As a key project that igritte has been quietly incubating, all aspects have been considered clearly. Perhaps it is because of too clear thinking that the design of the first version of the home page was directly killed by Simon.
Because it's too cumbersome.
Simon has a deep memory of the classified information websites in his memory. At a glance, a lot of redundant information rushes into the eye, so that you don't know what to do.
The 58list team initially made a similar mistake.
In order to let users realize that their service is thoughtful enough, the initial home page planning has three screens.
Simon finally only gave a screen design space, and asked to be simple again, with the current mainstream dial-up network speed, it must also be opened instantly without waiting.
This also means that the home page basically exists in the form of full text.
In addition, most of the non mainstream classified information services have been cut off. In the short term, they focus on real estate, work and second-hand projects. In fact, they basically cover more than 80% of the classified information advertisements on the paper media platform.
The final page, in addition to the website logo and search box, is succinctly divided into four parts, with real estate, work and second-hand as the main services, and also provides a forum for customer exchange.
As a pioneer of the World Wide Web era, there is no technical problem for igrit.
The key to success is operation.
For Simon, a latecomer, he knows better than anyone the false information, network fraud and other problems that catalog websites will encounter in the process of operation.
Therefore, in the preparatory process, the formation of the legal team has become the top priority of the subsidiary.
Americans often talk with lawyers. Once they encounter fraud and other problems when seeking services on the 58list platform, they will definitely point the finger at the rich and powerful igrit for the first time.
The Internet classified information service touches the foundation of the annual revenue of the traditional paper media platform, which is as high as 20 billion US dollars. It can be imagined that as long as there is a dispute, the paper media will never be stingy to stir up the public opinion to the top and push igritte to the top.
It is almost a general trend that free Internet classified information service replaces the charging service of paper media.
Simon believes no one can stop this trend.
However, in this never calm game of industrial redistribution, the smooth development of 58list can be safeguarded to the greatest extent by establishing a strong legal team in advance and formulating clear terms of rights and responsibilities.
At the end of the last meeting before 58list went online, we had lunch together in the restaurant of igritte headquarters.
During this period, igritte has invested in a number of start-ups continuously with us $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. 58list is the only wholly-owned subsidiary of igritte similar to Facebook, Google and Amazon. Therefore, it can be seen that the senior management attaches great importance to this project.
58list's CEO, Michael novarek, 35, graduated from MIT and worked for HP for five years.
After igritte was founded, Michael novarek was hired to become one of the company's first employees.
As an energetic technology bull with a doctorate, Michael novarek has successively participated in the development of e-mail and online forum projects of igrit portal.
Simon, Bezos, Tim Bonas Lee and Michael novarek sit at a table in the dining room.
We continued to discuss some issues about the 58list business model. Aware of Michael novarek's complacency, Simon asked, "Mike, how much revenue do you think will be converted into the Internet industry in 10 years' time in the $20 billion traditional paper classified information advertising market?"
Michael novarek said: "in 10 years' time, even if the Internet's free feature can't convert the entire $20 billion output value, I believe there will still be an industry scale of about $5 billion. Moreover, low operating costs will allow us to have a very high profit margin, which is unmatched by traditional paper media. "
Simon looked at Bezos and Lee and asked, "how much do you think there should be?"
Tim Berners Lee said, "I think there should be five billion dollars."
Jeff Bezos probably felt Simon's intention and said: "what we are doing now is just classified information service similar to traditional paper media. With the development of Internet industry, 58list can provide more classified value-added services in the future, so as to further expand the market. The figure of 5 billion US dollars is not much."
Simon nodded slightly.
58list doesn't intend to pursue any profit in the short term, but during this time, igritte's team has developed more than one sustainable potential business model.
Craig catalog used to monopolize the North American market as a classified information website. Because of the founder's free operation concept, although it has such a large amount of traffic, its annual revenue is only a few hundred million dollars.Of course, after many years of development, there are only a few dozen employees, and the profit margin brought by Craig catalog's annual revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars is also terrible. As a result, super Internet giants such as Yahoo, Google and Facebook have tried to enter the classified information market one after another.
The key to the success of Craig catalog lies in free and monopoly.
This time, igritte company started its layout ahead of time, and it is even easier to form a de facto monopoly in this market relying on its own advantages.
However, it is also very difficult to obtain a large amount of revenue.
Simon and the other three people all expressed their views, pointed up two fingers and said: "200 million dollars."
Even Bezos, who knows Simon is throwing cold water on Michael novarek, is somewhat surprised. If 58list can only achieve $200 million in revenue in 10 years, the business is not worth continuing.
Simon didn't wait for the three to ask questions. He took the initiative to explain: "according to the free operation mode at this stage, 58list is similar to a public service platform and will continue for a long time in the future. Fortunately, our operating cost is very low. If we completely put aside the status of igritte's subsidiary, I believe that operating such a full text public service platform, even according to the user scale covering the whole Federation, only dozens of employees are needed, including office space, server expenses, etc., and the annual expenses will not exceed $20 million. "
Jeff Bezos, the three of them all have considerable technical foundation. Simon said that, and they all nodded their approval.
If it is completely a free public service platform and does not pursue commercial operation, 58list will only need dozens of employees and other expenses.
Moreover, it can ensure that 58list has almost no competitors in the field of classified information services.
After monopolizing the market, it will be very easy to ensure the appropriate commercialization on the basis of free services, and earn 200 million US dollars a year.
However, the revenue of about 200 million US dollars will probably be a limit.
The fixed cost expenditure of US $20 million will earn US $200 million in annual revenue. At that time, the small days of the platform will be very moist, but there will be no breakthrough.
Seeing that all three of them fell into thinking, Simon stopped talking and picked up the tableware to continue his lunch.
After a while, Simon's lunch was almost finished. Michael novarek said with a wry smile, "if we kill a $20 billion industry and only get a $200 million new market, would it be too much a failure?"
Simon put down the dishes and said, "from the public's point of view, it's equivalent to saving them $20 billion a year. Many people want to thank us."
Jeff Bezos said, "the paper group will want to kill us."
Simon said: "every technological change means that many industries are eliminated. When steam looms first appeared, traditional workers rushed into factories and smashed machines, but they could never recover their jobs. On the contrary, those who follow the trend to set up mechanized textile factories have made a lot of money. Steam revolution, electrical revolution, every time. Now, we are at the beginning of a new information revolution. It is inevitable that those who follow the trend will prosper and those who go against it will perish. "
Tim Berners Lee couldn't help saying, "the beginning of the great age."
"Yes," Simon said, smiling, pointing to a few of himself and others in the restaurant, "a big era we started ourselves."
When Jeff Bezos and Tim Berners Lee heard the speech, their expressions were a little more high.
Michael novarek was also excited, but he thought of what Simon had just said and said, "I'm still more concerned about my project."
Simon took back the topic he had just digged off and said, "in fact, the $20 billion industrial scale is still there. What I have just said is just the worst result. How much can be transformed depends on your work results. However, Mike, I need to remind you that 58list can continuously try to explore various business models, but never mind making money. Users should be put first. All services of 58list must follow the principle of user first. If our platform service can make users feel value for money, they will naturally take out their own pockets. On the contrary, if you think that this is a platform where swindlers are rampant, false information is rampant, and you only know how to charge but can't provide equivalent services, even if you monopolize the whole industry by taking advantage of your own advantages, compared with the potential market that could have been larger, what you will finally get is only a small cake with serious shrinkage. "
We all know the truth. It's easy to know but difficult to do.
For classified information service, what Simon can do is to remind the 58list team not to go in the wrong direction as far as possible.
Moreover, compared with igrit's huge layout in other fields, this part of the business is not the core after all. If Michael novarek messes up, Simon will decisively adjust this subsidiary to a free public service platform, which will be regarded as a public welfare act of igrit.After that day's meeting, 58list quietly went online on Wednesday, August 11.
The threat of this service to the traditional paper media is too obvious. Therefore, igrit portal did not give any publicity. In fact, it also avoided the direct explosion of user demand to a large extent and gave the 58list team relatively sufficient space to explore.
However, as a classified information service platform with the same city mode as the core, if other start-ups do it, they may only choose one or two cities to carry out business. 58list has the strong technical support of igrit, and directly covers the capital cities of 50 states and other metropolitan areas with large population after its opening.
Although it has not been widely promoted, it is a service interface application juxtaposed with Facebook, Google and Amazon on the homepage of igritte portal, and it can also log in directly through igritte mailbox. The service is completely free. In just a few days, 58list website has swarmed into a large number of users, and in just three days, the housing rental and sale, employee recruitment, and second-hand service of all sectors have been launched The number of transactions and other posts exceeded 1 million.
According to the circulation and other factors, the charging standard of classified information advertising on the newspaper platform is also different, ranging from dozens to hundreds of dollars.
58list has exceeded 1 million posts in just three days. According to the charging standard of the newspaper platform, it will bring potential losses of 50 million to 100 million US dollars to the paper media industry.
In recent years, many people do not think that the rise of the Internet industry will bring too much impact on traditional media. With the launch of 58list, we finally feel a real threat.
Even though most paper media platforms instinctively show an evasive attitude towards the popularity of 58list online, and even igritt portal itself keeps a low profile in the spirit of quietly entering the village, the launch of this online service has inevitably attracted some people's attention.
A CNN financial talk show even devoted a special topic on 58list the following Monday, detailing the popularity of the online service and its potential threat to traditional print media.
As a result, the news naturally began to spread.
In addition, the 58list interface is placed on the home page of igritte portal, which is necessary after the IE browser is opened. It is also very convenient to use, and some users who are not interested in it are quietly clicking in.
More professional real estate or recruitment information is not necessarily available in a short time, so the second-hand market has become the target of most users.
Second hand trading in the United States is very developed. Whether it's car furniture or toys and pets, as long as you want to get them, some people sell them and others buy them. What's more, this platform is not like the newspaper. It doesn't need to spend a cent. If you can sell things that you don't need for a long time, why not?
Simon remembers that many service platforms are used to hiding the potential risks of related services from users in order to expand their business.
58list didn't.
Before users post, the first thing to read is the website terms and fraud prevention statement carefully formulated by the 58list legal team to remind them of the potential risks of trading on the platform. Users can continue to post only after they click the Agree button.