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"Search is not a business"
- paul 20y agoIt's true -- search _wasn't_ a business. Fortunately some people were smart enough to see that it could _become_ a business.
- python_kiss 20y agoIt is true, search was not a business. Back then, most startups depended on DoubleClick banner ads for revenue generation (just as today most startups depend on Adsense). DoubleClick was not a viable business model and Google considered that to be their very last option. Google was running thin on cash until they finally adopted Bill Gross' GoTo.com advertising model (aka Overture) in 2000. So for the first 2 years, Google was a cash cow with no business model around its search either.
- nickb 20y agoDon't forget, Myhrvold is the man who completely missed the Internet while he was the CTO at MS. Were it not for BillG, who realized what Internet represented, MS would have been toast. No wonder he got kicked out of MS and no wonder that he spends his post-MS days playing a patent troll.