Resources don't equal success, but both startups and incumbents need business plans: how they'll turn success into revenue. I'm too young to remember, but was

Resources don't equal success, but both startups and incumbents need business plans: how they'll turn success into revenue. I'm too young to remember, but was there a clear business plan supporting search at the time? Obviously Google has since proven that capturing a major chunk of the ad industry has made competing on search very worth it, but I don't remember if that was evident at the time. But I feel like the ad leverage came later in Google's life. Then if you're trying to decide whether to bet on search at the time, the payoff may not be as evident without that insight.