Rebirth of England

Speaking of Michael Morris's name, many people who follow the development of the Internet in the United States may not have heard of it.

As a partner of Sequoia Capital, Morris has led many successful investment cases since joining the world-renowned venture capital firm in 1986, including investments in Yahoo and Google.

This time I returned to England—Morris was born in Wales, and became interested in Woaw after discovering the website in the United States.

After hearing Morris's name and Sequoia Capital's name, Khalid immediately attracted attention.

Facing the CEO of Woaw, Morris went straight to the point and directly stated his intention. He hoped to invest in Woaw on behalf of Sequoia Capital.

"If that's the case, Mr. Morris, you need to talk to my boss..."

"You mean Mr. Barron Cavendish?"

"Yes, Mr. Morris, but in England you would be better off calling him His Royal Highness the Duke of Cavendish."

…

In fact, since he was interested in Woaw, Morris naturally researched information about this company before coming to London.

Morris knew that Woaw was very different from the Internet companies he had invested in before - not just because it was a company born in England, but also because this company, unlike other Internet start-ups, was not founded by those who came from Founded by ordinary entrepreneurs, they need funds from venture capital companies like Sequoia Capital and some business guidance.

The boss of Woaw Company is Barron Cavendish. He is not only a British aristocrat, but also a very successful business operator. Therefore, he is not short of funds - in the British report released this year In the rich list, His Royal Highness the Duke, who is said to have a net worth of 1 billion pounds, ranks 35th among the richest people in Britain.

And he also has experience in running a successful business, which can be seen from the companies he owns that are currently developing well and have the largest scale in the UK.

"So what I want to know is, Mr. Morris, how can you help Woaw?"

When meeting this young and handsome British Duke, who was quite famous even in the United States, the other person asked this question with an indifferent expression. This was something Morris had asked himself before he decided to come to London.

"I know that you do not lack funds or experience in running a business, Your Highness, but what we at Sequoia Capital can bring to you is the vast market in North America and even the world."

Barron laughed when he heard Morris' words.

They are currently in Barron's office in the DS Financial Center on Financial Street.

Choosing this place to meet Morris was also intended to remind him of the financial strength he possessed.

At this moment, Barron stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the vehicles and people walking like ants on the streets of the Financial City downstairs, and said softly:

"As far as I know, Woaw is currently developing well in North America and will soon become our second largest market outside of the UK. The number of users will even surpass the UK in the near future."

"This is the reason why I came here, Your Highness, but you have to know that the center of the Internet has always been Silicon Valley, where many great companies will be born, like Yahoo and Google, and maybe there will be future ones too. The king of social networking, and the fact is that even now, there are still websites similar to Woaw, such as MySpace, which just appeared last month. At present, this website seems to be very dynamic, although the number of users is far less than that of Woaw , but in the future, who knows, maybe if we can’t invest in Woaw, we will choose MySpace..."

"oh?"

MySpace Barron knows that in the original time and space, this social networking site was once a strong rival of Facebook, and was acquired by Murdoch's News Corporation in 2005 for a high price of US$580 million, but its subsequent development was not satisfactory... …

He turned to look at Morris and said meaningfully:

"Are you threatening me? Mr. Morris."

"You misunderstood, I just told you our sincerity, Your Highness the Duke."

Morris said sincerely:

"I can predict with great certainty that, perhaps without the help of Sequoia Capital, Woaw can become a popular social networking site in Europe, but that is limited to this, because the North American market is not that easy to enter, especially for a European company. Perhaps when there are no strong competitors now, Woaw can occupy a certain market, but when everyone realizes the potential of this field, competitors, especially local competitors supported by strong capital, will soon take over the market. Occupy, this is not an unfounded guess on my part, but something that has been verified many times.”

"I'm very curious, Mr. Morris, why did you choose Woaw instead of the MySpace you mentioned? As far as I know, it is a start-up company, and it is easier for you to control more shares, and according to your In other words, MySpace, a local company in the United States, has an advantage over us in the North American market."

Facing Barron's question, Morris's eyes flashed with joy, and he said:

“I have indeed considered this, but after studying both Woaw and MySpace, I think that with our support, maybe MySpace can surpass Woaw in terms of number of users for a period of time, but in the end, it It’s very likely that we will still lose.”

"why?"

“I very much appreciate Woaw’s restraint in user registration at the beginning. This has successfully created a good social atmosphere for Woaw and the basis for real social interaction. Therefore, most of Woaw’s users participate in social networking with their real identities. , in comparison, MySpace is more virtual in nature of the Internet. Although the number of MySpace users has grown rapidly, it has also brought about many problems, including the spread of some bad information. The later it goes, the more money it will cost. They put more energy into auditing in this area, while Woaw is much easier in this area."

It must be said that Morris is indeed one of the most well-known investors of Sequoia Capital, and his vision is indeed very vicious.

“In addition, the more distinctive functions launched by Woaw, such as tagging photos, although this kind of innovation can be easily imitated, from this, I can also see your creativity, which I really appreciate. . So I would say that with the help of Sequoia Capital, Woaw can be successful and may even become the next Google. Of course, the premise is that you can gain a foothold in the American market, because the English market is the most important and largest in the world. A market, and in this market, North America is a decisive key market. Only by succeeding in the United States can it be possible to become a global giant. We can help you do this because we have been there for so many years. Success in the Internet field, and layout.”

"You're close to convincing me, Mr. Morris."

After hearing Barron's words, Morris was not in a hurry to show joy, but still looked at him calmly, and heard the young Duke continue:

"But like Sequoia Capital, there are many companies with such strength in the United States. Why should I choose you?"

"what do you mean?"

"I need you to prove your strength."