Shi Hongwen found two genius Programmers. Well, Silicon Valley has always had many geniuses, and the boasts about them are often exaggerated.
Let's just consider them geniuses for now. Anyway, each of their skills could instantly surpass He Zhengcheng's.
One of these two geniuses was a Swedish international student, and the other was a native of Texas. Their common interest was music, so the three of them met by chance again. Then, they all started planning to start a business together.
The problem arose: Programmers who understood music clearly looked down on the financial industry's number games, especially since the third-party payment market was very small at the moment, with little visible profit margin. At most, it solved a minor problem in a niche market.
Not everyone can see the future, nor can everyone persevere through desolation for several years, waiting for a possible future to emerge.
So, inspired by He Zhengcheng, the three of them decided to jointly develop a music download software based on the P2P protocol, allowing users to download internet music for free.
The software was still under development. He Zhengcheng invested 500,000 US dollars, holding a twenty-five percent stake. This group was quite fair and did not shortchange him.
The problem was that He Zhengcheng almost saw the day his five hundred thousand US dollars would go down the drain. This wasn't because he had profound foresight, but because there were precedents.
Sean Parker, one of the founders of Facebook, had once stumbled on this very project. Duan Chao, as someone who paid attention to internet gossip, remembered this Facebook scandal very clearly.
Unfortunately, his companions had already made up their minds. Even after He Zhengcheng explained the possible consequences—that they would likely face legal lawsuits from several major music giants with little chance of winning—these people still wanted to enter this industry, believing he was overly concerned and that the internet had a 'safe harbor' principle.
What could He Zhengcheng do? He could only take it one step at a time and strive for leniency.
Hearing all this made Ji Jiasheng, who had originally intended to support Shi Hongwen, abandon the idea. Knowing it would be a lost cause, he wouldn't be so foolish.
"Do you think Microsoft will be broken up by the antitrust case?" Ji Jiasheng decisively changed the subject again. This matter also had a large number of onlookers in Silicon Valley.
Many people were not optimistic about Microsoft's future, so during the entire NASDAQ bubble, Microsoft's increase should have been relatively small.
"Who would benefit most if Microsoft were broken up?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"Who? Of course, other operating system companies. Are you suggesting we should invest in operating system companies in advance?
That's right! If Microsoft is broken up, this industry could see significant changes. An investment of 1 US dollar now could potentially yield 100 US dollars. This investment is feasible..." Ji Jiasheng fell into self-excitement.
"!!!" It could be interpreted that way? He Zhengcheng didn't mean that. As a conspiracy theorist, he believed that Microsoft's breakup would benefit the world economy, especially developed countries, whose copyright awareness and laws were more complete, and therefore paid the most for operating systems.
So, you understand, Microsoft's operating system was equivalent to an invisible tax collection tool for America. Not to mention Microsoft's backdoors, which could achieve unexpected results in warfare, such as the destruction of future facilities!
"Let's go, let's collect information on what other operating system companies are in Silicon Valley!" Ji Jiasheng excitedly pulled He Zhengcheng to start working.
It goes without saying that the main operating systems included Windows, the open-source Linux, the commercial Unix, and Apple's Mac OS based on Unix. As for other specialized network operating systems and so on, they were not worth mentioning.
"We can focus on Linux and see if there are any relatively successful companies," He Zhengcheng said.
"Linux, let me ask around!" Ji Jiasheng replied.
Did he even need to ask about this news?
"Red Hat is the most successful open-source software provider, with almost half of the commercial Linux versions on the market being services provided by Red Hat," He Zhengcheng was quite familiar with this name. Many years later, IBM acquired this company for 34 billion US dollars, causing a huge sensation.
"Let's invest in him. Even if Microsoft collapses, the biggest beneficiary will be the leading company in this industry. Choosing Red Hat is the right choice!"
"That's right! He's the one!" Ji Jiasheng also received some information.
A day later, the two returned somewhat dejected. Red Hat, a well-known company in the industry, had completed its Series A funding in September this year and was not short of money now.
"Let's just keep in touch for now and look for opportunities to collaborate later," He Zhengcheng said. They had hit a snag and were naturally a bit unwilling.
"That's the only way!" Ji Jiasheng sighed. A bad start! He was returning to Hong Kong in a few days to help Cerent expand its business in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, as well as to communicate with Lenovo and promote the establishment of Zhonghua Net.
"There are still a few internet companies in Daxia Country, but the competition is fierce, and I'm not confident! I might stay a bit longer this time," Ji Jiasheng said.
"It's alright. My main responsibility here is that there are no companies I want to invest in anymore. If KPCB has good projects, or if Red Hat accepts investment, if there's any news, I'll contact you then. Good projects are really too hard to find," He Zhengcheng replied.
"We can't have all the good things; eBay's success is hard to replicate!" Ji Jiasheng tactfully advised He Zhengcheng, to prevent him from being too arrogant and having unrealistic expectations.
"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind," He Zhengcheng said.
"As long as the investment can be safely recovered, and the return on investment exceeds bank loans, achieving an annualized return of around 10% is a very good investment.
Of course, this must also include failed investment projects. Investments can fail; don't aim for a 100% success rate, as that is impossible and inappropriate.
Assuming you could truly achieve 100% success, then you would basically cut off your development in investment, as countless people would come to intercept you," Ji Jiasheng explained.
"It's not good if the investment success rate is too high?" He Zhengcheng was dumbfounded once again. This circle is really messy. This must be fake, He Zhengcheng thought, with a look of disbelief. It was clearly to fool children; how could anyone be 100% successful!
"Well, to be honest, a company's success has many factors, such as the industry, country, entrepreneur, and resources you mentioned before, plus an elusive thing like luck.
Take Silicon Valley, for example. There are several companies with businesses similar to eBay's. Why haven't they gone public or developed yet?
Was Yahoo the first company to create a portal website? But why did only Yahoo succeed?" Ji Jiasheng asked.
"Why?" He Zhengcheng asked seriously.
"How would I know why?" Ji Jiasheng said, frustrated by his lack of ambition.
"My point is, no matter how hard you try, it might still be futile. It's better to set a standard, and then for companies that meet the standard, you go with your gut feeling. As long as it feels right, you can invest," Ji Jiasheng said.
"Are you talking about metaphysics now?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"You thought so! Either invest in market successes, or rely on metaphysics," Ji Jiasheng declared confidently.
"Investing in successful companies?" He Zhengcheng thought of the famous Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner in the future. His investment style was very simple: he neither wanted preferred shares nor board seats, giving all voting rights to the CEO, which meant paying a high price without any decision-making power.
But there was one point that might have been overlooked: most of the companies he invested in had valuations exceeding 1 billion US dollars. These companies were already successful! Sun Zhenyi's Vision Fund also basically only invested in large companies within the industry, investing in those successful ones.
"Then us?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"How much money do you think we can mobilize?" Ji Jiasheng asked.
Indeed, reality is more disheartening. It's not that there are no smart people in this world, but even smart people are constrained by reality...