Summary, critical review and key takeaways of the famous book "The Google Story"

1. THE GOOGLE
STORY
S U M M A R Y, A N A LY S I S & O U R TA K E AWAY S

2. SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
• "You have to be a little silly about the goals you are going to set. There is a phrase I
learned in college called, 'Having a healthy disregard for the impossible,'" Page said.
"That is a really good phrase. You should try to do things that most people would not."
• In just five years a PhD research project was turned it into a multibillion-dollar
enterprise
• Not just clever people – they were businessmen
• Guiding principle that science and technology can influence the world – not just a
company.

3. A HEALTHY DISREGARD FOR THE
IMPOSSIBLE

4. • Google is a story of endurance and optimism.
• Thomas Edison a quarter century to invent the lightbulb; Alexander Graham Bell had spent
many years developing the telephone, Thomas Watson Jr. labored long and hard before
IBM rolled out the modern computer
• But Brin and Page, in just five years, had taken a graduate school research project and
turned it
into a multibillion-dollar enterprise with global reach.
• They described themselves as two kind of crazy kids have had a big impact on the world
because of the power of the Internet, the power of the distribution, and the power of
software and computers.
• The Google is being run like a university, they have hundreds of projects and each project
is divided to a group of 2-3 people.
• They believe only way to achieve success is to have lot of failures first.

5. A BRIEF ON LARRY AND SERGEY

6. • Sergey was a math whiz, completed his undergrad degree at 19 and qualified all 10 required
doctoral exams at one go. He was confident, fit and outspoken.
• Sergey Brin and Larry Page had something significant in common
• They were both second-generation computer. They grew up using computers, had parents
who used computers and sophisticated mathematics. This set Larry and Sergey apart from
others their age.
• During orientation program, Sergey and Larry started to argue about some random topics
and it was through differences they came closer
• They were focused on pursuing their Ph.D.'s, not on getting rich

7. LEARNING TO COUNT

8. • Rajeev Motwani, Brin’s advisor, wasn’t very happy with the current search engines and believed
that there must be some better way to do so.
• Meanwhile Page was analysing the working of Alta Vista and was interested in usages of links.
However, he needed a big database to do so.
• In 1996, he teamed up with Brin.
• Their first major breakthrough was Page Rank algorithm.
• It suggest that all links were not created equal. Some mattered more than others and, in turn,
greater weight is assigned to incoming links from important sites.
• The trio then incorporated PageRank into traditional algo and launched it for internal use in
Stanford and named it BackRub.

9. THE SECRET SAUCE

10. • In 1998, they decided to pitch their superior search technology to Alta Vista
• Alta Vista though showed interest but rejected it on the ground that it was a outsider
project.
• They, then, turned to yahoo but yahoo rejected it because they want users to spent
more time on Yahoo.
• Rejections frustrated them but increased their determination to carry forward Google
on their own.
• As search results grew, they needed more computers and hence more funding.
• They decided to make a pitch to an angel investor, Bechtolsheim.
• Bechtolsheim was a computer whiz and liked the idea of the “Google guys”, though
they were unsure of revenue model of the company.

11. THE FUNDING

12. • Bechtolsheim gave them a cheque of $100,000 and they were able to collect around $1
million from other sources.
• They move into a garage and hired a friend.
• However, they need to move to a new office in Palo Alto as they outgrew quickly.
• As search query exploded to 500,000 searches/day, they require to add more computers.
• They want venture capitalist to fund them but also do not want to loose the control.
• So, they pitched to two rival investors of silicon valley, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,
and Sequoia Capital, though they disagreed initially to fund together but everyone out
there knows the potential of Google.
• So, they agreed to invest together, for time in their history, amount of $12.5 million each.
• This was a huge sum as google first grabbed the global limelight

14. CHAPTER 11 – THE GOOGLE ECONOMY
Summary
• Steve Berkowitz - joined Ask having a broader picture of how the internet worked.
• Traditional metrics used to gauge the popularity and profitability of a business missed the dynamic,
self-reinforcing nature of Google's global network of users and advertisers, in part because the
unconventional business model didn't lend itself to standard static analysis.
• Google had a ripple effect on businesses that benefited from quality search, relevant advertising, and
renewed faith in high-tech innovation.
• Google indexed and made available at lightning-fast speed.
• How ask Jeeves performed and reasons for it's failure. How Steve Berkowitz managed to turn it back
by investing in a technology called Teoma.
• This gave Ask Jeeves an upper hand and when proposed to Google to share revenues from
advertisements.

15. CHAPTER 12 – AND ON THE FIFTH DAY
• The 20% rule
• Google employees got 20% of their time to work in projects they liked
• "The 20 percent time was invented for people to just explore"
• Drawn from 3M, the extra time to dream yielded, among other things, the idea for
Post-it Notes. Larry and Brin got fascinated and implemented this in Google.
• Through this they got idea of Google news and Froogle, the search equivalent of
Amazon and similar online retail websites.

16. CHAPTER 13 – GLOBAL GOOGLING
• One of Google biggest outreach is its availability in various languages.
• Users worldwide Googled for every other information they needed.
• Some of them got help from Googlefor their everyday chores whereas for some it was
helpful to pland their destination wedding.
• Google provided the way for employees to know about their bosses, bosses needed
them for finding an alternative word to use in an important letter.
• But Google also had certain drawbacks in way of keeping the things discrete. Some of
the info which was long forgotten can also be retrieved which some user groups feel
uncomfortable.

17. CHAPTER 14 – APRIL FOOLS
• Google had rolled out it's email future the GMail on April fools day.
• The plan was to roll out offers in a step by step manner where the users Email will be
monitored and advertisements will be pushed based on the users Email data.
• Some of the user groups started their campaign against Gmail that it affects users
privacy.
• After consultation with an advisory council it was decided that Google will not snoop
on the data on users Email but suggest advertisements based on their searches.
• The screening of mails option was good but the idea of rolling out the features of
Gmail was not time correct.
• Google still has the tradition of introducing a product on April fools day and getting
the p

18. CHAPTER 22 – TRICK CLICKS
• Summary
– “Click Fraud” – an existential threat to online advertisement business
– Google made millions daily through clicks on online advertisements
– Clamping down on click fraud was non-trivial
– Largely unreported and undetected
– Control systems would decrease profitability
– Assumed to be reflected in the price of advertisement
– Alchemist Media, Inc
• In the business of keeping online advertisers accountable
– Google has a separate department to deal with fraud
• Caveats to Google’s efforts

19. CHAPTER 23 – ATTACKING MS
• Summary
– Talent the new battleground and Google was beating Microsoft
• Rhetoric about Google being the company of the Internet Age
• Google’s strength lies in experts in “search” and a culture of high-visibility projects
– Google’s strategy was to emulate and surpass Microsoft’s offerings
• Advantage through its internet-ready architecture and suite of quality freeware
• Strategy to move users from MS’s flagship products leveraging “search”

20. CHAPTER 23 – ATTACKING MS
• Connection with MO
– Charles Handy’s Outsider Philosophy
• Google teams 4-5 people to work on high-visibility, high-

21. CHAPTER 24 – MONEY MACHINE
• Summary
– Google’s IPO offer price was undervalued
• FUD factor of Google’s enigmatic business model
• Tightly controlled flow of information from Google
– Legg Mason Value Trust knew better!
• Ads revenue through brick-and-mortar businesses
• Targeted text ads, impressive brand recognition and free marketing
– Assuring investors and the market
• WSJ journalists reassured by Brin, Larry and Schmidt
• Google’s stock price soars

22. CHAPTER 25 – CHINA SYNDROME
• Summary
– Microsoft plagued by “brain drain” in the US
– China the next largest battleground for talent and market
• Microsoft files the Kai-Fu Lee lawsuit but loses
• Dr. Lee gives Google the edge in recruitment
– Complications in China
• Troubling questions about censorship and human rights
• Google violate their own principles (somewhat)

23. CHAPTER 26 – GOOGLING YOUR
GENES
• Summary
– Google’s compeling vision: solve the world’s problems with its immense computation power
and human talent
• Diverse research into genetics, AI, energy, space travel & poverty alleviation

24. OUR THOUGHTS