American Life

Chapter 200 Short-term interests and long-term planning, Zygna Corporation
"Your experience reminded me of a saying. It is easy for a person to move from frugality to frugality, but the reverse is very, very difficult." Charlie shook his head and said casually.

"You're right, that's what you mean." Keira agreed.

"But that's not a bad thing at all."

"I don't know, I just feel like I'm caught between two worlds now, and the topics I have to talk to about my past friends are getting smaller and smaller." She said with a wry smile.

"You can talk to Taylor Swift more, she's very kind." Charlie suggested.

"I'll try, sir." Kayla was a little surprised, not understanding why Charlie started caring about his own life.

"Let's go, it's time to see what those people on the board of directors are doing on a daily basis." Charlie wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and then he noticed that Kayla had only eaten half of her meal.

"Okay sir." Kayla stood up hurriedly.

So Charlie shook his head again: "It doesn't matter. You can eat slowly. It doesn't matter if you are a little late."

About half an hour later, when Charlie walked into the small conference room, he saw everyone present turning their heads and looking in his direction.

Jobs crossed his arms, looked at Charlie, and then said, "You're late, Charlie Rossi. This is not a good start."

"Sorry, I may not have fully adapted to the work of the board of directors." Charlie said helplessly to everyone present, sitting at the bottom of the conference table.

He is the youngest here and has the least qualifications, so it is natural for him to sit here.

Bill Campbell, who had white hair and beard, took the initiative to greet Charlie: "That position does not belong to you, you should sit here."

He pointed to the spot next to him.

"Don't be nervous, young man, new board members will often sit next to the coach." Larry Ellison, a senior Silicon Valley boss, Oracle CEO, billionaire, and a long-time friend of Jobs, explained to Charlie the ins and outs .

He has a long, thin face and a beard that gives him the unruly spirit of a rock star.

"Is this your special welcome ceremony?" Charlie walked over with a smile and sat down next to Bill Campbell.

"I heard your advice to Steve Jobs at the shareholders' meeting yesterday. Let me tell you, your idea is great. But don't get carried away and pay attention to the time. You have to know that many people in the Silicon Valley circle have some quirks. Someone once got stuck because he was late. Lost millions of dollars in angel investments.”

"If you really want to take root here, it is necessary to pay attention to details." Bill Campbell said in a low voice next to Charlie.

Having heard about the old man's horrific resume from Victoria before, Charlie had no extra explanation and said very humbly that he would pay attention next time.

On the other side, the meeting interrupted by Charlie also resumed.

"What did I just say?" Jobs rubbed his chin.

"Content ecology, how can developers make money." Eric Schmidt, who was sitting opposite Charlie, said.

Wearing round glasses, he looks like an unconcerned technology worker.But speaking of his brilliant resume, no one will question his status in the American technology circle.

He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as a researcher at Bell Labs and Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, which is responsible for many modern computers. The birthplace of technology, including personal computers, laser printers, mice, Ethernet, graphical user interfaces, icons, drop-down menus, and voice compression technology are all related to it.

Schmidt later joined Sun Microsystems as a manager and led the development of Java platform technology. Finally, on the advice of venture capitalist John Doerr, he entered Google in 2001 and was responsible for the company's daily operations.

"Yes, we have talked about this. Do you have your own ideas on how to build an ecosystem?"

"It's very simple. Similar to the ITUNS store, we build various software centers to control the entrances to various applications. Developers create new modules and we give them a share. However, the share of the software category will increase this year, and the stock price will also increase. Correspondingly higher." Arthur Levinson, who also plays an important role in biological research, said without hesitation.

"But that will bring about a rapid increase in operating costs. We need to recruit a large number of people. If we follow the long-term plan, this is not a very wise move." Jobs thought for a while and did not agree with the proposal.

"Don't keep thinking about the future, but focus on the present. We are on the ladder. The most important thing is to step forward and correct the problems while discovering them." Arthur Levinson comforted.

Hearing this, Charlie recalled what Victoria had said before, and he finally understood why Arthur Levinson became the chief director and why the candidate he recommended would be supported...

But looking at Jobs's reaction, he didn't express his clear rejection.

Charlie was a little anxious. If he really followed Arthur Levinson's thinking, everything he had imagined before would cease to exist, so he spoke.

"Gentlemen, we need to think about a problem first. We want to create an ecology, not be farmers who water crops."

"Those developers are not immobile plants. They have their own ideas and new business models in their minds. They are animals. What we need to do is not to forcefully bury developers in the soil, but to give them Their vast world allows them to grow and hone their fangs.”

"I don't understand what you are talking about. Is this a bedtime fairy tale for your son? What Apple needs to care about is revenue!" Arthur Levinson said angrily.

"I agree with your idea, but we need to have a clear profit model." Jobs also showed his denial at this time.

"It's very simple. As long as you spend on Apple mobile phones, you need to pay a % commission to Apple." Charlie spread his hands.

From ancient times to the present, the core logic of capital is to be a "landlord".

“Free apps plus in-app purchases are ultimately the general trend.”

"What about games?" Jobs asked again.

For foreigners, the understanding of buyout games is engraved in their bones.

"Maybe there will be some new business models in the future." Charlie smiled.

Obviously they don’t realize that card-drawing games will be the mainstream in the future, money-sucking monsters that really drain players’ wallets.

"I think it's pretty good, Charlie Rossi, you are really different from others." Eric Schmidt smiled.

"At least from a business perspective, I think the plan proposed by Charlie has more potential." Bill Campbell also said.

Arthur Levinson looked around and realized that no one was there to support him.

"We are taking risks. Who knows how many Apple phones will be sold? Why not choose a simpler way?" He looked at everyone with a look of real incomprehension.

Only this time, no one paid attention to him.

·
"You have also seen that there are two forces within the company. One is more biased towards short-term gains, just like Arthur Levinson. In fact, he is an agent of major investment institutions, and they don't care. "What will happen to Apple in a few years is so illusory? We only care about whether Apple's stock price will rise tomorrow."

"On the other side is me, management, and a few other board members. We want Apple to be the best company in the world."

In the evening, Jobs and Charlie had dinner together, and Jobs talked about his current situation.

"And you, in order to keep the stock price stable, cannot ignore any party. You must maintain balance and mediation in the middle and try to satisfy everyone."

"You're right. This is called maintaining balance. This is a required course for every entrepreneur. To be honest, I really envy you. You don't need to care about anyone's eyes and maintain absolute control over your company. If If I had another chance, I would never have accepted Mike Markkula's investment that night 30 years ago."

"But if that were the case, Apple would probably cease to exist."

"Haha, you're right, who else can have as good a vision as you." Jobs sighed with emotion.

"So, we must not only focus on short-term gains, but also retain long-term planning." Charlie followed.

"Yes, I think the idea of ​​taxing Apple is good, but it still needs to be verified and used to convince some investors with practical actions." Jobs concluded.

"Then let's start with games that you all think are impossible. I know a game company that focuses on making small games on social networks. We can use money to convince them to port the product to IOS, and it will be produced in a few months. The benefits will make those short-sighted people nod." Charlie expressed his thoughts.

"I trust your judgment for the time being, but you have to be careful. This involves insider trading and profit transfer. If you are exposed, you will be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission unless..." Of course Jobs understood what Charlie said. What did the other party mean by "money persuasion", he finally realized what he meant.

"Unless it comes in the name of Silicon Valley Bank." Charlie said with a smile on his face.

"If I hadn't personally participated in this matter, I would have thought that you had traveled from the future and planned everything in advance." Jobs seemed a little unbelievable.

"Is it possible that I am a time traveler?"

"Yes, you are." Jobs laughed heartily, obviously not taking it seriously.

"By the way, this is just one of the functions of Silicon Valley Bank."

"By the way, which game company do you have your eye on?"

"zygna."

"When does the plan start?"

"The sooner the better, maybe we'll start tonight."

"You'd better not show up."

"of course."

·
"You can't guess what my boss said to me this morning."

In the car waiting outside the restaurant, Keira was sharing what happened this morning with Gal Gadot.

"He didn't hesitate to be late for the board meeting in order to let me finish breakfast. He is really a gentleman, and the tone of his inquiry, I think he definitely has thoughts about me." Kayla couldn't hide her excitement.

"Yes, you are no worse than those contracted beauty pageants." Gal Gadot covered her mouth and chuckled.

"That's natural...Why are you laughing?" Keira then realized the teasing in Gal Gadot's tone.

"According to what you say, the boss asking me to star in a movie, doesn't it mean something more? Please, this is just a trivial matter. You are delusional." Gal Gadot said in a dumbfounded voice.

"What, this is completely different from the nature of your incident." Although Keira was still speaking harshly, she couldn't help but be poured cold water on her heart.

Just when she was about to continue mentioning other details, Charlie returned to the car, and Kayla immediately chose to shut up.

On the way back to the hotel, Charlie asked the two people sitting in the front row.

"Have you ever played a social network game called "FarmVille"?"

"Of course I have. Atis is this madman. She gets up on time at three o'clock every morning and cleans up all the crops on my farm." Keira seemed to be gritting her teeth when she mentioned this.

Speaking of the domestic version of FarmVille, it is the "stealing food" that was once very popular.As a witness, Charlie also recalled the wonderful scene of setting an alarm clock to get up and steal vegetables in his previous life.

Zygna is the game developer of FarmVille. It has launched a number of social network games that are very popular in Europe and the United States, such as "cafe world", "texas holdem" and "mafia wars". The cumulative number of users worldwide currently exceeds million, and the number of users is increasing. It is still growing at a rapid pace. You must know that this is only a company that has been established for one year, and it will become a behemoth with a valuation of more than billion in the future.

"Why, do you still want to play with this? Your free time is already short enough." Kayla asked in confusion.

"Yes, I'm going to invest in the game company behind it. If possible, you have to teach me how to use it." Charlie tried to say.

"Okay." Keira responded quietly, her heart pounding wildly.

Back at the hotel, Gal Gadot smiled and waved goodbye to Keira, who followed Charlie to his room.

The moment Charlie closed the door, Kayla even felt a little difficult to breathe, and then opened the laptop she carried with her in a panic.
"Next you have to log in to your MySpace account."

"The account number is..."

He actually told himself his account and password. Only those closest to him would do such a thing!

Kayla, who was thinking crazy, took a deep breath and tried to maintain the surface calm.

"Then enter the game center..."

As the mouse moved across the table, Charlie bent closer to the screen.

"He's actually so close to me!" Kayla swallowed, her hand holding the mouse trembling.

"What's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Charlie then noticed that the assistant's reaction seemed unusual and asked with concern.

"No, I'm fine, I'm really fine." She forced a smile.

"Why are you blushing?"

"Maybe it's too hot."

Charlie ignored it for the time being and looked at the game interface.

After a while, I heard Kayla’s timid voice: “Boss, should I take a cold shower?”

Shower in my room?Charlie was a little confused, but he nodded without thinking too much.

"If you think it would be effective, of course."

So Kayla quickly got out from under Charlie's arms and walked towards the bathroom.

Charlie's attention was completely focused on the game, and after an unknown period of time, he felt Keira pat him on the back...

(End of this chapter)