A red carpet covered the floor of the hotel eting room, where two young n with black hair sat stiffly, waiting nervously for soone to arrive.
They were far more accustod to hoodies and jeans, but today was different. Today, they were here to seek investnt for their startup, and so they had squeezed themselves into suits that felt awkward and ill-fitting.
The man they were about to et was none other than Seok-won, a legendary angel investor well known even in Silicon Valley.
Sergey Brin, a Russian-born Jew, lifted the glass of water placed on the table and tried to moisten his parched throat.
Watching him drain the glass in one gulp, his friend—Larry Page, also of Jewish descent—teased him.
"Are you that nervous? You're drinking water like it's liquor. You'll end up with a stomachache."
Brin set down the empty glass, turned his head toward his friend, and shot back curtly,
"Then why are you shaking your leg like that?"
"Huh…?"
Only then did Page realize that, beneath the conference table, his leg had been trembling uncontrollably. He let out a forced cough and gave an awkward smile.
"You saw that?"
"How could I not, with your leg rattling like that?"
"Ah, damn."
Page exhaled, then placed a hand over his restless leg to still it.
"Phew… Just thinking that we're actually starting a company with the search service we built—it makes
both excited and scared. What if we ss this up?"
"Sa here. And knowing that a giant who once invested in Yahoo and Netscape might put money into us… it makes
even more nervous."
Page nodded in agreent.
"They say he's not only into venture investnts but also runs a hedge fund so successful that people on Wall Street call him the 'Midas of Finance.' He's probably cold, intimidating, and full of charisma, right?"
"They say he can move hundreds of millions with a single phone call. So yeah… probably."
Forget a hundred thousand dollars—neither of them even had a thousand in their bank account. They couldn't begin to imagine what it would feel like to move around sums that astronomical.
"I still can't believe we're sitting here right now."
"Sa here. When we first got that call from Eldorado Fund, I thought it was our buddies playing another prank."
"Or maybe so scamr. But it turned out to be real."
Page still rembered the shock he felt when he heard that Chairman Park Seok-won was not only interested in their search service but also considering investing in it personally.
Originally, the two had no interest in starting a company.
In fact, the search service they built was nothing more than a class project they had worked on together at university.
They hadn't had the money for proper equipnt either. Instead of buying comrcial-grade servers, they had scavenged CPUs and boards lying around campus and assembled their own by hand.
But once the search engine was complete and went live, it gained far more popularity than they had anticipated. Before long, daily traffic exceeded ten thousand hits—and that's when trouble began.
The overwhelming number of users started causing serious disruptions to Stanford University's network.
Since they could no longer rely on the school's network, the two of them had considered selling their search service rather than founding a company.
They approached Yahoo and several other IT companies that might have an interest in internet search, offering to sell. Every single one turned them down.
And yet, it seed such a waste to abandon sothing they had poured so much effort into. While they were stuck debating what to do, a call had co from Seok-won—like sothing out of a dream.
Page asked with a slightly uneasy look,
"Dropping out of school to start this company… do you think it was the right decision?"
"Of course. Rember how the university network kept crashing because so many people were using our search service? Honestly, I don't think our search engine is any worse than Yahoo's or Lycos's—if anything, I think it's better."
"That's true."
When Brin spoke with forced confidence, Page nodded along.
It wasn't just pride in sothing they had built themselves—both of them genuinely believed that Google outperford the existing search services by a wide margin.
"And the fact that Chairman Park Seok-won, who's famous for his eye in spotting Yahoo, Netscape, and Hotmail before anyone else, ca to us with an investnt proposal first—that's recognition, isn't it?"
At Brin's words, Page's expression brightened, his confidence returning.
"You're right."
In truth, it had been Seok-won's call that had ultimately pushed them to decide on founding a company instead of giving up.
"But still… why is he taking so long to show up?"
After what felt like quite a long wait, Page muttered under his breath.
Brin checked the watch on his wrist and shook his head.
"We just got here early. There's still ten minutes until the eting."
"Oh, really?"
At that mont, a knock sounded, and the closed door swung open. Both n imdiately stood up, as if on cue.
A tall man entered the eting room with his entourage. Unlike them, his tailored suit fit perfectly, exuding confidence.
It was Seok-won, who had flown in from Moscow on a private jet.
Though his face bore a gentle smile, his youthful charisma made it instantly obvious who he was.
Approaching them, Seok-won bead and extended his hand first.
"If I'd known you were here early, I would've co a little sooner."
The mix of warmth and confidence in Seok-won's deanor made Brin feel slightly intimidated as he shook his hand.
"Nice to et you. I'm Sergey Brin."
"Larry Page."
Seok-won exchanged a light handshake with Page as well before speaking in a friendly tone.
"There isn't much of an age difference between us, so no need to be so formal."
"Ah, yes."
"Understood."
But it wasn't easy for them to relax. After all, they were just university students with nothing to their nas, while Seok-won was a billionaire and a titan of Wall Street. It was impossible not to feel the weight of that gap.
After the brief introductions, both sides took their seats across from each other, separated by the long conference table.
Resting his clasped hands on the table, Seok-won looked at Brin and Page and began.
"I tried out the search service you created. The engine's performance is noticeably superior to the competition—it delivers results quickly and accurately. I was very impressed."
At his praise, Brin gave a faint, slightly bitter smile.
"So people say the performance is too good—that it's actually a problem. But thank you for your kind words."
Sitting beside him, Page spoke with a frustrated look.
"I don't know if you're aware, but we once tried selling our search engine to Yahoo. They told us that because our system delivers results too quickly, users leave the site right away—and that it would actually be a minus for them."
Seok-won, quickly realizing why they had reacted that way, shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"It's true that the longer users stay on a search site, the more page views pile up. And with those page views, you can charge higher advertising rates. So their reasoning isn't entirely wrong."
Brin and Page's faces stiffened slightly, but Seok-won pretended not to notice and continued speaking calmly.
"But making money from ads shouldn't co at the cost of forgetting why a search service exists in the first place."
"...!"
"Users co to a search site because they want to get the results they're looking for—quickly. If you deliberately slow down the engine and waste their ti, the mont a better search service appears, they'll abandon you instantly. It's the classic mistake of chasing sothing small only to lose sothing far greater."
"That's exactly what we've been saying," Page said, his eyes lighting up.
"Sure, users might spend less ti on our site compared to others. But if we draw in far more people with fast, accurate search results, that alone will justify higher advertising revenue."
When Brin spoke, Seok-won nodded in agreent.
"Exactly. Even if users linger on a site, if the overall numbers are low, the ads won't be effective, and advertisers won't want to spend money. In the end, the winner in the search market will be decided by who captures the most users."
Seok-won curled one corner of his lips into a faint smile as he looked at Brin and Page.
"And that's exactly why I decided to invest in you two."
Hearing that their search engine had been recognized as superior—and that they might surpass giants like Yahoo to beco the true winners—made Brin and Page's hearts leap with excitent.
Perhaps because they had received acknowledgnt directly from a figure as influential as Seok-won, their joy was plain on their faces.
They're still unpolished, Seok-won thought to himself, watching how openly their emotions showed.
"You've both reviewed the contract I sent over, right?"
Brin and Page, caught under his gaze, nodded.
"Yes."
"If there's anything in the terms you don't understand, or if there are parts you'd like to revise, now's the ti to bring it up."
Page hesitated for a mont before speaking.
"To be honest, the terms were so generous that we started wondering if there was so hidden poison pill in there."
"So we took it to a lawyer to make sure—and he said there was no problem at all."
Carefully watching Seok-won's expression, Brin continued speaking.
It was no wonder they had been suspicious: they hadn't even established a company yet, and still, he had valued it at six million dollars, offering to invest two million in exchange for a 33% stake.
Leaning back in his chair with a relaxed deanor, Seok-won said,
"If a venture is nurtured properly and goes public through a successful IPO, the profits can be enormous. But cheating your partners for so short-term gain would be nothing but foolish."
The two nodded in agreent.
"Then, if there are no revisions to the contract, let's move ahead with the signing."
From the mont they agreed to today's eting, they had already decided to accept the investnt. After talking with him, their trust and conviction had only grown stronger, so Brin and Page readily agreed.
"Sounds good."
"Let's do it."
Seok-won turned his head toward the lawyer seated beside him.
The lawyer pulled a file from his leather briefcase and laid it out before the two young n.
"This is the sa contract that was sent to you earlier. Please go over it once more, just in case."
At the lawyer's words, spoken through his gold-rimd glasses, Brin and Page carefully read through the two-page docunt again.
It was only natural—one misplaced word or number could an huge losses or trap them in unfavorable terms.
Once they confird there were no issues, they looked up, and Seok-won gave a small nod of his chin.
Imdiately, Han Ji-sung, the associate who had accompanied him, produced two luxurious Montblanc fountain pens and set them down in front of Brin and Page.
"You can sign with these."
The two exchanged a quick glance. Then Brin picked up one of the pens and signed at the bottom of the contract.
Page took the contract next and, without hesitation, wrote his na beside it.
Seeing this, Seok-won also signed his own set of docunts that the lawyer handed him. They exchanged copies and signed once more, completing all the formalities.
"From now on, we're in the sa boat. Whatever you need, I'll make sure you're supported—so don't hold back. Go ahead and pursue the ideas you believe in."
"Thank you."
"We look forward to working with you."
Their voices were filled with excitent, their faces flushed with anticipation.
In the eyes of the two young n as they glanced at each other shimred a tide of expectation and hope for the future.
When Brin moved to return the fountain pen, Seok-won raised his hand lightly.
"Keep it. Consider it a gift to mark our partnership."
"It looks expensive, though…"
Brin hesitated, but Seok-won answered with a smile.
"Just work hard and turn today's investnt into sothing much bigger. That'll be enough repaynt."
"Then I'll gratefully accept it."
Brin dipped his head and tucked the pen away.
Beside him, Page held his own pen tightly, as if it were a treasure.
With Seok-won's two-million-dollar investnt behind them, both n felt their hearts swell with excitent, passion, and determination to turn their ideas into reality.
Reviews
All reviews (0)