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Searching for the Stars: How Yang and Filo Took Their Business to New Heights

Article Overview: “I think that it's always possible to have a great company if you have great ideas,” says Yang. “I will say that since the web has become more commercialized, it also takes some good financial resources to build a great business, but as I always say, you have to have the idea first.”

Searching for the Stars: How Yang and Filo Took Their Business to New Heights

“I think that it's always possible to have a great company if you have great ideas,” says Yang. “I will say that since the web has become more commercialized, it also takes some good financial resources to build a great business, but as I always say, you have to have the idea first.”

Yang and Filo found their idea while students at Stanford University. With little more than their own creativity and hard work, the pair managed to secure funding, launch their business, and become the poster boys of a burgeoning industry. How did they do it?

Expansion: “The time is now,” says Yang. “The Internet is still young, the opportunities ahead are tremendous, and I’m ready to rally our nearly 12,000 Yahoos around the world to help seize them.” From day one, Yang and Filo have implemented a flexible strategy of growth and expansion. By seizing new opportunities and planning ahead, the duo restricted their thinking to the long-term.

Goals: “While our business continues to grow, we need to dramatically improve our performance and I intend to put us back on a winning path,” says Yang. “There’s a lot of heavy lifting ahead, but I’m feeling good about our awesome assets, our initial progress against our challenges, and our vast opportunities if we nail down and execute against the right plan.” By assessing the company’s past and laying out clear goals for the future, Yang and Filo made sure they were ready for what was to come.

Focus: Yang and Filo are two of the first people to reflect on and be grateful for the success they have achieved thus far. Yang says, “A lot of the credit goes to the smart and great people that have since joined Yahoo!, because they took it upon themselves to make Yahoo! great.” It was in part by focusing on the team – the people working to take the company to the top – that they were able to get there in the first place.

Branding: These days, it seems as if whacky names are the norm when it comes to Internet companies. But when Yahoo! was launched, it was the first of its kind. With a name that conveyed the company’s sense of youth and creativity, Yang and Filo worked to extend that image into a branding behemoth.

Culture: “I feel pretty lucky,” says Filo. “I mean I work all day and sometimes all night, but I like the people I work with and I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing.” Yang and Filo are living their dream jobs, and they want the rest of their team to feel that way too. From creating a casual environment to providing endless on-the-job perks, the two sought to give their workers a true home away from home.

“I have absolute conviction about Yahoo!’s potential for long-term success as an Internet leader,” says Yang. “Yahoo! is a company that started with a vision and a dream and, make no mistake, that dream is very much alive. I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to transform Yahoo! into an even greater success in the future.”

Related Articles
  Lesson #5: Create a Company Culture Worth Caring About
  Lesson #3: Focus On the Inside Out
  Two Yahoos on a Roll: The Early Years of Jerry Yang and David Filo
  Lesson #1: Go With Your Growth
  Lesson #4: Give Your Business a Little Brand Aid

Article Tags: assets, challenges, creativity, financial resources, heavy lifting, initial progress, new opportunities, norm, poster boys, stanford university, term goals, yahoo, yahoos, yang and filo



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?
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Seeking partners and investors for a very ambitious project - Hello Kevin, Thank you for replying back to my message. The methods of raising capital and finding partners/investors we have tried thus far are: 1. Contacting our current and previous clients 2. Searching through the Web 3. Applying through personal links None of our efforts have failed yet. We are just exploring all the possibilities. Regards, Hasnaeen
Re: Seeking partners and investors for a very ambitious project - [quote="hasnaeen":3m7qkmyg] The methods of raising capital and finding partners/investors we have tried thus far are: 1. Contacting our current and previous clients 2. Searching through the Web 3. Applying through personal links None of our efforts have failed yet. We are just exploring all the possibilities., [/quote:3m7qkmyg] Hello, Hasnaeen. It's been a month... can you share any stories of your success to date?
Re: Seeking partners and investors for a very ambitious project - [quote="hasnaeen":350whrpx]Hello Kevin, Thank you for replying back to my message. The methods of raising capital and finding partners/investors we have tried thus far are: 1. Contacting our current and previous clients 2. Searching through the Web 3. Applying through personal links None of our efforts have failed yet. We are just exploring all the possibilities. Regards, Hasnaeen[/quote:350whrpx] Well I hope you reach your target Hasnaeen, good luck!


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