Google

In this episode of Acquired, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal delve into the early history of Google, exploring its origins as a research project at Stanford, the key innovations like PageRank and its distributed computing infrastructure, and the evolution of its business model. They discuss the challenges Google faced in a competitive landscape dominated by portals like Yahoo, the importance of its early engineering hires, and the strategic decisions that led to its dominance in search, including the adoption of a cost-per-click advertising model inspired by Overture. The episode culminates with Google's IPO, setting the stage for future growth and dominance.