Zhang Chen smiled: "Sister Su, it's different from two years ago. Two years ago, the concept of the Internet was not popular, and not many people in the United States had ever used the Internet. But now, needless to say, in the United States, even in China, there are many people who know about the Internet, and even ask everywhere how to access the Internet. ”

"The Internet is an epoch-making product that will develop at an unprecedented speed. If the first industrial revolution took 200 years, the second industrial revolution took 50 years, and now the third revolution brought about by the Internet may only take ten years. ”

"Therefore, the valuation of Internet companies has also doubled one after another. Two days ago, it was said that a project that had just put forward a concept, what is it called, there is no serious thing, there is only a concept, it is valued at 80 million US dollars, and Sequoia and Blackstone seem to have to invest. ”

Su Zhuorui was a little speechless, "Where is this still investment, speculation is not counted, it is already gambling." ”

Zhang Chen nodded and said, "Yes, when the chips on the gambling table accumulate higher and higher, the table will always collapse." ”

Su Zhuorui shuddered, "You mean that there is a bubble in Internet investment now?"

Zhang Chen tilted his head and thought about it, "I don't know if there is a bubble now, but there will definitely be one in the near future, and the speed of the Internet is developing so fast, then the bubble will burst much faster than the traditional industry." ”

"But in any case, the Internet has at least two to three years of prime time, and during that time, it should still be fine. Zhang Chen thought of the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000 in his previous life.

What he didn't know was that in his previous life, there were various theories about when the dot-com bubble arose. Some say that it started with Netscape's IPO in 95, some say that it started in 96, and some say that it started in 98, and there are different versions and disputes.

But in this life, there is no dispute about when the beginning of the dot-com bubble will begin in the future, and AOL's $2.8 million acquisition of a million-dollar website is regarded as the beginning of the dot-com bubble.

Because this acquisition is so nonsensical, it is very pure to reflect the characteristics of the Internet economic bubble.

In other words, Zhang Chen's inadvertent move became the beginning of the entire Internet bubble.

Su Zhuorui said worriedly: "Then Viggs is doing this now, what are you going to do?"

Zhang Chen said leisurely: "Don't do it, it's good to teach him a lesson, otherwise there will be problems in the future." Goldfinger's tone was very anxious just now, so let them be anxious for a while, I estimate that their funds will be enough to support for another two months, and now is the time when the pressure is the greatest. As long as the investment does not land for a day, they have to worry about it for a day, depending on their ability to resist pressure. However, people like Viggs are arrogant and discouraged, and I am not very optimistic about him. ”

Su Zhuorui puffed up angrily: "You don't like him to vote for him, isn't this embarrassing for yourself." ”

Zhang Chen shrugged, "After all, ICQ is a pioneer in the instant messaging industry, and it has advantages that other teams don't have. And as the first instant messaging software, there is a story to tell. Therefore, although Viggs is not a qualified entrepreneur, he is still the leader in this industry, and the rate of return will be much greater than that of other competitors, so there is no problem in investing in him. ”

"ICQ is the first investment project for me, and I certainly hope that it will develop even better. But judging from the current development of the Internet, it is not realistic for it to have sufficient ability to resist crises before the bubble bursts. So the best option for me is to push up his valuation as soon as possible before the bubble bursts, and come out to cash out at the time of the D round or E round of financing. ”

Su Zhuorui was a little puzzled: "You just said that Yahoo will IPO in two years, do you think the Internet bubble will burst in two years?"

Zhang Chen shook his head, "The bubble has just been generated, and it is unlikely that it will burst within two years." It's just that ICQ is a product, in the current U.S. market, it is difficult to achieve the size of Yahoo back then, and the possibility of an IPO within two years is very low. Therefore, rapid financing is very necessary, and Viggs still understands this very clearly. ”

Su Zhuorui said: "Then you are not worried that Sequoia's investment will fly?"

Zhang Chen laughed: "Don't worry, if Sequoia doesn't vote, there will be other institutions to vote, as long as ICQ sticks to the current line, the rise is inevitable." Now Sequoia has rejected an offer of $15 million for a 20% stake for two months, but it won't be that price. ”

Seeing that Zhang Chen was so determined, Su Zhuorui also relaxed. Since meeting Zhang Chen, Su Zhuorui seems to have opened the door to a new world. She had never imagined that she would be able to feel tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars of capital operation so closely, but because of this magical teenager, talking about these topics now is as ordinary as talking about her thesis homework.

Su Zhuorui couldn't help but feel dizzy, and looked at her best friend in the rearview mirror, but there was something wrong in her heart.

Wadi from the ICQ team had to interview more than a dozen Stanford students in the afternoon, and it was supposed to be three people interviewing together, but Viggs and Goldfinger were both in a bad mood, especially Viggs, who felt that he was so embarrassed today that he didn't want to see anyone again.

It wasn't until late evening that Wadi had interviewed all the interviewers. He is a pure technical nerd, so he pays a lot of attention to the skill level of the test takers, and only three out of eleven people meet his criteria.

Wadi threw the resumes of the eight people who didn't admit into the shredder and was about to turn on the computer to continue working on today's code when the living room door was pushed open.

Wadi looked up and saw two young men, about his age, entered.

Both of them were thin, one of them was a little taller, with black hair, and looked a bit like a Caucasian, and said, "Dude, we just saw that you were recruiting, so we rushed over, are you late?"

Wadi muffled, "No, sit." ”

Instead of sitting down, the two young men walked to Wadi's computer and looked at the full screen of code, while the other young man who didn't speak looked a little older, pointing to a line of code with a blank face and saying, "Your function is not calling the right one, and there is a problem with the pointer." ”

Wadi glanced at the screen, and sure enough, scratched his head and stood up, "Here you go." ”

The two looked at each other, and the Caucasian youth who spoke first sat down, and in less than two minutes, he finished changing the code.

Wadi tried to run the code, and sure enough, it worked, and there were no bugs.

After a moment of silence, Wadi held out his hand, "Congratulations, friend. What's your name?"

The Caucasian youth showed a sunny smile: "Sergey Brin." ”

Another slightly older youth said calmly, "Lawrence Page, you can call me Larry, Larry Page." ”