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Google Developing Formal VC Arm
- swombat 18y agoFantastic and ironic in a sweet way. I've never dealt with VCs myself (firm believer in bootstrapping + angel funding), but I can imagine many VCs turned down deals on the basis that the start-up was competing with Google, or that Google was likely to move into the start-up's space... Now Google's moving into their space.
- ajju 18y agoOne of Google's strengths is innovative strategies to counter employees who are leaving just for the sake of novelty, also knows as their 20% projects initiative. From what I hear, this is no longer enough to keep their employees there, especially the ones who have already made their money from GOOG stock. I posit that this move is as much to address that as to change how they buy startups (they were already doing that a lot even without a formal VC arm)
- jmtame 18y agoI'll say the same thing from the other YC/Google post: I'd much rather work with YC. I'm a big fan of PG, not really too intrigued by anyone at Google. I guess Paul Buchheit has tainted my view of Google (or maybe he's just more interested in recruiting for Friendfeed), but either way, Google being in VC just doesn't hold the same appeal as YC.
- ambition 18y agoThis is savvy. If I ran a big company that depended on smart people, this would be a priority. For top technical talent, starting a company is the alternative to working at Google. With a VC program, Google can say "Come work with us, you'll become a better engineer, and if you later want to start a startup, we're here for that too."