"Is this Silicon Valley?" Ding Ming, with a pilgrimage mentality, sat in a taxi and looked at the buildings in the distance.

"This is Silicon Valley, a place of wonder. Zhang Chaoyang was quite emotional, he had been to Silicon Valley several times before, half of them to seek startup capital.

Zhang Chaoyang went abroad smoothly, after all, he has lived in the United States for several years. Ding Ming went abroad on a commercial visa as an employee of Shenzhou Science and Technology, and Sohu was too small, and the visa officer would not give a good face.

"Xiao Ding, you said that a search engine, is it really worth millions of dollars?" Zhang Chaoyang was deeply skeptical.

Zhang Chaoyang's Internet thinking, similar to that of most practitioners at this time, is to do a portal to accumulate traffic and then refinance and go public. The purpose of his search engine is the same as that of Lifang (Sina), NetEase and foreign companies, which is just a tool to attract users - as long as the search engine can be used, it does not have to be too smart, which may lose (portal) users.

Spending hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy search technology, Zhang Chaoyang thinks it is feasible. But spending millions of dollars on search technology is simply a satiation!

Ding Ming is from the perspective of Internet users, he said: "If we have the smartest and most advanced search engine, it will definitely attract netizens." When they go online, they inevitably search for content on our website, so won't the traffic skyrocket?"

Ding Ming also didn't realize the true value of search engines, and just used them as an aid tool to increase website traffic.

Zhang Chaoyang shook his head and said, "Have you ever thought about it?" If our search engine is too easy to use, netizens may go to other websites when they find their favorite content and websites. Isn't this the same as pushing our own users to the side of competitors?"

"But our search engine is so easy to use that users will come back to search for content," Ding said. ”

"Then what kind of portal do we have? Forget it, let's do a search website!" Zhang Chaoyang said angrily.

"Yes, you can do a special search site. Ding Ming's eyes lit up.

"The problem is, there's not much value in a dedicated search site. Although Yahoo made its fortune on search engines, they sell content, and their main business is a web portal. Yahoo is the most successful Internet model, and the most viable one, and focusing on search engines leads to a dead end. ”

Ding Ming was silent because he didn't know how to refute it.

In these years, it is really not enough to make a lot of money as a search engine, and it is difficult to attract large investments.

Historically, when Google was rapidly booming, it shocked everyone's attention and made everyone feel unbelievable.

That night, Zhang Chaoyang and Ding Ming stayed in the hotel, and Josquat Hassen met the next day at a café near Stanford.

……

Three jean-clad technads walked out of the campus: Google's three founders: Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Scott Hasson.

"Can Chinese Internet companies come up with $3 million?" Larry was skeptical.

Scott laughed, "Who knows? ”

"I don't think you should sell Pagerank, it's the most advanced search algorithm in the world, and $3 million is too much of a loss," Sergey said. ”

"$3 million is a lot of money," Mr. Scott said, "and here in Silicon Valley, no one wants to buy $1.6 million." ”

Larry frowned: "I don't think it should be sold, who can tell you about the Internet? Perhaps, as long as we wait another year, the pagerank algorithm will be worth $10 million." ”

Scott laughed, "Then try to talk about licensing." ”

Larry and Sergey, both at this time were relatively simple students and did not know any big bosses, and all business negotiations were conducted by Scott. Although Scott didn't get any shares and is little known, the industry calls him "Google's third founder".

These three guys are very idealistic, and their goal is to make money through Internet technology, and then use that money to build a machine - a space elevator.

To put it simply, it is to tie a "rope" to the earth's orbit, and this "rope" remains relatively unchanged with the movement of the earth, so that people can follow the "rope" to reach space.

Well, pure.

Who hasn't had a fantasy about their student days?

Unlike Bill Gates, both Larry and Sergei came from ordinary families, and their parents were high-level intellectuals — Larry's family was a leftist and enthusiastic about the civil rights movement, while the Sergei family were Soviet immigrants.

Walking into the restaurant, Larry pointed to the corner and said, "There are two Asian faces over there, are they?"

"Perhaps, go over and ask," Scott said with a smile, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhang and Mr. Ding from China?"

"Yes, hello!" Zhang Chaoyang and Ding Ming immediately got up and shook hands.

They introduced each other, and everyone quickly chatted.

"$3 million is too expensive, and we can bid up to $1 million," Ding said. ”

"Actually, I don't want to sell $3 million, so let's talk about licensing," Larry said. ”

"Since I don't want to sell, then don't talk about it," Zhang Chaoyang waited for this sentence, he said, "I came to the United States this time mainly to talk about financing, and there are two American companies that are willing to invest in Sohu." ”

Scott hurriedly eased the atmosphere: "Don't worry, everyone, business negotiations, you should take your time, bargaining is normal." ”

Ding Ming said: "I only buy the pagerank algorithm, not the BackRub search engine. ”

Sergei was a little upset, because the pagerank algorithm was Larry's alone, and he was only involved in the development and design of the BackRub search engine. immediately put on a face and said: "It seems that the two gentlemen are not sincere, so forget it if they can't talk." ”

"Yes, no need to talk about it. Larry is also very angry with his buddies and doesn't want to eat alone.

Scott immediately stopped, took out his laptop and said, "Two Chinese gentlemen, BackRub is the best search engine in the world, we might as well try it first." ”

Zhang Chaoyang casually typed in a keyword, carefully checked the results, and found that the top 20 content was very much in line with his heart.

Ding Ming also tried it, and the same was true.

The two looked at each other in shock. Sohu also developed an "intelligent search engine" at the end of last year, but it lacks a reasonable algorithm, which is just better than the traditional one.

Zhang Chaoyang swiped on the desktop casually, looking like he was thinking, but in fact, he wrote a Chinese character - buy!

Search engines are not unusual, but such an easy-to-use search engine is bound to be a huge success, and it would be a pity to miss it.

Ding Ming asked: "Why is there no patent for the PageRank algorithm?"

"Uh, applying. Larry replied.

"Then let's wait until the patent application is successful. Ding Ming said.

Scott said: "Whether there is a patent or not, it does not prevent us from cooperating, we can talk about the general authorization of the search engine, or we can talk about the exclusive authorization in China." ”

Ding Ming said: "We don't want search engines, we just search algorithms!"

"Sorry, the algorithm doesn't sell. Larry said with some.

Scott said, "Perhaps, the two gentlemen can go back and think about it again." ”

"Of course, we'll think about it. Zhang Chaoyang said.

The first negotiation broke up unhappily.

When he returned to the hotel, Ding Ming immediately called Song Weiyang and explained the situation in detail.

Song Weiyang asked: "Are they really not selling?

Ding Ming said: "Their attitude is very resolute, it seems that they are really not ready to sell algorithms, and only plan to talk about the authorization cooperation of search engines." ”

Song Weiyang thought for a while and said: "In this way, $1 million, permanently buy out the exclusive Chinese license of the pagerank algorithm, and in the future, as long as the search engine using the pagerank algorithm is used, it cannot be authorized to other Chinese websites." ”

"It seems like it works, and Americans don't pay much attention to the Chinese market. Ding Ming said.

"Also, you talk to those young people and ask them if they would like to start a search engine company, and I can fund them. Song Weiyang said.