"A thousand websites," Takuya Nakayama repeated, his fingers tapping a rhythmic tok-tok on the table. "So, here's the question: If I'm an ordinary user who just bought a computer and installed the Mosaic Browser, and I want to find a website about fishing, or check the latest NBA scores, what do I do?"
Frank instinctively replied, "That's not hard. People often share fun website links in the Computer Science section of BBSs, or you could download the latest Cool Sites List text file from a university's FTP server. Of course, the best way is to buy Wired magazine—they recommend a few good sites in every issue."
Frank's voice suddenly trailed off.
He looked at Takuya Nakayama's half-smile and suddenly realized how absurd his own suggestions sounded.
Sifting through BBS posts? Digging through text files on FTP? Or even buying a physical magazine?
It's like driving a Ferrari but still having to get out and ask a random old man on the street for directions.
"It's such a hassle, right?" Takuya Nakayama leaned forward slightly, his tone becoming highly persuasive. "If there are a thousand websites out there, users might only know three of them. The remaining nine hundred and ninety-seven are like isolated islands hidden in the deep sea—no one knows where they are, or how to get there."
"Since the BBS already has scattered sections for website recommendations, why can't we take it a step further?"
Takuya Nakayama casually grabbed a blank sheet of paper, pulled out a pen, and began sketching a simple diagram.
"Imagine creating a dedicated webpage—like a library's index card system—that gathers all those thousand websites."
He wrote down a few major categories on the paper: [ News ], [ Sports ], [ Entertainment ], [ Technology ]—
"We'll categorize them and even rank them. For example, under [ NBA ], we'll list all relevant sites. Users won't have to deal with those damn complicated http addresses or memorize those random domains. They'll just open our page, find [ Sports ], click on [ NBA ], and choose a link that looks appealing—"
"Thud."
Takuya Nakayama pressed his pen firmly onto the paper.
"Thud."
"Hyperlink directly jumps."
Frank stared at the sketch, his eyes nearly frozen in place.
His brain whirred like a supercomputer just powered on, frantically calculating the feasibility and commercial prospects of this model.
Isn't this just... the Yellow Pages of the Internet?
No, even more powerful than the Yellow Pages!
Takuya observed the changes in Frank's expression and calmly added the final piece of the puzzle: "Frank, you were just complaining about the high bandwidth costs. If a Navigation Station like this takes off, it will become the 'first stop' for every internet user. Imagine the massive traffic."
"More importantly—" Takuya pointed to the top of the category list. "If two fishing supply websites both want to rank first in the 'Outdoor Sports' category, which one should go on top?"
Frank's head snapped up, his eyes blazing with a terrifying light.
"Whoever pays more gets the top spot!" he nearly roared.
This isn't some Navigation Station—it's a fully automated cash printing machine!
We don't even need to produce our own content. Just by organizing links from other sources, website owners desperate for traffic will be waving checks at us, begging us to include them!
All our anxieties, all the cost pressures—in that instant, they all seemed like a joke.
"My God—Takuya, how on earth did you come up with this?"
Frank was so excited he lost his composure. He even forgot his CEO dignity, grabbing Takuya Nakayama by the shoulders and shaking him vigorously, the force nearly spilling the coffee from his hands.
"Genius! This is an absolute stroke of genius! I'm going to wake up those bastards in the Development Department right now! No one's sleeping tonight! We'll have a prototype ready by the end of the week!"
Watching Frank charge out of the office like a child who'd just snatched a new toy, he even forgot to close the door behind him, Tom Kalinske laughed so hard he slapped his thigh. "Looks like the pizza joints in Redwood City are going to have another busy night."
Takuya Nakayama picked up his coffee again, took a sip, and looked out at the bustling office area.
He was pondering an interesting question.
Those two Stanford graduate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo, must still be agonizing over their theses, right?
If I remember correctly, they weren't supposed to come up with that "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web"—what would later become the legendary Yahoo—until later this year.
But now, the moment Frank Marshall stormed off toward the Development Department, the wheels of history had quietly shifted course.
Perhaps in this timeline, the name "Yahoo" would never get the chance to appear.
The conference room door swayed shut on its own, then settled into place, muffling the outside noise.
Tom Kalinske fiddled with his empty paper cup, his gaze fixed on the young man across from him, who was slowly blowing on his steaming coffee.
"You're just going to let him walk away like that?" Tom leaned back, crossing his legs. "I know that look too well. Every time you get that expression, it means someone's about to get screwed—or someone's about to get rich. Usually, it's you getting rich, and everyone else getting screwed."
Takuya Nakayama set down his cup, his fingertips brushing the warm ceramic. "Was I that obvious?"
"It's obvious," Tom said, pointing to his own eyes. "Your face screams, 'Hey, Frank, don't rush off—this is just the appetizer; the main course is still in the kitchen.'"
Takuya Nakayama chuckled, shrugging. "The Navigation Station alone will keep the Development Department busy for quite some time. You can't swallow too much at once—especially for a company in hyper-growth mode. Focus is everything. If we reveal all our cards now, I'm afraid Frank's heart might give out, and our servers would melt."
"You always love to tease people's appetites until they're practically hanging out of their throats," Tom said, shaking his head. Though he complained, the smile at the corner of his eyes was impossible to hide. "Aren't you afraid this slow, toothpaste-squeeze release schedule will drive Frank crazy?"
"Quite the opposite, Tom," Takuya replied, standing up and walking to the whiteboard. He gazed at the sketch he'd just drawn. "The capital market is greedy, but it's also forgetful. If you play all your best cards at once, they'll applaud you for five minutes, then move on to the next prey."
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 30+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon