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I'm curious if there's another company in history that became so pervasive so quickly? Not just in terms of size, but in impact/reach? I realise this question
by PuffinBlue 3y ago
I'm curious if there's another company in history that became so pervasive so quickly? Not just in terms of size, but in impact/reach?
I realise this question somewhat requires defining what Google is and it's current size and scale, which is quite the challenge.
To me Google seems uniquely impactful, uniquely quickly, but I'd love to learn of other comparable companies from history.
- TheAceOfHearts 3y agoWikipedia is probably the biggest contender. I'd say Wikipedia's growth is even more impressive because it hasn't been fueled by a bunch of acquisitions.
- foota 3y agoTo name a few (US centric ones) from guesses.... Ford, the British East India Company, Bethlehem Steel, Standard Oil, Bell, Apple, Boeing, and probably Amazon.
- was_a_dev 3y agoWhat makes the British East India Company US-centric?
- keepamovin 3y ago^^ any GOOG founders on HackerNews?
- dredmorbius 3y agoThere are early accounts "sergey" (2008) and "larry" (2009) which smell interesting, though they've never posted or commented.
- HPsquared 3y agoMicrosoft was a big one.
- elorant 3y agoApple since Jobs' comeback.
- mike_hearn 3y agoIt took 5 years until they stumbled on it, but I think ChatGPT is the fastest growing software in history.
- alentred 3y agoIsn't it a bit too early to reason about it? We are not sure yet of the extent of its impact, there is a lot of hype around it recently. I'm not diminishing it, just saying we will be able to tell better once things settle down.
- alentred 3y agoI have the same first reaction. Google's progress and impact on the society are very impressive, independently of how we feel about it. But come to think of it, advancements in technology catch up quickly. Looking back into history: Ford Motor Company, Bell Telephone Company: they created a profound impact on the society in less than a couple of decades. I am sure there are other examples. I wonder: at what point in time did it accelerate? With the start of the Industrial Revolution?
- NikkiA 3y agoYahoo did, but then lost it all.