a very successful company."

To outsiders, his current behavior may seem somewhat humble, but to Moritz it means nothing at all.

He also wanted to take this opportunity to obtain investment qualifications from Xinghai Fund.

Even with his and Sequoia Capital's money-making abilities, they greatly envied Xinghai Fund's profitability.

“Yes, I believe that with Mr. Moritz joining us, we can certainly do that very quickly.”

After the contract was signed, there naturally had to be a proper celebration banquet.

However, Yang Zhiyuan did not spend too much money and only found a mid-range hotel.

He wanted to allocate more funds to Yahoo instead of wasting them on luxury and indulgence.

"What a great founder!"

"Yes, that's right."

Moritz was more satisfied with Yahoo, judging it to have a greater chance of success.

After all, venture capital, in a sense, is about investing in people.

(End of this chapter)