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Given their product grave yard, why would google being on your resume be a good indicator of success for vc investors?

forgotmysn 6y ago
i think people tend to remember google's successes more than their failures, because google's successes massively, overwhelmingly outweigh their failures. [edit] as an example, people don't think of the Fire Phone with they think of Jeff Bezos.
owyn 6y ago
A VC isn't going to give you a coding test so they use "worked at google" as a proxy. Also presumably the developer/founder made enough money at google that they could probably stretch out whatever seed money you give them a lot further.
- ISL 6y ago
  Totally agreed. Google is known to have a more-reliable-and-thoughtful-than-many hiring process. It is a powerful credential.
SimonPStevens 6y ago
Because they are picky and hard to get in to. To a VC who has very few other ways to asses you, having something in you past that singles you out as someone who has already cleared a highly selective process means you are more likely to be the kind of person who succeeds. Nothing to do with Google's own products. Any other club similar difficult to get into will convey the same signal. It's a crude signal, but it's a signal.
- forgotmysn 6y ago
  exactly. stanford and harvard serve as similarly crude signals.
username90 6y ago
Google engineers typically have little little to no say in product direction, and most Google products fails for that reason and not technical reasons. So knowing that someone is a Google engineer tells you that they have at least decent technical skills, and doesn't tell you anything at all about their product skills since they didn't make product decisions at Google. So if they with presentations or such manage to convince you of their product vision they are a very attractive founder, as they then have both product vision and the technical skills to not get tricked into hiring shitty engineers to build it for them.
RobRivera 6y ago
the colors luke, the colors. unless the VC is colorblind.

i think people tend to remember google's successes more than their failures, because google's successes massively, overwhelmingly outweigh their failures. [edit] as an example, people don't think of the Fire Phone with they think of Jeff Bezos.

owyn 6y ago

A VC isn't going to give you a coding test so they use "worked at google" as a proxy. Also presumably the developer/founder made enough money at google that they could probably stretch out whatever seed money you give them a lot further.

ISL 6y ago
Totally agreed. Google is known to have a more-reliable-and-thoughtful-than-many hiring process. It is a powerful credential.

SimonPStevens 6y ago

Because they are picky and hard to get in to. To a VC who has very few other ways to asses you, having something in you past that singles you out as someone who has already cleared a highly selective process means you are more likely to be the kind of person who succeeds. Nothing to do with Google's own products. Any other club similar difficult to get into will convey the same signal. It's a crude signal, but it's a signal.

forgotmysn 6y ago
exactly. stanford and harvard serve as similarly crude signals.

username90 6y ago

Google engineers typically have little little to no say in product direction, and most Google products fails for that reason and not technical reasons. So knowing that someone is a Google engineer tells you that they have at least decent technical skills, and doesn't tell you anything at all about their product skills since they didn't make product decisions at Google. So if they with presentations or such manage to convince you of their product vision they are a very attractive founder, as they then have both product vision and the technical skills to not get tricked into hiring shitty engineers to build it for them.

RobRivera 6y ago

the colors luke, the colors. unless the VC is colorblind.