Chapter 123 - The Intersection of Dreams
The cafe was quiet, the sunlight shone directly through the blinds on Mark Zuckerberg's still young looking face, the shock that Lin Mingyang's words gave him was no less than a bolt from the blue, it took him half a day before he stammered, "Do you think that Facebook can really become that kind of existence?"
"I believe that's not a very distant dream, if you can connect 500 million people, you will be the king of the online world!" Lin Mingyang's words carried an irresistible magic, burning all the dreams in Mark Zuckerberg's heart.
"In the development stage of the website, it is necessary to limit the advertisements, in this issue, you are able to see farther than others and have your own vision, this is exactly the key to Facebook's success that I am optimistic about, if you are willing, we can have a cooperation."
Mark Zuckerberg was very direct: "I need money now, and big money!"
"I can provide you with a total investment of 10 million dollars in stages, and I can continue to make additional investments according to the site's speed of development and operational effectiveness, but I have to own 25% of the company's equity, and I must ensure that my share of equity will not be diluted in the process of future capital increases and public offerings of new shares. In other words, I want to permanently hold a quarter of Facebook's shares!"
The investment of 10 million dollars is certainly attractive, but the word "permanent" aroused Mark Zuckerberg's idea: "Aren't you going to transfer and sell this part of the stock after the company's successful listing?"
"I'm not a venture capital agent, and investing in Facebook is just part of my life plan."
----
It was still the same cafe, still the same seat, and Lin Mingyang stayed here for the morning, drinking away three cups of coffee. There was still warmth in that seat of his when Reid sat down, just half a minute before Mark Zuckerberg had just left.
"I've heard that Harvard has quite a few freshman classes, but why do I get the feeling that you're even more laid back than when you were in high school, and you ran out for coffee?"
Reed looked at Lin Mingyang with envy, although MIT and Harvard were not far from each other, Reed basically hadn't been out much since he enrolled in school, and the professors in the computer science program had assigned a ton of homework to the students. Reed even bought a burger in a hurry to eat during this time, and then went back and forth between the classroom and the lab.
"That means you're living a fuller college life than I am!" Just thinking about those troublesome topics in psychology gave Lin Mingyang a bit of a headache. It had only been less than a month since school had started, and that professor who was lecturing on psychology had asked them to complete a paper. Since there were ready-made research subjects in the dormitory, Lin Mingyang was writing a paper on the subject of homosexual psychology research.
"Behind the fullness is the tedium, I still envy you for being able to make your college so interesting, even though that kind of life isn't what I want!"
Lin Ming Yang's hand holding the coffee stopped in mid-air, "Interesting?"
"I paid attention to the Harvard Crimson these last few weeks, and then I tallied it up, and you appeared in that newspaper about three times a week. You've also got a seminar going on in that dormitory that the elite at Harvard are crowding in to try and attend, you're not planning on making it the Vanity Fair reception of Harvard, are you?"
The Harvard Crimson, as the semi-official media of Harvard University, could read a lot of Harvard's campus dynamics from the reports on it. A guy in Reed's dormitory was recently pursuing a Harvard girl like crazy, and he became a faithful reader of this newspaper, and even Reed read a lot of it.
"Actually, we get together to just kibitz."
"Clinton also liked to kibitz in the school cafeteria when he was in college, but in the end he became the president of the United States."
"Those biographies are just like the newspaper articles, the facts are covered up by the author using skillful means." Lin Mingyang finished the last of the coffee in his cup, then asked the waiter to change a cup of juice for him. A few more words of small talk ensued, and only then did the two men's conversation cut to the chase.
"I'm going to invest in a website, but I'm lacking a partner who understands the technology in this area."
Reid immediately understood what Lin Ming Yang meant, "What type of website?"
"You can interpret its functional positioning as a sharing platform for online videos."
This idea was inspired by a new software Mark Zuckerberg was designing that he called Wirehog, a peer-to-peer satisfaction sharing type of service, after Lin Ming Yang came across Facebook. It allows users to swap not only music, but also videos, text files or any kind of digital material, but only between friends. The software will link directly to Facebook, turning online friends into a source of satisfaction for users.
Facebook is only concerned with the distribution channels and methods of the content, which is similar to the distribution of a movie. And Lin Mingyang is more in touch with the filming and production of the movie. Following this line of thinking, Lin Mingyang puts his eyes on the upstream content production and manufacturing of the industry.
With the advancement of technology, the popularization of broadband and photographic equipment has made online short film information more and more valued by people nowadays. Traditional content providers have been unable to meet people's needs, Lin Mingyang wanted to set up this website, is to change the Internet users from the traditional receiver of information, into information publishers, everyone can set up their own private theater, film release station, news station, or even replace the traditional communication media on this platform. Each person can create their own news channel or upload short films about their family life.
If this idea holds true, more and more people will appreciate online short films, and then the television audience will gradually shift to the computer screen. If Lin Mingyang wants to occupy a place in Hollywood in the future, he must have enough resources in his hands. The most important part of Hollywood's movie and television industry is production and distribution.
In terms of production, Lin Mingyang has a unique advantage, while distribution has become his weak link. At the beginning of the initial stage, he did not have sufficiently strong capital to buy theaters, not to mention the ability to buy those controlled by the consortium of television stations, so he was only able to use his brain on the network.
Network is a new industry, huge potential and has not formed a particularly serious monopoly, Lin Mingyang can only turn his attention to this field, he valued Facebook, because it will have a huge number of users in the future. But the website that combines content and communication well in the latter days is not Facebook, but the video sharing website YouTube.
Now that this website has not yet appeared, what Lin Mingyang wants to do is to take the lead. He has mature ideas in his head, plenty of money in his hand, and a handful of computer talents at Harvard and MIT, the only thing missing is a technically savvy and trustworthy website manager. Among the people Lin Mingyang knew, Reed was definitely the best candidate.
Lin Mingyang's clear planning and positioning for the entire website made Reed smack his lips, but it also made Reed have some doubts about his own ability, his dream, can it really intersect with Lin Mingyang's dream?
"Remember what I said to you at the gas station last year, we're actually not that far apart, everything I have, you'll be able to get the same through hard work, and now this opportunity is right in front of you. You definitely don't want to be a programmer for the rest of your life, so what are you still hesitating for?"
Reed had already made up his mind at this moment, tying his future to this website, "Does the website have an official name?"
"YouTube."
"What about a slogan?"
"Broadcast Yourself!"
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This seat in the café was reserved by Lin Ming Yang for the whole day, and after having lunch together, Ruide went back to "recruiting" and preparing for a big day, while Lin Ming Yang continued to go back to the café to meet the last customer he had arranged for today.
"I've heard that a lot of Harvard students like to stay up late in the library, and it's really rare to see people like you so leisurely soaking in a café." Ecks couldn't help but be sarcastic about Lin Ming Yang as soon as they met, and it had almost become a regular pattern of how they greeted each other when they met.
"For them, studying is a job, while for me, studying is just a way of life."
"Then this is also part of your studies?" Ecks didn't have the heart to take out a piece of information from his bag, "I don't know why you're suddenly so interested in this movie rating website, but those movies directed by you don't have high scores on this website."
"A favorable rating of sixty percent is considered a fresh standard, and I don't think I need to say any more about the results, do I?"
The name of this movie review site that Lin Mingyang and Ecks were talking about was called Rotten Tomatoes, and its unique way of reviewing movies was derived from the light opera days when audiences would throw tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables at the stage during a bad performance. Good reviews are indicated by fresh red tomatoes and bad reviews by rotten green tomatoes. This site tracks a large number of movie reviews and the percentage of positive reviews. If more than 60% of the reviews are positive, the movie is considered "fresh". On the other hand, if a film has less than 60% positive reviews, it is labeled "rotten".
"Rotten Tomatoes has a lot of unique ways to review movies, and with the full range of services, features, and communities available to users, I think it could quickly become the go-to place for movie consumers and fans."
"So you want to get in bed with this site?"
"If the website's stance would be to give high ratings to a movie star just because it has a better relationship with that person, or to watch whichever director, do you think there would still be movie fans who would trust the website's ratings?" Lin Ming Yang shook his head, "Why would I want to curry favor with them, just buy out the website directly!"
"And then have this website put in a good word for you?" Even though he was used to the strange and bizarre ideas of Lin Ming Yang's mind, Ecks was still startled by the idea that suddenly popped up in his head.
"On the contrary, they should still score how they want, I won't manipulate the results, I'll just be the major shareholder behind the scenes."
Ecks pointed a finger at his head, "If you're okay with it here, then what did you buy it for?"
"An investment of course, and one that's closely related to the movie."
Lin Mingyang's 9-digit deposit in the bank, he neither intended to hug the thick legs of Microsoft or Google, nor was he prepared to take advantage of the war or the economic crisis to speculate on oil and gold, apart from making a movie, his only option was to invest this money into the movie's related network industries, only in these areas could he make a difference.
"You injected money into Facebook because you are optimistic about its potential user base in the future. You want to get a video sharing site, it's to control the content production and distribution channels of online information. I support all of these investments, but to acquire Rotten Tomatoes.com, you always have to come up with a reasonable expected goal, so that the investment is worthwhile."
For the capital injection into Facebook and the formation of YouTube, Lin Mingyang had discussed with Ecks beforehand, except for Rotten Tomatoes, which Lin Mingyang brought up without Ecks being prepared.
"Movie review websites are the focus of online publicity for movies in the future, to achieve the purpose of publicizing a film. A professional movie review website must have two elements, the credibility of the rating and the number of hits on the network. The former Rotten Tomatoes has already done, and network clicks, directly through the sharing of user resources with Facebook. Facebook users can share the wonderful movie reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website to their own logs, and Rotten Tomatoes, in addition to the professional film site, can also become an outreach of the Facebook user service function."
"You're trying to use Rotten Tomatoes to control the publicity of the movie on the internet?" Ecks finally understood Lin Mingyang's intentions for acquiring Rotten Tomatoes.
"The dispersal of the internet determines that it has a unique advantage in communication, in the future, the internet will definitely replace television as the mainstream mode of communication, and internet publicity will gradually be emphasized. The wind direction of professional movie review websites will affect many people's demand for movie watching. The most successful movie publicity, do not need to evaluate the film itself, just let people know that there is such a movie, the purpose of publicity has been achieved."
"The management of Rotten Tomatoes won't sell you the site that easily!" Eckles considered the practicalities of a takeover, which seemed unlikely to him.
"Then it would be a capital injection like Facebook, the site definitely needs a lot of money to grow. An investor like me who doesn't interfere with the management's operation of the site and is willing to put up the money, I don't think they would refuse."
"Then how do you control this company?"
"I can slowly increase my capital to achieve a controlling stake without interfering with the management's operation, but I definitely have the right to decide who will manage this website. And the important decisions are made by the board of directors, as long as you have enough say in the board of directors, is there any essential difference between this and controlling the entire company?"
"But the board can't all listen to you."
Lin Ming Yang had already planned everything in his mind, "When the time is right, we'll just acquire it wholly. I'll offer a high price as a major shareholder, no one will be able to get along with the money!"