hollywood melon man

Chapter 100 The Development of Potential Stock Companies
  "We have updated the algorithm so that users can more accurately search for the content they want by entering keywords."

While taking little Gilbert to visit the company, Elihu Lyon introduced little Gilbert to the latest status of current portals and search engines.

"Currently we are mainly considering how to quickly expand the number of users and the subsequent profitability issues."

Little Gilbert doesn't understand the Internet, but he has some past life experience.

So little Gilbert made a suggestion: "I think you can cooperate with some popular Internet technology companies, such as Microsoft, Cisco, etc.

You can put their URL on the portal website, and users can jump to their webpage with one click.

At the same time, there will definitely be users searching for some products, such as headsets, game consoles, etc.

You can develop an algorithm to charge advertising fees from brands, so that accurate advertising can be pushed when users search. "

Elihu Lyon's eyes lit up and he flattered me: "It seems that boss, you have to come and visit me from time to time.

Your suggestions gave me more ideas on how to run the company and website. "

Elihu Lyon and his classmates have dropped out of school to concentrate on developing and operating Banana.

In order to retain these outstanding talents, Gilbert Jr. allowed them to make a valuation of the company and then let them buy shares in the company.

The company is not listed, and this is an internal equity transaction.

Moreover, giving equity is a must. You must know that creativity and ideas are valuable in this era, but they are not valuable even if they are not.

If there is not enough profit to bind these outstanding talents, and people steal little Gilbert's creativity and ideas and turn around to start his own business, little Gilbert will have no place to cry.

Of course, some people will say: You can apply for a patent!

It’s not just chips and lithography machines. In the semiconductor industry, there are too many ways to bypass patents on the Internet.

Otherwise, after Yahoo came up with the portal and search engine, Google would also come up with a search engine!
  Apple and Microsoft are still fighting patent lawsuits, and they have been fighting for four or five years. It does not affect Microsoft's money at all, but it makes Apple somewhat unsustainable.

Little Gilbert himself didn't know much about technology, so after providing creativity and ideas, as well as initial development funds, there was nothing left for him.

He could only make suggestions on the company's development direction and how to operate it.

If he really wanted to do it hands-on, he couldn't do it.

After financing and listing, as long as he guarantees his shares and control over the company, that will be enough.

And to be honest, little Gilbert actually prefers to make movies safely rather than take risks.

I just feel that if we come to this era, it would be a pity not to give it a try.

In addition, the U.S. dollar has been depreciating. Investment in the establishment of these two companies also has the function of asset preservation.

In addition, little Gilbert will not participate in the 1997 financial crisis, the oil crisis, or gambling.

Those industries were too far away from him, and he didn't know or understand them. It might not be a good thing to get involved rashly.

At present, Banana has entered the commercial operation stage, and the number of visits and clicks is growing rapidly.

The good performance has naturally attracted the interest of Wall Street venture capital institutions.

New Internet companies are established every day in North America. As long as they are established, they can obtain funds from venture capital institutions.

However, Elihu Lyon calmly rejected the financing. He believed that it was not the right time to introduce leading institutions at this time.

When the company develops and grows a little bigger, it won’t be too late to start financing.

Little Gilbert recognized Elihu Lyon's financing proposal, and he did not want to introduce capital prematurely.

These capitals are strong. After seeing the huge development potential of Banana, they are likely to turn their backs on customers, directly take over the company, and then drive him away.

Little Gilbert doesn't have the funds or strength to fight against this group of greedy vampires.

He doesn’t expect to be able to control 100% of the company, because that’s unrealistic, but little Gilbert also doesn’t want to be kicked out of the company he supported and founded like Jobs.

Banana is developing well. Similarly, Facebook, run by Honey Mars, has occupied more than 70% of colleges and universities in the United States and has begun to go beyond campus.

At a certain point in its development, some outsiders tried to steal Facebook user data. But I didn’t expect that Facebook’s privacy was very good and user data was not leaked.

Honey Mars, who started his business in a university dormitory, immediately announced that Facebook is the world's first social networking site that implements real-name social networking and has high privacy.

Based on real-name social networking and a high degree of privacy, it instantly conquered college students across the United States.

When students sign up, they provide their private personal data, such as name, address, interests, and photos.

Users can selectively keep in touch with people they like online, keep track of their good friends' updates, chat with friends, and search for new friends.

Facebook quickly captured Ivy League schools such as Stanford, Harvard, Duke, and Princeton.

Often after appearing on a campus, within a few weeks, almost 70% to 80% of qualified students in the school will register for Facebook.

The rapid development of Facebook is inseparable from a dormitory classmate of Honey Mars, Mark Ruhl.

It was his advice that allowed Facebook to develop rapidly in universities across the United States. It was also because of Mark Ruhl's keen insight and management ability that Honey Mars abdicated and focused on technical matters, handing over operations to Mark Ruhl.

This change was approved by Gilbert Jr. after he met Mark Ruhl and chatted with him.

Similarly, Facebook's rapid development was unexpected. Soon Mark Ruhl and Honey Mars both dropped out of college and moved the company to San Francisco for formal commercial operations.

In addition, the emergence of Facebook has another unexpected result, which is the increase in personal computer sales.

Although people in North American society can go to college and generally have good economic conditions, a personal computer is still expensive at this time.

However, many college students who do not have personal computers will consider buying a personal computer and use Facebook to socialize in order to be gregarious when they see people around them.

This is an unexpected surprise for computer companies.

Since Facebook emerged and attracted attention, it has attracted the attention of venture capital institutions.

Facebook has even attracted more attention than Banana. A lot of capital has already approached Facebook and wanted to raise funds.

After asking Gilbert Jr. for his opinion, Mark Ruhl opened the angel round of financing.

There are already competitors on the market, and Facebook has to need a lot of funds to consolidate and expand the market.

If you want to get financing from the market, in addition to your own strength and demonstrated technical capabilities, it is also important to tell a good story so that venture capital institutions can see the company's potential.

The financing process is quite complicated. It requires valuation, negotiation, and venture capital institutions may also require voting rights and veto rights. Finally, an agreement is reached and money is given.

Little Gilbert didn’t understand these things, but before the financing negotiations, Little Gilbert had a chat with Mark Ruhl.

He explained to Mark Ruhl that to ensure control of the company, it was best not to give him any veto power, even if the financing amount was lower.

Mark Ruhl said he understood that he also had shares, and of course he did not want his shares to be diluted too much after financing.

Finally, after some difficult negotiations, Wall Street's ADG Venture Capital Fund valued Facebook at US$60 million, with an angel round investment of US$9 million and a 15% stake.

Accordingly, ADG Fund wanted to establish a board of directors and requested a veto power, but Mark Ruhl refused.

During the negotiation process, Mark Ruhl said: “Believe me, just give me the money, and I will lead everyone to a more glorious future.

In the future, this investment will allow ADG to earn back profits ten times or even dozens of times. "

The person in charge of the ADG negotiation opposite said: "I know you are not the real boss. Who is your boss? Can you let me talk to him in person?"

Mark Ruhl smiled mysteriously: "Want to know? Go to the cinema this summer!"

This statement made the people at ADG confused. Could it be that the boss behind Facebook is a Hollywood movie star?

No wonder there was no shortage of money during the initial expansion. It turned out to be the upstarts in Hollywood.

The people at ADG are right to think so. In a way, little Gilbert is indeed a movie star.

It's just that as a star, his reputation is no worse than those of Hollywood's A-list stars, which makes him very special.

Mark Ruhl did not reveal the identity of Gilbert Jr. For now, Gilbert Jr. wants to keep a low profile.

Of course, this kind of thing cannot be hidden from others.

With a little research, you will find that the investor behind Facebook is the famous Hollywood genius director Gilbert Landrini Jr.

After receiving a $9 million investment from ADG, Mark Ruhl officially led Facebook out of campus and began to enter the national market.

At the same time, Facebook and Banana have reached a cooperation to provide a link address on the Banana portal in the most conspicuous place.

Of course, such cooperation is not free. Although it was founded by one investor, they are two companies, and the accounts must be settled clearly.

This is a mutually beneficial behavior. Facebook relies on Banana to attract traffic, and Banana receives funds from Facebook to continue to develop.

As Facebook left campus, senior professionals suddenly realized the unparalleled advantages of real-name social networking in the advertising business.

What does this mean? This shows that if Facebook wants to achieve profitability, it will directly start advertising and attract investment, and it will soon achieve profitability.

This discovery instantly increased the value of Facebook to a higher level, attracting more investment institutions,

But unfortunately, the angel round financing has ended, and investment institutions can only wait until the A round of financing.

But at that time, when financing, compared to angel rounds, the shares received were even smaller.

The company is developing smoothly, which is a good thing for little Gilbert. His own stall is too big and he feels he can't contain it.

For the time being, these two companies, plus Apple, will be long-term holding companies in the future.

A small number of stocks in other companies were sold when it was time to sell them on the eve of the Internet bubble.

Of course, before that, there is nothing wrong with buying it as long as you have the money.

Choose companies with familiar names to invest in to ensure that you don’t lose money.

(End of this chapter)