I think Googles problem (and a lot of big companies in general) is that when they get this huge there is obviously huge bureaucratic issues. There is maybe a ne

I think Googles problem (and a lot of big companies in general) is that when they get this huge there is obviously huge bureaucratic issues. There is maybe a need for the company to be developing new features (like probably specific aspects of what you all worked on while developing a monetized Google Maps) but some manager somewhere needs to internally pitch a product (that will directly generate revenue) for the internal investments to be made in engineering time, market research, etc etc. My opinion is that large orgs like this should instead open a whole new arm that is purely dedicated to research - no direct profit motive - and the assumption that on paper it will be a huge loss each year. Hire good people who want to make cool shiny stuff that is probably but maybe not even required to be related to products and services you already sell. Integrate those features then as needed into existing and new revenue driven products and stop developing products that are redundant or unnecessary.