Yes, but once you're "the guy/gal who wrote $SUCCESSFUL_GOOGLE_PRODUCT", you have a lot of credibility, experience, etc. as resources to make your own product t

Yes, but once you're "the guy/gal who wrote $SUCCESSFUL_GOOGLE_PRODUCT", you have a lot of credibility, experience, etc. as resources to make your own product that you do own. The point of the 20% products for Google is to give the company startup-style flexibility. It works the other way, too - if you take a product from whiteboard doodling all the way to an official Google product, well, a startup is like that, except 100% of the time, on your own bank account, and with no admins/middle managers to take care of the business side for you.