Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan: Entrepreneurship In Sohu

Sogou

CEO Wang Xiaochuan said so.

Among many Internet Co CEO,

From inside

Whether it is browser, search, or the number of users of the input method, Sogou is currently ranked third.

How big is the chance of third in the fiercely competitive battleground of the Internet?

Browser competition

In July 19th, Sogou launched the 3 edition of Sogou high speed browser in Beijing, and announced the opening of the "dual core application platform" based on this.

Just the day before, Baidu and rising star launched a browser in one day.

Qihoo 360 has successfully launched its listing with the user base of the second major clients and the layout of 360 secure browsers, making the browser market more attractive. The competition in the browser area is unprecedented. Now, there are more "big guys" like Baidu.

In the face of various topics related to competition, Wang Xiaochuan still talked about technical advantages first. He stressed that the free customizing "message box" and the intimate "webpage update reminder" constituted a strong web page update reminder function of Sogou high speed browser, plus a fully open toolbox, all kinds of practical tools and components, and the advantage of Sogou high speed browser is very obvious.

According to AI's latest data, in May this year, the monthly coverage of Sogou browser has reached 23.4%, covering 91 million 800 thousand people.

It has surged 60% over the past 1 years, far more than any other competitor, and is the fastest growing browser.

According to the latest statistics released by CNZZ, as of June this year, Baidu's share in the domestic market was 82.23%, Google was 8.02%, Sogou was 4.66%.

"We hope that Sogou search service will account for 10% of the total in the year. If this is achieved, Sogou traffic will exceed Google in the domestic market.

Our real goal is to surpass Google China in a year.

Browser growth leads to traffic growth, and also brings revenue growth.

"In the third quarter of this year, we expect revenue to reach US $1600." Wang Xiaochuan's "very strong" answer to revenue also brought about the issue of listing. "We haven't thought about going public yet, and we have no timetable to make the product well."

Entrepreneurship within Sohu

Wang Xiaochuan, who spoke in a straight and gentle manner, sometimes showed a very unusual temperament when interviewed by reporters. For example, when someone asked about the future planning of Sogou, he would have an amazing phrase: "guess what?"

It is undeniable that this unexpected answer is a little ridicule, but this is indeed different from the traditional quiz, which is neither ordinary nor realistic. It is not a technical response to "do not want to respond to a positive response". Wang Xiaochuan's Frank side is actually very different.

Wang Xiaochuan went all the way from junior high school to junior high school, high school and university entrance exam.

In 1996, he won the gold medal on behalf of China to participate in the "international Informatics Olympiad" and thus passed the computer department of Tsinghua University.

This is a completely different learning experience. "Because I had taken the game, I went to play and play games for three years in senior high school." Wang Xiaochuan is also different from the growth process of some young class talents. He has the necessary learning experience as an ordinary student, and has a certain degree of "ease" because of his mathematical talent. "I took part in the mathematics competition, but I hardly attended the entrance examination."

But Wang Xiaochuan, who plays in school and has a relaxed mind, always has some time to adapt to the change of the environment. "Freshman is still playing games, when the 31 people in the class are ranked 28, and then I started to study on my own. I started drinking coffee and began studying." unlike Wang Xiaochuan's experience, he had a unique way of doing things, but there was a conventional way of integrating into the mainstream. "During this particularly depressed period, I reached the best position in the school after graduation."

In 1999, Wang Xiaochuan, a junior in junior high school, entered the newly established Chinaren part-time job and entered the Sohu with Chinaren. So far, he has not changed the runway.

At the age of 21, the first batch entered the Internet development, 25 years old, and 27 years old became Vice President of Sohu.

Wang Xiaochuan, who has a steady manner, does not have the publicity of his youth. However, he still has an unconventional style of doing things.

In the Sohu's internal business, in 2003, in the Qingyun building far away from the "parent", Wang Xiaochuan began to dig up people from the purchase of tables and chairs and Tsinghua dormitory door, starting from scratch, and finally launched Sogou search in 11 months, while other enterprises usually spend two years.

"Sogou has been running well since it was released. This is also a unique case in Sohu. Clarles (Zhang Zhaoyang) is very supportive of Sogou, but in its internal business, it is facing more challenges. The style of Sohu is totally different from that of Sogou. The simplest example is that the developer needs two cameras and two cable sockets. The past practice of Sohu is one person, one machine, all of which need to be faced and solved."

After Clarles gave Wang Xiaochuan the required action "search", Wang Xiaochuan began the optional exercise "input method and browser".

In April 2010, Google announced its withdrawal from China. The search market vacated is undoubtedly a golden opportunity for Sogou. With sensitive smell and Sogou high speed browser, Sogou's search traffic has increased rapidly.

In the input method market, "Sogou used the search engine thesaurus to solve the problem of thesaurus, because the lexicon was the fastest and the most fluent type, occupying 83.6% of the market in 5 years."

Today, Sogou input method has become the third largest client after QQ and 360.

In August 9, 2010, Sogou business was formally divestied from Sohu, and a subsidiary company was set up separately. Meanwhile, Alibaba group and Yunfeng fund were introduced into strategic investment.

Wang Xiaochuan took over the CEO of the subsidiary and Sogou also gained more room for development.

In fact, all along, innovation and conservatism, mainstream and alternative have achieved harmony and unity in Wang Xiaochuan.

As he himself said, "innovation is necessary, but we can not innovate for innovation. After a core link is innovating, we must try to use the method that has been proved to be successful in other links. At this point, we can not innovate without innovation, so that we can create something innovative."

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Difficulty in marching towards the second

In the fiercely competitive Internet market, the winner takes all the food and grasps the entry to grasp everything. Similar experiences are everywhere. Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba have already controlled the big pattern of the Internet market.

Whether it is browser, search or input method client, Sogou has its innovation, but in these three areas are ranked third of Sogou, and its future prospects?

For Sogou, at present, it is actually the most delicate, complex and challenging moment.

What is Wang Xiaochuan thinking about this time?

What is the strategy of Sogou?

"Product quality and market strategy are like two hands, one can not be less."

Wang Xiaochuan said he did not like to flicker, and when he talked about his plan, he seemed very real: "at the end of this year, in search, we will strive to surpass Google, and in the middle of next year, we will strive to become the second place in the browser."

Quite frankly, the biggest task for Sogou and Wang Chuan Chuan is to march from the third to the second.

In this process, Wang Xiaochuan emphasized the ecosystem very much.

"We hope to build a win-win network ecosystem with more third party application developers based on better response to user needs."

Because Sogou is a company that Sohu and Alibaba cooperate with, and Sogou can maintain more open cooperation with the industry. "We can cooperate with Baidu and Tencent." in Wang Xiaochuan's view, the innovation and upgrading of products will benefit not only users and Sogou, but also the ecosystem built by Sogou browser based on product platform.

At present, the Sogou browser platform has not only formed a closer cooperation with the general web site, but also attracted a large number of application developers in the third party application and skin of the box.

For example, Sogou browsers can bring more traffic sharing to cooperative websites. Taking DouBan FM and Renren as an example, traffic increases significantly after access to web pages.

In Wang Xiaochuan's vision, another advantage of Sogou is that Sogou is not a browser in individual combat, but a three-dimensional battle array that is "browser + input + search" and "three carriages".

Whether browser, client or search, is the main entrance of traffic entry.

In this strategic layout, the huge user of the input method 300 million can bring the installed capacity of browsers, while browsers can enhance the flow of search; in turn, search can optimize the thesaurus of Sogou input method, interlocking and promoting each other.

"It is appropriate to talk about opening up with influence. Now Sogou browser has a certain market base. We hope to let business partners and developers share the growth of Sogou high-speed growth."

Wang Xiaochuan stressed that the opening of Sogou will be orderly and thorough, and truly promote mutual trust in the industrial chain and build a win-win ecological circle.

According to the analysis of insiders, from the perspective of business mode, Tencent is open to users; micro-blog opens social connections; Baidu and 360 open traffic.

The Sogou browser is meant to be integrated and open, from desktop interaction to traffic to users, and open to the network ecosystem.

Although Sogou has a three-dimensional and omnidirectional layout, the challenge is enormous.

Can Wang Xiaochuan bring his Sogou to a new position with unique personality and innovative ideas?

Can Sogou's different new models affect the existing Internet market structure?

Let's wait and see.