Larry Page’s greatest pursuit in life is to do his best to digitize everything in real society.
Inspired by the library model in college, he created a search engine and Google. After founding Google, he invested more than 400 million U.S. dollars and spent ten years to integrate more than 20 million physical books in the world. Digitization, thus giving birth to Google Books;
In addition, he tried to use a portable camera in the last century to take photos while driving. According to his method at the time, he would stop every 100 meters to take a few photos, and then transfer these photos to the computer. From this, he came up with the idea of digitizing street views around the world and making them available for users to browse online. So a few years later, Google Street View was released. Through countless Google Street View cars, people can enjoy several street views online without leaving home. Landscapes of ten countries, thousands of cities, millions of streets.
Then, he used more advanced satellite and aerial photography technology to take a 360-degree "photo" of the earth, and then Google Earth was born.
Right now, Larry Page is working on his first large-scale digital endeavor—Google Books.
Larry Page felt that no other person in the world would have the same crazy idea as him, to digitize books all over the world and then upload them to the Internet.
However, what he didn't expect was that Li Mu only used a few metaphors of his own to express this model as advice to himself.
This made Larry Page a little nervous and a little embarrassed.
The nervousness is that he is worried that Li Mu will also be interested in such a model. Google does such a thing now and has no advantage over Makino Technology, and it has just started. If Makino Technology also does it, it will be easy to catch up;
He was embarrassed because he didn't know how to answer Li Mu. First of all, he didn't want to tell Li Mu that Google was already doing this. However, if he didn't tell Li Mu, when he launched Google Books in the future, Li Mu would definitely feel that he was If you were inspired by him, then this would be embarrassing.
A serious person like Larry Page cares about the source of his creativity. He doesn't want his Google Books project to be misunderstood one day as plagiarizing other people's ideas.
After thinking carefully for a moment, Larry Page made up his mind and said to Li Mu: "Mr. Li, let me tell you a secret news. The Google Books project is already in operation. The purpose is to make the entire project as you just said." Real-world books moved online.”
Li Mu pretended to be surprised and said: "Then the workload is really huge!"
Larry Page nodded and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter how big it is. This is one of the few dreams in my life. Even if I spend everything I have, I will complete it."
Larry Page deliberately said firmly. He hoped that Li Mu would not be interested in this project. If he was really interested, he would probably shrink back when he knew that he was putting all his efforts into this project.
Li Mu smiled calmly and said to Larry Page: "This is a great dream, and I think you can definitely realize it."
Larry Page breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Makino Technology is also great. I think YY has the opportunity to become the core product that carries communication between people in the future Internet world. This kind of carrying can be done Regardless of national boundaries, if YY goes smoothly, it can even carry online communication for all mankind."
Li Mu smiled modestly and said: "Mr. Page, the goal of carrying all mankind is too ambitious. Now I actually just want to penetrate the US market."
Larry Page looked at Li Mu and said: "Mr. Li, Internet products have the least impact on geographical restrictions. When Google was first created, I never imagined that it would be where it is today. At the time, I couldn't even imagine that Internet users across the United States would be able to reach this point." , and now, Google has become a must-have Internet tool for netizens around the world. Good products have no national boundaries. As long as the product can be launched, it will be able to conquer more users. This principle also applies to YY."
Saying that, Larry Page added: "In fact, in my opinion, YY is only one step away from becoming popular all over the world."
Li Mu couldn't help but ask him: "Which step?"
Larry Page said categorically: "Financing! Ordinary companies exchange time for money, and great companies exchange money for time. What YY needs now is comprehensive and rapid development. After successful financing, it can immediately move into the global market." .”
Li Mu nodded and said: "The financing matter is already in progress, but Makino Technology is not in a hurry."
Larry Page asked him: "Is there any capital that you prefer?"
Li Mu smiled and said: "Theoretically, whoever gives more money will naturally be more inclined to us."
Larry Page said: "Let me recommend a capital company to you."
Li Mu asked Larry Page: "Mr. Page, are you going to recommend Sequoia to me?"
Larry Page's expression was a little unnatural, and he said: "Google's most critical round of financing was led by Sequoia. Based on our long-term cooperation, I think Sequoia is definitely the best venture capital in this industry. "
Li Mu said: "Sequoia is certainly good, but for Makino Technology, it still depends on who gives more money."
Larry Page said: "Sequoia's capital relationship is very strong. If it is listed in the IPO in the future, Sequoia can play a big role. Sequoia is also planning related matters for Google's listing. Once the listing is successful, the development of the company will be The situation will be broader.”
When Li Mu heard this, he asked with a smile on his face: "Mr. Page, are you going to be Sequoia's lobbyist today?"
Hearing what Li Mu said, Larry Page felt a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and smiled and said, "The CEO of Sequoia heard that I was going to meet with you and deliberately told me to find a way to persuade you."
"Persuade me?" Li Mu asked curiously: "Persuade me for what? Persuade me to accept their offer of 16.5 billion US dollars?"
Larry Page hurriedly said: "Of course not, the $16.5 billion is because they lack sufficient understanding of the actual value of Makino Technology. Now they have set a new price, and it is a very sincere price, but I don’t have the opportunity to sit down and have a good chat with you, so I hope I can help him convey a message that he hopes to have an interview with you.”
Li Mu smiled and said: "Interviews are possible, but not now. Makino Technology's financing window does not open all the time. It was opened once before, but Sequoia refused, so this window will not open for the time being, but Sequoia can pay attention to us to take over. When the financing window opens again, we will sit down and have a good chat about some of the actions we have taken.”
(End of chapter)