American History 1988
Chapter 216 - 210: Vision Plan

Chapter 216: Chapter 210: Vision Plan

Throughout Silicon Valley, all unicorn software companies with a market value over 1 billion dollars, their product lines are mostly rich and derivative.

Oracle has various products including database systems, servers, operating systems, development tools, etc.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to justify a market value of more than 30 billion dollars with just one database management system.

As a leading software enterprise, Microsoft has even more projects, everything from operating systems to office software and development tools.

It even has its own hardware department, mainly developing products like mice and expansion cards.

While companies like Lotus Development and MicroPro, although their market values may look quite good.

They are entering a period of weak growth, especially MicroPro, which is on a set path to decline.

As for Lotus Development, once considered a leader in the software industry, its market value even falls short compared to Oracle.

It’s not that Lotus isn’t ambitious, but the fact is only their Lotus 1-2-3 has been a success.

All others, such as graphic processing and database software, have failed, and when people mention Lotus, they only think of Lotus 1-2-3.

Dean didn’t want Byte Company to follow Lotus’s path, with only Teams as their public face, which was far too insubstantial.

That’s why he wanted to break free from the constraints of a single office software and lay out plans for the larger category of collaborative office software.

Just like he said, to expand the scope and not just focus on the instant messaging software Teams.

From a collaboration software perspective, Teams can only be considered a niche within its market segment.

And this "Visionary Plan" white paper, which is only a dozen pages long, not only detailed collaborative software.

It also provided some far-sighted predictions about the internet, such as cloud computing, intelligence automation, and the world of the internet, all described in conceptual terms.

However, because these ideas were too advanced, they were only briefly mentioned.

Everyone who saw this white paper was impressed by the grand plans within.

The future technologies described by Dean filled them with desire.

Arthur Lock was someone captivated by the plan, just as he had found a thrilling business plan more than twenty years before.

Even after returning home, he wrote many notes full of reflections and praises for the "Visionary Plan."

The big shot from Morgan Stanley he had so eagerly invited had also flown to the West Coast in the past couple of days.

...

"Boss, does this company Locke talked about really have that much potential?"

At San Francisco Airport, Philip proactively opened the car door for Richard Fischer.

"Arthur Locke is an extraordinary legend."

After Richard Fischer settled into the car, he meticulously adjusted his cufflinks.

"Just because he was involved with Apple’s investment?" Philip had heard of Locke.

In the ’80s, Apple’s IPO shook Wall Street.

At the time, it was the largest IPO to date, breaking the record set by General Motors.

Yet, today Apple’s performance has been disappointing, with Wall Street analysts consistently advising to sell its stock.

"Not just Apple can account for the legend of Arthur Locke, he’s even the one who coined the term ’venture capital.’"

Indeed, for some Capital on the East Coast, Arthur Locke is synonymous with venture capital.

He is held in high esteem due to a series of spectacular successes, which are considered seriously by the old money.

Moreover, Arthur Locke was an early employee of Hayden Stone Investment Bank here on the East Coast.

So Wall Street has always regarded him as an insider, and for all things venture capital on the West Coast, they first seek Arthur Locke’s opinion.

Sometimes, even if Locke is advertising for his own benefit, his words sound like sage maxims passed down through the ages to those on the East Coast.

This is partly due to Arthur Locke’s aura and partly to the careful nature of those on the East Coast.

Strictly speaking, there’s no real venture capital on the East Coast.

What they consider venture capital mostly favors traditional, no-lose propositions.

Such as steadily growing electronic device companies or new home appliance products with good market feedback.

In other words, if there isn’t an attractive financial report, East Coast venture capitalists won’t make a move.

But on the West Coast, this is seen as child’s play.

It’s not even considered venture capital, at most it’s funding to expand the production scale of the target company.

The fact is, a 20% return on investment on the East Coast would already be considered a great harvest.

But West Coast venture capital returns are not calculated by percentages, but by multiples.

Fairchild Semiconductor was over 40 times, Scientific Data Systems was 226 times, and Tandem Computers was over 100 times.

Such examples are numerous, and they also cause considerable envy among East Coast counterparts.

If they could have a company with a good rate of return and practically no risk, that would be perfect.

Now, Richard Fischer had received a call from Locke, and from the latter’s fervent description, it seemed such a company might already have emerged.

Half an hour later, the two from Morgan Stanley arrived at Arthur Locke’s apartment in Silicon Valley.

"Arthur, I hope you have some good news for us," greeted Richard Fischer.

"Come On, Richard, you definitely won’t be disappointed with it," said Locke, welcoming them inside where he had prepared a lavish lunch.

Juicy steaks, exquisite wines—these had the East Coast visitors’ mouths watering.

"The outside world is abuzz with how astonishingly Byte Company has grown, but how is it actually doing?

I want to hear your opinion, Arthur," Richard put down his knife and fork and got straight to the point.

"The people running this company... are incredibly smart, extremely creative, very driven," Locke gestured with his knife and fork.

"Is its financial report reliable? Are there competitors of the same type in the market? What about its future performance?"

Morgan Stanley is an investment bank, and one of its main businesses is securities, which includes issuing stocks and bonds.

The performance of Byte Company will directly determine whether Morgan Stanley is willing to be its underwriter.

This is also a very high-risk business, so Richard Fischer is exceedingly cautious.

"Trust me, Richard." Arthur Locke wiped his mouth, "The potential of Byte Company will surpass everyone’s expectations.

Teams software is just an insignificant part of it, and I’ve already learned Byte Company’s most core secret."

"Core secret?" The visitors from the East Coast were taken in by Arthur’s bluster.

"Yes, a monumental venture that encompasses all future business corporations, all intimately related to office work!

Collaborative work! Artificial intelligence! Cloud services! The age of the super internet! Yes, this is the ’Vision Project’!"

Arthur Locke’s lyrical praise involuntarily took their breath away.

They couldn’t understand a word of it, but somehow it sounded impressive.

"What is the ’Vision Project’?" Intuition told Philip that this was the crux.

Arthur Locke’s eyes became enigmatic, "Everything you can imagine, and beyond."

Richard and Philip exchanged glances, deciding to ask another way.

"Could it reach the size of Microsoft?" To those on the East Coast, Microsoft was the epitome of the software industry.

Arthur Locke let out a light laugh, "Microsoft doesn’t represent everything."

Hiss, how fearsome this man is...

Pah!

Mother F*cker, if it weren’t for Locke’s clear eyes, Richard would have thought he was drunk.

"Arthur," Richard looked at him earnestly, "Byte Company will be successful, right?"

"Of course," Arthur Locke assured him without hesitation.

"OK," Richard pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, satisfied with Arthur Locke’s simple assurance.

"Take me to meet that young man."

"I’ll contact him," Locke picked up the Motorola from the table and began to call right there.

A minute later, he looked apologetically at Richard, "Dean is attending a fundraising event."

"Whose?" Richard Fischer raised an eyebrow.

"Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton."

...

Larry Stone gently flipped the calendar, having already returned his tickets to today’s Oakland A’s baseball game.

Convincing Silicon Valley friends to participate in the event was as difficult as pulling teeth.

But in the end, he managed to gather a dozen or so CEOs. With their presence, at least the evening wouldn’t look so bad.

Indeed, Larry Stone wasn’t too keen on the Southern governor; the man didn’t seem to have much potential in that regard.

But who had made him a faithful adherent of the Democratic Party? Larry Stone drove to the lavishly renovated Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

This was the venue for tonight’s event. Although Clinton was visiting Silicon Valley, San Francisco was the center of entertainment and finance in Northern California.

Of course, Larry Stone’s enthusiasm in organizing this event was not without self-interest.

These fundraisers, utilizing the influence of stars or business leaders to collect large sums of money, had another name: "bundlers."

If the Arkansas governor were elected, then right after his swearing-in, Larry could expect a favor in return for personnel decisions or policy.

He was a councilman for Sunnyvale City; he was part of the public service system. He longed to bypass California and step directly into the White House.

When Larry entered the hotel, several familiar figures had already arrived.

"Hi, Baram, thank you so much for coming tonight," Larry greeted an old acquaintance from afar.

"Larry, you better pray that this Democratic governor is as humble as you say, or I’ll leave right away," Baram responded.

Baram had always been a supporter of the Republican Party, a longing to be valued and Larry’s persuasion over the phone brought him in.

"Don’t worry, see, we have celebrity guests tonight, stars of Silicon Valley."

No sooner had Larry spoken than he had already enthusiastically greeted another attendee, "Hi, Dean. I’m really excited to see you here."

Larry hadn’t expected someone as young as Dean to be willing to attend an event that most people shunned.

"I think it’s a good opportunity to get involved in politics, to get me closer to federal policies."

"Exactly, tonight is the perfect opportunity," Larry said enthusiastically as he shook hands with Dean.

"So where is our host?" The scene was quieter than Dean had expected, with a small hall more than ample.

Larry was about to speak when a smiling couple walked through the door.

"Look, here they come."

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