Hi everyone, good morning!
Last issue, I shared Amazon's decision to commit to charging customers the least while providing maximum value (or perhaps the decision to exploit workers to benefit shareholders and consumers). This issue, let's talk about positioning! Positioning seems like something far removed from ourselves, something only entrepreneurs need to think about. But actually, positioning means "you see the world in a way different from others, and you see what you believe to be an opportunity." From this opportunity, you begin a series of decisions. This issue will start with NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang's speech and Keyhole, the predecessor of Google Earth.
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Jensen Huang's Special Love for Video Games Led Him to See Opportunity
When Jensen Huang mentioned starting his business, in 1993 PCs ran Windows 3, CD-ROM drives were just beginning to hit the market, and internet technology didn't exist yet. All technology seemed primitive. Computers were equipment only for professionals, and even professionals didn't like using them. But at that time, Jensen Huang decided to establish a 3D graphics chip company, and the killer application for this technology was TV games and computer games. When Jensen Huang approached investors with this idea, investors said no such market existed.
Jensen Huang was somewhat frustrated and told his mother he was going to start a business, creating chips that could be used for TV games or computer games. His mother replied, "Why don't you go get a job?" Indeed, mothers around the world are all the same! 😄
Jensen Huang mentioned:
"We grew up in the video game generation, so the entertainment value of video games was very obvious to me. I could imagine how it would become a very large market and a very large industry. For older people, this sensitivity didn't exist. However, at that time, what was common sense to us was unique to others. No one would create this kind of technology. No one would build a company whose sole purpose was to create technology to make video games possible. So that was our perspective."
*The earliest video game consoles originated in the 1970s, with cartridge-based video game consoles becoming mainstream in the 1980s.
For Jensen Huang, who grew up in the video game era, he saw the world in a way different from others and saw what he believed to be an opportunity.
Jensen Huang's Missed Opportunity with Yahoo
One thing that left a deep impression on Jensen Huang was when Sequoia Capital (a venture capital fund) asked him: "There are some Stanford kids who have this web search page thing. You just type in what you're looking for and it leads you to the right webpage."
Jensen Huang replied: "Oh, that's just the Yellow Pages." (Note: Yellow Pages was a phone book listing numerous businesses; people used to find needed information and businesses through Yellow Pages)
Sequoia Capital asked: "Should we invest in this company?"
Jensen Huang said: "They can't possibly make money. Those things are free."
Sequoia Capital said: "Well, we can't figure it out either, but giving them one or two million dollars doesn't cost much."
The company Sequoia Capital ultimately invested in became Yahoo. Yahoo was founded in 1994, went public in 1996, and raised $133.8 million. Although Yahoo later declined, at its peak Yahoo symbolized the most powerful internet giant.
Jensen Huang profoundly mentioned that although he saw the opportunity in video games, he completely failed to see the opportunity in web search.
Jensen Huang Saw Keyhole's (Google Earth's Predecessor) Potential
Around 2001, there was a newly established small company in Silicon Valley called Keyhole. They created a 3D virtual world. Users could simply input an address, and it would start from space, show Earth, and zoom in to the inputted address. In 2002, Keyhole was on the verge of bankruptcy. At that time, NVIDIA saw their potential and was willing to invest $500,000, then showcased it to their customers worldwide. Although this brought them some revenue, it still couldn't sustain their operations. By the end of 2002, the company was again close to running out of funds, and they couldn't find next-round investors. The company was quite close to closure. The founder spoke with company employees, and everyone agreed to salary cuts of 10%-100%, just to keep the company going because they believed maps would be a major developmental opportunity for human life in the future.
The company's turning point came on March 20, 2003. CNN, to report on the US military's attack on Iraq, used Keyhole's technology during live news broadcasts to input addresses on-site, allowing viewers to start from space, see Earth, and zoom in to the inputted location. This amazed American viewers, and starting that afternoon on March 20th, people frantically flooded Keyhole's website just to test this product. This changed Keyhole's fate. It also made Google see Keyhole's potential, deciding to acquire the company in 2004 and rebuild this product, which became the Google Earth that everyone loves to use, and later Google Maps. If it weren't for the founder's persistence and NVIDIA's $500,000 investment, our world today might have been slightly different.
My Perspective, My Opportunity Is My Positioning
Jensen Huang specifically mentioned in his speech:
"Your perspective comes from your life experiences, your common sense, things that are interesting to you. Therefore, it's important to realize that you also have a perspective. Therefore, you will see opportunities."
Although Jensen Huang didn't mention positioning anywhere in his entire speech, he was actually talking about his perspective and life positioning. What made him decide to invest in developing gaming chips was his perspective on video games, which made him position himself among many choices toward graphics chips. The founder of Keyhole, Google Earth's predecessor, was originally a computer game engine developer. But he saw this special application of maps, believed it was a future opportunity, and decided to leave what was then considered the rising star of the gaming industry to establish a new company and invest in the mapping industry.
If our opportunities stem from our life experiences, our common sense, and things that are interesting to us, then we will see opportunities. However, what often confuses me most is: what am I interested in, what kind of opportunities do I see, and how can I go about solving them?
If you've seen opportunities in certain things and found your own positioning, welcome to share with me!