The Entrepreneurial Course of Youku CEO Gu Yongqiang

Mr. Gu Yongqiang, CEO of Youku, and Mr. Gu Yongqiang have received foreign business education. After years of practical training in multinational companies, I have accumulated rich experience in international management and operation, and have more than eight years of experience in domestic investment and operation. Mr. Gu Yongqiang studied at the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor's degree, and then obtained an MBA degree from Stanford University. In addition, he also studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and Peking University. From 1989 to 1992, he worked for Bain Company, an internationally renowned management consulting company, from 1993 to Procter & Gamble International Hong Kong Company, from 1994 to 1999, and worked for Guo Fu Group, a venture capital company, as vice president, in charge of media and media. In 2002, he was appointed as the chief operating officer of Sohu, responsible for the company's business operation and development; In 2004, he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of Sohu. In June, 2005, he founded the One Network with a start-up capital of $3 million. On June 2 1 2006, Heyi.com announced that Youku.com had started the public beta, positioning itself as a video sharing service platform for users, with Gu Yongqiang as CEO and chief operating officer of Youku.com ... What can be done to quickly establish Youku in one year? Gu Yongqiang's answer is to build a top video website in China. On June 2, 2006, Kloc-0/,the former president of Sohu started his business and launched the video website "Youku". A year later, Youku has become the core representative of domestic video websites. Gu Yongqiang used his rich business experience and network resources to quickly build an online star. But if this new star wants to find his own profit model and shine for a long time, Gu Yongqiang will have to go through more tests. Choosing "Video" to Start a Business At the end of 2004, Gu Yongqiang told Zhang Chaoyang, Chairman and CEO of Sohu Board of Directors, that there were three reasons for his resignation: First, he wanted to accompany his wife to study in the United States; Second, the long-term work is too tired, the body can't eat, and it needs to rest; Third, I want to find a new entrepreneurial environment. A few months later, Gu Yongqiang stepped down as president of Sohu and went to the United States to accompany him. Rest can only be a period of time, and you must still think about doing something after rest. Mrs. Gu studied in new york University for a year, while Gu Yongqiang closed the door and considered the next step. His idea at that time was to either return to an investment company, find a small company or start his own business, but whatever he did, it would be the Internet. (Sun, inspirational quote) At the beginning of 2006, when Gu Yongqiang appeared in China again, he had already made a choice, "I just think the opportunity of online video is coming". In March, 2004, he invested and raised $3 million to start the video website Youku. Different from traditional websites, which mainly use words and pictures as the content of communication, Youku especially uses videos as the content of communication. Users can upload their own video collections and video works to this platform, share them with others and browse the video content uploaded by other users. Youku staff continuously review and push these video works that are as short as tens of seconds and as long as ten minutes. It is not Gu Yongqiang's foresight to use "events" to promote the selection of online videos. At the beginning of 2006, when he entered the business, it was the time when video websites took off, and all kinds of network elites gathered here. At most, 200 domestic companies claimed to seek development in this business. June 2, 20061day is the anniversary of youku. The day before, Gu Yongqiang issued a press release similar to the "Corporate Manifesto", which probably meant that after a year of disputes, its own barriers have been built in terms of technology, capital, users and brands, and it is best to persuade all peers to "stop playing this game". This tone, from the mouth of a newcomer who has just been in the business for a year, is really worth pondering. However, with Gu Yongqiang's calm personality, he dares to shout out such "malicious words", which naturally has his confidence. In 2005, Youku, a newcomer, has flashed in many hot events in China. Yu zhang incident, heavy snow in Shenyang, the best nail house in Chongqing history ... Youku's advantages as a video website have been effectively brought into play, and the sensational yu zhang incident has spread on Youku almost from beginning to end; In the heavy snow in Shenyang, because foreign media can't enter, a large number of videos spread by Youku users are almost exclusive, and even CCTV programs are quoted from them. Are these events inadvertently born by Youku, or are they deliberately planned by Youku? Faced with such a problem, Gu Yongqiang sometimes just smiled, sometimes equivocated, and sometimes denied it. Perhaps, for the former president of Sohu, there is no need to show off his marketing ability in any way. Anyway, this series of events has made Youku's users number one in the industry. As Sohu's second master, Gu Yongqiang, who has accumulated "popularity" for many years to make money, knows the essence of Sohu's corporate culture and brings it into Youku, which he founded. "Sohu pays attention to equality and the relationship between people is relatively simple. I will promote this in Youku. " On the Youku office platform, everyone's area is the same, and Gu Yongqiang himself occupies a space on the platform. "Now we all hold shares. Just like Sohu, there are options at the front desk. " Gu Yongqiang introduced a successful corporate culture from Sohu, but he chose a completely different road from Sohu in marketing strategy. "Sohu is a big and comprehensive portal. Youku insists on being a professional video website and cooperates extensively with other companies. " The slogan "cooperation first" is printed on the glass partition inside the company. Using the accumulated network resources for many years, Baidu, Shanda, Xunlei and many TV stations have become deep partners of Youku within one year. Of course, Gu Yongqiang's goal is the same. Whether it is to pay attention to the concept of equality at home or to unite with Lian Heng abroad, it is to gather internal and external forces to promote the popularity of Youku Online. Although video websites have been popular for so long, the specific profit model is not clear now. But what is certain is that as long as you can attract enough users to your website, there must be ways to make money. By the end of 2006, Youku had completed the financing of $6.5438+0.2 million, and Gu Yongqiang hoped to find a way to make money before the money ran out. Youku was listed on the NYSE at 22: 30 on February 8th, 20 10 Beijing time.