The café was quiet, the sun shone directly through the blinds on Mark Zuckerberg's still immature face, Lin Mingyang's words brought him a shock, it was like a bolt from the blue, and he stammered for a long time before he stammered: "Do you think Facebook can really become that kind of existence?" ”

"I believe that is not a very distant dream, if you can connect 500 million people, you will become the king of the online world!" Lin Mingyang's words carried an irresistible magic that burned all the dreams in Mark Zuckerberg's heart.

"In the development stage of the website, it is necessary to limit the advertising and you can see further than others and have your own vision on this issue, which is the key to my bullish success on Facebook, if you want, we can have a cooperation."

Mark Zuckerberg was very direct: "I need money now, and a lot of money!" ”

"I can provide you with a total investment of $10 million in stages, and I can continue to invest more according to the development speed and operational effect of the website, but I want to own 25% of the company's equity, and I must ensure that my equity share will not be diluted in the process of future capital increase and share expansion, listing and issuance of new shares. In other words, I want to hold a quarter of Facebook in perpetuity! ”

A $10 million investment is appealing, but the word "permanent" sparked Mark Zuckerberg's idea: "Aren't you going to sell this stock after the company goes public?" ”

"I'm not a venture capital agent, and investing in Facebook is just part of my life plan."

-- It's still that café, it's still that seat, Lin Mingyang stayed here for a morning and drank three cups of coffee. When Red sat down, there was still room for him in that position, just half a minute before Mark Zuckerberg left.

"I've heard that Harvard has a lot of freshman classes, but why do I feel that you are more laid-back than you were in high school, and you still run out for coffee?"

Rhett looked at Lin Mingyang with envy, although MIT and Harvard are not far away, but Rhett has basically come out since he entered the school, and the professors of computer science have assigned a lot of homework to students. During this time, Rhett even bought a burger for dinner, and then rushed back and forth between the classroom and the lab.

"This shows that your college life is more fulfilling than mine!" When he thought of those troublesome topics in psychology, Lin Mingyang had a headache. Less than a month into school, the professor who teaches psychology asked them to complete a thesis. Because there are ready-made research objects in the dormitory, Lin Mingyang is writing a topic paper on the psychology of same-surname love.

"Behind the fulfillment is boredom, and I still envy you for making your college so interesting, even though that life is not what I want!"

Lin Mingyang's hand holding the coffee stopped in mid-air, "Interesting? ”

"I've been following the Harvard Crimson for the last few weeks, and I've counted how often you've been in that newspaper about three times a week. You also had a seminar in that dorm room, and the elite at Harvard were rushing to attend, so you weren't going to make it a Harvard Vanity Fair cocktail party, were you? ”

"Harvard Crimson" is a semi-official media of Harvard University, and you can read a lot of Harvard's campus dynamics from the above reports. A guy in Red's dorm room has been going crazy for a Harvard girl lately, and he's become a loyal reader of the newspaper, and he's read a lot of it with him.

"Actually, when we get together, it's Kan Dashan."

"When Clinton was in college, he also liked to play in the school cafeteria, but in the end he became the president of the United States."

"In those biographies, like newspaper articles, the facts are cleverly concealed by the author." Lin Mingyang drank the last coffee in the cup, and then asked the waiter to change a glass of juice for him. Then they chatted a few more words, and the conversation between the two got to the point.

"I was ready to invest in a website, but I lacked a partner who knew the technology."

Red immediately understood what Lin Mingyang meant, "What type of website is it?" ”

"You can understand its functional positioning as a platform for sharing online videos."

The idea was inspired by a new piece of software that Mark Zuckerberg was working on after he came into contact with Facebook, which he called Wirehog. WireHog is a peer-to-peer satisfaction sharing service. Not only does it allow users to exchange music, but it also allows them to exchange videos, text files, or any form of digital material, but only between friends. The app links directly to Facebook, turning online friends into a source of satisfaction.

Facebook is only concerned with the channels and methods of distribution of content, which is similar to the distribution of movies. Lin Mingyang is more involved in the shooting and production of films, and along this line of thought, Lin Mingyang has set his sights on the production and manufacturing of upstream content in the industry.

With the advancement of science and technology, the popularization of broadband and photographic equipment, people have paid more and more attention to online video information. Traditional content providers can no longer meet people's needs, Lin Mingyang wants to set up this website, is to change the Internet users from the traditional recipients of information, to information publishers, everyone can set up their own private cinemas, film distribution stations, news stations on this platform, and even replace the traditional communication media. Everyone can create their own news channel or upload a video of their family life.

If this assumption is true, and more and more people enjoy online short films, then television viewing will gradually shift to computer screens. If Lin Mingyang wants to occupy a place in Hollywood in the future, he must have enough resources in his hands. The most important part of the Hollywood film and television industry is production and distribution.

In terms of production, Lin Mingyang has a unique advantage, but distribution has become his weak link. In the early days of the start, he didn't have enough capital to buy theaters, let alone buy TV stations controlled by conglomerates, so he could only use his brains on the Internet.

The Internet is an emerging industry with huge potential and no particularly serious monopoly, so Lin Mingyang can only turn his attention to this field, and he values Facebook because it will have a huge number of users in the future. But the website that has a good combination of content and communication in later generations is not Facebook, but YouTube, a video-sharing website.

Now that this website has not yet appeared, what Lin Mingyang has to do is to take the lead. He has mature ideas in his head, plenty of money in his hands, and a large number of computer talents at Harvard and MIT, but the only thing he lacks is a tech-savvy and trustworthy webmaster. Among the people Lin Mingyang knows, Red is definitely the best candidate.

Lin Mingyang's clear planning and positioning of the entire website made Red smack, but it also made Red have some doubts about his own ability, can his dream really intersect with Lin Mingyang's dream?

"I remember last year I told you at the gas station, in fact, we are not far apart, everything I have, you can also get through hard work, and now this opportunity is in front of you. You definitely don't want to be a programmer for the rest of your life, so what are you waiting for? ”

At this moment, Rhett has made up his mind to tie his future to this website, "Does the website have an official name? ”

“youtube”

"What about slogans?"

"Broadcast yourself!"

After lunch, Ruide rushed back to "recruit" and prepared to do a big job, while Lin Mingyang continued to return to the café to meet the last guest he had made an appointment today.

"I've heard that a lot of Harvard students like to stay up late in the library, and it's rare to see someone as leisurely in a café as you does." As soon as Exx met, he couldn't help but sarcastically mock Lin Mingyang, which had almost become a fixed pattern for them to meet and greet each other.

"For them, learning is a job, and for me, learning is just a way of life."

"And that's part of your studies?" Ex angrily took out a document from his bag, "I don't know why you're suddenly so interested in this movie rating site, but the films directed by you don't have high scores on this site." ”

"A 60 percent positive rating is considered a fresh standard, so I don't need to say more about the results, right?"

The film review site that Mr. Lin and Mr. Ackes were talking about was called Rotten Tomatoes, and its unique way of commenting was based on the operetta era when audiences threw tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables on stage when they didn't perform well. Good reviews are indicated by fresh red tomatoes, and bad reviews are indicated by rotten green tomatoes. This site tracks a large number of movie reviews and the percentage of positive reviews. If there are more than 60% positive reviews, the work will be considered "fresh". Conversely, if a work has less than 60% positive reviews, it will be marked as "rotten".

"Rotten Tomatoes has a lot of unique ways to review movies, and with a full range of services, featured products, and a community, I think it will soon become the go-to place for movie consumers and fans."

"So you want to have a good relationship with this site?"

"If the website will give a high evaluation because it has a good relationship with a movie star or a director, do you think there will be fans who trust the website's rating?" Lin Mingyang shook his head, "Why should I please them, just buy the website directly!" ”

"And then let this site say good things for you?" Even though he was accustomed to seeing Lin Mingyang's strange thoughts, Ex was still startled by the idea that suddenly popped into his mind.

"On the contrary, how they should score and how to score, I will not bother to make results, only be the major shareholder behind the scenes."

Ex pointed to his head, "If you're okay here, then why are you buying it?" ”

"Of course, it's an investment, and it's an investment that is closely related to film."

Lin Mingyang has a nine-figure deposit in the bank, he neither intends to embrace the thick legs of Microsoft and Google, nor is he ready to take advantage of the war or economic crisis to speculate on oil and gold, except for making movies, his only choice is to invest the money in the movie-related network industry, only in these fields, he can make a difference.

"You're investing in Facebook because you're bullish on its potential users in the future. You want to build a video-sharing website in order to control the content production and distribution channels of online information. I support all of these investments, but when you buy Rotten Tomatoes, you have to come up with a reasonable expectation for such an investment to be worthwhile. ”

Regarding the injection of Facebook and the formation of YouTube, Lin Mingyang discussed with Exx in advance, but Rotten Tomatoes, Lin Mingyang mentioned it when Exx was unprepared.

"Film review websites are the focus of online promotion of films in the future, and they should achieve the purpose of promoting a film. A professional film review website must have two elements, the credibility of the rating and the number of hits on the Internet. The former has already been done on Rotten Tomatoes, and the network click can be achieved directly by sharing user resources with Facebook. Facebook users can share movie reviews from Rotten Tomatoes to their own blogs, and Rotten Tomatoes can be an extension of Facebook's user service in addition to professional video sites. ”

"Are you trying to use Rotten Tomatoes to control the promotion of movies on the Internet?" Ex finally understood Lin Mingyang's intention to buy Rotten Tomatoes.

In the future, the Internet will replace television and become the mainstream mode of communication, and network propaganda will gradually be paid attention to. The trend of professional film review websites will affect many people's viewing needs. The most successful film promotion does not need to evaluate the film itself as good or bad, it only needs to let people know that there is such a film, and the purpose of publicity is achieved. ”

"The management of Rotten Tomatoes won't sell you the website so easily!" Ex was considering the reality of the acquisition, which seemed to him to be unlikely.

"That's like Facebook with a capital injection, and it definitely takes a lot of money to grow a website. Investors like me who don't interfere with the management's operation of the website and are willing to pay money, I don't think they will refuse. ”

"And how do you control this company?"

"I can slowly increase my capital to achieve a controlling stake without interfering with the management's operations, but I definitely have the right to decide who will manage the site. And important decisions are made by the board of directors, as long as the board of directors has enough say, is there any essential difference between this and controlling the entire company? ”

"But there's no way everybody on the board will listen to you."

Lin Mingyang had already planned everything in his heart: "When the time is ripe, I will directly acquire it as a wholly-owned company." I offer a high price as a major shareholder, and no one will get along with the money! ”

(To be continued)