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Best practices are being followed now; but a large sales team at its worst more than ten years ago might be caught out in bad behavior. Less plausible is the s

Best practices are being followed now; but a large sales team at its worst more than ten years ago might be caught out in bad behavior. Less plausible is the scenario of failing as a result of ad-pay for search-play. If the equation is proven out, then he, a rational and effective founder, would’ve paid!—And his site would’ve played another day. Or are we supposed to read an implication that it was worth burning the company to the ground to take a principled stand against 2008 Google? Meanwhile, the traffic claims defy belief. Livevideo failed to launch.

yongjik 7y ago
Well, I wouldn't be surprised if, once in a while, an unscrupulous sales rep hinted that they can get their customers favorable search positions after buying ads. But I would be really surprised if anyone could follow through with their promises.
- the-rc 7y ago
  Most sales people at Google wouldn't even know where to start looking. They're more familiar with the ad systems. Heck, a lot of engineers couldn't tell you on the spot where to look or whom to inquire about ranking bugs. Add to that the big gulf between sales and engineering, not to mention the sometimes snobbish attitude of the latter toward the former. (”Sales people take our money and blow it on dinners with clients!", forgetting that the money often came in thanks to sales and that e.g. engineers on average traveled less often, but for quite longer).
mysticlabs 7y ago
The launch of LiveVideo was not the issue. We had more traffic than we knew what to do with, and way more than YouTube at the time. Honestly, things didn't go sideways until Google decided to mess with LiveVideo and the rest of our web properties in search results. Had Google never purchased YouTube, LiveVideo would have probably won that battle hands down. Without Google money, YouTube would have failed, not LiveVideo.

yongjik 7y ago

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if, once in a while, an unscrupulous sales rep hinted that they can get their customers favorable search positions after buying ads. But I would be really surprised if anyone could follow through with their promises.

the-rc 7y ago
Most sales people at Google wouldn't even know where to start looking. They're more familiar with the ad systems. Heck, a lot of engineers couldn't tell you on the spot where to look or whom to inquire about ranking bugs. Add to that the big gulf between sales and engineering, not to mention the sometimes snobbish attitude of the latter toward the former. (”Sales people take our money and blow it on dinners with clients!", forgetting that the money often came in thanks to sales and that e.g. engineers on average traveled less often, but for quite longer).

mysticlabs 7y ago

The launch of LiveVideo was not the issue. We had more traffic than we knew what to do with, and way more than YouTube at the time. Honestly, things didn't go sideways until Google decided to mess with LiveVideo and the rest of our web properties in search results. Had Google never purchased YouTube, LiveVideo would have probably won that battle hands down. Without Google money, YouTube would have failed, not LiveVideo.