Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 415 A Different Way to Play
The emergence of these two fixed indicators quickly boosted the development of the entire internet industry.

Since investors are choosing internet companies, there are finally quantifiable metrics available.

However, the simplification of the indicators also had serious consequences.

In order to acquire more users and generate higher revenue, many internet companies have started to resort to the crooked practice of fake orders.

You advertise for me to generate revenue, and I'll advertise for you to generate revenue in return. It's a mutually trusting exchange.

Ultimately, the flow of money increased several times over with ease.

As a result, the valuation of internet companies will increase significantly, and they will be more willing to engage in mutual advertising with similar companies.

As for losing money, that's not important at all.

For both laypeople and insiders of the internet industry, scale is the most important number.

Netscape and Yahoo, didn't they go public precisely because of their scale?

However, at present, mutual online advertising is still a relatively niche activity. Around 99 or 00, internet companies will be engaging in this practice like crazy.

It can only be said that fate plays tricks on people, and that greed drives them mad.

After Yahoo's Tokyo roadshow ended, Masato Takeshita immediately went to check on the Starry Sea mailbox.

He wanted to witness everything firsthand after the employees had checked for the bugs.

"How's it going? Can I go online now?"

Yes, it can be done now.

"Okay, let's go online and wait for someone who's meant to be with us."

"Yes, understand."

After several weeks of optimization, Xinghai Mail has reached world-class standards.

As for higher levels, we haven't reached them yet.

But it doesn't matter, being free is the biggest advantage in terms of quality.

Even the worst software will find people willing to use it if it's free.

Besides, Xinghai Mail isn't a free product so bad that it deserves criticism, which makes it even more attractive to users.

"Huh? You can get an email address for free?"

Yoichi Noguchi is a graduate student from a poor rural family who needs to do odd jobs to support his studies and life.

Therefore, upon seeing a free email service, I immediately decided to try it out.

If it works well, he will abandon his current email address and switch to this free one.

In this way, you can save several thousand yen in living expenses.

"Not bad, not bad, the response speed is quite fast."

Yoichi Noguchi sent himself an email, which was received almost instantly.

However, he was worried that the fast speed was due to the same computer, so he tried sending the message to different computers, and the results were almost the same.

"Okay, let's do one more experiment and try sending it to our partners."

"That was fast! I didn't expect it to be sent so quickly."

Looking at the successful email notification, Yoichi Noguchi couldn't help but compare it with the email service he paid for, and found that his paid service seemed to be inferior to the free one.

This is normal, though; he's very frugal, and the email he bought was the most basic model.

Just as Yoichi Noguchi was making various attempts, excited voices rang out inside the Xinghai Network office building.

"President, someone has already sent the first email."

"Great, this is good news worth celebrating."

Once it happens, it will happen again. I imagine that Xinghai Mailbox will soon be widely available in Japan.

"Are the Korean, Chinese, and English versions all ready?"

Since Xinghai Mail aims to reach a global audience, it naturally cannot be limited to a Japanese version.

Therefore, Masato Takeshita instructed Shigeru Oshima and others early on to arrange for the other language versions to be released as well.

"The English version has been completed, and the other versions are still being improved."

Modern computers are based on English, so the English version of email is the easiest to create, and it's basically synchronized with the Japanese version.

As for other languages, we can only gradually improve them.

"I see. Then we need to hurry. If we delay too long, the market will be taken over by others."

"Yes, please rest assured, Chairman."

Shigeru Oshima bowed respectfully, while simultaneously deciding to hire more people to increase the development efforts for Chinese and Korean email services.

I can't understand why the chairman values ​​little South Korea and the underdeveloped Chinese market so much. It's because I'm too stupid; I just follow orders.

In the end, you'll find that the chairman's decisions are always right.

"Well, now that the English version is ready, let's launch it now."

"Yes, understand!"

With a command from Masato Takeshita, the English version of Seikai Mail was immediately launched.

Subsequently, Xinghai Internet cafes around the world immediately placed the English version of Xinghai Email in a prominent position on the computer desktop.

After Yahoo and Netscape reached out to Xinghai Group, they reserved the best link positions for Xinghai Mail.

With extensive publicity and promotion, the results were naturally excellent.

The English version quickly surpassed the Japanese version in terms of user growth rate and number of users.

On the one hand, American tech workers prefer the free and open-source approach, and on the other hand, English-speaking workers use email far more than Japanese-speaking workers.

A day passed quickly, and Takeshita Masato looked at the people whose faces couldn't hide their smiles.

"It seems our email performance is very good, everyone is so happy."

"Yes, President, in just one day, our registered users have exceeded 20."

"The English version sold 18 copies, while the Japanese version sold significantly fewer, only 2 copies."

Shigeru Oshima was a little embarrassed, not expecting that so few people from the local area had registered.

This achievement would be a very impressive figure for many emerging companies, but it's a different story for Xinghai Mail.

It's worth noting that Xinghai Group invested heavily in the local market for this launch.

"That's pretty good, take your time."

Having tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of users in the initial stage is already a very good achievement.

As long as you stay on the right path, you can establish a firm foothold in the world.

As for monopoly, forget about it.

Email is work software with relatively limited use cases, and no single company can completely monopolize it.

Masato Takeshita's goal was simply to become the market leader.

With its initial seed users, Xinghai Mailbox developed very smoothly.

In less than a month, the number of users of the Japanese version exceeded 20, and the number of users of the English version exceeded 100 million.

This situation made Yang Zhiyuan somewhat uneasy.

He quickly called his business partners and the company's CEO to the small conference room.

"David, Brady, have you two been using Starsea Mailbox lately?"

"Yes, it's a fantastic product, and many users love it."

Yahoo CEO Brady is a good friend of Jerry Yang.

He was pursuing his doctorate at Harvard Business School, but was persuaded by the idyllic scenario described by his friends, and followed Jerry Yang in giving up the opportunity to continue his studies.

Pursuing a PhD is nothing compared to joining a promising startup.

"How about we create a Yahoo Mail account too?"

"Yahoo Mail?"

David looked up at the radiant Yang Zhiyuan, unsure whether to support or oppose the proposal. This was tantamount to competing with investors for profits; would Xinghai Group be willing to accept that?

"Yes, it's Yahoo Mail. Right now we only have navigation, the product is too limited, we must add software products that can attract users."

Jerry Yang was very determined, even willing to fall out with investors.

Yahoo can only avoid being eliminated by the capital market if it maintains its current growth momentum.

“I think it’s feasible. Chairman Takeshita has a great personality and is willing to see more competition in the internet market.”

"Only with enough competitors can Xinghai Venture Capital maximize the returns on its investments."

As Yahoo's CEO, Brady naturally had to study the personalities and goals of investors.

He discovered that Xinghai Group was using Netscape and Yahoo as bait to attract more people to invest in the internet.

Netscape's sensational IPO surge and Yahoo's massive investment despite having nothing were both for this purpose.

Therefore, Brady judged that as long as it could stimulate more investors to participate, Xinghai Group would be happy to support it.

"That's right. As an investor that, along with Sequoia Capital, has heavily invested in the internet industry, Xinghai Group certainly hopes that this industry will be extremely prosperous."

"We at Yahoo are facing the competition head-on, and we might even get praise from Chairman Takeshita."

Jerry Yang, the Yahoo chief, felt increasingly justified as he spoke, but to reassure his business partners, he lowered his head and continued speaking.

"Okay, I'll ask Chairman Takeshita first. If he agrees, we'll get started."

"I think this is better."

"Me too."

After gaining the approval of his friends, Yang Zhiyuan made a phone call to the young man at the right time.

"Oh, it's okay, I think it's fine this way."

Email, a project that is not particularly important.

Since Yahoo wants to get involved, there's nothing wrong with that.

Even if Yahoo eventually forces it to collapse, the impact will be minimal.

He always valued instant messaging more than email.

If Yahoo were to compete in this market, he would absolutely not give an inch.

"Hmm, hmm, these are minor matters. Microsoft won't miss out even if Yahoo doesn't come in."

Microsoft has always wanted to monopolize all software products on the PC platform, ideally making all PC users use only Microsoft software.

However, the world's internet industry is still very weak, and Microsoft plans to grow to a certain extent before reaping the benefits.

OK, see you in April!

After hanging up the transoceanic call from the United States, Masato Takeshita slowly walked to the window.

He gazed at the distant cityscape, muttering to himself.

"Sure enough, Xinghai Group is now attracting a lot of attention. The software has only just been launched, and other companies are already eyeing it."

Masato Takeshita's series of achievements are so remarkable that even the slightest movement can spark speculation.

In the previous life, free email services had already developed before Yahoo began to take action.

"It seems that the instant messaging software developed by the company cannot be launched directly under the name of Xinghai Group."

Masato Takeshita wanted to do it quietly, and then take over the online chat market when no one was paying attention.

With this in mind, the young man headed straight for the instant messaging project team.

"I plan to move the instant messaging project team to China. Who wouldn't want to go?"

Everyone looked at each other, none of them daring to be the first to stand up and speak.

If you say you're very willing, you'll offend the R&D staff who don't want to go.

If they said they were unwilling, they were worried about offending their own association president.

Masato Takeshita quickly understood why everyone was silent and hurriedly comforted them with a smile.

"Don't worry, you can all find out what kind of person I really am. Even if you refuse, I will just let you go back to your original jobs."

“You are all elites of society and the talents that Xinghai Group needs most.”

Masato Takeshita's words were sincere, but he didn't think he could convince everyone with words like in anime.

Therefore, he simply changed his strategy and asked everyone to print out their ideas on A4 paper.

Those who agree can go to China, and those who disagree can stay in Japan.

As for why use verbal skills when you know you can't persuade someone?
The reason is simple,
Even if many people don't believe it, they will feel more at ease because of his words.

Soon, everyone printed out their opinions on paper.

"Very good, not a single person chose to back down. This is the kind of responsibility that we Xinghai people should have."

It's probably because everyone is young and unmarried.

None of the 26 staff members responsible for developing the chat software chose to quit; they were all willing to go to China.

Of course, what's even more important in gaining unanimous agreement is the shared ambition for the future.

This is not the first time that Xinghai Group has conducted confidential research and development work in China.

The Starry Sky computer operating system, which is now popular all over the world, and its variant, the Microsoft Windows operating system, were originally developed in China.

After the project succeeded, the staff who went to China at that time all earned at least 1000 million yuan a year.

In addition, these people are given priority for promotion.

Now the opportunity has come to the chat software project team. If they miss it, they will be giving up their biggest chance for promotion and a raise.

This kind of temptation is hard for middle-aged people with families and careers to resist, let alone a bunch of young people who have nothing.

"I'm giving you three days. We'll be heading to China in three days."

"Yes, President!"

Everyone responded in unison, their eyes filled with anticipation for the future.

These three days are not only a time for employees to rest and say goodbye to their families, but also a time for Xinghai Group to handle the preliminary preparations.

The chat software project team will not work within Xinghai Group, but will instead find a completely unrelated location.

Therefore, the tasks of buying a computer, purchasing software, and installing a telephone line had to be completed within three days.

Also, meals should be prepared for the employees' accommodations.

In this way, the project team can start work immediately upon arrival.

The three-day rest period ended quickly, and the young man made a solemn promise to everyone at the meeting point.

"As long as the project is successful, everyone's level will be raised by at least one grade. Salaries and bonuses will also be increased according to performance."

"A minimum monthly raise of 20 yuan, with no upper limit."

Even if the salary increase is only 20 per month, with two semi-annual bonuses, everyone can earn at least 400 million more per year.

Therefore, as soon as he finished speaking, he was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the project team members.

Chat software is much simpler than an operating system; one trip there can increase your annual salary by more than 400 million.

For most people, there is no better job than this, a job that ordinary people can get into.

"Then, let's go!"

"Yes, President!"

Masato Takeshita did not choose to see them off, but instead stood in the room and watched them leave.

Because if he goes out, it will only attract attention from the outside world, which would be superfluous.

"In that case, no company will follow suit and imitate us in the early stages, right?"

Chat software will be one of the core industries of Xinghai Group in the future, so it must be kept as secret as possible in the early stages.

Only in this way can the chat software more firmly maintain its position as the world's number one when it returns to Xinghai Group.

(End of this chapter)