The Best Director

Chapter 331: What a Great Idea

“Dear, dear!” A cheerful thumping of footsteps rang down the corridor, and before she arrived, the joyful laughter had already reached the study. With his tail wagging happily, Danny rushed in first, followed by Wang Yang and Chen Shijun turning their heads to look as Jessica, dressed casually, hurried in. She wore a radiant smile and ran towards Wang Yang without stopping, “I’ve recovered! I’m completely recovered!” It was then that she noticed Chen Shijun and quickly stopped, suppressing her excitement, she greeted him with a smile, “Oh! Hello, you must be Steve Chen. Yang told me about today’s meeting. I am Yang’s wife, Jessica.”

Chen Shijun certainly knew who the amazing Yang’s wife was. Their love story had been highly followed from the beginning. He politely stood up, “Mrs. Wang, hello, Steve Chen.” After Wang Yang made a brief introduction, Chen Shijun, not a big name in Silicon Valley, self-proclaimed as “aside from the magical Yang, I am the most fashionable person in the IT industry.” This was one reason he sought out this stylish Chinese engineer with spiky hair, wearing earrings, and pointed leather shoes. However, he felt that Chen Shijun was much more fashionable than him, since he would never get his ears pierced or wear earrings.

“Wait!” Wang Yang suddenly understood Jessica’s cry and shouted out in a mix of surprise and delight, “Oh my! You’re all better?” Jessica nodded excitedly; all the indicators on the latest medical report were normal! Wang Yang spread his hands above his head, “Wow!” If it weren’t for company, he would have already tightly embraced and kissed her. He couldn’t help but wave his fists with a laugh, “That’s great, that’s great!” Chen Shijun, the third wheel, smiled broadly and offered his congratulations, “Congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you, Steve. Sometimes, illness strikes suddenly and becomes a terrible disaster.” After the couple expressed their gratitude, Wang Yang couldn’t help but reflect on the unusual past few months, looking at Jessica with a smile, “Thankfully, we have now rebuilt our home.”

Meeting his smile, Jessica’s heart was filled with sweet happiness. Since the moment she fell ill on set, his meticulous care and love deepened her understanding of her husband, marriage, and love; she also remembered how he had always cherished and protected her over the years. This touch of emotion, light yet deeply embedded in her bones, often made her feel impulsive like now, to rush into his embrace without any second thoughts.

“Oh!” Wang Yang caught her off guard, and as he embraced her, he leaned down to kiss her forehead, which was exposed due to the headband she was wearing, and turned to their guest with a smile, “We’re just so happy.” Chen Shijun chuckled and shrugged. Jessica boldly tiptoed and planted a kiss on Wang Yang’s cheek, bursting into childlike laughter, knowing that he still had some earnest IT business to discuss. She said with a smile, “You guys continue talking! I’ll go prepare some snacks.” She glanced at the tea set on the coffee table and walked out with a sweet smile, “Danny, come with me, don’t disturb Yang… there will be dessert!”

The enthusiastic Danny, who had been hovering around Chen Shijun, immediately turned and ran off. The snazzy IT engineer’s charm couldn’t compete with the prospect of treats. Situating themselves back on the couch, Wang Yang laughed, “If that was too mushy for you, I apologize.” Upon hearing this, Chen Shijun burst into laughter, “No, not at all, I’m a fashionable person myself.” Wang Yang nodded with a smile, “I know, which is why let’s create a fashionable website together, what do you think?” The two resumed their previous conversation.

In reality, the two had already discussed a lot. Having spent many years in Silicon Valley and becoming a millionaire, Chen Shijun was naturally not a fool. Nor was he any cunning, ambitious person. Similar to many IT folks who could bury their heads and write code for days on end, he was an enthusiastic, impetuous big boy, sometimes shy, liking fashion, and afraid of a dull life. He feared being shackled by the traditional Asian stereotypes, much like Jerry Yang, Kevin Spacey, and others had been non-conformists of different eras.

Like many young people his age, Chen Shijun was one of the first to know about “Paranormal Activity,” “High School Musical,” the video blog Showyourself, and the text and picture blog Blogger. Although the former was not as well-known, visited, or valuable as the latter and was mostly left to fend for itself, it was still the leader among many video sharing websites. This year on February 1st, Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” happened during the Super Bowl halftime show, and not long ago, on October 15th, comedian Jon Stewart on the live CNN debate show “Crossfire,” accused the hosts of failing in their duties…

If the television news websites didn’t offer the videos, even Showyourself couldn’t satisfy people’s desire to “see for themselves” immediately. Wang Yang had recently discussed this with Chad Hurley at a party; their friends who missed the live broadcasts were calling, emailing, and searching online, dismayed that they couldn’t “witness with their own eyes.” This indicated that people wanted to watch and share videos at their convenience, rather than wait for the “unidirectional indoctrination” of TV stations; it also showed that Showyourself had fallen behind, and a new video website suited for the times was due.

Perhaps in a few years, everyone would understand this, but now, not many had thought of or achieved these things, and they realized this was a good entrepreneurial direction. However, at this moment, the “outdated” Wang Yang confidently and leisurely shared more with him. It wasn’t just about sharing incidents that happened by chance, or some funny clips from parties. He talked about creating paid videos, partnering with film companies to build an online cinema… This was to be an infinitely large online TV station! Wang Yang said, “I have a complete plan. One day, video websites will host presidential debates.”

When Chen Shijun realized with a sudden clarity how clear-headed and far-sighted Wang Yang was, he knew that video blogging was indeed a great business opportunity. But collaborating with the incredible Yang would be an even better choice. It didn’t matter with whom he built a new website; once Showyourself completed its upgrade and reform, the other new and old video websites would hardly stand a chance. Why not? There were plenty of technicians and engineers, but ideas and opportunities were the key to a successful breakthrough for an IT website.

This was an extremely fortunate partnership opportunity. He had technical expertise; the incredible Yang was even better than a venture capitalist, with financial resources, creative ideas, promotional ability, and connections across various industries…

“Yang, of course, I would be delighted and honored to partner up!” Chen Shijun had already considered it and had his answer, happily accepting the offer, “Someday, video websites will host presidential election debates.” The vision described earlier in the charming voice excited him, surging with the unique thrill of entrepreneurship! Over there, Wang Yang also burst into laughter, “That’s great, just great!” Suddenly, Chen Shijun remembered something and quickly said, “But, I hope I can bring in two of my friends to partner up, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. They’re very good with technology. Alone, I wouldn’t be enough to complete the upgrade of Showyourself. We need brainstorming.”

“GOOD-GUY?” Wang Yang asked noncommittally, as he was aware that programming, like preparing and editing, was hard to perfect alone, and having multiple partners was expected. He needed technical talent.

Chen Shijun nodded approvingly and introduced them, “GREAT-GUY! Chad Hurley is 27 years old, married for four years, mature and steady. He’s particularly skilled in HR and management; Jawed Karim is 25, German, a very meticulous technical expert. Many core components of PayPal, including the real-time anti-fraud system, were designed and written by Karim. They’ll be important members.”

Since he had invited Chen Shijun to partner up, Wang Yang had already inquired about him, including his abilities and character, as they weren’t familiar with each other to begin with. Now, the two friends he recommended should also be reliable, and it was just an initial intention now. Thinking it over, Wang Yang nodded with no objections, smiling, “If that’s the case then I welcome them. You know I have too much to do. I originally wanted you to be the CEO of the new company, but it sounds like Chad Hurley might be more suitable?” Seeing Chen Shijun say YES, Wang Yang continued, “OK, Hurley will be CEO, you’ll be CTO. And…”

His calm and serious tone revealed a decision: “I’ll hold 51% of the shares, you 20%, Hurley 15%, Karim 9%, Evan Williams 5%. I’m putting in 5 million US Dollars as the founding capital, and you guys bring in the technology.”

This sounded as if they were children playing house, deciding who would be Superman and who would be the villain. But hearing these leader-like words made Chen Shijun feel slightly breathless. The percentage wasn’t overbearing at all; a 20% share was worth a million dollars. However, the emotions, neither repressed nor excited, weren’t about the money. It was something about the incredible Yang bringing unspoken pressure. What was it? Just as he was about to say something, Wang Yang started laughing, “But don’t think this 5 million is for everyone to live in villas and call over a bunch of girlfriends for parties, absolutely not! You’d be lucky to get a garage, we won’t be flush with funds. We need the smoothest servers, the best websites! And don’t think I’ll dump money into this again soon, or take out loans and financing, no! We’ll start everything from scratch, this is our new company, and not only is it unrelated to Showyourself, they are enemies! We will knock them down, knock down Wang Yang, knock down all the current video websites, got it?”

“Yes!” Chen Shijun felt the pressure receding, replaced by a slowly burning passion. Five million was an excellent starting point, but they couldn’t start getting comfortable. They needed to maintain the drive for entrepreneurship and coding!

“One thing I want to make clear now, nobody should think about making the website succeed only to sell it to Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, or any of that stock exchange and merger nonsense. I would never agree to it.” Wang Yang looked very seriously at Chen Shijun. Evan Williams from Blogger had once been tempted to accept Google’s acquisition offer but was persuaded by Wang Yang to return. His goal was to build a world of internet sharing, strong enough to support the world of Cinema Paradiso. Blogs and video blogs were an important part of that. Wang Yang earnestly said, “We don’t need support from big companies; we will be the big company, a new monster. Do you have that confidence?”

“…Of course!” Chen Shijun nodded with a goofy smile. If someone else had said this to him, like Chad Hurley, Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, he might have lacked confidence; but when the incredible Yang said it, he was confident! Who would look down on the incredible Yang’s achievements in the IT industry? As far as he knew, Firefly Corporation already owned websites like the women’s portal iVillage, and Wang Yang personally was the largest shareholder of Blogger, owning an unknown number of Google shares. Now it seemed that the long-quiet Showyourself was about to make a spectacular entrance, or more precisely, the new website.

Remembering his own outdated contempt, Chen Shijun couldn’t help but sincerely compliment him, “Yang, you really should spend more time in Silicon Valley, let everyone see your full potential, haha!”

“No, no, no, that’s not it,” Wang Yang burst into laughter. Why had people been pushing him toward Silicon Valley ever since middle school? Was he really that talented, even though he got into computers for gaming and movies, not coding? Glancing at the doorway of the study, Wang Yang shrugged with a chuckle, “My high school girlfriend would say that all the time, Stanford, Stanford, Stanford… She really wanted me to go to Silicon Valley. But honestly, dude, I could edit non-stop for days and nights without sleeping, but programming? C++? I just don’t have the knack for it. I’m good with how things are now, don’t worry, I’m very, very interested in video blogging.”

Chen Shijun laughed, understanding that if interests didn’t align, both options could become exceedingly tedious. He asked, “For the ‘Firefly’ trailer?” Wang Yang raised his eyebrows and replied with a twinkling smile, “That will be the first video on the new website.” ‘High School Musical’ had led to the creation of Showyourself, and ‘Firefly’ was bringing about a new website. Chen Shijun exclaimed, “Its value could be huge if it succeeds.” Whether or not the concept of video blogging would work was still an unknown. If it did succeed, and they sold it to a big company at the right time, he wondered, could it be worth a hundred million US dollars? Three hundred million? Five hundred million?!

“I have to say, don’t underestimate the box office of ‘Firefly,’ haha!” Wang Yang caught on to Chen Shijun’s implication that “the value of the website could exceed the very reason for its existence” and jokingly quipped before saying earnestly, “You know? Right now, doing anything for me, whether it’s making commercial films or launching IT websites, making money is not the goal; otherwise, I could’ve retired a long time ago.” Listening to these heartfelt words, Chen Shijun nodded; he, too, had felt this way after getting his share of two million from Paypal.

Wang Yang shrugged, “When I was a kid, I thought having a million would let me travel the world worry-free; later, considering family and girlfriends, ten million should be enough, right? And now…” Now he had lots and lots of money and could travel the world countless times; but career and ambition weren’t so simple. Didn’t Helen know that? He loved making movies and TV series, loved the way ‘Cinema Paradiso’ made the audience laugh and cry, loved creating scenes people wanted to see.

It was about more than just the infinite worlds in the big screen where you could indulge all your ideas; just think, all the spoof versions of ‘Firefly’ trailers filling up the internet, how interesting! The whole world moved by ‘Firefly,’ how interesting! Just as ‘The Big Bang Theory’ might change how people see nerds in the future, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ might change views on homosexuality, ‘Firefly’ might also change some perceptions… How interesting!

These things truly couldn’t be encompassed by the term ‘assets’; of course, money is a good thing, it can make life better for oneself and one’s family, it allows unrestricted investments in filming all kinds of movies and TV series, changing the world, helping those in need, and ensuring the Firefly Corporation continues to grow in influence, unthreatened by takeovers.

As many thoughts flashed through his mind, Wang Yang became even more interested in this new video blogging website. Looking at Chen Shijun who was also deep in thought, he smiled and asked, “Any ideas for the name of the site? I always think of Showyourself, but we need a new look.”

“Umm…” Chen Shijun had discussed this topic with Chad Hurley. It seemed to hinge on the same idea as ShowYourself, like Broadcast-Yourself, only that name was too long, and ‘Broadcast’ was much harder to remember and type than ‘Show,’ so they thought it could only serve as a slogan. A name for the website? Suddenly recalling Wang Yang’s mention of an “online TV station,” he pondered, “Hmm, OLTV? O-L-T-V? YOUTUBE? T-U-B-E?”

“YouTube?” Wang Yang paused at the mention, finding the name vaguely familiar as if it had appeared in ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ Who knew what changes would occur in the orbits of this world and that! But it definitely bolstered confidence in Chen Shijun’s trio. As for YouTube, that name… Wang Yang mumbled it a few times. OLTV seemed simpler and more straightforward, but it might make people think of traditional TV concepts, or even seem like an official TV station website, thus causing people to shy away. A successful website’s name had to be trendy and cool, like Yahoo! or Google, with a simple and attractive letter combination and a double syllable domain, plus a young and unique vibe to draw people in majorly.

TUBE is the slang for television, not as formal as TV, making YouTube your own TV channel, sounding like YouTo and looking like YouToBe; it’s pretty fun. Wang Yang snapped his fingers with a satisfied smile, “OK, let’s go with YouTube!” Chen Shijun nodded happily, and Wang Yang added, “I will spend more money to acquire similar domain names like YouToBe, YouTuB, YuTuBe, YoungTube, and set them to redirect to YouTube, to avoid any hassles later on.”

“That would be best,” agreed Chen Shijun, without objecting, although it seemed a bit presumptuous and precautionary. Wang Yang, however, didn’t have this consciousness and joked, “Let’s distribute these domain names, they’re all good websites. YoungTube is mine, which one do you want? YuTuBe?” As the initial intentions for the new website were seemingly agreeable, and from their conversation, Chen Shijun had a hint of his “plan” – to acquire iVillage, Blogger, reject Google’s acquisition, and rebuild the video blog…

It was definitely a big plan; Chen Shijun thought for a moment and said seriously, “Yang, if you’re interested in investing in any good websites, I recommend The-Facebook. I’ve just left there, but this college social network has great potential. Keep an eye on it.”

Online communities, message boards, and social networking sites were nothing new with examples like Classmates, a campus alumni site that went live in 1995; the business networking site LinkedIn, which launched last year; and The-Facebook, originally only for Harvard University but now for several universities, which launched this year. However, in September of this year, The-Facebook was embroiled in lawsuits, yet secured about five hundred thousand US dollars in angel investment from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel.

As a former The-Facebook employee, Chen Shijun gave a detailed account of these events and explained why he was optimistic about the website, as if he was presenting his credentials. He ended with a laugh, saying, “Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, is a fan of yours; he often gets jealous.”

“You mean your sister?” Wang Yang asked with a sly grin. Chen Shijun immediately shook his head and chuckled, “No, not her.” Wang Yang also burst into laughter, “I’m a married man now. If that guy gets jealous, could he reject my investment? Haha! Steve, why did you leave The-Facebook? To start your own business?” Chen Shijun shrugged, “Life was too dull, I wanted to venture out on my own; and The-Facebook had its problems, Zuckerberg often thought about going back to study at Harvard. If it weren’t for Sean Parker, it would have closed down already.”

The-Facebook? Wang Yang nodded thoughtfully, No matter whether it was predicting from the present or the information from ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ social networking sites indeed had great prospects. But he couldn’t muster any IT interest, otherwise, he would have chosen Stanford long ago. Only investments like Google’s did appeal to him. He said with a smile, “OK, I’ll keep an eye on it; the opportunity to make an investment isn’t bad, just don’t burden me with too much! My God, ‘Firefly’ and YouTube are keeping us busy enough. But…” he questioned, “Why not just drop ‘The’ and call it Facebook? Is the domain in someone else’s hands?”

“Yes, I remember it’s with AboutFace corporation, they’re asking for a lot.” As soon as Chen Shijun finished speaking, Wang Yang suddenly burst out laughing, “I’ve got a great idea! How about, for this domain name purchase, I also buy Facebook as a gift. Mark Zuckerberg would have no reason to be jealous, haha.” This guy was even more overwhelming than Sean Parker, Chen Shijun didn’t know what to say, “That’s really a good idea.”

The two of them chatted for a while longer and at that moment, Danny burst in excitedly, followed by a cheerful Jessica carrying a tray of refreshments. With a charming smile, she said, “Gentlemen, the refreshments are here!”

“Wow, that’s great! But… it’s too late, we’ve finished our discussion.” Wang Yang feigned disappointment to tease her, and just as Jessica put the refreshment tray on the coffee table, she let out a surprised “WHAT?” Looking at the disheartened Wang Yang and Chen Shijun’s honest grin, she clasped her hands together as if she had a brilliant idea, “WELL, how about we talk a little longer?” Wang Yang started to smile, “Sure! We have plenty of topics left anyway, Steve.” He looked at Chen Shijun, picked up a refreshment, and with a laugh asked, “Halloween is coming soon, ready to watch a horror movie? ‘Saw II’ perhaps?”

※※

※※

※※

PS: Thank you so much for your support, everyone. The New Year’s double monthly ticket event has started, cast your votes! ^0^(.)