Mark Zuckerberg's positioning of Facebook made Li Mu instantly emotional.
Before that, he didn’t quite understand why Facebook was so popular overseas, but QQ Space not only failed to develop, but was gradually abandoned by QQ users, and QQ users later transferred a large area of online social activities to WeChat , which makes the QQ space product even more lonely.
From Mark Zuckerberg’s analysis, Li Mu immediately understood the fundamental reason.
Facebook's product positioning, from the very beginning, is very different from products like QQ Space.
In the hands of Tengxun, QQ Space will always be an auxiliary link in the QQ product ecosystem. Although relying on QQ for development will give QQ Space very convenient conditions in the early stage, allowing QQ Space to take advantage of YY to develop rapidly, however, In the long run, this will restrict the development of products like QQ Space.
For example, the entire QQ ecosystem is like a freighter. No matter how big the total displacement of the freighter is, 60% of it is reserved for QQ itself. QQ Space is on this freighter dominated by QQ. On the Internet, it will never be able to get the main position, and it will never be able to get most of the resources. In this way, QQ Space will always live in the shadow of QQ, relying on super products, and trying to develop into super products, the possibility is almost zero .
This phenomenon occurs frequently throughout the Tengxun system. Before WeChat came out, all products relied on QQ, but the only one that can truly be called a super product is QQ. All other products cannot survive for a long time, let alone Forget about being a super product.
To borrow a joke from Guo Degang, no matter how big the cake is, it is never bigger than the pot on which it is cooked.
In recent years, apart from QQ, the only super product Tengxun has developed is WeChat, but the gameplay of WeChat is completely different from that of QQ system products.
Although WeChat also borrowed momentum from QQ at the beginning, Zhang Xiaolong knew very well that if WeChat was placed within the QQ ecosystem, WeChat would never be able to get ahead.
Therefore, after WeChat completed the stage of borrowing momentum from QQ, it immediately separated from the QQ ecosystem and built its own system. In order to show the complete isolation between WeChat and QQ, WeChat even closed the direct access to the QQ friend list in the middle and later stages. channel, which means WeChat is determined to completely separate from the QQ ecosystem. This determination is so great that WeChat no longer bothers to share the same set of user data with QQ.
At present, the situation of YY Space is the same as that of QQ Space back then. If YY Space is built within YY’s product system, then YY Space will never be able to break out of the YY framework. However, if it is built as Facebook, it can completely follow the rules of building a new system. We should operate in a way that does not allow Facebook to rely on any product for development, nor let any product limit Facebook's future development space.
If you look at it this way, Facebook's structure will be much larger than YY Space, so there will be no overlap in functions and positioning with YY Space.
The fundamental positioning of Facebook must be at the same level as YY. These two products will be Li Mu’s two super products in the future. In addition, after the mobile Internet era arrives in the future, WeChat will be developed. Three super products are enough to dominate the global Internet.
After thinking about this, Li Mu suddenly became clear-minded and immediately said to Mark Zuckerberg: "OK, I basically agree with your point of view. I have a few more questions. First, what is your definition of profit model?"
Mark Zuckerberg hesitated for a moment and said: "Actually, my profit model is very simple. In the early stage, I will focus on investment to quickly expand the user base. After the number of users reaches a certain level, I can make money through advertising. , but profit may not be the primary goal for a period of time in the early stage.”
Having said this, Mark Zuckerberg added: "Actually, my positioning of Facebook is the same as that of YY. In fact, it does not necessarily have to have a clear profit model. Everything should focus on products and users first. As long as With enough users, we don’t have to worry about finding a profit model.”
Li Mu nodded in agreement and asked him again: "If you were asked to manage this project, where would you start?"
Mark Zuckerberg immediately said: "Develop the product first, and after the product development and testing are completed, I plan to start with Harvard and several surrounding universities, which is equivalent to a small-scale public test. Once the effect of the public test is achieved, If we want to achieve the goal, we will increase promotion efforts according to the budget and strive to make it popular among colleges and universities first.”
Li Mu smiled slightly, looked at Mark Zuckerberg and asked: "Will the five million dollars I give you be enough for you to start this project? If it is enough, how long do you expect the five million dollars to be enough? If it is not enough, what do you think?" How much is enough?”
Mark Zuckerberg hurriedly said: "Five million US dollars is definitely enough to get started. If everything goes well, the money is expected to be enough for half a year; if things don't go so well, the money is estimated to be enough for a year."
Mark Zuckerberg's answer impressed Li Mu. It seems that this young man is not only smart enough about the Internet and computer technology, but also has full control over the overall development of Internet products. Although he still I haven’t really started a business, but I already know the rhythm of Internet entrepreneurship well.
At this age, Mark Zuckerberg has already understood the eternal truth that the smoother the Internet project is, the faster it will cost money.
The better the project, the less investors care about immediate profits. On the contrary, in order to advance the project quickly, they are more willing to burn money quickly and seize industry resources quickly, so this kind of project spends money very quickly;
On the contrary, the worse the project, the more cautious it will be in its operation. Every penny will be thought twice before spent, and one can't wait to break the penny into eight parts and spend it. It is already a miracle that such a project can survive. Wanting to develop rapidly is simply a pipe dream.
So in this case, Mark Zuckerberg’s prediction is particularly reliable. If the project goes well, five million US dollars will be enough for half a year at most.
When Li Mu heard this, his recognition of Mark Zuckerberg went to a higher level.
Before the earliest, he thought that Mark Zuckerberg was probably like himself. He was not really very talented at the beginning of starting a business, but as things developed step by step, he improved little by little, and finally became a very talented person. A strong entrepreneur, but now it seems that Mark Zuckerberg already had a very deep understanding of the Internet before he started his business.
A new idea suddenly came to Li Mu's mind. Mark Zuckerberg is already so powerful at such a young age, so he must be careful that he will go solo in the future. Therefore, he must not only hold 49% of the shares in the Facebook project. , without a controlling stake, the future risks are very high.
Rather than this, Li Mu prefers to hold Facebook firmly in his own hands through capital operations in the future! Leave them nowhere to escape! "
(End of chapter)