Success stories

YouTube - a great idea

noreply@blogger.com (Tran Dang Khoa) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:03:00 +0000

YouTube is a free video-sharing website on which users can distribute their video clips – short films in video format primarily found on the Internet. The site was founded in February 2005 by American-born Chad Hurley, Taiwan-born Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, born in East Germany of Bangladeshi decent. All three were former employees of PayPal, the Internet payment-transfer company. A preview of the YouTube website was presented to the public in May 2005 and officially launched six month later with the initial headquarters in San Mateo, California.

The venture gains
YouTube was initially funded by a so-called angel investor, a wealthy individual who provides business start-up capital, usually with a share in ownership. In November 2005, Sequoia Capital, the venture capital company founded by Donald T. (Don) Valentine invested US$ 3.5 million in YouTube. Don had previously funded various other successful technology companies. Roelof Botha, a partner in Sequoia Capital and former PayPal financial director, joined the YouTube executive board. Following impressive growth within a few short months, Sequoia Capital invested a further US$ 8 million in YouTube

Protests provide impetus
YouTube’s rapid expansion quickly caught the attention of the traditional media. Despite official YouTube policy prohibiting uploading of copyrighted material and the company’s efforts to regularly remove uploaded content infringing copyright laws, a large amount of such content continues to be uploaded. In February 2006, NBC requested removal of its copyright content from the YouTube website. Although YouTube complied with NBC’s request, the incident hit the news and the increased publicity gave even more impetus to YouTube expansion.
NBC then realised the truth of the old saying “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” and in June 2006 announced a strategic partnership with YouTube. An official NBC channel would be set up on YouTube presenting promotional clips of the TV series ‘The Office’ and YouTube would also promote NBC’s videos on its website. CBS, which had previously also requested the removal of various video clips, followed suit in July 2006. Nevertheless, copyright lawsuits are likely to plague YouTube sooner or later.

Fast lane to fame
YouTube’s success has also catapulted a number of unknowns to Internet-celebrity status. One is Peter Oakley, known as geriatric1927, from Leicester in the UK. The widowed pensioner, born in 1927, gained instant popularity with a series of autobiographical videos entitled ‘Telling it All’, revealing various aspects of his life including his service in World War II. YouTube has also provided a launching pad for new bands and their music. OK Go, the rock band from Chicago and Washington DC, and Sick Puppies, the Indie rock band from Sydney, Australia both became famous almost overnight through YouTube.

Googled
In summer 2006, YouTube became one of the fastest growing websites in the world, rated as the fifth most popular website by Alexa, a company providing web-traffic statistics to other sites. Surveys conducted in July 2006 showed that 100 million clips were viewed daily on YouTube, 65,000 new clips were uploaded every 24 hours and the website was visited 20 million times each month.

In October 2006, it was announced that Google would acquire YouTube for US$ 1.65 billion. The company would continue operating independently and keep its co-founders and all employees. The deal went through on 13 November 2006, marking Google’s biggest purchase to date.

AOL - American Online

noreply@blogger.com (Tran Dang Khoa) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:38:00 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

Development and growth.
America Online (AOL), originally founded in 1985 by Steve Case as Quantum Computer Services, launched its first online service, Q-Link, in November. Steve was born in 1958 in Honolulu. By January 1986, Q-Link had a total of 10,000 users. In October 1991, Quantum changed its name to America Online, Inc. and successfully launched itself on the stock exchange on 19 March 1992.

By 1993, AOL was providing Internet access to about 500,000 members and offering its own online services. In 1994 membership had increased to over 1 million. At this time AOL also acquired various companies: Internet applications developer BookLink Technologies; Internet publishing tools developer NaviSoft and multimedia publishers Redgate Communications.
In 1995, AOL reached 4.5 million members and was rated “Best Consumer Online Service” by various IT magazines and the Information Industry Association. Share value rose from the initial $ 11.50 to over $ 58. 1995 also saw the launch of rival Microsoft Network (MSN) and a network war began.
In 1996 AOL services reached 7 million members and AOL France, AOL UK and AOL Canada were introduced. Growth continued in 1997 with the addition of AOL Japan. By this time e-mail services had reached enormous proportions, already outstripping the US Postal Service.
In 1998 AOL surpassed the 15 million member mark, formed a partnership with Sun Microsystems and acquired CompuServe and Netscape. AOL also continued to expand with the launch of AOL Australia.
By 1999 AOL had over 20 million members and acquired yet more companies: When Inc, MovieFone, Inc, Spinner.com, Winamp, SHOUTcast, Tegic Communications, and Digital Marketing Services Inc. It also moved into the high-speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) market. AOL also launched in Hong Kong and Brazil.
In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced merger plans to create the world’s largest media company to be called AOL - Time Warner, a combination of AOL’s online services and Time Warner’s huge media and cable assets. Further growth continued as AOL moved into Argentina and Mexico. By now membership had increased to over 26 million and iAmaze, Quack.com, and MapQuest Inc. were acquired.
In 2001, as the AOL - Time Warner merger was completed, membership passed the 33 million mark. Alliances with Amazon.com, AT&T and eBay took place to speed development of online services including shopping, music and messaging.
In 2002, AOL’s customer base exceeded 34 million members using over 1 billion Internet hours per month. This year also saw the introduction of AOL for Small Business and Broadband Radio@AOL.

Burst bubble takes its toll
Despite all these apparent successes, the bursting of the late 1990s tech industry economic bubble had already radically effected the company’s combined worth. Huge amounts of advertising revenues from dot.com companies also disappeared and in 2002 the AOL element was considered to be the weakest part of the company.
Time Warner’s problems left them with a multi-billion dollar debt. A number of AOL – Time Warner assets were either closed or sold.

Bouncing back
But by the first quarter of 2003, the world’s largest media concern was able to announce a profit of $396 million. Turnover had also increased by 6% to $10 billion for the quarter. For the same period the previous year, the company had declared a record loss of over $54 billion following value adjustments and write-offs. AOL was the only division of Time Warner to have a reduction in turnover and profit. In the first quarter of 2003 AOL lost almost 300,000 of its over 26 million customers in the USA.
In 2004, Time Warner as a whole was able to record substantial profits and even the online division AOL increased its quarterly turnover by 2% to over $2 billion. However, the company was still losing customers in the USA and Europe.
But despite this, Time Warner has regained confidence and seems set to expand in all its divisions.
But that was back then. As it turned out, the company’s share price stagnated and investor criticism grew, spurred on by Carl Icahn, an activist shareholder and challenger of Time Warner’s management. In 2005, in a move to stem the tide, Time Warner CEO, Dick Parsons, announced that the company was considering buying back billions of dollars of its own stock and distributing more of its cable TV sector to shareholders. At the same time, he recognized that a balance had to be maintained in returning capital to shareholders to avoid creating too much debt and possibly leaving the company in a weak position should other opportunities arise.
It was also indicated that as a company priority, AOL would change from an Internet service provider to an advertising-driven Internet site ultimately providing growth opportunities.
Amidst all this, there was an unconfirmed report that Time Warner was considering an AOL - Microsoft Corporation MSN alliance.
Time will tell!

Amazon - Rome was not built in a day

noreply@blogger.com (Tran Dang Khoa) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe early days
In summer 1994, former investment banker Jeff Bezos left New York for Seattle, Washington to create an online bookstore. The web site was launched in July 1995 to sell books through the Internet. These were the early days of Internet and the web site was unattractive. However it worked quite well despite a lack of key information such as publication dates. And Tom Alberg from the Madrona Venture Group was impressed enough to invest $100,000 in Amazon in 1995.
Amazon quickly became more than an online bookstore. It soon became a community in which customers could create book reviews online and research others before buying. It became not just a case of buying books but also of sharing opinions.

Rapid growth
In 1996, its first full financial year in business, Amazon generated $15.7 million in sales. In May 1997, Amazon.com raised £54 million in an initial public offering as it launched itself on the stock market. In October 1997 Jeff Bezos himself hand-delivered Amazon’s 1-millionth order to a customer in Japan.

One year after its stock market launch, Amazon added music CDs and videos to its web site. It then followed up with five more product categories – electronics, software, toys, video games and home improvements.

This was growth at absolutely breakneck speed and many onlookers thought that the rapid growth policy would indeed “break their necks”. But early investors, such as Nick Hanauer, were convinced that Amazon would make a profit. However, profits didn’t come quite so quickly. Instead Amazon grew at express speed and profits were waived for the sake of growth to make it impossible for others to duplicate their achievement. It’s said that Hanauer’s initial $40,000 investment was at one time valued at $250 million. Hanauer apparently still keeps an old T-shirt from Amazon’s early days that reads: "Eat another hot dog, get big fast!"

The end of 1999 saw annual sales reach $1.6 billion and on 10 December, Amazon’s stock closed at an all-time high of $106.69. And in the same month, Time Magazine named Bezos "Person of the Year," calling him the "King of Cybercommerce."

But just one month later, the “King's” crown slipped badly.

Amazon.toast
Amazon fired 150 workers as part of a reorganization plan. Five days later, they reported a loss of $323 million for the fourth quarter, but promised lower losses in future. But the subsequent fourth quarter saw losses exceed that amount by more than $200 million.
By the summer of 2000, Amazon's share price had dropped by almost 70% and analysts began to criticize the company for venturing into too many products and spreading itself too thinly. Speculation on Wall Street suggested that Amazon would file for bankruptcy or be bought out. Some even clearly warned investors to avoid buying Amazon stocks. Gloom and doom mongers gave the company various labels such as Amazon.toast or Amazon.bomb as the collapse of the world’s largest e-tailer was predicted. In early 2001, when Amazon reported a huge fiscal loss of $1.4 billion - the company's worst-ever annual performance - Jeff Bezos finally came up with an answer.

Changing focus
In January 2001, the company’s chief executive promised a profit by the year-end. But expenses had to be cut and the business restructured. 1,300 workers (about 15 percent of its work force) were laid off. Two warehouses and a Seattle customer-service centre closed. Jeff Bezos gave orders to get rid of “crap” and cease selling unprofitable products. The company concentrated on streamlining its storage, packaging and delivery operation. It boosted its online offer by becoming an online shopping portal, offering and selling products from companies such as Toys ”R” Us and Target. It also competed with eBay through Amazon Auctions.

By the end of 2001, Jeff Bezos had kept his word. Amazon reported its first profit with fourth-quarter earnings of $5 million. It was clear that one quarter of profits would not be enough but since then profits have steadily improved. This was only achieved by continuously pushing sales and increasing business efficiency and also expanding the products offered on the web site.

10 years on
Nearly 10 years on and Jeff Bezos’ name remains synonymous with the company. Hanauer, who describes his long-time friend as “the smartest man in the world” is pretty sure that Jeff Bezos will head Amazon for some time to come. "He remains as single-mindedly focused on Amazon now as he ever was” says Hanauer. Amazon has survived and is also making a profit - a fact that many analysts and observers doubted would ever happen. The company has grown into a multibillion-dollar business and is now not only the undisputed leader of Internet commerce but also reaping a profit. Its community of almost 40 million customers will help it retain its market lead.

http://www.internet-story.com/amazon.htm

The Amazon story

There is a famous saying that “Rome was not built in a day”, in reference to the fact that a vast empire takes time to build and cannot happen overnight. Perhaps Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, had this phrase at the back of his mind when he was drawing up the business plan for Amazon.com (the company did not make its first profit for 10 years). Do you think your business could survive so long without making a profit, or would the investors run away long before?

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, making it one of the first companies to sell goods over the internet. A common rumour is that the Bezos wrote the Amazon business plan while he and his wife were in a car en route to Bellevue, Washington (next to Seattle) from Texas. This business plan was rather unusual – the company was not expected to turn a profit for four to five years! Incredibly, it was not until 2003 that it made its first annual profit, having survived the dot com bubble burst of 2001.

The company started by selling books, but diversified its product line when they realised the business model was a winner: they now sell movies, music, computer software, video games, electronics and many more products. They also now have separate websites for Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria, France, China and Japan.

It is no surprise that Time Magazine named Bezos its 1999 Person of the Year in recognition of the company’s success in popularising online shopping.

Amazon is renowned for making excellent use of technology to maximise sales. When customers buy a book, they are automatically told about other books that may be of interest to them, based on the spending habits of other consumers who have already bought that book. Naturally, this creates millions of impulse purchases annually.

Another Amazon success is their Affiliate scheme, where 40% of their sales come from. This is where individual website owners are encouraged to direct their site visitors to Amazon.com to buy related books – not unlike the traditional agent/commission business model.

Recently, Amazon announced Amazon Fresh, a grocery service offering fresh and non-perishable foods. Customers can pick up orders or have them delivered to their homes. Delivery is initially restricted to residents of Mercer Island, Washington, a wealthy suburb of Seattle, but who knows: soon they may be delivering to an area near you!

Jeff Bezos must be glad he kept the company going, after years of making a loss: Amazon is now not just profitable, but is also a top 30 website. Would you have the confidence to run a company making a loss for so long, or would you have given up long before Jeff did?

http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/191364/The_Amazon_story.htm

The success story of Google

noreply@blogger.com (Tran Dang Khoa) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:10:00 +0000

Go to http://www.google.com/corporate/history.html you will see milestones in Google history there:

1995

Larry Page and Sergey Brin meet at Stanford. (Larry, 24, a U Michigan grad, is considering the school; Sergey, 23, is assigned to show him around.) According to some accounts, they disagree about most everything during this first meeting.

1996

Larry and Sergey, now Stanford computer science grad students, begin collaborating on a search engine called BackRub.
BackRub operates on Stanford servers for more than a year -- eventually taking up too much bandwidth to suit the university.

1997

Larry and Sergey decide that the BackRub search engine needs a new name. After some brainstorming, they go with Google -- a play on the word "googol," a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. The use of the term reflects their mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web

After a long time ... Google becomes the top Search engine in the world and they also provide a lot of good services for everyone.

So ... how they can win others to get this top position.
I found some interesting keys for their success story here: http://ventureblog.com/articles/2003/05/4_keys_to_googl.php

I heard David Drummond, Google's General Counsel, speak at Stanford Law School yesterday. Drummond was ostensibly there to talk about some of the legal issues facing Google. He did talk a bit about the difficulty of complying with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in an environment where content owners seek to enforce their rights through Google rather than directly with the infringing sites. He also addressed questions from the audience about the subjective nature of Google's page rankings when it determines that a website has attempted to manipulate page rankings. But Drummond spent the better part of his time talking about what has made Google successful.

Drummond pointed to 4 factors as the key to Google's success:

Technology. Along with its innovative approach to page ranking, Google is a purpose-built hardware company, building all its own servers from components it buys directly for their manufacturers. According to Drummond, Google now operates the world's largest distributed computer system.
Business Model Innovation. By perfecting the nature of targeted ads, Google not only has created a highly effective revenue generator, it has produced what it hopes to be a better experience for its users. It is Google's goal to make their targeted ads at least as relevant and useful to users as the search results themselves.
Brand. According to Drummond, a European study recently determined Google to be the number one most recognized worldwide brand. Indeed, Google has become a verb ("I can't wait to get home and Google him") which poses real challenges to a company seeking to protect the strength of its mark.
Focus On The User Experience. Product decisions at Google are driven by optimizing for the user experience first and for revenue second. The folks at Google firmly believe that the better the user experience, the more easily money will follow.

how about you? what do you think about these factors?
Your idea: is there any other factors that helps google be success?