As shown by Google, you don’t have to invent the wheel to create a successful business. All you have to do is improve on one. If you thought Google invented Search, you would be wrong. Google did not invent Search. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google where able to work on a search algorithm due to a grant made to Stanford by the NSF Digital Library project. At this time many search engines existed including Yahoo’s. What did not exist and what the two founders did invent was search by PageRank. They quit school to start Google and improve on the algorithm based on PageRank. Today there is no doubt that they have the best Search engine and an innovative company
At first, Google had great technology but not a business. They had no clear defined business model. At first they tried selling their search engine to Yahoo for $1 million. But Yahoo passed. Then they thought about selling intranet search services to companies.
The business model did not come to light until two Google employees improved on Overture’s (formerly Goto.com) advertisement auction technology.
If you lack a good idea for a business perhaps a good place to start is where someone already has.
See the full story as told by Hal Varian, currently on leave from Berkley to serve as Google’s Chief Economist
