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The Google Guys: Sergey Brin and Larry Page

They came from opposite ends of the earth to create a billion dollar company that has revolutionized the world. California-based Google Inc. has not only become the Internet’s most popular search engine with revenues of over $6 billion yearly, but the company has also undoubtedly entered the mainstream culture; the verb “to google” was recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Going Global: Google's Ascent

Using the BackRub software they had first begun with, Brin and Page re-launched it under the name of Google. The name was chosen as a play on words of ‘googol’, a mathematical term meaning a 1 followed by 100 zeros. They originally used the Stanford University website as the host for their program, with their website being google.stanford.edu.

Lesson #1: Don’t Be Evil

“We have a mantra: don't be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone,” says Page. “So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing.” From its search technology to its advertising to its own charitable foundation, Page and Brin have striven to create Google after the fashion of their own morals. The company refuses to place advertisements for hard liquor and donates 1% of its profits to charitable causes all in an effort to not “be evil”.

Lesson #2: Look To the Future

“We are targeting innovation,” says Page. “The dream as conceived 25 years ago has not been achieved. Until software becomes the ultimate tool for collaboration, productivity, and efficiency, the work is not done. And there's nothing more fun than doing that work.”

Lesson #3: Establish a Strong Vision

“Basically, our goal is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful,” says Page. “That's our mission.”

Lesson #4: Take Care of Your Team

“Our employees, who have named themselves Googlers, are everything,” Page explains to his company’s investors. “Google is organized around the ability to attract and leverage the talent of exceptional technologists and business people. We have been lucky to recruit many creative, principled and hard working stars. We hope to recruit many more in the future. We will reward and treat them well.”

Lesson #5: Focus On the User

“Serving our end users is at the heart of what we do and remains our number one priority,” says Page. Despite being perhaps the only company in the world whose stated goal is to have its customers leave its website as quickly as possible, Google is no doubt committed to making those customers as satisfied as possible.

Searching for Success: How Google Became Great

“When Sergey and I founded Google, we hoped, but did not expect, it would reach its current size and influence,” says Page. “Our intense and enduring interest was to objectively help people find information efficiently.” Indeed, for the past ten years, Google has been helping people navigate the Internet and find precisely what they were looking for. From providing people with life-saving information to helping breakdown global barriers, Google’s impact on the world is undeniable. How did two university dropouts transform their simple idea into a billion dollar company?

Sergey Brin and Larry Page Quotes

Sergey Brin and Larry Page Quotes

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