Li: Baidu entrepreneurship 10 years have sour and sweet

Robin Li, who graduated from the Institute of Information Management at Peking University in 1991, then went to Buffalo, New York State University, to complete his master's degree in computer science In the early days of the search engine, he first created the ESP technology and successfully applied it to the search engine. At the end of 1999, Li returned to founder Baidu. Now, Baidu has become the Chinese most commonly used Chinese website, is also the world's largest Chinese search engine.

Robin Li, who graduated from the Institute of Information Management at Peking University in 1991, then went to Buffalo, New York State University, to complete his master's degree in computer science In the early days of the search engine, he first created the ESP technology and successfully applied it to the search engine. At the end of 1999, Li returned to founder Baidu. Now, Baidu has become the Chinese most commonly used Chinese website, is also the world's largest Chinese search engine.

When Li's office door was open, the young Baidu engineer could go in and discuss technical issues directly with him. As Baidu's founder, chairman and chief executive, Robin Li feels he has always been an "engineer".

Before the creation of Baidu, people in Silicon Valley in the United States has become one of the world's top search engine engineers ranks, with the famous "hyper-chain analysis" technology patents.

After a master's degree in computer Science from New York State University in the United States, Buffalo hopes he will continue to pursue his PhD, but he "prefers industry to change people's lifestyles with his own technology." ”

"Not to follow, not to waver."

Keep doing the best Chinese search

In the early 2000, Baidu unknown, the company only 7 people, now has become the world's largest Chinese search engine, for more than 70% of China's Internet users to navigate, daily response from around the world hundreds of millions of times the information inquiry needs. Li felt that all this benefits from Baidu has always maintained a focus on search engine technology, "Look for, do, do not follow, do not waver." ”

This is not easy, Baidu at the beginning of the venture also had a painful choice, the largest adjustment occurred in 2001 years.

Baidu start-up, mainly to do the portal site search engine technology providers, and to collect a certain amount of technical service fees. By the summer of 2001, including Sohu, TOM, Yahoo China, 80% of the domestic portal sites are using Baidu's search technology, but Li gradually found that for the portal "working" profit model is clearly not a long-term solution, "especially in 2000 when the dotcom bust, Many Chinese companies do not want the best technology, but the cheapest technology, which is in conflict with our philosophy. ”

Break the original market accumulation, everything needs to be pushed back again. After a painful struggle, the summer, Li and Baidu persuaded investors, decided to go from behind the scenes to the front, directly to the end user, "that is, the adjustment, in a strategic way to ensure that Baidu's stable development over the years." ”

"I have set a goal: to improve the Chinese search technology in a comprehensive way, it will be known in the year." "Within a year, Baidu finally completed this" almost impossible lightning action. " After the technology upgrade, the search traffic soared. In 2003, Baidu's search flow was 7 times times higher than the previous year, surpassing Google and becoming the largest Chinese search site.

Now, the company, with more than 2000 engineers, spends 1/3 of its annual operating income on technology research and development.

"10 years of entrepreneurship, there are sour and sweet"

Increased influence and social responsibility at the same time

2008, CCTV exposure Baidu "auction ranking Shady", the public opinion storm on Baidu is a challenge. Li said: "The storm does expose some of the problems of Baidu, but the company's fundamentals are still good." Through this thing also let me fully understand, Baidu in the popularity of the rising, should be more self-discipline, take more social responsibility. ”

"From entrepreneurship to today has been close to 10, there are sour and sweet." For sweet, Robin Li used a phrase to describe, "finally achieved their own technical dream, very fulfilling"; for the acid, the feeling is more complex.

What's the next step? Li admits, although Baidu has been the world's few master search engine core technology companies, but with those market capitalisation often Chi other international giants, the gap is still not small, "the current domestic many internet companies for technology research and development of the importance of lack of understanding, some of the internet giants, They have much more money than we have to invest in product technology development and technical talent grabbing. If this trend does not change, in the forefront of the information field, we and others will be more and more gap. ”

To this end, Baidu set up the first postdoctoral workstation in China's Internet, the end of 2008 set up a new search engine research and development center, but Li felt that the strength of individual enterprises is still limited, "can play the national power to link the resources of enterprises and research institutions, Even the Internet and search engine research and development of some key projects into the national High-tech development of the overall planning? It was his expectation.

"Willing to be a disseminator of Chinese culture"

Pushing China into the new Internet hub

A plain almost screen page, typing Chinese, click "Baidu" ... More than 70% of Chinese netizens, through the door, instantly reached their "destination." Experts believe that the Internet is gradually becoming the promotion of cultural industry development, enhance the national and cultural circulation of the important force, the role of search engines can not be ignored.

As we all know, the United States Google in the global search engine dominance, its English language in the search field has an absolute advantage. And with the expansion of Google, the influence of English web pages and culture has been widely disseminated. At present, many countries have taken action to promote the development of national and national cultural industries by vigorously developing autonomous search engines.

"Baidu offers Chinese-language search services to the world and is actually a disseminator of Chinese culture," Li said. "It is understood that Baidu and the Ministry of Culture jointly launched a cultural share search services, including the National Library, museums, art galleries, arts and research institutions of various cultural information resources and the extensive use of information, including ancient buildings, rare books, drama, such as the essence of more than 50 kinds of Chinese culture."

"China's Internet users have surpassed 300 million to become the world's first, which means more and more Internet demand will be generated in China, and the innovation to meet these needs will be unusually active, pushing China into a new global internet hub." For Internet practitioners, this means great opportunities and space for development! With the industry and the company's prospects, Robin Li is showing a hidden excitement.