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Googler, opinions are my own. I work in payments. Caesar leaving was interesting for sure, and he just announced a new fintech startup yesterday. https://www.a

by kyrra 5y ago

Googler, opinions are my own. I work in payments. Caesar leaving was interesting for sure, and he just announced a new fintech startup yesterday. https://www.arbo.works/ https://www.arbo.works/ I can't speak to why he left or what he's doing now, but I wish I did know. :) Also, it's important to remember how big Google payments is. As the article says, Bill Ready has 3700 people reporting to him that do a lot more than the Google Pay app (which lots of people are talking about here). We do a lot of things.

buitreVirtual 5y ago
Is there anything being built there that could dominate fintech? I haven't heard of anything. 3,700 highly paid individuals is a lot.
- Clewza313 5y ago
  Google Pay is the most popular payment system in India, a country of 1,400,000,000 people.
  - achow 5y ago
    PhonePe another payment app is bigger than Google Pay in India, and they are around 2000 employees but their feature set is order of magnitude more. Not that more feature is better, but to build those one needs more employees.
yadaeno 5y ago
Your vp for payments is named "Bill Ready"? Ive seen this phenomenon enough times to believe it's not a coincidence, but some sort of echo of label theory. See also: Doug Bowser, head of Nintendo america.
- trishmapow2 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism
- drewp41 5y ago
  Also head of Tesla’s AI and autopilot, Andrej Karpathy. Like car path. It’s crazy
- mavelikara 5y ago
  Some examples here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym
- nextaccountic 5y ago
  Doug Bowser sounds like Kim Dotcom of Megaupload (except that Dotcom actually changed his name to match his business; he was born Kim Schmitz)
- hackily 5y ago
  Another one is Rich Fairbank of Capital One.
- andrewflnr 5y ago
  I was pretty sure Bowser the character is explicitly named after Bowser the executive, so not exactly a coincidence.
  - Revenant-15 5y ago
    Bowser only joined Nintendo in 2015. I'm fairly sure Bowser, the character, has been named Bowser far longer than that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    You're confusing Kirby (John Kriby, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirby_(attorney) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirby_(attorney)) to both Bowsers.
- miles7 5y ago
  My favorite is the quantum computing researcher Toby Cubitt.
encryptluks2 5y ago
How do all these Google employees leave and then immediately announce competing startups? Is it because they live in California? Most job agreements specifically disallow this in a non-compete. I don't agree with the practice of non-competes, but I thought pretty much all companies had them.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  Yes, California bans non-competes.
- pdoege 5y ago
  Non-competes are not enforceable in California. https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in-california/ https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in...
stephenhuey 5y ago
Maybe I should write you directly, but there was a mystery error adding my new bank account so now Google Play owes me a little money. Google Pay support has been trying to fix the problem for 2 months and they kindly write me every few days to let me know they’re trying to figure it out, but does this issue have anything to do with brain drain in your group? I’m more curious about that than the money - how is it possible the Google Play Store can go 2 months without being able to add a developer bank account? (Clearly I’m more of a snowflake). I imagine this is extra complex because Google Pay is being used for various purposes by different sides of the business.
sratner 5y ago
Is there a reasonable explanation why the new Pay app doesn't work with custom domain / business accounts? I am guessing it isn't resourcing. The old one did; luckily I can still use that with my personal profile until I upgrade my phone, unluckily I didn't install it in time on my work profile - which is where I pay for many more things. [Don't mean to bash on you personally, it doesn't sound like you are even on the app team, just annoyed by the downgrade.]
fukmbas 5y ago
Can you guys get your head out of your ass. We need one payment app. One messaging app
gerash 5y ago
It's nice seeing these well paid VPs of a comfy company choose to take the risk and go work at a startup but this company has too many "former VPs" so who's doing the actual work?

by kyrra 5y ago

buitreVirtual 5y ago

Is there anything being built there that could dominate fintech? I haven't heard of anything. 3,700 highly paid individuals is a lot.

Clewza313 5y ago
Google Pay is the most popular payment system in India, a country of 1,400,000,000 people.
- achow 5y ago
  PhonePe another payment app is bigger than Google Pay in India, and they are around 2000 employees but their feature set is order of magnitude more. Not that more feature is better, but to build those one needs more employees.

yadaeno 5y ago

Your vp for payments is named "Bill Ready"? Ive seen this phenomenon enough times to believe it's not a coincidence, but some sort of echo of label theory. See also: Doug Bowser, head of Nintendo america.

trishmapow2 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism
drewp41 5y ago
Also head of Tesla’s AI and autopilot, Andrej Karpathy. Like car path. It’s crazy
mavelikara 5y ago
Some examples here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym
nextaccountic 5y ago
Doug Bowser sounds like Kim Dotcom of Megaupload (except that Dotcom actually changed his name to match his business; he was born Kim Schmitz)
hackily 5y ago
Another one is Rich Fairbank of Capital One.
andrewflnr 5y ago
I was pretty sure Bowser the character is explicitly named after Bowser the executive, so not exactly a coincidence.
- Revenant-15 5y ago
  Bowser only joined Nintendo in 2015. I'm fairly sure Bowser, the character, has been named Bowser far longer than that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser
- zinekeller 5y ago
  You're confusing Kirby (John Kriby, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirby_(attorney) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kirby_(attorney)) to both Bowsers.
miles7 5y ago
My favorite is the quantum computing researcher Toby Cubitt.

encryptluks2 5y ago

How do all these Google employees leave and then immediately announce competing startups? Is it because they live in California? Most job agreements specifically disallow this in a non-compete. I don't agree with the practice of non-competes, but I thought pretty much all companies had them.

alisonkisk 5y ago
Yes, California bans non-competes.
pdoege 5y ago
Non-competes are not enforceable in California. https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in-california/ https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in...

stephenhuey 5y ago

Maybe I should write you directly, but there was a mystery error adding my new bank account so now Google Play owes me a little money. Google Pay support has been trying to fix the problem for 2 months and they kindly write me every few days to let me know they’re trying to figure it out, but does this issue have anything to do with brain drain in your group? I’m more curious about that than the money - how is it possible the Google Play Store can go 2 months without being able to add a developer bank account? (Clearly I’m more of a snowflake). I imagine this is extra complex because Google Pay is being used for various purposes by different sides of the business.

sratner 5y ago

Is there a reasonable explanation why the new Pay app doesn't work with custom domain / business accounts? I am guessing it isn't resourcing. The old one did; luckily I can still use that with my personal profile until I upgrade my phone, unluckily I didn't install it in time on my work profile - which is where I pay for many more things. [Don't mean to bash on you personally, it doesn't sound like you are even on the app team, just annoyed by the downgrade.]

fukmbas 5y ago

Can you guys get your head out of your ass. We need one payment app. One messaging app

gerash 5y ago

It's nice seeing these well paid VPs of a comfy company choose to take the risk and go work at a startup but this company has too many "former VPs" so who's doing the actual work?