Book of the Week: I'm Feeling Lucky
20 Apr 2013
I’m Feeling Lucky chronicles the early days of Google from the eyes of employee #59, Douglas Edwards. His point of view was more relatable since he wasn’t an engineer. Here are a few highlights from the book. Definitely worth a read for an inside view of a unique company. Getting Lucky
Sometimes that physical release took an intimate form behind closed doors with a willing partner.
Some of the early Google employees were getting lucky. I guess that was to be expected when you have a bunch of young college-aged people working long hours in close proximity. Am I reading about the early days of Google or Fifty Shades of Grey? Spilled Blood Data centers are a dangerous place. Google’s resident neurosurgeon’s head started bleeding inside a data center after a beam fell on him. Keep your neurosurgeon outside your data center. Older Brother I didn’t know that Larry had an older brother, who sold his company, eGroups, for $432 million while Google was still in its infancy. His father was a professor and his brother cashed out big. I can’t help but think it gave Larry more freedom since he had no dependents. Similarities to Khan Academy Apparently Google had many engineers named Ben: Ben Gomes, Ben Polk and Ben Smith. Khan Academy currently has four people named Ben listed on their team page. To build a good software company, you need to hired people named Ben. Such a name bestows magically programming powers. Although Freakanomics says there is no relation between your name and how successful you will become. Adwords Adwords filled Google’s coffers, so it was really interesting to read about how Adwords developed in the face of competition and how Google ultimately came out on top. CRM issues
Two smart guys working on complex technical problems, it turns out, can accomplish a hell of a lot.
This quote was not referring to Larry and Sergey, but one of their friends who helped build Google’s CRM software. Small companies are agile enough to respond to their customer’s needs while bigger companies are stifled by process. Larry and Sergey definitely thought outside the box when they chose to use a startup make their CRM software instead of a known player. Gmail Gmail’s success made 20% time an explicitly quantity. There was a lot of internal resistance for the creation of Gmail, but one engineer, Paul Buchheit, was able to push ahead and make it a reality. Marissa Mayer Doug butted heads with Marissa Mayer on more than a few occasions. My mental image of Marissa is definitely reinforced. But she’s not the only one who gets mention. There’s Jeff Dean, Urs Hölzle, Craig Silverstein and more that I forget about. These people are legendary characters in the Google mythology. Turning the Corner Orkut was an example where Google had a chance for social networking but ultimately dropped the ball, leaving the door wide open for Facebook. Flatland
Hitting the startup jackpot was like leaving Flatland, the world hypothesized in a geometry-based novel I had read as a kid.
Hey, I read Flatland too. Books give us a common language. Doug won startup lottery. There is a reason why it is called a lottery. There should be no expectation to cash out big when working at a startup. Ultimately Google and Doug went their separate ways. Purchase I’m Feeling Lucky from Amazon.com or check it out from your local library.