San Francisco and Seattle were relatively close, being in the west-central and northwestern parts of the United States, but due to the vast land of America, they traveled by plane rather than car.
San Francisco, which started with semiconductor and computer-related hardware companies, Silicon Valley, had seen numerous venture companies rise and fall since Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939.
It was still dominated by hardware companies like Intel, HP, and Apple, but soon, with the internet boom, world-class companies would spring up here like bamboo shoots after rain.
It feels similar to the San Francisco I knew, yet quite different in many ways.
Having majored in electrical engineering at Stanford in his previous life, Jaesung was quite familiar with San Francisco.
But the Silicon Valley of 1994 looked slightly different from Jaesung’s memories.
The city center of San Francisco appeared a bit worn, but Stanford University was just as he remembered.
“The friends you asked about were easier to get introduced to than I thought.”
“Probably others wanted to meet them too, besides me.”
“I heard that even within Stanford, professors and students are using what they made. How did you know about something like this?”
“Jefferson showed me the internet he connects to via modem and told me about it.”
He used the all-purpose excuse of Jefferson Bezos again this time, and Jaesung asked his dad to install an internet line when they got home.
Upon arriving at the Stanford Medical School, dad moved to attend the seminar, while Jaesung was guided by an engineering student introduced by the school to meet the people he had promised to see.
“Seeing that even a middle schooler came looking for them, the program those guys made must be pretty impressive.”
“Haven’t you tried using it yourself?”
“It’s convenient, but I don’t really get it. It doesn’t have what I want. Still, it’s really good for killing time.”
The person who seemed like a graduate teaching assistant guided him to the engineering college lab while sharing information about the people they were going to meet.
Though in a middle schooler’s body, having studied at the same school, he understood the minds of graduate students well, and by appropriately responding, he arrived at the destination.
“Jeremy, Dave, this time a special guest has come.”
Upon entering the lab, an Asian-looking nerd and a white guy were glaring at their monitors while tapping on their keyboards.
“What? They said a professor from the University of Washington Medical School was coming, but it’s a kid?”
“Hello. I’m James Yoo from Seattle. I’m Korean.”
Since they were looking at the middle schooler who visited the lab with puzzlement, it was necessary to spin a bit of a tale.
“I recently sold a program I made myself directly to Microsoft. I know a few people in Seattle doing web ventures, and I was introduced to the site you two made, so I wanted to see it in person and came here.”
“You look young, but selling a license to Microsoft already? Impressive.”
“A computer prodigy, huh. Coming all the way from Seattle to here shows no ordinary passion.”
At first puzzled, but upon learning that a middle schooler had come directly from far away—not Chicago, but Seattle—to San Francisco because he was interested in the site they made, the two men’s guards came down.
“So, what does the young genius think of our site?”
“Basically, it specializes in directory search, but adding a search engine to it, allowing searches for Usenet and email addresses too, was good. Dividing directories might have limitations, but with a small database, you can still find high-quality search results.”
“Oh! You’re no ordinary kid!”
The identity of the people Jaesung had come to San Francisco using his dad’s connections were Jeremy Yang and Dave Filo, Stanford computer science graduate students and founders of the search site called Yahoo.
Though it gets completely pushed out by Google in the mid-2000s, in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Yahoo reigned as the world’s top portal.
In the future, it fades into the back alleys of history and declines, but as the pioneer of early portal sites, it was the most used web not just in America but worldwide—Yahoo.
To Jaesung, who had experienced beyond the internet to the growth of AI, the early Yahoo site was completely amateurish, but in 1994, it was a groundbreaking existence armed with the latest technology.
Though Yahoo Japan continues the lineage, honestly, Yahoo Japan should be seen as a different company.
Yahoo grew rapidly but eventually yielded the throne to the new powerhouse Google; that made it the perfect place to invest in now.
Going public and recording stock prices over 100 times higher right away, peaking in the dot-com bubble and then falling steadily—it could inflate funds much faster than the slower-growing Amazon.com.
The Yahoo they made was created in January 1994 while attending Stanford, and with quick word-of-mouth, they would officially establish the company in March 1995.
Investing before starting the company could yield huge profits, but unexpectedly, many smelling money would propose investments to Yahoo, so coming as early as possible to invest initially was important.
“Theory related to search engines hasn’t been out for long, yet you know quite a bit in detail.”
“There are many software companies in Seattle, and I know someone at dad’s university making programs for paper searches, so I heard a bit.”
To naturally lead into investment, he had to show he understood Yahoo well, and Jaesung racked his brain to speak only basic theories without giving away too much technology.
Jeremy Yang and Dave Filo mistook Jaesung, who was frowning to filter out advanced tech, for someone struggling to remember search theories.
He gave them kimbap made by mom as a gift—good for eating while working on computers—and discussed programming, and soon the two fell for the genius boy Jaesung.
Having graduated from Stanford in his previous life, attended graduate school, and run a startup, coaxing these still-young two was a piece of cake.
“Wow! I thought I was a genius, but the real genius was in Seattle.”
“You met William Gates in person? Totally jealous.”
“I got his autograph and took photos together too.”
He deliberately showed the photos taken with William Gates that he brought, and the two said they definitely wanted to visit Seattle if they got the chance.
“Actually, there’s another reason I came here.”
“Well, you’re too knowledgeable to have come just out of fandom.”
Once the atmosphere was ripe enough, Jaesung said he wanted to participate in making the Yahoo site.
“I’m still in school, so I can’t work together here, but I can provide simple help with the workstation in my garage at home.”
“Working together in person would be efficient, but with your level, even occasional discussions would help.”
Despite his young age, conversation flowed well, and seeing him polite, a much more positive response than expected came, so he finally brought up the main point.
“So, here’s the thing—I got money from selling the license to Microsoft. I want to join the Yahoo project, but since I can’t invest full time and effort, I’d like to provide startup funds and get shares.”
“Haha. You don’t need to go that far, but you must have gotten a lot from Microsoft. How much do you want to invest?”
The two looked at Jaesung cutely, thinking hundreds, maybe a thousand dollars at most.
“I’ll neatly invest one million dollars. You two started the idea, and since I can’t participate often, 10% of the total shares would be good.”
At the amount far exceeding expectations, the two silently processed what they had heard for a moment.
“One million dollars? Do you really have that much money? And seeing a middle schooler talk about shares feels a bit weird?”
Since serious investors hadn’t come yet, the sudden million-dollar proposal was beyond expectations for Jeremy and Dave, who had just started developing the site.
Actually, one million dollars was a bit excessive, but it was also to ward off future investors coming with ambiguous funds.
“We need to think about this a bit? One million dollars for a site with no revenue seems too much.”
“Are you sure you have the money?”
As the two were confused, at the perfect timing, dad, having finished the seminar, came to the lab looking for Jaesung.
“I’m Seokhoon from the University of Washington Medical School. My son insisted on coming here, thank you for taking care of him.”
“Hello.”
The two graduate students instinctively shrank before the professor dad.
“Um… your son said he wants to invest in us, did you know?”
“I heard something similar on the way here. He said if he talks and feels confident, he wants to invest.”
When dad confirmed it was true, the two became even more confused.
“How much did he mention?”
“One million dollars for 10% shares.”
At the much larger amount than expected, Seokhoon touched his forehead, and Dave, watching the mood, proceeded with negotiation.
“We also find one million dollars too burdensome. We do need funds for servers and hiring, but how about 500,000 dollars for 10% shares?”
Jeremy Yang nodded, saying 500,000 dollars would be sufficient.
Grateful to the two who not only didn’t raise their value but lowered it, Jaesung quickly drafted a preliminary contract before they could change their minds.
Fortunately, since many students start businesses at Stanford University, the school side helped by creating investment contracts.
“My son has shown unusual interest in promising IT startups. It’s money my son earned, so I won’t interfere, but please use it well.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll sparingly use precious James’s investment in necessary places.”
Contracting with graduate students, and even though from a different school and major, dad’s effect as a professor was tremendous.
Thanks to that, Jaesung could secure Yahoo shares more easily than thought, and created a reason to keep coming to San Francisco in the future.
Coming alone as a middle schooler would be hard, but fortunately, dad’s academic exchanges didn’t end once and continued, so he planned to come along each time.
“You seem to have changed a lot since coming to America.”
“It fits better than I thought. Thanks to Uncle Jefferson who moved next door too.”
“It seems a bit excessive, but it’s much better than when you were struggling at first. But, is it okay to spend money like that?”
It was money Jaesung earned, so he let it be, but still, it worried him that his son was pouring big money into what could be a failing business.
“I looked around and invested because it seemed certain. Even if it fails, I have no regrets. Then I can make another program and earn money again.”
“Haha. You seem to earn better than me, the head of the household.”
Fortunately, dad well accommodated his middle school son’s strange requests, influenced also by him bringing top grades from school.
So, Yoo Seokhoon, while in San Francisco, headed together to the place Jaesung requested before returning home.