He Zhengcheng's management attempts at Google were very difficult. After all, he previously had no management experience in the high-tech internet industry. Even if he had read about the management models of Google, Facebook, Alibaba, and Tencent in the news, he wouldn't have delved deeply into them. Now, he could only study with a copy of "the fifth discipline."
"Why don't we just hire a CEO?" He Zhengcheng was truly getting a headache.
"What we're doing is innovation. Besides, what experience can a learning organization learn from? Their experience might not even be suitable for us," Page said. He was mainly interested in the fact that He Zhengcheng didn't require payment; if they hired someone, the company's costs would increase significantly.
"In that case, fine. But we absolutely must hire a CFO. I don't understand finance, and I wouldn't invest according to financial indicators. In reality, I'm a venture capitalist who came in halfway; you all must be clear about that." He Zhengcheng looked at his miserable life, truly feeling uncomfortable, having to act as both an unofficial CEO and a CFO.
The key was that he wasn't good at either of these roles, which led to several troubles.
"CFO? No need for now. Let's just hire an accountant!" Page suggested.
"Alright!" Currently, there was no external financing, no business expansion. The main focus was on advancements in search technology and website maintenance. Due to He Zhengcheng's influence, their search website launched considerably earlier.
However, opening to the public meant huge storage and bandwidth resources. These fixed capital investments were basically unavoidable. Moreover, due to the immense demand in Silicon Valley, it was difficult to get discounted prices for hardware like PCs and servers.
"I'm starting to regret letting you become our investor; you can't help us with anything!" Brin exclaimed.
"Who says? I can light a lamp for Google ahead! While it may not illuminate the entire path, it can at least show us the immediate steps," He Zhengcheng replied.
"Alright, Christopher has done his best. At least we don't have to worry about Google losing control and becoming solely profit-driven," Page said.
"Google's future definitely needs to be profitable. Without profit, there is no future. And the only way to profit might be through advertising. It's just that we need to change the form of advertising to align with our values," He Zhengcheng stated. Who said Google Duo initially opposed Google running ads? That's clearly nonsense. Everyone simply had different business logics, focusing on accumulating users in the early stages of internet development.
Just like many apps in the Great Xia market started without ads and later advertised frantically. The principle is the same; no one has a higher moral standard. It's just that the internet market environment in Great Xia is more friendly to businesses, and everyone must admit this point.
"I hope we find a profit model before we run out of money," Brin said.
"What's the rush? We have so few users right now; how can we find a way to make money? Perhaps if the user base expands dozens of times, we'll see a different result.
Oh, right, I actually have a method to promote Google, but it might bring some trouble, and I'm not sure about our server's capacity," He Zhengcheng mused.
"What method? The search contract with Yahoo is temporarily out of reach," Page asked.
"Do you know Music Player?" He Zhengcheng inquired.
"Yes, that's your friend Shi Hongwen's project," Brin replied.
"Their project launched a long time ago, and user growth has been incredibly fast. They already have several million users," He Zhengcheng shared.
"That many?" Page checked the time. It was December 8th. It seemed not long since Music Player launched. Was it two months?
"Are you suggesting they provide a display window for Google?" Brin asked.
"Don't they have a simple search function? We provide them with search technical support, and then add a button. If they don't have resources within their network, it searches internet resources. This way, Google's users should increase significantly," He Zhengcheng explained.
"That certainly is a good method," Page agreed.
"I just don't know if it violates any laws, as it's searching for unlicensed music resources. And I truly don't have high hopes for their project; they'll eventually be targeted by music companies, and copyright disputes could very likely drag them down." He Zhengcheng was genuinely worried, which is why he set certain obstacles for downloading music from Music Player. He also made a statement, urging users not to download pirated resources. It was a bit like burying one's head in the sand.
"Then why did you invest in them?" Brin asked.
"We've been classmates for four years, and friends in the same band. I've made some money now and have the ability to help them. If they succeed, my investment might still pay off.
Of course, it's mainly that I've been a bit overconfident lately; money has come too quickly. You wouldn't believe it, eBay's stock price has risen to 190. In just a few months, it's so crazy. My family almost went bankrupt six months ago, and now I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm truly feeling overconfident, thinking I'm omnipotent," He Zhengcheng said, shrugging.
"Alas, I both envy and sympathize with your current situation. No wonder you invested in Google; turns out you found money too hot to handle. Hahaha..." Brin laughed heartily.
"Hahaha..." Page and the others also joined in the laughter.
"Hey, don't get it wrong, I genuinely believe in Google, which is why I invested. I believe in everyone's abilities.
According to "the fifth discipline," as long as we adhere to our ideals and are willing to strive for them, there's a very high chance of success.
Google is not Yahoo, not Excite, not those companies outside that have no ideals and only want to make money. We are people who want to change the world!" He Zhengcheng shouted.
"Good, let's change the world together!"
"Let's change the world together!"
Whether you believe it or not, I do. Under a lofty ideal, everyone establishes their own smaller ideals.
Integrating personal struggle and effort with the struggle of the company and enterprise—many of Ma Xiaoyun's ideas have the shadow of "the fifth discipline."
Can a rapidly developing pirated music software and a search engine that does no evil be organically combined? Will it damage Google's own value?
"I don't think so. Our search results are responsible to the users, not to the music companies. Music should belong to all humanity; these large companies monopolizing music is inherently unreasonable," Page argued.
"That's right, patent copyright is one thing. We are not disseminating pirated content, we are not altering search results. We are simply providing search services to internet users," Bill Green added.
"Since everyone agrees, then we will cooperate with Music Player. Let them add our link to their old version and our button to the new version. We will provide them with search technical services," He Zhengcheng concluded.
America's market environment is very protective of intellectual property, but people generally dislike monopolies. The public holds a very tolerant attitude towards innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises, which is why disruptive innovators like Uber and Airbnb have succeeded.
As for Sean Parker's failure, one can only say too young, too simple! He showed no remorse, no compromise in the face of accusations. People who are too arrogant are destined for a bad end, which is why he had an accident when he might have reached the peak of his career as CEO of Facebook, and then was completely out.
As for He Zhengcheng's music software, there might still be a glimmer of hope.