Chapter 57: The Leader
Wesley, who was preparing to do a big job, heard Song Yang's words and immediately said, "As long as the funds are guaranteed, the technical personnel sent by Wang An Company, plus the development engineers we recruited, will be enough to complete the development of Hotmail within two months!"
To put it bluntly, email is not a difficult product. Hotmail excels in creativity and concept, far surpassing existing email products.
In addition, just like the DART system of DoubleClick, Song Yang has already told Wesley the design requirements and architecture of Hotmail. What he wants to do is the same as Bledsoe Jaden did back then, which is to be an emotionless programming cow.
If he fails to do this well, then he, the project leader and chief technology development officer under Song Yang, can pack up and leave.
"You must also hurry up with the ICQ project. This project must be kept confidential. Once the Hotmail project is completed, you can take people to Silicon Valley!"
Song Yang explained to Wesley that compared to Hotmail, Song Yang valued ICQ more. This was Song Yang's first step in the field of Internet social networking.
As long as they occupy the social industry and take this first step, then with the huge user base and the development of Internet technology, it will be a piece of cake to launch a number of social products such as Facebook, Twitter, INS, LinkedIn, Message Board, WhatsApp, etc.
When Wesley heard Song Yang's requirements for the ICQ project, his face fell a little. Due to confidentiality reasons, it could not be publicized to the outside world, and even the recruitment of developers was done in private.
However, the level and number of local technical personnel in Houston are not on the same level as those in Silicon Valley, which makes the development progress of the ICQ project much slower than that of Hotmail.
Wesley could only hope that the ICQ project could be accelerated after arriving in Silicon Valley.
After signing the agreement with Song Yang, Qiao Tus left quietly without making it public. Not many people even knew about it at Wang An Company headquarters, in order to avoid attracting too much attention.
For a strong president like Joe Tuss, an investment of several million US dollars is just a matter of signing. He does not need to explain to the board of directors. At most, he will tell the outside world that the money is used for investment in an external announcement at the end of the year.
However, with the arrival of US$5 million from Wang Laboratories and the participation of dozens of technical personnel, the entire Hotmail project began to develop rapidly.
During this period, Song Yang has been basically busy in the Harbor Building, dealing with the affairs of Double Click Company, and also keeping an eye on the Hotmail and ICQ projects.
Another thing is to take some time to visit Devers School, mainly to spend some time with Jenny, and also to choose a suitable university.
As for the Internet industry in America, it is still in turmoil. During this period, new companies in Silicon Valley have popped up one after another like leeks, and Silicon Valley and Wall Street have also been frantically touting the concept of the Internet.
Yahoo has already promoted the concept of a portal website and has been wildly touted by several major investment and venture capital institutions behind it. Yahoo and Yang Zhiyuan have appeared on television stations, magazines, newspapers, buses, and outside iconic buildings in America. Yang Zhiyuan's identity as the "Chief of Yahoo" has been wildly spread around the world through major media, and a new generation of deification movement has begun.
DoubleClick also followed this trend, and its valuation has soared. Now the valuation given to DoubleClick by Silicon Valley and Wall Street has exceeded 85 million US dollars. It has only been a short time, but the valuation has increased by more than 30%. Although it is virtual, it is indeed exciting to see.
At this time, Netscape announced a piece of news that attracted the attention of people in the entire American and even global Internet industry: Netscape will officially go public on August 9, 1996!
This undoubtedly sparked public opinion again. As the current leader in the Internet industry, Netscape's listing represents the global investment industry's recognition of the Internet industry.
Its performance after listing is also related to whether the Internet industry can be recognized by mainstream society!
"Is this Netscape's IPO invitation?!"
In Song Yang's newly purchased villa, Haley curiously looked through the invitation letter sent by Netscape to Song Yang. As an important "partner" of Netscape, Song Yang was naturally invited this time to go to the Nasdaq hall next month to witness the moment when Netscape became a god.
Song Yang held Jenny, who curled up in his arms like a cat, and nodded casually. A big party would be held here today to celebrate Song Yang's newly purchased villa.
"Will you attend?" Jenny raised her head and asked Song Yang. In her impression, going public was a very grand thing. Jenny did not expect that Netscape would actually invite Song Yang to participate.
"Of course I have to go. Maybe that will be a day to witness history in the future!" Song Yang said with a raised eyebrow.
As far as Song Yang knows, he is not the only one who received the invitation this time. Netscape has sent out invitations to all the famous figures in the Internet industry. Netscape wants to establish the "Netscape Gang" to confirm Netscape's status in the Internet industry. Song Yang will not offend Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen at this time.
However, it is not so easy to be the leader. The more Netscape becomes prominent, the more it attracts the attention of giants such as Microsoft. This makes it easier for Song Yang to play both sides...
"Then are you going alone?!" Jenny said in a sticky voice, trying hard to get into Song Yang's arms.
Song Yang felt the hint of the big cream cake in his arms, and he knew what Jenny meant by this. "If you don't mind, I would like to invite you to New York..."
Looking at Song Yang and Jenny who were sticking together, Haley threw the invitation over and called them a couple of bastards, but she was also envious of Jenny.
On the day Netscape went public, those who attended must have been wealthy VIPs, and would be the focus of many media outlets. Being able to appear at the scene would definitely mean being photographed by many media outlets, and the exposure rate on that day would definitely be off the charts. In addition, one might even be able to establish connections with big shots in Silicon Valley and Wall Street. There aren't many opportunities to make connections like this.
But it was just envy for a while. Haley was quite satisfied with her current life. Compared with the past when she could only be an unknown wild model, Haley's life has changed dramatically now.
Thanks to her relationship with DoubleClick Company, Haley could choose any positions such as small advertisements and print models, which made Haley's wallet bulge rapidly.
In addition, because of the cooperation between DoubleClick and WPP Group, Haley is expected to become the spokesperson for some local small and medium-sized brands in Houston, which is something she never dared to think about before.
The group of little sisters from the past have basically started to gather around Hailey, and Hailey is the only one who follows her lead. It can be seen from today's party that when Hailey made a phone call, half of the models in Houston came over.
For Haili, what she hopes most now is that the Hollywood movie mentioned by Song Yang can be approved as soon as possible, so that Haili can enter Hollywood to get gilded. In that case, Haili's status in the Houston model and film and television industry will be completely different...
However, seeing more and more girls arriving, and those girls looking at Song Yang, trying to strike up a conversation with him for various reasons, or even squeezing directly next to Song Yang, Jenny was no longer in such a good mood. She looked at the girls at the party with wariness.
Jenny looked at the girls who wanted to get close to Song Yang with a vigilant look on her face, cursing them as "bitches" in her heart. However, those girls looked at them as if they were guarding against thieves, not letting them get close to Song Yang, the upstart in Houston. Jenny was also annoyed with them, because there were not many opportunities to get close to a multi-millionaire!
Seeing that Jenny was about to start a fight with the group of young models, Song Yang pulled Jenny away.
After drinking a glass of wine on the second-floor balcony, Song Yang and Jenny entered Song Yang's room in the villa.
After a while, Song Yang, who was sweating, pulled back the quilt. Jenny lay in front of Song Yang like a cat, "Song, are you really not going to enter the local university in Houston?"
Although Song Yang has not yet chosen a university, he has told Jenny that he will choose a university other than Houston.
Looking at the big cream cake in his arms, Song Yang brushed away the hair stuck to Jenny's face, "You will probably choose a university in New York or San Francisco, but don't worry, I will come back to see you every month, and when there is a chance, I will buy a private car to pick you up..."
Hearing Song Yang's nonsense, Jenny was a little unconvinced, but still felt sweet in her heart. Then she bit Song Yang's heart. Song Yang roared, turned over and pressed the big cream cake under him again.
In the Harbor Building, after Song Yang finished dealing with the matters of Double Click Company, he began to write the speech that would be used at the graduation ceremony of Devers School.
This is basically the same routine as before, but I heard that there are quite a few people going this time, such as District Councillor Adrian, Pastor Andrew and others. They will also be present because of Song Yang, and Song Yang has to thank them all. This is the rule of the underworld. Such occasions are basically for mutual flattery.
At this moment, Irene suddenly came in and said to Song Yang, "Someone from Enron Group will be here today!"
When Song Yang heard that An Ran's people were coming, he was stunned for a moment. He didn't want to have anything to do with An Ran's people, and even wanted to stay away from them. He didn't expect that An Ran's people would come up to him on their own initiative.
"What are they coming for?" Song Yang said with a headache.
Irene looked at Song Yang strangely. She wondered why Song Yang looked as if he had encountered a plague god when he heard about Enron Group. "The news from Enron is that they are going to hand over next year's advertising business to DoubleClick Advertising. This advertising business is worth more than 4 million US dollars!"
