The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 80 The Bet with Bill Gates
"Quora is indeed a very good product. It fully explores the deep-seated needs of users."

Zhou Xin has a love-hate attitude towards Zhihu, because this is a very successful product in the early stage, and the entire ecological content is extremely interesting.

But in 2020, Zhihu has become a complete tasteless thing for him: it is tasteless to eat, but it is a pity to discard it.

Quora Zhou Xin is also an in-depth user, but the difference is that Quora has a bottom line with the explosive growth of the number of users, and there is no salt selection of members for revenue.

Of course, what Zhou Xin didn't know was that Quora also launched a product similar to Zhihu Yanxuan members in 2021 after he left, called Quora+.

Answers posted by users in the paywall can only be viewed by users who have purchased Quora+.

Yanxuan membership was officially launched in 2019. It is hard not to think that Quora is copying Zhihu's model.

So in 1999, Zhou Xin was able to completely dominate Quora's ecology by himself. He was very happy because he believed that in his plan, Quora would definitely not become what Zhihu would be like in later generations.

"People have questions all the time, and it's hard to get an answer to a lot of questions if you haven't experienced it yourself. Even I, I have questions.

Compared with ordinary people, when I have questions, my secretary will help me find them. Even if he doesn't know, he will get answers through various means.

I was still asking Trish yesterday why Quora was so successful, but she couldn’t give me a satisfactory answer, so she launched a questionnaire in our internal forum.

Then she puts together a comprehensive report for me. said Bill Gates.

As early as the 20s, Microsoft had a BBS called "Microsoft Conference", and later they created more internal forums.

This kind of internal forum was originally used to discuss technical issues, but later it could not avoid the result of deviation.

"Most people don't have such conditions, but they also have problems, and even the problems are not less than me.

Quora has solved the needs of everyone very well, but now Quora is not open to everyone for registration. After it is open for everyone to register, it will definitely be an indispensable part of the Internet ecology. "

Bill Gates met Zhou Xin this time at a coffee shop called Java city, a coffee chain store that originated in California in 1992, and Bill Gates' favorite coffee shop at that time.

In the spacious and bright coffee shop, being complimented by the world's richest man like this, Zhou Xin admitted that he was a little elated.

Just thinking about Bill Gates investing in Riot Games, the rate of return has exceeded [-]%, and Zhou Xin felt that the other party should praise him.

Zhou Xin saw that the other party hadn't picked up the coffee cup yet, so he knew that Bill Gates hadn't finished speaking.

"So is Quora accepting Microsoft's offer? $[-] million, $[-] million for a week, that's a good price." Bill Gates held up five fingers.

Zhou Xin shook his head and said, "I'm not short of money now."

Bill Gates raised his forehead and said: "Sometimes geniuses are always so annoying, they have a lot of unconstrained ideas and can create extraordinary products.

But usually they're so good they don't lack the starting capital.

This is also the dilemma of investment. The better the project, the less money it has.

Does Quora accept investment?
In terms of investment, I can't accept the structure design of the same share with different rights like NewPay, and only those investment institutions on Wall Street can accept this method.

If it is an investment, I can give you a higher valuation. "

Zhou Xin replied: "I could consider selling Quora to Microsoft, but not now.

I still have ideas unfinished, and Quora's value is far from being estimated at $[-] million.

Quora is definitely a product no less than GEOCities, so get your cash ready. "Zhou Xin looked confident.

In the black-and-white-gray lobby of the Java city coffee shop, Bill Gates was a little surprised that the other party was willing to sell Quora to Microsoft, even if it wasn't now.

Now that it has entered May 1999, the atmosphere of the entire Nasdaq at this time is no different from adding fuel to the fire. An Internet company can go public on Nasdaq.

Not to mention a high-quality project like Quora.

Take CDC as an example. It was established in May 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in July 5. The listing of this company is like picking up money.

Isn't it nice to run a business by yourself?Or was there some loophole in it that he wasn't aware of.

Because neither Riot Games nor NewPay, Zhou Xin has ever promised to sell to Microsoft.

Microsoft intends to do a big job in the field of console games, so it has been coveting the fist game, the most dynamic game community at present.

As the position of Riot Games in the minds of game lovers gradually strengthened, there have been voices within Microsoft saying that they want to acquire Riot Games. After all, Bill Gates owns 40.00% of the shares.

"It's good for young people to be confident. Internet service is the icing on the cake for Microsoft. We can do without Internet service.

But for other Internet companies, Internet services are their only living space.

If Yahoo can't buy Quora, then Yahoo will definitely copy your product. said Bill Gates.

There is nothing wrong with what he said. The reason why Microsoft developed MSN, the IE browser, and the Xbox behind it all belong to the process of self-expansion after a company has reached a certain scale and has no rivals in the original field.

In terms of performance growth and corporate development planning, corporate executives must explain to investors, or they can only develop in the direction of Internet services.

Bill Gates: "Yahoo is just one of them, and there are many other Internet companies that will flood into this market. How do you ensure that Quora will still be in its current position by that time?"

Zhou Xin asked rhetorically: "Fist Games is also facing similar competition. Why does Riot Games still maintain its dominant position, and its dominant position is getting stronger and stronger?"

Bill Gates retorted: "Game forums are not as important as quiz communities, and Yahoo only puts [-] percent of their energy into Yahoo Games.

But in the field of knowledge question and answer community, they will devote most of their energy.

From what I know of Jerry, he should have been unable to sleep. "

Zhou Xin said with a smile: "Jerry asked me to chat at night, and I guess they also chatted on Quora.

Still the same, I am confident that I can beat any challenger in this field, we will wait and see! "

Zhou Xin's self-confidence made Bill Gates feel that it is good to be young. Even he, at Zhou Xin's age, is not so capable of doing things.

"Okay, if you can occupy a monopoly position by then, that is, beat other competitors in the field of knowledge quiz, then I will give you a [-]% increase in the price of Microsoft's acquisition of Quora."

Zhou Xin shook his head: "No, I need you to agree to another request, a request that is absolutely not excessive."

　Another chapter will be updated tomorrow morning
　　
　
(End of this chapter)