Critical Early Decisions with Long Lasting Results

The pivotal points that changed the direction of Baidu’s emergence, says its CEO Robin Li, include fewer extravagant expenditures (and planning for six months of capital to last for over a year), a switch from a back-end to a consumer-oriented interface, and a conscious decision to outshine the competition. In addition, Li recalls the ten months he spent micromanaging the engineering team to quickly turnaround the best quality technology the team could muster. He credits all of these early-term risks with the long-term sustainability of the enterprise.