Sogou integration Giants: Five important choices in 100 mistakes

November 27, Sogou CEO Wang Xiaoquan in a "Geek fan" appeared in the Millennium Hotel in Beijing. Geeks are the "geek" of American slang. With the rise of internet culture, the word has the meaning of intelligence and effort, and is used to describe a person who is enthusiastic about computer and network technology and invests a lot of time in studying. "I understand that geeks include three aspects, first, with very sophisticated technical capabilities." Second, there is a pure state of mind, many times the geek is a tendon, can not be distracted by a lot of distractions, only interested in their little things very persistent. Third, there is a mood for change, there is a vision of technology to change the world. "This day, at the 2013 venture capital annual meeting, Wang Xiaoquan to the" First financial daily "reporter said. This is the 10th year that Sogou was founded. This decade, countless companies in the search engine industry to start a silent fall. Baidu needs to catch up, after a 360 search, and Google threat at any time. Kill into the "search engine" this piece of the Red Sea, Sogou this way to go stumbling. But fortunately, Tencent's olive branch, or will rewrite the pattern of search engine giants. In the field to the future, there is no doubt that Sogou has got the most critical vote. The plight of the entrepreneurial period to rewrite the fate of the dog scene occurred in September this year, Sohu, Sogou and Tencent jointly announced strategic cooperation. Tencent announced a 448 million dollar strategy to buy the Sogou, and its search and QQ input method into the existing business Sogou. Tencent will hold a 36.5% stake in the new Sogou. At the same time, the new Sogou will continue as a subsidiary of Sohu Independent operation. Looking back on Sogou for 10 years, Wang Xiaoquan admits that the first entry into this field is "Fearless of ignorance". Because the dog started a full four years later than Baidu, this four years, Li by virtue of technology and strategy has been in the confrontation with Google a victory. "Baidu is a company that rarely makes mistakes. Wang Xiaoquan the opponent. and Sogou in the beginning of the start-up is Sohu internal research and Development center, whether in the system or in the personal belongings do not have advantages. "We couldn't find a person who could write C, and we didn't have enough money to find someone with the best skills," he said. "In the face of the first difficulty of entrepreneurial period, Wang Xiaoquan's choice is not to shrink." He uses his contacts to recruit part-time students, the students are not high, sometimes just a free lunch box, can exchange for one afternoon work time. "Students like and their good friends to work in an environment, we may be willing to go, lively, it is not about money and future development, but a group of people with their common interests to do a challenge." "That year, Wang Xiaoquan also just 25 years old, for the student's mentality, he has the most say." Five key decisions every startup makes mistakes, but a company that can survive must make the right choices on key nodes. "We've made 100 mistakes in retrospect," he said. Wang Xiaoquan admits, but there are 5 key breakthroughs affecting today's Sogou. "Three of these are related to product selection, and the other two to the structure of capitalRelated。 "The first choice is to do the search engine initially, although this choice let Wang Xiaoquan 10 years on thin ice, but also decided the Sogou gene." Sogou Initial development is not smooth, the first three years, the challenge and the shadow of the Giants at the same time, the pressure to dissolve or collapse at any time. "2005 years when Sogou's brand has come to a shaky stage." "In the most critical moment, Wang Xiaoquan's second option is to launch the Sogou input method in 2005." Reviewing the success of the input method, Wang Xiaoquan's understanding is that every failure has accumulated success. Sogou search is not successful, but accumulated a lot of thesaurus. "Let us do the input method of the overkill way, used in the product." No previous unsuccessful state, we will not do the input method. No Baidu success, in Wang Xiaoquan view, has become an opportunity to achieve the input method. The third product choice is to do the browser, the biggest difficulty is an internal opposition to the voice, that the browser does not have market space. Finally, for strategic reasons, Wang Xiaoquan persisted, and that year he was 30 years old. Capital market decision-making is more thrilling. Before 2010 Sogou or Sohu internal research and development center. But Wang Xiaoquan found that the system has gradually become the biggest bottleneck of development. "means that your salespeople, your human resources, your finances are able to work together for the purpose of Sogou. "Wang Xiaoquan said. So after three years of time, Sogou for their own internal independent operation, and Tencent shares two opportunities. and Sogou, in a sense, integrated from Sohu to Tencent two giants, the realization of Sohu and Tencent's first marriage. Sogou has been one of the fastest-growing companies since the August 2010 break-up. Years later, in the Wu Xiaobo "stirring 30," Lenovo restructuring situation, Wang Xiaoquan particularly touched. These three years we have seen, Sogou's income has doubled more than 10 times times, the personnel is also about 8 times times expansion. Every difficult thing brought us help. "The ego that must prevail" in Wang Xiaoquan's view, both Charles Zhang and Ma have excellent qualities to learn, "integrity and ambition, in front of the cardinal, they will always choose to do something meaningful to society, not for the purpose of unscrupulous." "And their personal style is completely different, Zhang Chaoyang relatively high-profile, often talk about ambition." Ma is more focused on products. "You talk to Ma high, talk to him about products, and Zhang Chaoyang, to talk about mission and entertainment." "Wang Xiaoquan concludes. Wang Xiaoquan's observation angle also falls on himself. Everyone has failure and loss. "The reason to insist on is the great love of this thing." "He said," as in the face of their own children, although very difficult, encountered many accusations. But parents ' love for their children will help you overcome all the difficulties. "Today's Sogou has entered the" billion era. Eric Iut The latest data show that March 2013, sogou Company monthly user coverage has reached 428 million, after Tencent, 360, leaped to the industry third. At the same time, daily user coverage of 193 million, weekly user coverageNumber 299 million, all in the industry third. On the PC side, Sogou searches for a monthly user coverage of 200 million, the market share from the end of 8.19% to expand to 9.32%, input method user coverage of 416 million, coverage rate of up to 87.81%. In addition, Sogou browser, Web site navigation, mobile phone input and other products are also more than 100 million users. For the future, Wang Xiaoquan said Sogou more optimistic about the wireless field. And he personally from the long-term, is more optimistic about wearable equipment. "Because the future people connect the Internet time will be longer, more personalized." ”