Hollywood Hunter

Simon stayed in San Francisco for a week, only to find that he had to deal with more problems than he had imagined in order to expand his layout of the Internet industry.

Just as the founders of AOL’s predecessor came up with the idea of ​​online music and online games in the early 1980s, in the Internet field, ideas are actually not that valuable. The mature Internet industry model in Simon’s memory was before the rise of this industry. There are probably many people who have had countless similar thoughts.

The key is execution.

Therefore, whether it is Eaglet or AOL, besides Simon, who is at the helm of the general direction, what is most needed is a management team with truly efficient execution.

Speaking of which, many companies that Simon has invested in based on his own prophetic advantages are, in the final analysis, investments in the management team.

More accurate, it is an investment in people.

Simon invested in Microsoft because Microsoft had Bill Gates; he invested in Nokia because Nokia had Joma Ollila; he invested in AOL because AOL had Steve Case.

Within a week in San Francisco, Simon also extended an invitation to John Chambers, who brought Cisco to the top in the original time and space, hoping that Westeros would let the other party take charge of the company after achieving absolute control of Cisco.

Because of this concept, Simon is easy to find that Tim Berners Lee, who is in charge of Eaglet at this time, may be very suitable as the chief technology officer of Eaglet, but as a founder similar to Apple A senior executive of technology-based companies like Wozniak, he is not competent for the overall management of Igreat.

In addition to Tim Berners-Lee, Simon desperately needs a ‘Steve Jobs’ from Igreat.

Of course, this is just a metaphor. Simon will never invite Jobs, who is completely out of his control, to manage Igreat. It is hard to imagine Jobs with its own distortion field will take this company in which direction.

On the plane returning from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the time was Sunday, April 29.

Simon didn't go to the suite in the front cabin, and sat casually by a porthole in the middle of the cabin that could be illuminated by the sunset. While thinking about finding a manager for Eaglet, he looked at the results of this week's work.

It is mainly to realize the development plan after the adjustment of the two companies, Eaglerit and AOL after the absolute holding of AOL.

As for Cisco, Simon intends to hand it over to John Chambers, who has already decided to join. The two have discussed in detail the future development direction of Cisco. Chambers’s business philosophy of customer first and rapid expansion through mergers is basically the same The information in Simon's memory was consistent, and Simon did not make adjustments without authorization.

Of course, in order to facilitate Cisco's expansion, the company must also conduct an IPO as soon as possible.

After acquiring the absolute holdings of Igreat and AOL, Simon did not hesitate to subdivide the businesses of the two companies, insisting that AOL divest content business and focus on the role of Internet service provider.

Eaglet is responsible for the content.

The online games and other content that AOL originally provided to customers was originally a value-added service based on basic access services. Because the current user base is too small, only more than 60,000, it is not possible to make up for the expenditure by implanting online advertising. Being able to peel off these can actually save money for AOL.

Of course, Steve Case didn't think so, especially after seeing Simon's idea of ​​the many content arrangements arranged by Eagle.

However, Simon did not give Case too many choices.

A large part of the reason why AOL in the original spacetime declined rapidly after the Internet bubble burst was that its business coverage was too large and comprehensive, but it had no core competitiveness. In terms of content, it cannot be compared with Yahoo, a latecomer. In terms of access services, it is easily surpassed by traditional operators with infrastructure advantages. As a result, the market value of $100 billion at its peak has shrunk by more than 90% in just a few years.

This time, Simon’s positioning of AOL is a precise Internet service provider. The Internet industry will achieve this business to the extreme in the early stage of the development of the Internet industry, and then closely follow the general trend of telecommunications network, television network and Internet triple play before and after the new century. Choosing the right time to annex an established traditional telecom operator to thoroughly consolidate its position in the industry.

In addition to long-term planning and considering its own scale, AOL will first expand its business in the coastal metropolitan area from California on the west coast and Boston on the east coast to Washington in the next few years. The vast central region includes the Great Lakes and the same prosperous The southern coast can only be transferred to other companies for the time being.

Most of the population of the United States is concentrated on the east and west coasts, and these two regions are the essence of them. As long as we can gain a foothold in these two regions, AOL can easily expand to other regions.

In order to save money, in addition to the top server, AOL will temporarily lease the line network of traditional operators as much as possible for the terminal network.

Of course, this must be temporary.

It is necessary to gradually build and improve its own network without being choked by traditional operators such as AT-T. However, this obviously means a huge expenditure of billions of dollars at every turn, and it is simply unrealistic to realize it in the short term.

Another reason for the rapid decline of AOL in the original space is that it believes too much in its own content advantages. Until traditional operators have begun to provide ISP services, they still lease other people’s lines, dullly not improving their own networks, and even failing to follow up with high-speed broadband. The end of the promotion can be imagined.

In addition to these major plans, in the confirmed plan, AOL will open 100 Internet cafes in Los Angeles, Boston, New York and other cities in the next few months.

This plan was naturally proposed by Simon.

Simon's first contact with the Internet in his previous life was in an Internet cafe.

However, the Internet cafe industry has not become popular in North America.

The main reason is the difference in consumption power.

Like video recorders, video studios on the other side of the ocean should be popular now, but in North America, this is not necessary at all, because the penetration rate of video recorders in North American households has exceeded 70%.

Similarly, since the birth of the 1970s, the number of PCs in American households has also increased rapidly. The reason why it has not been popularized in just ten years like video recorders is mainly because the PCs of this era lack sufficient entertainment. More Prefer office.

PC ownership in American households began to explode, just in the 1990s when the Internet was rapidly promoted.

Simon's trip to San Francisco this week has attracted many media attention to the new technology companies he is deploying, such as AOL, Eaglet and Cisco, but at the moment, most Americans do not have the concept of the Internet.

In proposing the idea of ​​an Internet cafe, Simon does not intend to make a profit, but mainly to promote Igreat and AOL to the public, as long as people can experience online news, e-mail, online games, online forums, personal homepages, etc. in the Internet cafe. The various benefits of Internet applications will naturally consider connecting to the Internet at home.

100 Internet cafes, even with a minimum budget of US$100,000 per Internet cafe, require a total expenditure of US$10 million.

If paid entirely by AOL, this fee is equivalent to 20% of Westero's US$50 million capital injection, which does not count the development and later operating costs of the Internet cafe management system.

Such a huge amount of ‘marketing expenses’, AOL is totally unbearable.

When Simon left San Francisco, Steve Case was already contacting various PC manufacturers to find partners. These 100 Internet cafes that did not intend to make money will also be operated separately as subsidiaries of AOL, and even sold in packages at the right time. go with.

Simon also personally called Damen students and asked him if he was interested in sponsoring a batch of the latest Windows 3.0, or he could ask Apple himself.

Then successfully got 1,000 sets of free operating system software.

For the project initiated by Simon himself, there are definitely many manufacturers willing to participate. The most expensive PC equipment expenditure should be saved, and even the Internet cafe operating system software can be handed over to interested software companies. AOL expects to pay only the network access expenses of the Internet cafes and the rental cost of the production area.

The money saved can be used for the development of its core business.

As for the Eaglet company, most of Simon’s thoughts this week have been on this, which is why he is eager to find another suitable manager for Eaglet, even the self-aware Tim Burr Nath Lee himself agrees with Simon's view.

The most important thing for Eaglet is to confirm the revenue model.

It is still the same view. Any company that wants to grow and develop must have a sustainable revenue and profit model.

Portal membership, e-mail fees, online news subscriptions, etc., have all been considered by the Eaglet team.

Simon did not hesitate to veto them one by one.

To attract users quickly, basic content services such as portals, e-mails, and online news must be free.

Although Daenerys Studios in Malibu, which is about to open, installed corporate e-mail addresses, Simon also rejected the idea of ​​developing the e-mail system of Eaglet’s patented technology to the enterprise market. This matter may be handed over to other companies in the form of technology licensing and equity participation, but Eaglet must adhere to Simon's popular development route.

Simon's positioning of Eaglet in the next ten years is an Internet technology company under the skin of an online media platform.

Online media, this is a concept that was able to stimulate corporate stock prices in the 1990s.

However, from the fate of Yahoo and AOL in the original time and space, we can know that online media is not sustainable. The Internet giants that survive and grow, whether it is Amazon, Facebook or Google, are at the core of technology companies.

Creating a platform through technology and attracting a sufficient user group to produce ‘content’ on their own is the dominance of Internet companies.

In comparison, the business model of online media is to produce content on its own to meet user needs. This was feasible in the early 1.0 era of the Internet. However, in the 2.0 and 3.0 eras after the outbreak of Internet users, they wanted to meet the needs of many The content needs of billions of Internet users are simply impossible.

Since it is not possible to obtain revenue from services such as portals and e-mails in the short term, everyone's attention has naturally turned to software again.

The server software, web design software and other applications developed by Yigrete based on World Wide Web technology have been confirmed to be commercialized.

Simon’s original idea was that the IE browser with a graphical interface would be promoted for free. This idea was not accepted by the Eaglet team. Most employees believed that the company invested heavily in the development of this software is excellent , And even have the value meaning of creating a new era, should not be free.

After several discussions and even disputes, Simon had to make compromises.

In other words, Simon also admitted that his ideas were too radical.

Just like he hopes that AOL’s Internet access service should be monthly instead of billed on time. At least in the last few years, this idea is not realistic. Before the user scale develops to a certain extent, AOL’s Internet access service will still To be billed per hour.

On the other hand, the server software, web design software and other applications developed by Eaglet have a small market capacity in the short term, and even more are only used by Eaglet’s own team.

Therefore, IE, a terminal application with a wide expected audience, is very important.

The final plan is that Internet Explorer will also adopt a charging model.

This is also the most practical means for Eaglet to obtain real revenue as soon as possible.

However, compared to Simon’s memory of Netscape’s browser pricing of up to $50, the team finally confirmed that the retail price of the IE browser was $15, and that the installation costs of these network service providers on AOL were lower, and each set was charged at $10. .

The price of $10 per set is actually very affordable for AOL.

Moreover, Eaglet will not only authorize AOL as a service provider. After all, AOL's expansion focus in recent years will only be limited to a few densely populated states on the east and west coasts, and most areas of the United States are still out of reach. , Seeing the development of AOL, other Internet service providers will certainly appear.

Although Eaglet will open most of the World Wide Web technology licenses free of charge, for the core website and terminal application software, Simon will not allow a second manufacturer to appear for a long time in the future. As long as the World Wide Web can reach the popularization speed of the original time and space, only software income will be enough to make up most of the expenses needed for the development of Eaglet.

In the short term, it can only be so for the time being.

Yiterite has completed the construction of two data centers that can accommodate 100,000 users on the east and west coasts, and internal testing has been completed. Although compared with the large data centers in Simon’s memory, it is shabby, and it is enough to cope with this time. Internet user access.

In addition, Yigritte has also compiled a complete set of World Wide Web technical materials, which will be available for free download on the Yigritte portal website'www.ygritte.com' and some official websites of partner universities. The team also plans to publish web technology related materials. As a supplement.

At the same time, a simplified version of the World Wide Web application software for students only will also be put on major universities in North America.

Next, only AOL and Igreat need to work together to fully promote the World Wide Web.

This coming May is destined to be the beginning of an era in many people's memories.