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墨書 Inktalez
“Sorry, can you tell me what kind of company Google is?” Bill Campbell asked with some confusion.
Inviting him to be an advisory consultant for a seemingly unknown startup was quite abrupt, especially since the two had only met each other before, but this was their first formal meeting.
Currently, the agreement between Google, Sequoia Capital, and kpb has not been made public, but once it is announced, it is bound to make waves in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, due to the competition from the Venture Capital Twins and the involvement of Tony Jiang.
The movements of Jiang Yizhou are certainly worth noting; otherwise, why would the usually conservative Moritz take the lead over John Doe this time? Although he had to make concessions, he also led this round of financing, which naturally involved Jiang Yizhou's participation and the development timeline he set for Google.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Didn’t Mr. Moritz tell you about this?” Jiang Yizhou proudly introduced, “Yesterday, Sequoia Capital and kpb secured 10% equity in Google with a $15 million investment. You should see the news about it soon!”
Bill Campbell looked somewhat skeptical; however, with Moritz and John Doe present, if this person were lying, he would surely be exposed on the spot—there was no need to lie at all.
Feeling the gaze upon him, John Doe smiled as he walked over. “So you two are here having a pleasant chat?”
“John, I heard from Tony that you and Moritz invested in a company called Google, right?” Campbell casually inquired.
Upon hearing this, John Doe couldn't help but smile wryly. “That’s true, but I almost missed this investment. When I just found out about it, I hadn’t even eaten breakfast or prepared anything. By the time I realized what was happening with Google, I discovered that Moritz was already negotiating financing with the two founders of Google, and they were close to signing an agreement!”
As he spoke, he glanced at Jiang Yizhou, raising his glass in thanks. In a way, the delay caused by Jiang Yizhou not only increased the financing amount but also gave John Doe a chance to jump on board. Compared to that, any additional investment seemed trivial.
“At that moment, I thought to myself how grateful I was; it really allowed me to catch up. Seeing Moritz’s grim face made me quite happy!” The praise for Google was evident in John Doe's words.
In Silicon Valley, Sequoia and KPB are evenly matched, both known as the Venture Capital Twins, with reputations, capital, and connections that are not inferior to each other. Therefore, as soon as he arrived, Moritz's plan to monopolize this round of financing was completely thwarted.
"Mr. Duer, I just invited Mr. Campbell to serve as an advisory consultant for Google. What do you think? Google is currently facing rapid expansion, and you know that Larry Page and Sergey are struggling to cope with it!" Jiang Yizhou turned to hint at John Doe.
Historically, it was John Doe who invited Bill Campbell to provide guidance and training for Google, contributing significantly to the company. This shows that their relationship was already quite good, and now Jiang Yizhou realized that his earlier actions might have seemed a bit abrupt.
Regardless of who it is, when meeting for the first time, one should establish a good first impression rather than immediately reveal one's intentions. Even if it is a good thing, it can easily give the impression that one is trying to build a relationship for ulterior motives.
"That's true," John Doe also thought about the current situation at Google. Although it had already shown tremendous potential, there were fewer than twenty people at Google, including interns. To reach the scale envisioned in their plans would certainly require rapid expansion; achieving a workforce of over a hundred people within a year was very possible.
However, he did not rush but instead suggested, "Bill, how about visiting Google? I believe that after you see it for yourself, you can consider whether to take on this role. But I am confident that you won't regret it!"
Bill Campbell laughed when he saw his friends urging him like this. "I'm not doing this for free! Well, now I'm a bit curious about you two—one a partner at KPB and the other a magical figure—why do you both hold this company in such high regard?"
The three of them began to chat enthusiastically. However, Jiang Yizhou mainly listened because he knew too little. Apart from understanding the future trends of the Internet development, all he could grasp were the stories of famous figures and the histories of well-known Internet companies from what he learned online.
There were many things that one could only understand by being in this circle, which made him quite curious.
However, when discussing potential candidates for Google's next CEO, Jiang Yizhou brought up Eric Schmidt from his memory and was met with knowing laughter from both men—not malicious but rather amused.
"Tony, Eric has just taken control of Novell and become its CEO. Although Novell is currently on a downward trend, it is still an established internet company. For both emotional and logical reasons, he cannot possibly become Google's CEO. Even if we tried to persuade him, the chances of success would be dismal!"
Bill Campbell's curiosity about this magical figure who seemed to go wherever his thoughts led him diminished considerably. While he certainly had abilities, his social skills were indeed somewhat lacking.
Jiang Yizhou felt a bit embarrassed. He only knew that in 2001, Eric Schmidt accepted Bill Campbell's advice and took on the request from Larry Page and Sergey Brin to become the CEO of Google.
Now, analyzing the situation, 2001 was indeed the time when the Internet Bubble burst, and a large number of Internet companies saw their "value return," with stock prices dropping to as low as 1% of their original value, or even lower. It was likely that the company Eric worked for, Novell, also faced a significant decline, which is why Eric eventually ended up at Google.
Now, he was thriving. Although Novell's performance had declined, it was still incomparable to Google. After all, Google was still diligently improving its search engine, while Novell lacked a proper office space and had no clear regulations or organizational structure.
Moreover, the industry generally believed that the search engine market was a red ocean with no further development potential.
Of course, if Jiang Yizhou had the eloquence of Jack Ma to persuade someone like Cai Chongxin to join his team, it would be a different story. Unfortunately, he did not possess such talent.
"However, why don't you take on this role, Tony? You have already founded Ailumese and launched products like Qi, Fail, and Er, all of which have been quite successful!
Except for Qi, but that was after it was sold to America Online and ruined by those arrogant folks. Besides, the development plans and strategies for Google were all proposed by you. I can't think of anyone more suitable for this position than you."
John Doe's suggestion made Jiang Yizhou feel anxious. If it were a company whose future he didn't know about, perhaps he could try based on his experience running Ailumese. However, the future of Google was simply too vast for him to bear!
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