Jerry Yang and David Filo present: Jerry & Dave’s guide to the World Wide Web

There is something a little awe-inspiring about taking a simple idea and hobby and turning it into a multi-billion pound enterprise and a global brand that has changed and challenged the ways in which we communicate and interact with each other around the world. In 1994 Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young Engineering students from Stanford University, would establish what they would call “Jerry and Dave’s guide to the World Wide Web.” Initially created to help keep track of their favourite websites, their 'guide' would eventually grow into something that neither one of them could have ever predicated – and seventeen years and millions upon millions of searches later, this guide would become world-famous under a slightly different name: “Yahoo!”

The rise of Yahoo can only be described as meteoric. Starting out life within the humble confines of a computer in a student dorm room, the first month alone saw traffic to the duo’s website double, and keep on doubling every month thereafter. Quickly building up a solid and loyal fan base, this collection of categories and sub categories would gain such popularity that before the first year was out, it would break the threshold of one million hits in a single day, translating to almost 100,000 unique visitors.

That is not to say, however, that the runaway success of Yahoo came easy; it’s taken hard work and dedication (and, yes, a little bit of luck) for these two titans of the dot com world to get where they are today. Yahoo has helped forge a path beyond a mere search engine tool; email, news, stock prices, applications, information, databases and entertainment are all available at a touch of a button. Others have recognised a good idea when they see it; Microsoft, AOL and Google are just a few of the big names to have followed suit. Ultimately, what’s at stake is global leadership in what has become known as the Internet Web-portal market, an industry, which, if the market analysers are correct, could grow into a more than $100 billion market over the next few years.

Yang and Filo both accept they’ve got a fight on their hands and that to win they need to push the limits of innovation and creativity in order to maintain their success. “I believe that Yahoo is too often defined by the competitive landscape, rather than by what we can accomplish with our assets. I’m determined for us to define our own path,” says Yang. Although Yang and Filo have now relinquished direct control of the company they started, they both remain key players in the company’s success, with both sitting on the board of directors and subsequently adopting the self-appointed titles of “Chief Yahoo!’s”

But the way ahead is still unclear, and if one thing is certain it’s that Yahoo has not necessarily had a smooth ride so far. The world of technology is fickle. Websites that are hot one day can fall out of favour the next, and Yahoo is no stranger to controversy. Scandals involving user privacy, human rights violations and large lay-offs during the economic down turn, have all threatened to tarnish Yahoo’s reputation. But we shouldn’t count out Yahoo just yet and with the likes of Jerry Yang and David Filo on board, we can never be sure of what they’ll come up with next!

Why not check out the site for yourself at www.yahoo.com.

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