From the acquisition of DoubleClick by Goole -- my dream journey post) favorites

Author: Diane Yu

I submitted my resignation on the day that Google acquired the DoubleClick message. My boss, the CIO of DoubleClick, was shocked and looked at me: "Are you crazy? Diane ??" Because he knows exactly what it means to a senior technical director like me to resign at this time. As long as the acquisition is complete, there will be a considerable number of options converted into cash, no one will resign under the temptation of such a huge amount of money. This is also true. From the time the message is sent out to today, I am the only senior supervisor who left DoubleClick. What I gave up is equivalent to the hard work income of many IT people in the United States for more than a decade.
After a long silence, he asked me if I had decided. I nodded. As a mentor and friend of mine for many years, he understands that I have never made rational decisions and will not go back as long as I have decided. Then he said that he would not bother to persuade me to stay. It would be useless, but he must know why. He doesn't believe that someone will resign in such circumstances, especially me. What I gave up was not just the conversion of options into a large amount of cash, but also the great future of managing Google. He always thought that if someone could take a higher level in his career after the acquisition, it would be me first, because I have always been his strongest Technical Deputy. Over the past nine years, I have developed one product after another in DoubleClick, trained one IT manager, and established and reorganized one team after another. In nine years, countless ups and downs, I have not left. Why should I leave now? And at such a moment!
Why?
This is because I have encountered an opportunity to turn my dream into reality.

I have always hoped to have my own business, and I want to build an ideal IT team in China. In recent years, such thoughts have become increasingly intense. I used my vacation several times to return home and learn about the IT industry in China. At this moment, I met Doug and Jon. They are looking for a partner who can help them build an IT team to achieve the ideal video network Marketization: Building a freewheel monetization Right Management (MRM) system. Undoubtedly, this is a start-up company.
What are the conditions for a startup to succeed? What do venture capitalists value most? First, your target market should be large enough for high growth. Next, your profit model should be able to see a reasonable and clear profit model. Finally, it is the most important thing, your team should have an experienced and competent team. Companies that have these three conditions are not looking for venture capital, but Vc looking for you. However, you will find that many entrepreneurial companies do not meet these conditions. If you are lucky enough to meet such a company with all the conditions, you will encounter an opportunity to turn your ideal into a reality.
This is why I am interested in FreeWheel. First, we are positioned in the video advertising market. There is no doubt that, in the United States alone, there are tens of billions of dollars in advertising budgets each year, this industry is undergoing an unprecedented revolution, from traditional media to online video. Opportunities are generated in changes. This is an everlasting truth. Secondly, we have a clear profit model. The MRM system answers a problem that no one can solve in the online video industry (I. e. "the billion dollar question"): Who has the right to sell ads when a person watches a video online? Who has the right to share? Along with the answer to this question, FreeWheel's profit model is on the paper. Finally, let's look at our team. This trio is the world's strongest online advertising industry combination. Not only is our success record in our respective domains of responsibility, but what is even more rare is our perfect combination of three capabilities: Doug was the global general manager of the DoubleClick core product DART, A team of hundreds of employees has hundreds of millions of dollars in annual marketing. This department is exactly the one that Google bought today for $3.1 billion. Jon has been in DoubleClick, Yahoo! As a key role in product planning, he once built a DoubleClick global advertising network in just a few years, making great contributions to its early take-off. At FreeWheel, Doug is responsible for marketing and management, Jon is responsible for product planning and positioning, and I just provide the ability to build IT teams and develop products. It can be said that if you believe someone can win in this field, this team is your best bet team!
I spoke to Doug and Jon about the idea of building the IT team in China for several reasons. First, it is a widely accepted concept to develop software in developing countries and reduce R & D costs. India is the leader in this market. However, the Indian market has become saturated in recent years, and labor costs have greatly increased and the quality has been declining. The three of us have a deep understanding of this. In contrast, China is just getting started, and has a large number of software developers with the same quality as India, very attractive. Furthermore, my years of experience in managing multinational R & D teams and my familiarity with online advertising needs can greatly reduce the risks of Transnational R & D for entrepreneurial enterprises. Finally, as a local Chinese, I have an advantage in this regard. They agreed with me very much and did not hesitate to say, "We support you !"
In this way, I decided to leave DoubleClick and build FreeWheel with Doug and Jon to build the R & D center in China. This is an opportunity to make my two dreams a reality at the same time. In this way, when the entire DoubleClick was immersed in the joy of being acquired by Google, my resignation was handed to the CIO's desk.
Since we started our business, we have encountered the most problems: Don't you worry that companies like Google are competing with you to create the same products? To answer this question, we also need to start with Google's acquisition of DoubleClick. Doug and Jon have discussed in detail the potential impact of this incident on FreeWheel. We believe that this event is the signal of the second round of competition in the online advertising industry. In addition, the value of Double Click lies in its independence. After being acquired, it loses its independence. As expected, the acquisition of DoubleClick by Google rolled up the buying spree, Microsoft quickly bought Aquantive, and Yahoo! Then the Right Media is snatched. After the storm, not only did the leader in the market disappear, but competitors of a small scale no longer exist. However, the market is still in progress and an independent advertising platform is required. It turns out that since the acquired message of DoubleClick was sent out, its top-level customers began to look for other solutions for second-hand preparation. The reason is simple. These customers are Google's competitors. They not only compete with Google in the relationship with advertisers, but also have fierce competition in content and user groups. Advertising revenue is the lifeblood of their survival. No one will deliver their own lives to competitors. In fact, there are not a few people who understand this opportunity. However, most of the people who have seen both the opportunity and the market and can make the right products have joined these acquired companies and are shackled by the "golden handcuffs. These factors undoubtedly greatly increase the chance of FreeWheel success.
While the rest of the world is immersed in the excitement of this buying spree, we can see the window that the market is opening: huge capital, no players. We believe that this window will last for six months, and six months is enough to launch the first version of MRM to seize the lead. You can also say that I didn't just give up on the good future of managing Google and the high-income that is readily available, but it was a golden year to build freewheel at this time.

Since the official launch of MRM in the United States, it has aroused great repercussions among potential customers. Many customers said: "Wow, this is the video solution we are looking ." As we have predicted, no competitors have provided similar solutions so far. In the next six months, I believe there will be countless companies, large and small, saying they are doing the same thing. However, we have already taken the lead. The key to success lies in the fact that you do not need to watch any other player.
Just as the MRM product was just released, the entire Internet had undergone dramatic changes. Microsoft and Yahoo! In the race against Google's search, Steve Ballmer was finally overwhelmed by Yahoo! Launched a malicious purchase. Frozen for three feet, not a day cold. In fact, Yahoo! Today is the root of failure to integrate overture quickly. When I was still in DoubleClick a few years ago, my search team had clearly seen that advertisers were on Google and Yahoo! Google's return on Google is Yahoo! . If Yahoo! If this situation is not changed as soon as possible, its customers will leave and its market share will become smaller and smaller. Unfortunately, Yahoo! The response was too slow. Panama was released too late to wait until Panama was released. Yahoo! The customer has already left.
In such a huge market change, another round of new opportunities have emerged. Half a year ago, when similar opportunities occurred in the online advertising industry, three people were ecstatic in a simple office in California. Half a year later, MRM was born. I believe that you are immersed in Microsoft and Yahoo! In the overwhelming news, there must be a sprout of innovation that is quietly growing in a quiet corner ......

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