Google speaks : secrets of the world's greatest billionaire entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page 9780470398548, 047039854X

Table of contents :
Google Speaks: Secrets of the World's Greatest Billionaire Entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Google Guys
SERGEY BRIN
LARRY PAGE
TESLA’S STORY
THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP
NETWORKING AT ITS BEST
BURNING MAN
Adult Supervision
THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM OF SILICON VALLEY
HE’S BEEN THE ROCK; THEY’VE BEEN THE ROCKETS
A MAN OF INFLUENCE
CLIMBING A DIFFERENT KIND OF MOUNTAIN
In the Beginning
THE ULTIMATE SEARCH ENGINE
NOT INVENTING, BUT IMPROVING UPON
LOOK AROUND YOU FOR INSPIRATION
HOW SEARCH WORKS
PLATFORM POWER
OPEN PLATFORM
Google By Any Other Name
A BLESSED BLUNDER
FROM NOUN TO VERB
PLAYING WITH THE NAME
THE GOOGLE LOGO
THE GOOGLE DOODLE
GOOGLE ZEITGEIST
A Company Is Born
YAHOO! DREW THE MAP
THE REQUISITE GARAGE
THE VENTURE CAPITALISTS
THE ELUSIVE BUSINESS PLAN
INVESTING IN WILD IDEAS
GOOD IDEAS PUT TO GOOD USE
DEALING WITH DARK MATTER
AVERSION TO ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING THAT DELIVERS RESULTS
TWO WAYS TO ADVERTISE: ADWORDS AND ADSENSE
EXTENDING THE GOOGLE REACH
THE SCIENCE OF ADVERTISING
GOOGLE DIDN’T ADVERTISE ITSELF—AT FIRST
BIRTH OF THE GOOGLE ECONOMY
Going Public
“WE’RE DIFFERENT”
THE DUTCH AUCTION
THE
INTERVIEW
TEN YEARS LATER
The Vision
MAKE IT USEFUL
THE MANY WAYS TO GOOGLE
MAKE IT BIG
MAKE IT FUN
DON’T DO EVIL
MAKE IT FREE
Google Culture
NEW MANAGEMENT STYLE
TEN THINGS GOOGLE HAS FOUND TO BE TRUE
RIDING THE LONG TAIL
20 PERCENT PROJECTS
PERPETUAL BETA
FABLED WORKPLACE
AN ALTERNATIVE POINT OF VIEW
GOOGLEPLEX
GOOGLE IN IRELAND
TOP TEN REASONS TO WORK AT GOOGLE
THE BATTLE FOR BRAINPOWER
GUARDING THE SECRETS
Google Grows Up
CONFLICTS AND CONTROVERSY
PRIVACY ISSUE
ADVERTISING PRODUCTS
GMAIL
STREET VIEW
CAN THEY SNOOP—AND WILL THEY TELL?
HELLO, HUMAN RIGHTS
THE GREAT CHINESE FIREWALL
PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
THE AUTHORS’ REVOLT
THE GAME-CHANGING SETTLEMENT
LAWSUITS EVERYWHERE
GOOGLE GETS AN AIRPLANE
GOOGLE GETS A SATELLITE
Good Citizen Google
GOOGLE.ORG—THE PHILANTHROPIC PART
GOOGLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
RENEWABLE ENERGY LESS THAN COAL
GEOTHERMAL POWER
ENERGY FROM THE SEA
ENERGY-EFFICIENT GOOGLEPLEX
Google’s Future
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ONWARD TO WEB 3.0
CLOUD COMPUTING
YOUTUBE
THE GOOGLE PHONE
WHITE SPACES
The Dominant Power in the Industry?
GOOGLE, MICROSOFT, AND THE INTERNET CIVIL WAR
THE BATTLE OF YAHOO!
GATES ON GOOGLE
Conclusion
LESSONS FROM LARRY AND SERGEY
THE TRAITS OF THOSE WHO CHANGE THE WORLD
Timeline
Glossary
Notes
INTRODUCTION
THE GOOGLE GUYS
ADULT SUPERVISION
IN THE BEGINNING
GOOGLE BY ANY OTHER NAME
A COMPANY IS BORN
GOING PUBLIC
THE VISION
GOOGLE CULTURE
GOOGLE GROWS UP
GOOD CITIZEN GOOGLE
GOOGLE’S FUTURE
THE DOMINANT POWER IN THE INDUSTRY?
CONCLUSION
Permissions

Citation preview

Jacket Illustration: © Michael Witte

“It’s not hard to see that Google is a phenomenal company. . . . At Geico, we pay these guys a whole lot of money for this and that key word.” —Warren Buffett “Google rocks. It raised my perceived IQ by about 20 points.” —Wes Boyd President of Moveon.Org “Google is my rapid response research assistant. It’s the Swiss Army knife of information retrieval.” —Lloyd Grove columnist, Portfolio.com “Who’s afraid of Google? Everyone.” —Wired magazine “Writers of the past had absinthe, whiskey or heroin. I have Google.” —Michael Chabon author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

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Secrets of the World’s Greatest Billionaire Entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page

$19.95 USA/$23.95 CAN

In many ways, Google is the prototype of a successful twenty-first-century company. It uses technology in new ways to make information universally accessible; promotes a corporate culture that encourages creativity among its employees; and takes its role as a corporate citizen very seriously, investing in green initiatives and developing the largest corporate foundation in the United States. Following in the footsteps of Warren Buffett Speaks and Jack Welch Speaks— —which contain a conversational style that successfully captures the essence of these business leaders—Google Speaks reveals the amazing story behind one of the most important new companies of our time by exploring the people and philosophies that have made it a global phenomenon in less than fifteen years.

SECRETS of the WORLD’S GREATEST BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEURS, SERGEY BRIN and LARRY PAGE

JANET LOWE is the author of the bestselling Warren Buffett Speaks, Jack Welch Speaks, and Bill Gates Speaks, all from Wiley. Her articles have appeared in such publications as Newsweek , the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

SPEAKS

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SPEAKS

What started out as a university research project conducted by Sergey Brin and Larry Page has ended up revolutionizing the world we live in. Google Speaks puts these incredible entrepreneurs in perspective and shows you how their drive and determination have allowed them to create one of today’s most powerful companies.

Google

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In addition to examining Google’s breakthrough business strategies and new business models— which have transformed online advertising and changed the way we look at corporate responsibility and employee relations— —Lowe explains why Google may be a harbinger of where corporate America is headed. She also addresses controversies surrounding Google, such as copyright infringement, antitrust concerns, and personal privacy and poses the question almost every successful company must face: as Google grows, can it hold on to its entrepreneurial spirit as well as its informal motto, “Don’t do evil”?

Praise for

LOWE

—continued from front flap—

Written by bestselling author Janet Lowe, this book offers an engaging look at how Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, transformed their vision of a better Internet search engine into a business colossus with about $16 billion in annual revenue. Lowe discusses the values that drive Brin and Page— —for example, how they both live fairly modest lives, despite each having a net worth in excess of $15.9 billion— —and details how they have created a culture that fosters fun while, at the same time, keeping Google at the forefront of technology through relentless R&D investments and imaginative partnerships with organizations such as NASA.

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