Internet 2010

The next morning, Lu Zhou got up and walked with Lin Xinhe to Sequoia across the road.

This is an I-shaped small second floor. There are many plants around. The environment is not bad, but the parking spaces are so nervous that there are all kinds of vehicles parked on the road.

The two walked to the back of the building according to Parker's previous instructions. After seeing the words "Sequoia Capital", the two walked in.

Parker was already waiting at the reception, "Good morning, gentlemen."

He shook hands with Lu Zhou and Lin Xinhe one by one, and then said, "Qom and Acton from whatsapp have arrived, you can go and chat with them first, b2333 on the second floor. Mr. Bao still has some things to confirm, Have to wait a moment."

Lu Zhou, "Okay, thank you very much."

After all, the two walked upstairs, and when the door of the conference room was opened, they saw two middle-aged strong men inside.

Solid cardigan, washed jeans, white sneakers. Pure it masculinity.

Lu Zhou smiled, and if he was really famous, it would be better to meet him, "Hello, Lu Zhou. This is Lin Xinhe."

"Qom."

"Acton."

After hearing the names of the two, Lu Zhou glanced at Acton more. Both of them were early employees of Yahoo before starting whatsapp and were experienced engineers. Before leaving, he was already a millionaire and started a business for the "ideal".

Well, Bao Bufan's report mentioned it. I can't remember this kind of thing.

What he was curious about was Acton. After whatsapp was acquired by Facebook in his previous life, Acton gave up hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stocks and fled Facebook because he could not bear FB's dictatorship over the commercialization of Whatsapp.

Is this a man willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars for his "ideal"?

If I remember correctly, this is what happened in Lu Zhou's memory.

Of course, this is definitely not possible in this life. WeChat is about to be acquired, what else can Facebook do?

However, judging from these information points, it can at least help Lu Zhou to glimpse some of the two's behavioral styles and disdain the use of advertising for profit, focusing on the interests of users.

In this transaction, there is also a very important detail.

Some of the new shares that WeChat will pay to the two are restricted shares, that is, they cannot be transferred before listing. The rest will need to be gradually released over the next few years. But among the many terms, there is a provision for commercialization, "If WeChat commercializes whatsapp without the consent of the two, the two will immediately receive all the shares granted."

The reason is very simple, WeChat is advertising. There are articles in the official account, there is also a column in the circle of friends, and there are various activities in WeChat payment. The two were afraid that after the acquisition by Lu Zhou, they would directly move WhatsApp to WeChat.

In the conference room, several men were silent for a while.

At this time, Acton broke the situation by speaking, although the rhetoric was a bit weird.

He said to Lu Zhou, "You are a good businessman. I have to admit that the commercialization of WeChat in China has made it more aggressive in overseas markets. This has made me and Qom very embarrassed recently, because whatsapp does not have Too much money. It’s possible to raise money, but the hole will only get bigger.”

Lu Zhou smiled, which was not a compliment.

He said, "You guys made a good 'tool' too. The motto is great too. It's called, 'No ads, no games, no gimmicks' right? As cool as it sounds, it's not easy to live."

You must know that these days, Brother Gu is an advertising company, FB is an advertising company, and ins is an advertising company. Don't rely on this? I'm afraid it's not that my mind is a little floating.

As for the so-called protection of users, it has always been less clear-cut. Like telegram, like bitcoin, like the dark web, absolute security is guaranteed end-to-end. But regardless of the inconvenience, it is impossible for managers to support these things because they are out of control.

This Acton later supported a signal project with money? Lu Zhou suddenly thought.

Well, before and after this, it is not difficult for Lu Zhou to conclude that these two are fanatical supporters of user sex.

Lu Zhou had no choice but to think that, as Li Yanhong said, most people value convenience more than sex.

I can understand the two of them, but it is difficult to agree.

After all, he also remembers that after the two left in the previous life, whatsapp was changed by Zuckerberg, and the commercialization process is to learn from WeChat step by step. Consequentialism only, these two people are only suitable for being engineers.

"A few years ago we were deeply disappointed by the ad-laden pages on Yahoo's portal," Koum said. "This approach to revenue at the expense of experience strikes me as disgusting."

Lu Zhou, "This is the case under certain circumstances. Of course, I will give you enough autonomy as to what to do next on whatsapp. Using the nodes of Menggu Cloud can also help you reduce a lot of costs."

Acton and Qom both laughed when they heard it, and the young man in front of him obviously took whatsapp as his bag.

However, the truth is probably not too far off.

WeChat is really not very competitive in the United States, because the stock has been divided up long ago, and almost every giant in the increment is snatching it. But in other markets, whatsapp is often pressed and beaten when encountering WeChat~www.readwn.com~ The reason is very simple. Wechat hangs advertisements and does not charge users forward. Relying on Huaxia's commercialized profits, Wechat has always maintained a strategy of free use. And whatsapp is reluctant to use advertising, so it has to charge a certain fee to smooth the expenditure. Comparing the two, the advantages and disadvantages are obvious.

As for the mention in the data? Neither Acton nor Qom wanted to scrutinize it. Sequoia's Parker boasted in his ears every day, and he almost got a cocoon when he heard it. In the end, it is also the root cause of the disease left by taking the money. It is impossible for them not to listen to the nagging of investors.

Acton said indifferently, "I hope so."

Lu Zhou was not annoyed after hearing this, but he joked, "We can't talk about it, will WeChat pay you millions of dollars? It's not a loss to you anyway."

What Lu Zhou is referring to is a "wonderful" clause in this acquisition. After WeChat initiated an invitation to acquire whatsapp, if the two parties cannot reach an agreement through negotiation and the acquisition fails, WeChat will pay to WhatsApp. whatsapp million dollars.

This is the "bait" and the terms of sincerity.

But in Acton's ears, that's not necessarily the case.

Qom laughed, "Well, that's a good bait. Otherwise we wouldn't be too lazy to take the time to communicate. It's too much trouble."

Lu Zhou smiled slightly, "For example, taking up time for designing products and coding?"

I couldn't help but complain, these **** programmers...