Baidu founder Robin Li: Teaching Baidu’s entrepreneurship
On Christmas Day 1999, when all the poor and rich in the East and the West were praying to God at home, Robin Li walked through the clouds Po Wu was about to return to China. Obviously, on this day, Robin Li on the plane was closer to God than most people on the earth.
Eight years ago, when he went to the United States, it was also Christmas. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or intentional, but Robin Li spent the two most critical days in his career with God. But this time, he is going back to China to work in the search engine business, and his biggest competitor is Google, which is called "God" by Western netizens.
He is determined to become a challenger to "God".
Baidu actually opened in March 2000. Except for finance, cashier, and administration, all technical staff were employed. Robin Li and Xu Yong also worked as Sales. There were 5 full-time technical staff, and the others were all part-time. Students from Peking University and Tsinghua University. It’s not that he doesn’t want to recruit more technical personnel. Robin Li laments that there are too few domestic talents who really understand search engine technology, so he has to train them while working.
Robin Li’s new company was located in the Resource Building of Peking University. This place is close to Peking University and across the Fourth Ring Road from Zhongguancun. It is very suitable for technology entrepreneurship. His location-selection techniques were learned from Silicon Valley. Many IT startups in Silicon Valley have their offices around Stanford University, making it convenient for teachers and students to work part-time. The early Silicon Valley startups, to put it mildly, “developed on the shoulders of Professor Terman and his students!”.
There are just two rooms left in Peking University’s Resource Building. Room 420 is at the corner of the corridor. It is larger and suitable for technical staff to work together. Room 406 is right in the middle of the corridor, less than 20 square meters. Robin Li put the finance, Administrative arrangements are in there. Robin Li's own office is located by the window in Room 420. Looking sideways from the window, he can see all the buildings in Building 43 where he lived when he was studying at Peking University. Every night, the lights in Building 43 always remind him of his infinite thoughts about university life. remember.
Peking University Resource Building is surrounded by green trees. The old locust tree downstairs is at least 30 years old. That summer, cicadas exploded their nests in this tree, and the whole night was endless Chirping non-stop, like holding an endless seminar. The lights are on in Room 420 all night. Some people are sleepy and lie down on the chairs to sleep; some people really can't hold back their sleepiness, so they go to the toilet to wash their faces and return to the computer to continue working; "smokers" have obvious ways to resist the dark night. More, take a chair, smoke in the aisle next to the toilet, and listen to cicadas singing night songs. Baidu was born in such an environment like a campus folk song, and it took 2 years to capture 80% of the Chinese search engine market. In early 2002, the company moved to the more spacious Haitai Building.
March 2002, Beijing. It's the coldest day of spring. The Spring Festival has just passed, and the company is filled with the aftermath of the New Year.
Robin Li spent the New Year in the United States. He saw his wife and children, and within 10 days, he hurried back to China. The American "Christmas" holiday has long passed, and Google is stepping up its expansion in the Chinese market at this time.
He recalled that he returned to China on Christmas Day in 1999 and was determined to fight "God" in his homeland. For more than two years, Baidu's skills in the battle with Google in China were still insufficient. After Google launched the Chinese version in September 2000, at least 5 million Internet users in China started using Google.
Baidu’s New Year suddenly became tense. According to Robin Li’s opinion, the members of the “Lightning Project” headed by Lei Ming must “make Baidu Engine fully compete with Google technically within 9 months, and some indicators need to Leading Google..."
Lei Ming is a 2000 master's degree graduate from the Computer Science Department of Peking University. He is well-known in school. According to Robin Li, Lei Ming is indeed a genius in search engines.
Thunder's "Lightning Team" quickly took action. Robin Li also gave them specific targets, requiring that after the "Lightning Plan" is completed, Baidu's daily page views (Pageviews) will be 10 times more than before, the daily download database content will be 30% more than Google's, and the page response speed will be as fast as Google's. , the frequency of content updates exceeds that of Google.
That summer, it was extremely hot.
In addition to making huge technological innovations, the members of the "Lightning Team" also made new inventions. They bought a remote-controlled toy car and put the disks and documents that needed to be exchanged in the toy car. Anyone who needs anything can be transported there by truck, which saves a lot of legwork. Others bought scooters and stood on them to go to the financial office to report accounts. The "Lightning Team" is busy having fun, a ball of enthusiasm.
In August 2002, Robin Li was still dissatisfied with the progress of the "Lightning Project" and decided to personally serve as the team leader and lead the team members in research and development. Due to his deep technical accumulation in search engines and his deep understanding of the world's cutting-edge technologies at that time, his joining indeed made the progress of the "Lightning Project" significantly faster than before. By December 2002, the old downstairs The old locust tree dropped its last leaf, and the "Lightning Plan" in the new building was finally completed, and a busy period of hard work came to an end.
Robin Li's "Lightning Plan" involved a total of 15 people. Some people jokingly called it a "field platoon." At the beginning, some team members were worried. Google had 800 people, a reinforced battalion, "We are fighting Can you make it?" Robin Li was still hospitalized in Guang'anmen Hospital in April. He encouraged everyone: "We are 'fighting' in our own country. Aren't you usually dissatisfied with Google this time? Let’s get started, who is afraid of whom?”
The results of the “Lightning Plan” are brilliant. In Baidu, some people quietly deleted the Google link and confidently used their own Baidu. Bi Sheng led Baidu's marketing team, visiting customers during the day and the media at night, and started a "lightning plan" for promotion. They want every Chinese netizen to understand that China’s own search engine is no worse than Google.
After the successful conclusion of the "Lightning Project", the company did not hold a "celebration party." Robin Li took everyone to play in the suburbs twice, which was a reward for everyone.
Baidu still has a long road ahead. Compared to his counterparts in Silicon Valley, Robin Li is just more familiar with China's roads. "21st Century Talent News" article/Li Hesheng Yang Zi
Robin Li: Seven tips for starting a business
The first tip: look forward two years
Back then Robin Li was in the United States When you gave up your easy-to-get doctorate and started your own business, the most popular thing in the American IT industry was e-commerce. Countless people are trying their best to get on board this promising Internet train, even abandoning the industry they are familiar with.
Robin Li did not follow the trend into the field of e-commerce, but quietly entered the field of online search that few people are interested in. Because he saw the huge impact search could have on the online world.
Robin Li warned young people who are eager to try: they must have a perspective of two years ahead. If you follow the trend and catch up with the trend, you will probably end up with scraps.
The second trick: Promise less, deliver more
-- "How long will it take to complete this project?"
-- "6 months."
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--"Can four months be enough? I'll give you 50% more remuneration."
--"I'm sorry, I can't do it."
This is A conversation between Robin Li and a customer when he started his business. Later, the customer told him that he was very satisfied with Robin Li's rejection, because it reflected that Robin Li was a very real and steady person, so the quality of his products would be guaranteed.
The third trick: Borrow money when you don’t need the money
In the process of starting a business, "If you have money, you can travel all over the world, but if you don't have money, it's hard to move forward" is an unbreakable truth. In the Silicon Valley of the United States, companies are founded every day because of venture capital, and companies are closed down every day because of lack of money. Robin Li believes that one must seek investment from investors when money is not needed.
Using one year to do half a year’s work is Robin Li’s style. He believes that this can ensure that half of the money is still under his control. If you borrow money from investors under such circumstances, you will be in an invincible position. Because "even if I can't borrow it, my company won't collapse immediately."
In this case, new start-up companies can behave like men when seeking investment, and only then can they discuss specific matters with investors on an equal footing. When investors see that the company's economic status is good, they think that the company is operating well, and they will be happy to invest.
"Don't hand over the initiative to investors easily. No one will be charitable in the process of starting a business." Robin Li warned young entrepreneurs, "You must borrow the next step when you are not short of money. The money you need."
The fourth trick: diversify customers
In the early days of starting a business, entrepreneurs often laugh because they have one or two fixed large users. "Maybe I won't be able to cry even if I want to cry soon," Robin Li said.
When he first returned to China to start his own business, the company mainly served several major portal websites. These major websites account for more than 10% of the company's revenue. The loss of any customer will have a great impact on the company's efficiency.
"Destiny can only be in your own hands, never in the hands of others."
Tip 5: Don't pursue profits too early
Too early To achieve profits effectively is to significantly reduce investment in technology.
Robin Li believes that an innovative company must require large-scale investment in technology. Only in this way can we remain in a leading or even monopoly position in technology. And this kind of leadership will definitely bring big returns to the company in the future. It is irrational to declare profits at the expense of the long-term interests of the company.
The sixth tip: Focus on your own field
In the four years since the company was founded in 1999, the Internet world has gone through a lot of changes, and "online games" and "text messaging platforms" have become stronger. When it comes to the market, many people are the first to get there and make a lot of money; many people follow the trend and get their heads broken. And Robin Li said that he was only doing one thing: searching.
He said that many people had encouraged him to get involved in online games, text messaging and other fields, but Robin Li did not do so. In his eyes, his company and his field still have deep potential that can be tapped. All he has to do now is to constantly renovate the search field.
"In the next few years, Baidu will only develop in the search field." Robin Li said.
Tip 7: Maintain passion
An innovation process is definitely not a smooth process. Without enough love and passion, it will be difficult for entrepreneurs to persevere. Therefore, Robin Li said to young entrepreneurs, first ensure your love and passion for this business, and then start a business.
"I chose to give up my PhD to start a business, not for money, but really out of love for this industry. At the same time, I did not completely ignore money factors, but I always believed : In today's society, as long as you give the society good products, the society will definitely give you more rewards. ""Beijing News" article/Jiang Li Profile
Robin Li, graduated in 1991. in information management from Peking University, and then went to the State University of New York at Buffalo to complete a master's degree in computer science. During his 8 years in the United States, Mr. Robin Li successively served as a senior consultant for Dow Jones, a designer of the real-time financial information system for the online version of the Wall Street Journal, and a senior engineer at the internationally renowned Internet company INFOSEEK. He is an authority in the field of new generation Internet technology. expert. The real-time financial system he designed for Dow Jones is still widely used on the websites of major Wall Street companies, including the online version of the Wall Street Journal.
Robin Li first created ESP technology and successfully applied it to the INFOSEEK/GO.COM search engine. GO.COM's image search engine is another of his technological innovations that has great application value.
In 1996, he first solved the problem of how to perfectly combine ranking based on web page quality and ranking based on relevance, and thus obtained a US patent;
In 1998, Mr. Robin Li Based on his experience of working and living in Silicon Valley, he published the book "Silicon Valley Business War" in mainland China, which received praise from all walks of life;
At the end of 1999, he returned to China with venture capital and co-founded with his friend Mr. Xu Yong *** Baidu Network Technology Co., Ltd.;
In 2001, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten New Entrepreneurs in China";
In 2002, he won the title of the first "Top Ten IT Figures";
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In 2003, he was once again awarded the title of "Top Ten IT Figures";
On January 15, 2004, he was elected to the second session of "Thirteen New Talents in Beijing".
Reference material: China MBA Education Network