Investing in ICQ

Wiesger, Wadi, Goldfinger.

Through a simple conversation and self-introduction, Zucker confirmed the names of the three men. They had just finished their military service in Israel and, upon hearing about this exchange event in Silicon Valley, had flown specifically to America.

Months ago, the idea of creating ICQ had already sprouted in their minds.

They discovered that email on the internet was often clogged with unimportant information, causing crucial messages to be buried and failing to receive timely feedback or responses. Consequently, they decided to invent software that could transmit information more quickly and directly.

Thus, the world's first chat software, ICQ, was born!

Even the QQ of great China was founded as a copy of QICQ. However, QICQ itself was a pirated version of ICQ.

A certain coffee shop.

"Gentlemen, may I venture to ask what stage of development your ICQ software is currently in? Of course, if it is a trade secret, you don't have to answer," Zucker said.

Wiesger, Wadi, and Goldfinger exchanged glances.

"Mr. Wald, there is nothing difficult to talk about. Since we just finished our military service, we have only completed the preliminary work for ICQ. Once we return to Israel, we will begin the formal research and programming."

The three creators of ICQ were no ordinary people.

Especially Wiesger!

After the ICQ project succeeded, Wiesger went on to invest in over 80 internet companies, five of which successfully went public. In the future, he would become a billionaire.

He was incredibly shrewd!

Or rather, there are no coincidences for those who succeed; they are all sharp-minded individuals! The reason he was willing to speak up was simply that he saw Zucker was interested and had the intention to invest.

"Gentlemen, if possible, I would like to invest in your ICQ project," Zucker said without hesitation.

Upon hearing this, the three men were ecstatic.

"That's great, our project can start immediately."

"Yes, Wiesger. We will be successful very soon."

Wadi and Goldfinger, two of the three, were thrilled on the spot and began to imagine the future.

Wiesger looked at Zucker and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Wald, we appreciate your recognition, and we are willing to accept your investment. But there is one prerequisite: as the founding team, Wadi, Goldfinger, and I must retain controlling interest in ICQ."

"No! No~!"

Zucker shook his head immediately. "Gentlemen, you are the founding team, that is beyond doubt. But I am the one putting up real US dollars. In the first round of angel investment, I should hold the leading position in ICQ. That is the right and interest I deserve."

"Mr. Wald, we cannot accept that."

Wiesger rejected the proposal.

In the time that followed, Zucker and Wiesger engaged in a discussion regarding the control of ICQ. As for the other two creators, they lacked Wiesger's shrewdness and spent the entire time as mere spectators, eating melons.

During the argument, it wasn't as if Zucker hadn't considered casting them aside and forming his own team to develop ICQ.

However.

These three guys—or rather, Wiesger—were too damn cunning. The reason he spoke to Zucker was that he was confident he could make Zucker compromise. From the moment they stepped foot in America, they had contacted a lawyer to apply for an ICQ patent.

(America is sometimes just that ridiculous; not only can completed technology be patented, but even technical ideas can be registered as patents.)

With the patent in hand, Wiesger completely blocked Zucker's path to cloning the software.

Of course, Zucker wasn't actually afraid of that.

It's just a lawsuit, right? Living in America now, would he be afraid of that?

But whether he was afraid or not was one thing; Zucker didn't have the time, or rather, didn't have the energy, which was another. Most importantly, while Zucker knew how to use QQ and ICQ, he didn't know how to develop them! Even if he hired a group of professional IT workers to program it, by the time development was finished, Wiesger and his team might have already taken ICQ public.

He compromised!

That's right, Zucker was just that shameless!

"Fine, you've convinced me," Zucker said.

"Thank you, Mr. Wald. I believe we will certainly not let you down."

The next morning, Zucker and the three men signed the investment contract in the presence of a lawyer.

Zucker invested $400,000 for a 40% stake in the ICQ project, and he also retained the priority right to make additional investments in subsequent Series A, B, and C funding rounds.

"Wiesger, I don't think the company's office should be located in Israel. You must know that Silicon Valley is the center of the internet world today," Zucker suggested.

Regarding the location of the company, the three men gladly accepted Zucker's advice.

After all, Zucker was a man who owned a building on the outskirts of Silicon Valley; renting them a floor was absolutely no problem.

Rent?

That's right, rent!

Business is business; it must never be confused. This was in line with commercial laws and was even more of a principle for Zucker.

After the three men left, Zhang Wei, Zucker's private lawyer, spoke up: "Boss, $400,000 is nothing to you, but do you really think it can succeed?"

"Heh," Zucker gave a mysterious smile.

Would the ICQ project succeed?

It could be considered a success, yet it could also be considered a failure.

Once this software was launched, it received an immediate global response. Thanks to its unprecedented creativity, it quickly amassed a large number of users worldwide within just half a year. Even in Asia, where the internet was not yet highly developed at the time, it captured 70% of the market, and in Great China, it commanded a staggering 80%.

In 1998, AOL acquired ICQ for the then-hefty price of 407 million USD.

In this regard, ICQ was a success. One must remember that at the time, Pony Ma had not yet founded Tencent.

However, to say ICQ was not a success, it truly was not.

Because it failed to achieve its expected profitability!

During its development, several failed strategic decisions meant it did not stay on the right path, nor did it effectively utilize its massive user base to incubate related industries, such as gaming or film and television. At the same time, it failed to develop non-English versions of ICQ.

This point was particularly fatal!

It caused many non-English speaking countries to spawn a large number of domestic-language chat software; for instance, QQ was born in Great China.

(In fact, even if ICQ had developed a Chinese version, it would have been impossible for it to dominate the Great China market. Looking back from 2020, whether it was Amazon or Google, both were renowned names, yet didn't they both meet their Waterloo in Great China?)

In 2010, AOL "sold off" ICQ to the Russian investment firm DST for 187.5 million USD.

"Successfully investing in ICQ, that's just wonderful!"

Zucker could not help but feel great, and he thought that he must participate in more such events in the future.

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