I'm Feeling Lucky_ The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 - Douglas Edwards [38]
What? A business guy turning down money already in hand? That kind of blew my mind. Who was this "salesman" who could see past his commission checks?
In the spring of 1999, Larry and Sergey had hired Omid—a Stanford MBA and a former Netscape exec—as Google's eleventh employee. His black Armani suit slimmed his silhouette, despite the travel weight he packed as a souvenir of globe-hopping sales calls. He smiled often and laughed easily. He listened when other people talked. I worried that he was too nice to be our dealmaker. Where was the forced sincerity I saw modeled in professional selling seminars? Where the thrashing, slashing, primordial-reptile-brained need to crush, devour, and destroy our competitors? Omid crushed you with kindness and devoured only desserts. Over time, Google ate away his extra pounds, but not the cuddly-teddy-bear persona, which masked an extremely intelligent and analytical mind. Omid could see where deal terms would settle and would shepherd both sides to that resolution point without snapping at their heels along the way—though he did on occasion unleash others who were perfectly willing to bare their fangs.
"When RealNames results are bad, they're really bad," Sergey noted, "but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have them. We should clearly differentiate them from Google results so that users can tell they're paid for."
Larry didn't want to change anything. "I don't think it's a problem if people confuse RealNames with our search results," he said. "If the result is better, they should probably click on the RealNames link. As long as it's clear to someone that it isn't exactly like a search result, that seems fine to me." Besides, he didn't want to give RealNames any free branding by identifying links with the RealNames term "Internet keyword." It could help them grow into a competitor.
"Slightly better for business, slightly worse for UI," Larry acknowledged. Most likely, he thought, RealNames wouldn't survive the year anyway. Society would be better served if we used their capital to improve Google before they lost it to bankruptcy.
It surprised me that Larry took the issue so casually. He seemed to be backtracking on the notion of keeping our integrity intact. Fortunately, someone was willing to point out the danger.
"I couldn't disagree more," said Urs. "While a relatively mild form, it's still a paid placement, and making it look like an 'objective' result is deceptive. The New York Times didn't become a leading newspaper by blurring the distinction between paid ads and independent news."
It was Marissa who found a solution. She examined how other search sites implemented RealNames results and concluded that our UI didn't meet the same standards. She sent around mockups that more clearly separated RealNames listings from our search results, and Larry selected one. The partnership lasted twelve months, and a year after we ended it, RealNames was no longer in business.
Once the issue had been resolved, I reflected on what I had seen. At the Mercury News, approvals took months and required written proposals in scheduled meetings. Opinions were formally presented, debated, evaluated, and carefully revised. At Google, quick mockups ruled, data persuaded, and decisions were made in hours. Yet Google was no less intent on setting an industry standard for incorruptibility. I embraced the notion that speed need not be the enemy of ethics. And I began to view competitors who took payment for placement in their results as duplicitous—if not outright evil.
The Nine Billion Names of G.O.D.
My corporate branding experience had not been an asset so far, but with the imminent launch of our first major product since the search engine, I prayed that would change. G.O.D.