Ring ring ring.
As soon as the phone rang, Joe Murphy picked up the receiver and said,
“Hello?”
Today, he had been staring at the phone all day.
This was because it was the day when Lee Hyun-woo, the CEO of Jungle, was coming, and he was very curious about whether the subordinate who went to the airport had met and talked with him well.
As expected, it was the person he was waiting for, the subordinate who had gone to the airport.
But then.
(He just arrived a while ago, but he didn’t meet me because I didn’t contact him in advance.)
“What?”
Joe Murphy’s face crumpled up.
“What do you mean you didn’t meet him?”
(There were bodyguards. So it was difficult to approach him.)
“Hmm…”
Whose fault should this be?
According to what he heard through a correspondent in Korea, Lee Hyun-woo did not have any special attendants or bodyguards.
He remembered hearing that the company had not been established for long, so while they had development and domestic sales, they didn’t have other departments, and that’s why he sent the subordinate.
“Alright. Then contact the hotel and schedule a time.”
(Yes, I did that, but it’s already fully booked.)
“What?”
(It was really packed. It seemed like not just one or two places contacted him, as the line was busy continuously… I finally got through, but they said all appointments were booked during his stay in the U.S.)
“No way…”
(It seems the critical point was that meetings related to business are only allowed from 9 AM to 5 PM.)
Joe Murphy, who had a slight expectation of investment, felt like the day had slipped away.
He shook his head as if there was no helping it.
“Alright. Since you’re there, how about scouting Silicon Valley a bit? Oh, and what about looking for those two developers I mentioned last time?”
(Last time? Ah, are you referring to Ray Byrne and Mikhail Pace?)
“Yes, that’s right. I said their recent paper’s search engine algorithm is similar to Jungle’s.”
(Yes, that’s correct.)
These days, outstanding IT developers or founders kept emerging from Silicon Valley or Stanford.
Perhaps that’s why there were many stories on Wall Street that the future information age would revolve around these genius developers.
Joe Murphy was also a believer in that theory.
So, he said,
“Check out what they’re doing, and if it’s a portal site, suggest that we’re willing to invest.”
It might seem like he’s willing to invest without asking questions, but in reality, he was known as an excellent fund company because even if he invested in 100 places, hitting a jackpot in just one would be enough.
After Yahoo took off, the reason investment money was pouring into dot-com companies sprouting up like bamboo shoots was precisely because of this.
‘It’s a shame, click.’
It was painful not to have the chance to meet Jungle, a reliable guarantee.
But should he say it’s better than nothing?
Around midnight, the subordinate contacted him again.
(I met the two people, but they said they’re no longer interested in portal sites.)
“Really?”
(Yes, they concluded that it was impossible to catch up after recently examining it, so they are considering other directions instead. However, they left the door open. If we want to invest, we can contact them anytime.)
“So, what did they say?”
(They gave a positive response. Of course, they emphasized several times that it’s on the condition that we absolutely do not interfere with development and operations.)
Talking about development and operations seemed to indicate that they were interested in starting a business.
Of course, just because they started a company didn’t mean they would definitely succeed, so Joe Murphy thought he would check thoroughly later and then push for investment.
As if reading his thoughts, the subordinate mentioned more to vouch for their abilities.
(Oh, and while talking, I found out that Jungle and Pineapple also offered to hire them.)
“Really?”
(Yes. I also checked with the school, and they acknowledged their brilliance.)
“Alright. Then we need to keep an eye on them.”
(One more thing, there are other geniuses they acknowledge. Can I mention them?)
“Of course.”
Answering with a voice asking why he was being cautious, he immediately understood the subordinate’s hesitation.
(They are developers named Min-woo Oh and Jung-woo Lee, and they belong to Jungle.)
Since they were already developers at Jungle, it seemed unlikely they would be interested in starting a new company.
That’s why the subordinate seemed hesitant, thinking it might be useless information.
But Joe Murphy’s perspective was different from the subordinate’s.
“Even if we couldn’t meet CEO Hyun-woo Lee, meeting the core developers is like establishing a kind of connection. Right?”
(Yes, that’s correct.)
“And in this world, you never know what might happen. They could go independent and start a company later. So, it’s good to make contact in advance. Got it?”
(Yes, then I’ll try to contact those two separately and see if we can meet.)
“Okay, then good luck.”
After hanging up the phone, Joe Murphy quickly envisioned a scenario in his mind.
‘Anyway, even if I meet Hyun-woo Lee now, there’s not much I can do.’
From various information, it was clear that Lee Hyun-woo wanted a partnership within his sphere of influence.
In other words, he was the type to accept investment without voting rights, but the direction of the hedge fund’s investment was the path of money.
Therefore, if Lee Hyun-woo ran the company with a wrong judgment, it was only natural to immediately send suggestions or warnings or request to convene a shareholders’ meeting as a major shareholder.
‘Invest without interference? Absolutely not.’
This was the same for the two geniuses from Stanford mentioned earlier.
They also demanded absolute non-interference in development and operations, which was an unreasonable condition.
But this could be resolved by interpreting the word ‘absolutely’ arbitrarily from their side.
When meeting later, he planned to emphasize that it was impossible not to interfere on the path to loss.
‘Anyway, they are naive, so we can be vague when making the investment contract.’
Having organized up to this point, Joe Murphy still felt regret and smacked his lips.
He might have to consider meeting Hyun-woo Lee in Korea later.
The next day, Lee Hyun-woo had a meeting with the CEO of Altavista.
His name was Tim Connor.
Smiling brightly at seeing Lee Hyun-woo, he was also young and,
“It is an honor to finally meet the famous person.”
He was very friendly.
Lee Hyun-woo also responded with a full smile.
“It is an honor for me as well.”
“Did you sleep well? You must have had a hard time with the jet lag.”
“I’ve given up on that. If I adjust to the jet lag here, I have to readjust when I go back to Korea.”
“I’m sorry, next time I should go to Korea.”
“I would appreciate that. But anyway, Altavista has to enter Korea, right? I hope we can meet again then.”
Tim Connor raised his eyebrows.
Recently, he was considering entering Korea and further into Asia, including Japan.
If delayed further, there was a high possibility of losing the timing as Jungle would dominate the market too much.
But he couldn’t show this to Jungle.
For now, he considered them as business partners, not competitors.
But Lee Hyun-woo seemed to think differently.
“At this point, more portal sites should emerge. Only then will the ecosystem expand, and the public and market will recognize that the era has changed. In that sense, I will welcome Altavista’s entry into Korea, and our Jungle will also start preparing to enter the U.S.”
“Ah, yes…”
Tim Connor had already thought that Jungle might enter the U.S.
But to hear it said so openly.
In fact, before this meeting, both companies had already coordinated many aspects of business cooperation.
It was almost seamless.
Since Altavista and Jungle had almost no conflicting interests, only the signing remained.
Originally, during signing, new negotiations were not supposed to happen.
But hearing what Lee Hyun-woo brought up, Tim Connor started thinking.
‘How about forming a joint venture to enter each other’s countries?’
In other words, creating a joint venture between Jungle and Altavista to enter the portal site market in each other’s countries was a daring proposal creeping into his mind.
‘No, I shouldn’t.’
Going too far might upset the other party.
Tim Connor composed himself and naturally started asking about the conversation with a journalist the previous day.
“Last night, a journalist I know asked me about SNS. But since I didn’t know much, I had to listen to a long explanation. Specifically, he told me what you had mentioned. About looking at the world through friends made on the internet. I was deeply impressed as soon as I heard it. But is this perhaps an evolved form of Jungle’s blog?”
At this, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyebrows slightly rose.
‘Did he even look at our blog? As expected, the CEO of an IT company is different.’
In the future, the person who successfully combines imagination and creativity in business will win.
Even though the interview from the previous day was not yet published, to approach the SNS model just by listening to a brief explanation was impressive.
Last time, it was Tim Connor who had even downloaded MP3 files.
Even without a common language, analyzing the other party’s web page with passion and imagination was truly remarkable.
Admiring his effort, Lee Hyun-woo nodded.
“That’s right. Building friendships through blogs will expand further according to the speed of the network. Sometimes, you might even meet old acquaintances. You can reunite with friends from the same elementary school, middle school, or high school through artificially created ‘coincidences’.”
“That reminds me of a girl I liked in middle school. I’m really curious about how she’s doing.”
“That’s exactly it. Beyond classmates, meeting your first love that made your heart flutter. Or checking how they’re doing through SNS. Such simple examples will attract people’s interest, don’t you think?”
Tim Connor’s eyes grew wider.
The basic structure of a portal site was to gather people to make money.
Therefore, imagining how and how many people SNS, which was similar in nature to a portal site, could attract was difficult.
Thinking up to this point, Tim Connor suddenly asked curiously,
“Is it okay to disclose such a business concept so openly?”
“Of course.”
Lee Hyun-woo confidently nodded.
“It’s a business anyone can do, but not everyone can succeed.”
