VERYCD: We're going to do Google for 1999 years.

Two years after Google, Shanghai people Huang Yimeng still remember the night of the fall of 2003 clearly. The window of autumn bursts, the window of the 21-year-old Huang Yimeng but worried, "shirtless heart have".

At that time, Huang Yimeng at home, just dropped out of Shanghai University for two months. He made a fine business plan for his "VERYCD" domain name, which he registered at the end of 2002, and plans to follow the launch of "Personal CD customization" E-commerce website. "Can make a little money, also very consistent with their own movies to listen to music hobby." Huang Yimeng recalls that, however, since January 2003 to open to netizens, VERYCD site for a long time no improvement-few, and are cameo acquaintances.

A similar feeling was once again appearing on an afternoon in the summer of 2005. The VERYCD site is at its peak, with nearly 5 million traffic per day making 8 servers nearly paralyzed. The two servers that were scheduled to be on the shelves were never in place without a license to use electricity. On the other end, constantly have netizens in the website because of overload and hit the wall. Can not think, Huang Yimeng can only help around, finally from elsewhere to find a contingency.

Changed VERYCD's growth rate has far exceeded Huang Yimeng's own imagination. Even when he was busy receiving various award-winning messages These two days, he had a feeling of dreaming. However, this does not prevent the technical youth and his website quickly known, and led to a batch of VC (referring to venture capital) investment queue.

Started with the electric mule

It all comes from a software called "Electric Mule" (eMule). This software is supported by a stylish technique called peer-to-peer (Peer to Peer acronym, END-TO-END Transmission Technology). With this technology, people can connect directly to other users ' computers, Exchange files, and not connect to the server to browse and download as they used to.

Huang Yimeng to find this software, is a complete coincidence. At that time, there were a lot of BT and Electric Donkey (edunkey) software, as well as the use of these software sites. Buried in the "Personal CD customization" site to find more audio and video materials, but he found a search link after the German Merck version (Merkur) published peer-to-peer open-source software emule software. This new concept of direct point-to-point interaction makes his eyes bright and, after use, a thrill of happiness. "So the emule of Chinese rewriting, coupled with personalized film and television music collection site creativity, the birth of the VERYCD site embryonic." "Huang Yimeng recalls.

At that time, Huang Yimeng was completely unaware that an internet age that advocated individual interaction was rolling in. His knowledge of the Internet is still in the era of creating digital heroes in Liu Yan "China. com". His good wishes at that time is "can throw the website in there, promote popularity, and then another E-commerce site with the docking, convert the popularity to wealth." So, he has to worry about every day, how to improve the site's click-through, how to let more people get used to his site to see. On the other side, some of the surrounding popular search sites and portals, but also often let him jealous.

VERYCD to the day to visit the number of 200 people to record, Huang Yimeng deliberately cut screen to celebrate. But soon, he began to cut the screen. "First hundreds of people hundreds of people to increase, and then tens of thousands of people tens of thousands of people climbed, by the end of 2003, VERYCD Day visits to 1 million, squeezed the Chinese channel's virtual host." "He said with a smile.

The sudden rise in the number of daily visits, let Huang Yimeng began to reflect. "What triggers this market?" "Why is it so fast?" "Is this speed terrible?" "Is the inherent idea of developing e-business outdated?" "Should it be done first, or just follow suit?" ”...... The problems were constantly popping up in his head, which made him very excited. In the confusion of the unknown direction, he seems vaguely to see that the core value of the Internet is beginning to return to the essence of technology, a desirable interaction, interaction, participation, sharing network is being born. Accordingly, VERYCD so originally silently in do information to share a service of personal website, also be bound to be able to embody own business value in this network age.

But this is just the beginning. What's the next step? This has become the problem that Huang Yimeng must face. The Chinese Internet in the 2004 has missed the trend of selling ideas. VC is increasingly sensible of investment, similar peer-to-peer site is not uncommon. Huang Yimeng could not have sold VERYCD like the digital heroes of the past, and then pulled back.

Whether active or passive, the results are the same-Huang Yimeng finally came forward and decided to fight. Soon, VERYCD ushered in the first server, and ended Huang Yimeng's Soho identity. In May 2004, he rented a 10-square-metre cabin in Shanghai's Tianshan Mountain, organizing his own entrepreneurial team for the first time--two of the 3-person team were just students who came to help.

Determine revenue model

The future of VERYCD is full of imagination. But this is not a "free ride", even in terms of financial figures. Back to the income model, according to Analysys International New media Research analyst Chen Haiying introduced, at that time the Peer-to-peer website mainly uses three kinds of methods--the software collects the use fee, the advertisement is embedded in the software as well as the direct auction website advertisement position. What's more, some peer-to-peer websites have been added to the content with profit points, regardless of the site's becoming unrecognizable.

As a pure Peer-to-peer website, it is a VERYCD choice to auction advertising and to accept sponsorship as a source of income. Even in the number of ads, the site also insists that "no more than two per page, no amount of money will be added." Not without temptation. With the total number of visits exceeding 100 million and 200 million, the temptation from advertisers is more pronounced. On the other side, the feedback from the Netizen is not optimistic-they raise objections, the page appeared on the ad bit too much, will consume the pleasure of the site experience. The game between The Advertiser and the Netizen wins the latter.

Such an outcome is not without warning. 2000, just learned to surf the internet, Huang Yimeng write down "Let the toll site to die" this sentence. After many years, he still felt that he had not said the wrong thing. As part of the "MP3 sharing program", many of the "toll-download sites" that were made to profit from the downloading of pirated music were also really dead after that. Because, "in the era of sharing the Internet is understandable, but if at the expense of technical neutrality, then this profit will not be long." ”

This is the first lesson that VERYCD learned from other peers. Later, when the early "do not do" Peer-to-peer Web site, the lesson was further elaborated as-first not to commercialize prematurely, second, focus on peer-to-peer technology. "Some peer-to-peer companies always try to do a lot of things at the same time, they almost forget their own business." "The yellow one Meng sigh way."

When he said this, Huang Yimeng had moved VERYCD from Tianshan Road to the city's Jiangsu Road, the office area from one room to two rooms upgraded to a hall. More importantly, at this time, his entrepreneurial team came to another technical youth Daiyunjie. Dai is Huang Yimeng's high school classmate, claiming that "since net, life has only done one thing: learning the Internet." ”

Reject VC

Two of like-minded young people encounter a piece, but also the "G-fans (Google admirers)" characteristics to play to the extreme-focus on technology, and technical excellence. They even set a VERYCD purpose: VERYCD will never let users who use emule pay money.

The direction of progress has since been clarified. Peer-to-peer and Open-source software is creating a culture of freedom--when users use emule, accidentally found himself did not think of the resources to find, this excitement is the pursuit of VERYCD, and VERYCD after the development of functions, not chasing "technology more high-end, more popular, how much investment can be melted", Just want to let the user see after, have a heartbeat of excited: Originally still can play like this.