What’s amazing is not just the Internet, but also the company Netscape.
Ronald saw that during the time when the official version of Navigator Browser was released, almost every USE user downloaded a copy.
Although they claim to charge commercial users a copy of 99 US dollars, employees of commercial users can also download as individual users. I guess no one will spend this money except some listed companies that need to comply with regulations.
.
What’s even more amazing is that the chief programmer of this company is Marc Andreessen, but the largest shareholder is Ronald’s old acquaintance, Jim.
Clark.
The founder of SGI left the company he founded for a vague reason, and then quickly founded Netscape, hired some programmers headed by Marc Andreessen, and started the browser business.
What's even more amazing is that when Ronald approached Jim Clark and expressed his willingness to invest in his company, he was actually rejected.
"Ronald, this is not a company that a film director should get involved in. I have a very solid plan for this and will go public quickly, so I will not introduce more investors before the IPO. If you are optimistic, you can
If you buy stocks after the company is listed, you will soon be able to find the trading code on Nasdaq next year..."
"I don't understand, why do you refuse to invest?" Ronald didn't understand. In Hollywood, the more investment, the better? You have already raised 50 million in filming funds by relying on the movie's star cast.
Suddenly a rich man says he wants to invest another 10 million in you. Your reaction must be, OK!
"The new round of games in Silicon Valley is not played like this, Ronald. I want to say that this is a disruptive innovation. Our business model is unprecedented. You can't understand it if you don't read it. In short, we are doing it before going public.
No more investment is needed. If you are willing to come, come and take a look, but I told you in advance that everyone including Mark is preparing for the next version update. You will not find anyone with you.
Talking."
"It doesn't matter, I'm just going to study. Will you wait for me there?"
"Me? I can give you ten minutes. You know, my yacht is in the design stage and can be built after the IPO..."
Ronald has not yet quenched his precious curiosity as a film director. Being spoken to by Jim Clark, which was almost contemptuous, only aroused his ambition to understand his own unknown territory.
After making an appointment, Ronald took a car to the location of Netscape in Silicon Valley.
"Come here and see what I think about the new yacht." Jim Clark swept away the nervousness and dissatisfaction he had felt when he was at SGI. Now he is as high-spirited as if he has received the huge wealth brought to him by the IPO.
Before Ronald came, he learned through some people that most of Netscape's shares were still in the hands of Jim Clark, and a small part was owned by Marc Andreessen, and their programmer team had given options.
This is something you rarely see in other industries. How can all employees have stock options?
However, Ronald did not say anything, but gave Jim Clark a certain amount of respect. After talking about some yacht matters, Jim Clark finally invited Marc Anderson out, and then said to Ronald, "You have five
I have only 3 minutes to ask him three questions. Now the team is racing against time. Not because you are my old customer at SGI, but I will not let Mark be distracted."
"Huh?" Ronald didn't know how to answer. He looked at Marc Anderson, a tall man with a baby face.
"Jim told me that the Netscape lawsuit does not require financing, but I see that your download servers are often down due to the influx of demand. Isn't now a good time to introduce investment?"
"Hey, hey, hey, this is not a question that should be asked to him, Ronald." Jim Clark was unhappy when he heard Ronald trying to make trouble, and quickly interrupted. Then he took over, "We already have the only thing we need
The financing, KPCG (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), they are veterans of Silicon Valley and know what Netscape needs most now...Okay, you still have two questions."
"OK, I saw that your browser is free to download and use. Of course, the floppy disk version I bought cost $40. I mean, obviously not many people will buy a paid license when it's free like me.
Certificate, how do you make a profit?"
"Well, Jim, actually we do need some additional servers." Marc Andreessen finally had a chance to speak. As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked Jim for more resources, denying his first answer in disguise.
"This is a brand new business model, you have to say so in the future, Mark. As for your question, Ronald, I think it is difficult for someone with the same lack of imagination as you to understand. But you next year
You will understand."
"Okay, I have a third question." Ronald understood that Jim Clark actually didn't want Marc Andreessen to talk. What if the young man leaked his secret? It seems that Marc Andreessen also appeared in Wired magazine.
It was arranged by Jim Clark. He wanted to push young people out to become the idol spokespersons of the company, while he hid from the public eye and only operated from behind.
This may also be the "experience" he learned after he was allegedly kicked out of SGI.
"Ask someone better, otherwise..."
"Jim, the third question is, what kind of yacht do you want to buy?" Ronald asked half-jokingly.
"Ah, hahaha. People in Hollywood are really interesting. I can only say that this is a yacht that combines classic and modern, traditional and innovative... I tell you, you want to invest, that's fine, but this yacht
The ship has already left, you can still get on the next one, just waiting for the company's IPO..."
After Jim Clark boasted about the ship he wanted and how Netscape was breaking the rules, he left with Ronald. Ronald said he wanted to go to the bathroom, and when he came out, he saw Marc Andreessen.
By the way, ask him if he has a chance to go out for a cup of coffee.
But before Jim came up to stop him, Marc Andreessen himself refused. He said that his team was working a lot of overtime and now was the critical moment. They had to run faster than all their competitors...
Ronald didn't give up yet. When he saw another employee coming out of the bathroom, he asked him when he would work overtime and when he would go home. He wanted to chat with him on the way.
As a result, the other party immediately expressed his loyalty to Jim Clark. He said that he was originally a programmer who came from the Midwest to work in California. He originally only earned six dollars an hour. It was Jim who gave him options (although he did not know that it was
What), and a high salary that he had never thought of.
So they all have a mentality of dying for a confidant. Not to mention working overtime, he actually bought a sleeping bag and slept in the office. The new house he rented didn't even buy a mattress. There's no point in going back, so he might as well stay here.
sleep.
Ronald originally heard about overtime work and wanted to sympathize with him, saying that he often had to work overtime as a director. But when he heard this scary story about living in the company 24 hours a day, he opened his mouth and said nothing.
I just thought to myself, "It's immoral to work overtime like this... No entertainment, only work, which can only make Jack stupid."
However, Marc Andreessen's words still inspired him. Ronald suddenly thought that the bigger reason why these programmers are so desperate is because they all have options. In order to increase the value of listed stocks, they also need to update quickly.
version, use superhuman work intensity to defeat all competitors in the bud.
Moreover, it seems that browser development is not difficult, and Netscape only has a very small team. It seems that Jim Clark has also seen this, so he must quickly occupy the market with free means, and then quickly go to market...
This can prevent multiple rounds of financing from diluting his equity, and prevent SGI from having to invest in multiple rounds of financing due to too much investment in heavy assets, and end up not even retaining the position of founder.
However, is it really impossible to find software engineers who can replace them in this market? Ronald thought to himself, there must be someone who wants to catch up with them, and investing in them himself is also a way? You provide me with financing, then I will
Find your competitors to invest in.
"There are really no software engineers who can write browsers. I never thought that one day I would discuss this with a movie director."
Ronald called the largest headhunting company in the IT industry in California. After paying a consulting fee, the other party also gave Ronald the details. This browser is a new thing. It turns out that Netscape browser has a prototype software.
, called the Mosaic browser. It was developed by Marc Andreessen and his friends at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
But because he left NCSA, accepted investment from Jim Clark, and could not use the source code of the Mosaic browser, he and his team rewrote it according to the functions of the Mosaic browser.
In other words, all software engineers in the world who can develop browsers have been recruited to Netscape.
And they are eager to work overtime in the office 24 hours a day, so you can’t find opportunities even if you want to poach them. And no other start-up can promise those options.
He had no choice but to give up the idea of investing in Jim Clark's competitors. Ronald felt that this old guy seemed to have considered all aspects. His biggest reliance was to quickly update, quickly expand the market base, and then
Before everyone reacts, he can go public and IPO, and after the protection period has expired, he can cash in and leave. At that time, his yacht designer can also be free to start designing and building his beloved yacht.
"Well, it's not like no one in this world can compete with him..."
Ronald thought about it for a long time and finally thought of someone.
…
"Bill, this is the Navigator browser I'm talking about. When you look at this IMDb webpage, do you still remember the CD advertisement you personally shot before? You are at a very high altitude, comparing a stack of files with a file that can store the same content.
CD size.
I think this browser will be more convenient than CDs in the future. This IMDb website allows me to click on it and find all the movies and TV series an actor has acted in, as well as other people who have collaborated with him.
Actor information..."
Ronald called to make an appointment to meet with Bill Gates of Microsoft. He demonstrated the browser to Bill, and also opened Jackie Chan's page in IMDb to demonstrate to him the convenience of hyperlinks. Because other
The actor's page is not as rich as his.
"I didn't expect that it would reach this point. Did he write and upload all this information?"
Bill Gates certainly knew what the World Wide Web and hyperlink text (HTML) were. He was surprised that so quickly, there was so much information available for people to browse.
He immediately wrote down the matter and asked his secretary to organize and publish a meeting notice. He wanted to talk to everyone about this matter at the meeting. The development of online content seemed to be faster than imagined. Microsoft needs to improve the browser.
Follow up on the matter to see if it is possible to cooperate with the other party, acquire it, or if these two options fail, build a browser to compete.
"Hey, I said, Ronald, when are we going to play bridge together? I have played it with Warren Buffy several times before. It is still a very interesting sport. There is competition and cooperation, and you have to play with incomplete information.
Making decisions and accepting challenges under certain circumstances are very similar to running a business."
"Of course. I'll ask someone if there are any professional players to partner with our clients..."
What Ronald is talking about is a way for professional bridge players to make extra money by partnering with amateurs. Professional players call them clients and they have to pay to participate in competitions.
"Hey, that's not interesting. I think we should participate in this kind of competitive game and play as partners..."
"Okay, no problem." Ronald's mind changed. He knew that some people in China were good at bridge for some historical reasons. It would not be difficult to find a partner by himself, and it would also enhance the friendship between China and the United States.
.
"However, you can't describe him as a sport. Sport is at least...well, at least like table tennis, right?" Ronald looked at Bill Gates' lack of exercise and thought for a few seconds.
Just came up with a suitable example.
"I can play table tennis. We can compete."
"You? I don't believe it..."
Ronald and Bill are both very competitive people. They immediately went to Microsoft's table tennis room. To say that Bill Gates' level is quite good among ordinary people, and his hand-eye coordination is better than Ronald imagined.
.
But when he encountered Ronald's spinning skills, he was quickly defeated.
"Hey, I play table tennis mainly to relax. It's a very interesting sport."
"If you want to learn, I can teach you." Ronald smiled and taught Bill two tricks: serve spin and return attack, which made Gates very happy.
"If you really care about the browser, I think you can also buy some Microsoft stocks." Bill Gates often recommends his company's stocks to Warren Buffy, but no matter what the relationship between the two is, every time Buffy
Feidu refused because he didn't understand the software business and refused to buy any shares.
Now he also wanted to try it on Ronald, a friend from a different industry.
"Really? Okay, I'll ask my securities broker to increase my holdings when I get back. I actually have some Microsoft stocks. It's a pity that I didn't buy more before. Microsoft's several spin-offs have been very generous..."
Among the stocks Ronald bought, Microsoft had the most splits. In less than four years into the 1990s, it had split four times, twice split into two, and twice split into two.
"Hahaha, that ship has sailed away, now you can board this one."