Chapter 28 The Second Morning

The second morning after Jiang Yu arrived in Silicon Valley.

Su Yehao took her for a stroll around the campus of Stanford University.

The school had no walls, a completely open design. In the early years, this place was desolate and the land was especially cheap, so Stanford University occupied more than eight thousand acres, which was very different from other schools. It was easy to get lost even driving inside.

First there was this school, and then the prototype of Silicon Valley was born, and it has grown and developed to this day.

The saying goes, standing on the cusp of a storm, even pigs can fly.

Stanford, once a second-rate ordinary school, complemented Silicon Valley and had already become a household name by 1998, appearing in newspapers every now and then. The entrance requirements also rose again and again.

As long as you choose the right school, a diploma can indeed appreciate in value.

In the early years, the alumni of Stanford took advantage of this. The diplomas that were once not so impressive have now become those of a first-class prestigious school. Their luck was really good.

Today, the sun was bright and the sky was blue.

Su Yehao rode a bicycle, with Jiang Yu sitting sideways behind him. Following the signs, they were heading to the business school.

The temperature was only a little over ten degrees. Jiang Yu wore a beige trench coat, hugged his waist with one hand, and seemed to be in a good mood, laughing, "This school is really big! It feels so comfortable. Hong Kong University is full of people, but Stanford is so quiet."

"That's right. The area of the two schools differs by a factor of ten, and there may not be as many students as at Hong Kong University."

Su Yehao had already forgotten when he last rode a bicycle. The scenery along the road was beautiful, and Jiang Yu, sitting behind him, was even more beautiful. He didn't feel tired at all.

He stopped to look at a sign, made a turn, and continued forward, asking, "How about I find a professor at the business school for you to chat with? What's the point of just looking? It's best to ask directly."

"Ah? I don't need that for now. I'm still a long way from graduating. I just want to set a goal first. Otherwise, I'll just want to be lazy all day and won't have the motivation to study hard."

After Jiang Yu finished speaking, she reached out and touched Su Yehao's trench coat, asking curiously, "What material is this coat made of? Why does it feel so comfortable?"

"Alpaca, maybe. I originally planned to raise a few alpacas in the yard, but I must have said the wrong word to the housekeeper, and then there were a few white-tailed deer in the yard. My English is only good enough for daily communication, and I can't handle anything slightly obscure. I should have hired a Chinese housekeeper..."

They chatted as they looked around.

When they got lost and asked a student on the side of the road for directions, they realized they had already reached the business school.

Jiang Yu looked at her watch. More than an hour had passed since they started sightseeing.

It seemed like it was really necessary to buy a car.

The so-called sightseeing was really just looking around. Perhaps it was because she was curious about American schools, but Jiang Yu felt that it would be interesting to study abroad for two or three years.

Honestly speaking.

Su Yehao actually doubted what she could learn.

Studying business management for several years was not as good as actually interning in a company for two or three months. Others needed a diploma as a stepping stone to enter a famous company, but Jiang Yu didn't seem to need to consider these things.

Whether she came to work under Su Yehao or stayed with Master Jiang at Hong Kong Hao International Travel Company, it would definitely be easier than suffering under someone else.

He was just thinking about it in his head. Su Yehao had no intention of interfering. As long as she was happy...

After visiting Stanford University, Su Yehao took Jiang Yu to the North American headquarters of KOKO Venture Capital nearby.

After Su Yehao had a brief exchange with several senior executives, Linda Yun, the personal secretary who had arrived in the morning, delivered several folders and told Su Yehao:

"The office building has been rented. The game development teams that were acquired can move in next week. Also, regarding Yahoo!, I've compiled a ranking of the most-visited news websites. The information is right there, remember to take a look."

Jiang Yu sat obediently and greeted Linda Yun, "Long time no see. You guys are so busy."

"Tell me about it. There aren't that many assistants in California. I have to handle all kinds of things for him. The work is all on me." Linda Yun said with a smile.

There was no hint of complaint, just a joke.

Having worked at Su Yehao's side for more than half a year, she had only been slightly busier recently. Linda Yun was only responsible for conveying information, so it wasn't actually hard work.

Jiang Yu smiled and continued to ask, "What have you been busy with recently?"

Su Yehao looked at the information while telling her, "The total number of users of the chat software has reached ten million. What we need to do now is to think of ways to make these users generate revenue for my company."

Linda Yun, who had been familiar with him for so long, had a better understanding of Su Yehao's business. She nodded and added:

"That's right. You can charge users to play games, and you can also make money through advertising by letting them read news and browse forums. There are also membership services and external investments. Ahao is very capable when he gets serious. No wonder he's so successful..."

He hadn't paid much attention to how to make money before.

Since coming to Silicon Valley last month, Su Yehao had been trying to explore a diversified monetization model by combining the situations of ICQ and TVT.

Needless to say, things like games and news had readily available success cases to refer to.

The biggest gains recently were in venture capital and private equity investment.

He discovered that having more than ten million users in his hands made him particularly attractive when contacting other small and medium-sized companies.

Even if he lowered the price, even if he acted disinterested, some people would still be willing to accept it.

For example, there was a recently popular startup company in Seattle called Valve.

When Su Yehao learned that they had developed a shooting game that had been well-received in its first month of release, he arranged for someone to contact them at the end of last month, trying to finance 4.5 million US dollars in exchange for 45% of the shares.

During this period, others had contacted Valve, offering a higher price than Su Yehao, willing to acquire it entirely for 16 million US dollars.

Unexpectedly, the founders of Valve Game Company ultimately chose Su Yehao's plan. One of the requirements for cooperation was to use ICQ and TVT to promote their game.

After the promotion, the number of game players exploded by more than 500,000 in a week.

Su Yehao's investment of 4.5 million US dollars immediately increased in value by several million US dollars, and subsequent versions were already in development.

Other manufacturers also chose to place advertisements on the new version of ICQ. According to the buyer questionnaire results, many customers saw the news online.

In the past three weeks, ICQ had earned more than 2 million US dollars from selling advertisements, and even attracted Hollywood film companies and Amazon, which was also in Silicon Valley. The effect was quite good.

After a preliminary attempt, it was still too early to say it was stable.

But Su Yehao had gained some experience in how to monetize traffic. All that was left was to further turn his ideas into reality...