I'm feeling lucky : the confessions of Google employee number 59

“An exciting story [that] shines light on the inner workings of the fledgling Google and on the personalities of its founders.”— The Daily Beast In its infancy, Google embraced extremes—endless days fueled by unlimited free food, nonstop data-based debates, and blood-letting hockey games. The company’s fresh-from-grad-school leaders sought more than old notions of success; they wanted to make all the information in the world available to everyone—instantly. Google, like the Big Bang, was a singularity—an explosive release of raw intelligence and unequaled creative energy—and while others have described what Google accomplished, no one has explained how it felt to be a part of it. Until now. As employee number 59, Douglas Edwards was a key part of Google’s earliest days. Experience the unnerving mix of camaraderie and competition as Larry Page and Sergey Brin create a famously nonhierarchical structure, fight against conventional wisdom, and race to implement myriad new features while coolly burying broken ideas. I’m Feeling Lucky captures the self-created culture of the world’s most transformative corporation and offers unique access to the emotions experienced by those who virtually overnight built one of the world’s best-known brands. “Edwards does an excellent job of telling his story with a fun, outsider-insider voice. The writing is sharp.”— Boston Globe “An affectionate, compulsively readable recounting of the early years of Google.”— Publishers Weekly Comparing Google To An Ordinary Business Is Like Comparing A Rocket To An Edsel. Edwards, Employee Number 59, Offers The First Inside View Of Google, Giving Readers A Chance To Fully Experience The Bizarre Mix Of Camaraderie And Competition At This Phenomenal Company. Edwards, Google's First Director Of Marketing And Brand Management, Describes It As It Happened. We See The First, Pioneering Steps Of Larry Page And Sergey Brin, The Company's Young, Idiosyncratic Partners; The Evolution Of The Company's Famously Nonhierarchical Structure (where Every Employee Finds A Problem To Tackle Or A Feature To Create And Works Independently); The Development Of Brand Identity; The Races To Develop And Implement Each New Feature; And The Many Ideas That Never Came To Pass. You Are One Of Us -- From Whence I Came -- In The Beginning -- A World Without Form -- Marketing Without Marketing -- Giving Process Its Due -- Real Integrity And Thoughts About God -- A Healthy Appetite For Insecurity -- Cheap Bastards Who Can't Take A Joke -- Wang Dang Doodle- Good Enough Is Good Enough -- Rugged Individualists With A Taste For Porn -- Google Grows And Finds Its Voice -- Lift Off -- Fun And Names -- Not The Usual Yada-yada -- Googlebombs And Mail Fail -- Managers In Hot Tubs And Hot Water -- Is New York Alive? -- Where We Stand -- Two Speakers, One Voice -- Mail Enhancement And Speaking In Tongues -- The Sell Of A New Machine -- Where We Stand -- Aloha Aol -- We Need Another Billion-dollar Idea -- Froogle And Friction -- Don't Let Marketing Drive -- Mistakes Were Made -- Can This Really Be The End? -- S-1 For The Money. Douglas Edwards. Includes Index. Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to a wheelbarrow. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Douglas Edwards, Employee Number 59, takes readers inside the Googleplex for the closest look you can get without an ID card, giving readers a chance to fully experience the potent mix of camaraderie and competition that makes up the company that changed the world. Edwards, Google's first director of marketing and brand management, describes it as it happened. From the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company's young, idiosyncratic partners to the evolution of the company's famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently), through the physical endurance feats of the company's engineers (both on and off the roller-hockey field) to its ethos to always hire someone smarter than yourself, I'm Feeling Lucky captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, culture of the world's most transformative corporation. Welcome to the "Google Experience"