Paul Graham has written one of his typically worth-reading essays about why Yahoo! went from the darling of the internet world in the mid- to late-90’s to whatever it is today (an also-ran’s also-ran). I don’t have much to say on the main point of the essay, so if you’re interested in that, go read it. However, what did catch my eye, was one little aside about trying to get Yahoo to buy Google soon after Google came on the scene:
I remember telling David Filo in late 1998 or early 1999 that Yahoo should buy Google, because I and most of the other programmers in the company were using it instead of Yahoo for search. He told me that it wasn’t worth worrying about. Search was only 6% of our traffic, and we were growing at 10% a month. It wasn’t worth doing better.
I didn’t say “But search traffic is worth more than other traffic!” I said “Oh, ok.” Because I didn’t realize either how much search traffic was worth. I’m not sure even Larry and Sergey did then. If they had, Google presumably wouldn’t have expended any effort on enterprise search.
Whenever we talk about innovation and things like patents, one common refrain is that no innovation would occur without patents because big companies would immediately copy the technology and destroy any up-and-comer. We’ve pointed out plenty of times that this simply isn’t true. For a truly disruptive innovation, big companies often won’t even notice you until you’re way ahead of them — at which point copying is fruitless. Hell, for nearly the past decade now, Yahoo’s tried every which way to “copy” Google, and it got them nowhere in terms of actual market share (actually, it got them so little that they recently gave up and outsourced it all to Microsoft).
The problem is encapsulated in the little exchange between Graham and Filo above (and, I’ve actually heard nearly an identical anecdote from some folks at AOL who looked at buying Google in ’98/’99 as well). If a company is big enough to be the “feared” competitor that people always worry about, it’s because they’re making a lot of money from something. When a disruptive innovation comes along, they usually don’t care because they’re blinded by the cash cow that they already have. In fact, the really disruptive innovations are scary to these big companies, because it they usually look like they’ll undermine the cash cow. Elsewhere in the post, Graham notes that before Yahoo! bought his company in ’98, he showed Jerry Yang a new offering he was working on that would optimize revenue on shopping search — but he notes that Yang didn’t care:
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Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, in collaboration with British Deputy High Commission and industry partner FICCI concluded their “Global Business Innovation Programme” with a two-day visit in ...
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Global crystal oscillator market was valued at US$ 2,368.1 million in 2023 and is projected to hit the market valuation of US$ 3,844.0 million by 2032 at a CAGR of 5.53% during the forecast period ...
- Asia Pacific Observation Mini ROVs Market Size Opportunities for Disruptive Innovationon July 23, 2024 at 8:20 pm
Read the Market Summary Here:- https://reportocean.com/industry-verticals/sample-request?report_id=GMD1671 ...
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It's fascinating to witness how disruptive innovations can truly change the way healthcare is delivered and medicine is practised. Enormous technological changes are heading our way. However ...
- Cathie Wood Was Wrong About Innovation: 3 Stocks to Invest In Insteadon July 21, 2024 at 6:00 am
Cathie Wood is the founder and CEO of Ark Invest. Her firm has risen to prominence for its actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on disruptive innovation. Despite the success of ...
- ChatGPT in education: breakthrough or disruptive innovation?on July 17, 2024 at 1:36 am
In November 2022, the UN symbolically declared that the 8 billionth human being had been born in Manilla, Philippines, thus adding to the 2,3 billion children already living in the world. Another ...
- ChatGPT in education: breakthrough or disruptive innovation?on July 15, 2024 at 8:47 am
The business theorist and consultant Clayton Christensen has stated that disruptive innovations can take aim at the technology itself, consumer habits, or one’s competitors’ business model ...
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The rise of AI startups in the Middle East marks the beginning of a new era, one where technological innovation drives economic diversification and social reform, paving the way for a brighter future.
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The process for developing Saucy Nuggs started with the premise that Thobe’s team was looking to launch something new in the chicken space, which kicked off the idea screening process, including ...
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- Cooley Hires First Chief Innovation Officer in Wilson Sonsini’s David Wangon July 25, 2024 at 11:15 am
Wang has been on the forefront of technical innovation and is a known and respected commodity in the legal technology community. What will he do at Cooley? David Wang previously created the chief ...
- Notes from the tech frontier: What’s next for innovation in Spokane and the Inland Northweston July 25, 2024 at 10:00 am
The headquarters of the financial and treasury data analytics startup, in the Wonder Building, runs on electricity from the nearby hydroelectric dam on Spokane Falls. Co-founder and CEO Steve ...
- Vanderbilt chancellor: ‘Time to turbocharge Nashville’s innovation economy’on July 25, 2024 at 8:44 am
"Nashville can build a thriving and inclusive innovation economy on our own terms, based on what we uniquely do well and rooted in the quality of life we love. But we need to start today." ...
- Home Telecom continues support for SC innovation with $200,000 contributionon July 25, 2024 at 6:57 am
“As a provider of innovative residential and business telecommunications solutions for more than 120 years, we are honored to continue our partnership with SCRA and its mission to fuel the state’s ...
- The Tightrope Act: A Security-First Approach To Innovationon July 25, 2024 at 5:01 am
In this landscape, the companies that will emerge victorious are those that can masterfully blend relentless innovation with uncompromising security.
- Why now is the time to reset our approach to innovation investmenton July 25, 2024 at 4:13 am
As the new Labour government looks to hit the ground running, this is an opportune moment to reset the public sector's approach to research and innovation investment.
- We need to press gubernatorial contenders on innovation | Opinionon July 24, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Missouri's economic future and quality of life depend on making innovation a priority in political discourse, writes Donn Rubin of BioSTL. As in every election season, it seems impossible to avoid the ...
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