Can one think about life with out google? One day going with out its services? Ranging from the all powerful search engine to Google Maps, Google Books, to Youtube!
I’ve been reading a bit about how google gained its massive populatiry and how was its rise to being to most accessed site for searching the web and an important tool all round.As we know Google was a university project that was started by its founders as a way to query the sites that had been indexed for research purpose.
There have been a few things that have caught my eye, and also the rest of the world’s.
I can list down a few things they did differerntly and better in a way, which eventually led to their rise.
Initially there was a shortage of money to set up their business and this was a huge problem since they had to buy terabytes of space, at that time Inktomi was launched, they provided software for ISPs.
Google’s founders though didn’t know a lot about marketing and advertising, they did know how to build a product that customers would use. They also realized that if they could act as the gateway to a growing web, they'd be well-positioned, and here’s what Google did well as a company.
- Focused on a product designed for real users
- Set a strong vision about information access
- Took hiring very seriously; lots of energy into trying to hire the right people. Most of the early hires are now VPs of major areas (of the first 35, 6 are VPs)
- Performed scientific-level analysis of what worked
There was cost cutting at the very beginning of the company, when they didn’t have office space they used velcors and used bungee cords of Earthquake proofing.
They also did Encouraging engineers to spend 20% of their time on creative projects, which has resulted in big successes like Google News, but also means that you have to be comfortable with chaos.
Spending budget on exploration. Again, though they didn't do this early in the company's life, Google spending is now 70% on core products, 20% on related products, and 10% on research.
Flat organizational structure. At one time, the VP of Engineering had 150 direct reports - and though they've backed down from this crazy peak, Google is still relatively flat.
Looking at the philosophy, we find its keeping it simple, that has been the backbone of the company, and the reason why many users come to google products. Its precise, crisp and sharp.
Today, Google tries to support an entrepreneurial spirit with programs like the Founder Awards, which provide large stock grants to teams that make significant contributions.
Google also tries to go outside the bounds of the typical corporate environment,as they are a hugely CSR driven organization. Google donates 1% of its profits to charitable causes, which in turn makes the Googlers feel good about participating in programs that give back to the community. This helps with recruiting and the brand, and it's important for them as a company. Eventually, What started out as a research project coincidentally turned into a multi-billion dollar business.
Click here to see a clip of CNBC's Original "Inside the mind of Google"
Very interesting. Google's company culture is amazing and truly innovative. Which is the reason for their remarkable success.
ReplyDeleteSuraj: rightly said ! ! thank you so more the comment
ReplyDeleteLovely post, it's often underestimated how important the 20% of time on pet projects is but it kept the company creative, innovation focussed and perhaps most importantly a happy one through all of that growth which is a difficult feat to accomplish. The minute you start concentrating on share price above your staff is the moment you start to fall.
ReplyDeleteI dont think they are as perfect as some like to make out, just look at the China criticism and the recent run of dud product roll-outs like GoogleBuzz, but it's easy to lose that high quality threshold and concentration on simplicity when you are as big as they are.
For an example of how badly it could go wrong just look at Yahoo's demise.
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ReplyDeleteBen: Very rightly said, the big corporates do tread a fine line where the margin is quite minute. There are very many variables which determine an organisation's fate, and i completely agree they are not perfect as yet !
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for commenting.
Remember also the slightly 'wacky' culture that Google has promoted with the "do no evil' mantra.
ReplyDeleteThis chimed with many young (Americans first and then the rest of the world) and Google seems to have escaped much of the criticism levelled at the big 'corporates'.
Even now - massive as they are - they spend money on things they don't need to (like digitisng books)and seem to retain a streak of that 'young idealism' ... it shows how important organisational culture can be in terms of communicating with customers, creating the 'brand image' and promoting internal innovation