Successful Entrepreneurs
Google -- The Masterpiece of Sergey Brin
Written by Richard San Juan for Gaebler Ventures
Two Stanford students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founded Google, which eventually became the world's best search engine and now has become a powerful and seemingly infinitely talented software company. We take a look at the path that brought Sergey Brin to the top of the world.
Sergey Brin has reached the top of the world.
Along with his friend, Larry Page from Stanford, he founded Google, a company that revolutionized search engine technology and took the usefulness of the Internet to an even higher level.
To say you want to "google" something has become everyday talk in many languages around the world, and Google is now an entry in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Today, most of Google's revenue comes from its advertising programs through. In 2004, when Google filed paperwork for initial public offering, a couple of things surprised the investment industry on that particular occasion.
The first thing that was revealed was that Google had enormously large revenue and was generating extremely high profits. Until the point that Google filed for initial public offering, that information was hidden from public eyes and analysis. It was astonishing, because no one had thought that the text advertisements that Google incorporated alongside search results would generate so much profit.
Google raised $1.67 billion at the time of initial public offering on August 19, 2004, making the company worth $23 billion. From that point on, Google has continued to expand through partnerships, acquisitions, new product developments, and of course advertising capabilities. As a result, Sergey Brin sits now as the 26th richest person in the world with a cool $18.5 billion according to the Forbes magazine rankings in 2006.
Sergey Brin's Path to Glory
It is definitely a long way from where Sergey had come from.
Born in Moscow, he and his family understood all too well the difficulties of being a Russian Jew living in that country.
When he was still small and the prevalent anti-Semitism high in Russia, he always knew from the beginning that he was different than all the other Russians. He did not feel like he was Russian and that he did not even feel welcome in his own country.
It was clear he probably would not get a fair shot in advancing through the Russian school system. Further complicating his understanding of his Jewish identity was the fact that, under the atheist Soviet regime, there were not much cultural models or representations of what being Jewish was about. The negatives were all he had.
That all changed when Sergey's father, Michael, decided to take his family out of Russia. This would require getting an exit visa, which is risky, because they could easily be turned down and be shunned further for even attempting to leave.
Sergey's father pressed on blazed his own trail to eventually settle down in the United States. It is obvious to see where Sergey got his entrepreneurial ability and his penchant for taking risks.
Sergey's story should be a motivator to all of us. From him, we learn that entrepreneurs should be able to handle risks and make calculated decisions. Risks keep you focused.
At Google, as a result of a penchant for risk-taking, the impossible becomes possible. It's no surprise that Google's favorite company phrase embraces "a healthy disregard for the impossible."
Richard San Juan is currently pursuing an MBA degree with an emphasis in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago. He is particularly interested in writing about business news and strategies.
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