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Riding the Wave: Yang and Filo Turn Surfing into a Success
Article Overview: “It was a really gradual thing, but we'd find ourselves spending more and more time on it,” says Yang of his and Filo’s newly created online directory. “It was getting to be a burden.”
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Free Download - David Filo and Jerry Yang Quotes By David Filo Jerry Yang |
Riding the Wave: Yang and Filo Turn Surfing into a Success
“It was a really gradual thing, but we'd find ourselves spending more and more time on it,” says Yang of his and Filo’s newly created online directory. “It was getting to be a burden.”
In the first month alone, traffic to the duo’s Stanford-hosted website doubled, and kept on doubling every month thereafter. Visitors became so numerous that Stanford University administrators were getting frustrated. “They told us we were crashing their system and that we’d have to move the thing off campus,” says Yang. It was at that point that the two began seriously considering the possibilities of turning their website into a full-time business.
Yang contacted a friend of his, a student at Harvard University. As it turned out, his friend had to write a business plan for one of his classes and he agreed to use the website as his proposal. “Actually, we were doing him a favour,” says Yang. “He needed a real idea to work with.” That plan never made its way to investors, but it did help formlate a better vision for Yang and Filo, and it helped prepare them for what was to come next.
One of the early users of their site decided to introduce Yang and Filo to Michael Moritz, a venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital. Sequoia had already been involved with many of the leading Silicon Valley companies, including Apple Computer, Oracle, and Cisco Systems. Moritz liked the idea behind the website and agreed to give the pair $1 million in working cash, as well as access to some of the industry’s leading business experts, in return for a minority stake. “It was a suicide impulse on our part,” jokes Moritz. “Really, we saw it as a public service to rescue those guys from PhD land.”
With that offer on the table, Yang and Filo both took an official and indefinite leave of absence from Stanford (which they maintain today) and went to work full-time on their new venture. Other offers had come as well, but the two were happy with Moritz. “There was no bidding war,” says Filo. “We liked the deal with Sequoia. For us, the most important thing was that we could hold onto it. We really weren't into this for the money or for the fast payoff.”
The first order of business in 1995 was to rename the website. Yang and Filo decided upon Yahoo for two reasons: first, it stood for ‘Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”; and, they liked the general definition of the word: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.” Because the name was already trademarked for barbecue sauce, they added the exclamation mark to it. Yahoo! was born.
Yahoo! began as a web directory but quickly grew into a web portal, competing with new up-and-comers such as MSN, Lycos, and Excite. It began acquiring other companies to expand its range of services, including Rocketmail, ClassicGames.com, and eGroups.
In 1996, Yahoo! went public and raised $33.8 million by selling 2.6 million shares. It continued to expand, acquiring other search engines, such as Inktomi and AltaVista, and forming partnerships with the likes of Verizon for an integrated DSL service.
In 2004, Yahoo! abandoned its Google-powered search results and started using its own technology. Form there, it also increased the amount of storage for Yahoo! Mail accounts, launched Yahoo! Messenger, and acquired photo-sharing site Flickr and social bookmarking site del.icio.us.
Yahoo! became one of the few large Internet companies to survive the dot-com bubble. Today, as the Chief Yahoos of the company, Yang and Filo continue to steer it towards greater success in the face of rising competition.
Lesson #5: Create a Company Culture Worth Caring About
Two Yahoos on a Roll: The Early Years of Jerry Yang and David Filo
Searching for the Stars: How Yang and Filo Took Their Business to New Heights
Lesson #3: Focus On the Inside Out
Lesson #1: Go With Your Growth
Related Forum Posts
We are more richer today than the generations before us
- We are more blessed today than the generation before us. We are richer today than the generation before us. We have chances of making more money today than the generation before us. Few yeas ago the Internet started and more millionaires had been made on the net than the years before. In the days of old you need capital or connection to be rich, nowadays a kid with an idea and few dollars can be a billionaire within a few years. If in doubt ask Mark the creator of Facebook, he started Facebook with just $200. Alex Tew started with nothing. David Yang and Filo the Yahoo guys started with nothing. They are also billionaire today.
Bill Gate said the next generations of millionaires are going to be made on the Internet. Google had made thousands of people millionaires just for advertising on it. Clickbank had paid affiliates more than a billion dollars. Yours truly had made thousands of dollars on the internet. I am looking for the time I will make my first million dollars on the net. And don’t think it is going to be long. I will keep you posted. Are we not blessed in this generation?
On my board
- I am most creative when I am surfing.
Surfing allows me to clear up my head and see things from a different point of view.
I definitely get more creative while I'm surfing.
Re: Ways to Boost Productivity
- 1. Give Employees More Than a Paycheck
2. Provide Better eSupport Channels to Promote Self-Service
3. Complete your most dreaded tasks first thing in the morning.
4. Outsource as much as possible
5. . Turn off the TV.
On Escalade
- I've seen the ad for "Turn you on" on TV here in Toronto but not the others.
Yeah my girlfriend liked that ad too and started telling me wouldn't it be great to have one, I had to quickly remind her that one of the reasons we moved downtown was so that we could get rid of the car and plus we don't have a parking space for it.
Honestly, I was seriously considering it.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!!
- Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action).
Success - H3
Robert
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