On August 17, 1996, in a four-story white building in Mountain View, Google held its first historically significant high-level meeting.
The fourth floor of the office building was where Google’s conference rooms were located, and the high-level offices were also on this floor.
The second and third floors were the battlegrounds for the hard-working employees, with neatly arranged desks.
The first floor was directly transformed into a leisure and entertainment area, complete with a reception area, cafeteria, and water bar, and even a game room and lounge area.
This setup, even in today’s internet industry, was unique.
“Everyone!” Ernst sat in his chair, the metal chair legs scraping across the floor, “Today is Google’s official first day, but I already see this company ringing the bell on Nasdaq a few years from now.” “The internet industry is developing at high speed.
This is definitely a promising industry.
The current market, in my opinion, is a complete mess, and we will change all of this.” He surveyed the high-level executives present, his tone full of confidence and certainty, “And all of you here will achieve fame and fortune as Google succeeds in the global internet industry.
Believe me, choosing Google will definitely be the best decision you’ve ever made in your lives.” Applause was mandatory; whether genuine or not, at this moment, mutual affirmation was needed, and Ernst’s grand vision had to be embraced.
“Let’s all talk about how we will develop our products next and how we will plan for the future.” Everyone looked at each other, not rushing to speak.
Ernst finally focused his gaze on Larry Page, as product was the core, and everything had to start from the product.
Larry Page was a bit reserved, or one could say shy.
He clearly hadn’t fully adapted to his new identity, but he wasn’t stage-frightened either.
“Current internet industry already has some search engines, such as AltaVista and Excite, but they still have significant room for improvement in terms of search result relevance and user experience.” “For example, AltaVista, since being used by Yahoo this year, has become completely Yahoo-like.
Rather than a search engine, it’s more like a classified website in search form.” In this era, AltaVista’s search engine was already very comprehensive in its functions.
Its database contained over 100 million web documents, and it was a search engine with a relatively fast update speed.
AltaVista also employed specialized filtering technology, allowing users to limit search results from specific regions.
Although a bit cumbersome, it was the most accurate search engine at the time.
Unfortunately, Yahoo did not demand its improvement.
Becoming a supplier to Yahoo, AltaVista, having made money, also began to live a life of contentment with what it had.
Since there were no demands from above, it followed suit and became complacent.
“As for Excite, although it uses full-text retrieval technology, it still has the same problem: convenience and accuracy are the biggest issues, and that is also Google’s biggest advantage.” Afterward, Larry Page analyzed many of Excite’s shortcomings and deficiencies.
He clearly understood this Stanford-created project better.
Sergey Brin took over, “Google’s technical advantage lies in the innovative application of link analysis, which will certainly enable Google to stand out among numerous competitors.” “However, we must also remain vigilant.
Market competition is constantly changing.
While we have a technical advantage, it’s not too difficult for competitors to imitate us, and new competitors could emerge at any time.” “Therefore, we must prioritize technological research and development, building Google’s technological moat a step ahead of time, making it difficult for competitors to follow, and solidifying Google’s technical position in the search engine field to gain more market share.” “Also, regarding Google’s market development model, I believe Google cannot rely solely on licensing its search engine technology to other websites or companies to gain market and profit.” “Why?” Ernst asked.
This business model was not uncommon in the current search engine field; it should be said that all of them generated profit by selling technology or services.
Sergey Brin shook his head, “Pure technical licensing can bring short-term income, but it may limit Google’s long-term development.
Google should build its own independent search platform and provide services directly to users.
This will not only allow for better control over user experience but also accumulate a large amount of user data, laying the foundation for future product innovation and business expansion.” Indeed, successful people are not just lucky.
Before Google, all search engines were the same, serving businesses and providing search technology to portal websites.
But Google went against the grain, building its own search platform.
It was precisely because of this that a solid foundation was laid for Google’s future business empire.
“But there’s one problem with doing that, and that’s funding.” Jason interrupted their conversation.
Don’t think that a CFO just handles accounts all day and doesn’t need to worry about anything else.
In the internet industry, a CFO can express his opinion on any finance-related matter.
An independent search platform means no short-term profitability, because more human and financial resources are invested, and the company will always be in a deficit.
Ernst supported Brin, “I agree with Sergey’s idea.
Money is not an issue, at least until Google fully grows, Google will not worry about funding problems.” Despite the current shortage of funds, Ernst was not worried at all.
Firstly, because he knew Google’s history.
It soared in its first year of release, and that’s when Ernst could start Google’s Series A funding.
Secondly, Google’s profit model.
Was there anyone who understood it better than him?
The self-managed and bidding model of pay-per-performance, where merchants would pay based on the number of clicks.
At most, after a year, even without funding, Ernst believed that Google’s market share would not be low, and it could already achieve commercial profitability.
Sergey had no idea that Ernst’s pockets were very empty at this moment and continued, “Also, there’s the issue of the company’s organizational structure and talent recruitment.
As the business gradually develops, Google needs to establish a more complete organizational structure to ensure the efficient execution of various tasks.” “Talent reserves also need to keep up.
Google cannot just do search business.
We can’t wait until we need engineers to scramble.
The current talent is not enough.” Google would definitely develop other businesses, as Ernst had mentioned before.
“How many more employees do you think are needed?” Even though Ernst personally went to Stanford, Google currently only had 27 employees, including the five present.
In terms of talent recruitment, Ernst’s principle was to prioritize quality over quantity, only hiring the most outstanding engineers and professionals, because technological innovation was Google’s core competitiveness.
Only by gathering top talent could the company continuously move forward.
“I think at least 30 people.
There can be fewer engineers among them.
The main focus should be on key departments like product operations and marketing.
We can’t just let Marissa be a lone commander, can we?” Marissa also graduated from Stanford.
It was through Professor Snape’s introduction that Ernst met Marissa’s mentor and learned about her.
This is the importance of connections.
Otherwise, Snape wouldn’t even introduce her, let alone speak well of Google on his own initiative.
The current situation of the marketing department was actually Ernst’s undeniable responsibility.
At Stanford, he only focused on programmers and didn’t consider other talents at all.
“It’s still my junior who thinks of his senior,” she said, her red lips parting slightly, then she gave Ernst a charming side-eye.
Don’t misunderstand, Marissa had a very loving family.
This charm wasn’t intentional; it was ingrained in her nature.
“Tell me your thoughts on this.” Since Marissa was mentioned, Ernst wanted to know her upcoming plans.
She was clearly prepared, taking out a stack of papers from her work bag and distributing one to each person.
Ernst took it and opened it, finding it filled with dense blue rectangles, dark blue, light blue, all sorts of shades of blue.
“What does this mean?” “Didn’t we decide on blue for Google’s border before?
Now I want you to find the most suitable blue.
There are a hundred shades of blue here.
I need each of you to look at each blue for twenty minutes and find the one you feel is the most comfortable and eye-friendly.” “Making the customer more comfortable when using it is also a very important marketing task.” “As for the work after this, let’s wait until the personnel recruitment is done.” Ernst was speechless for a moment.
A hundred shades of blue, twenty minutes per shade, would take 33 hours without doing anything else.
“Uh, well, you all need to cooperate well with Director Marissa.
I won’t be joining you, as I still need to go out and find funding for Google.” Ernst stood up, “That’s all for today then.” The important matters were mostly discussed.
What was he waiting for if not to leave now?
Was he supposed to stay and work like a dog?