In the final portion of a TechTrek class meeting in February, Jere Doyle gives his young charges a tech history lesson. First, he channels Socrates and draws knowledge and understanding out of the students by peppering them with questions.
鈥淕oogle,鈥� says Doyle. 鈥淲hat kind of company is it?鈥�
鈥淎 data company,鈥� suggests one young woman.
鈥淲hy do you say that?鈥�
鈥淓verything is based on data.鈥�
鈥淭hat they make on their own?鈥�
鈥淣辞.鈥�
鈥淲here do they get it from?鈥�
鈥淔rom people, users.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 an advertising company,鈥� says JB Bruggeman 鈥�19, a business analytics and marketing student. (Atypically, TechTrek West will be a trip home for Bruggeman: he grew up in Silicon Valley.)
Doyle asks, 鈥淲hy do you say that?鈥�
鈥淏ecause 90 percent of their revenues come from advertising.鈥�
鈥淲hat鈥檚 their most successful product?鈥� Doyle asks the class.
鈥淭he search engine,鈥� a student answers.
鈥淪earch,鈥� Doyle agreed. 鈥淯nlike when I was here in the old days, and you had to go to Bapst Library to look something up.鈥�
The class dwells on why, if Google has been so successful with its search engine and ad revenues, its parent company, Alphabet, has been pursuing 鈥渕oonshots,鈥� such as the hot-air balloon (intended to bring internet service to the Third World) and self-driving cars.
鈥淚鈥檝e been stuck behind self-driving test cars,鈥� says JB Bruggeman 鈥�19, recalling incidents on the highways back home in California. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e sooo slow.鈥�
鈥淚f you honk, do they speed up?鈥� Doyle wonders.
鈥淣辞.鈥�
But for all the criticism or investor concern that Google lacks focus, Doyle goes on, 鈥渢hey nailed search [and] they nailed local [advertising]. Does anyone know who their big competitor was, back in 1999? The Yellow Pages. If you were a plumber, you would pay $3,000 for an ad in the phone book. Maybe it got you a call. Who knows? Google said, 鈥榃e鈥檒l only charge you if somebody calls.鈥欌��
As a result of their laser focus on that model, made possible by their excellence in algorithms and analytics, Google remained standing amid the dot-com bust of the early 2000s. 鈥淚 think Google saved the internet,鈥� says Doyle.
Doyle鈥檚 co-instructor Gerald Kane weighs in on the company鈥檚 current moonshots. 鈥淲hat legacy companies run into is, they don鈥檛 know how to be innovative anymore. Once you鈥檙e a big company, it鈥檚 hard to manage 60,000 employees. It鈥檚 a bureaucracy. Google鈥檚 approach is to plant a thousand flowers,鈥� in the form of bets鈥攖hat is, research鈥攐n other products. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how to remain innovative. That鈥檚 the whole game.鈥�