What to Think, Ep. 30: How Google works

Jonathan Rosenberg, co-author of the new book How Google Works (along with Eric Schmidt), started at Google in 2002. He helped create some of the company’s most iconic products, including AdSense, Gmail, Android, and more.

We talk with him about some of the management and innovation secrets that helped make Google into one of the most successful technology companies in history. For instance, Larry Page used to approve every job offer tendered to a candidate, personally — and he’s still deeply involved in the company’s day-to-day hiring processes.

And given Google’s tolerance for trying new things, feeding the successes and starving the failures, we also ask Rosenberg about some of the failures, like Google Buzz and Google Wave.

Plus, we also tell you what to think about:

• Net neutrality, why broadband is so much better in France, and why Mark Cuban disagrees with me on this point
• Amazon’s Lambda cloud service, which could help lock in a whole new generation of customers into Amazon Web Services
• a way to send money in Snapchat using “Snapcash.” Hmmm — I wonder what business opportunities that could create?

All this and more is in our latest weekly episode. Check it out!

Download the MP3 of Episode 30 here.

Or you can find this latest edition of “What to Think” on iTunes.

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Enjoy the show!