In this course we've had the great opportunity to dive into the histories of three of the biggest players in the tech space, all three of which are integral to the modern economy and to all things digital marketing.
It's been fascinating to me to learn about some of the deep philosophical differences, motivators and working styles across the founding teams of all three of these iconic companies. In John Batelle's The Search, it was striking to see how much attention the Google co-founders paid to quality throughout their platform, using creative approaches to effectively rank and index the web while working tirelessly to provide the best experience for their users. I was impressed by their attention to detail in insisting that ads on the site were un-intrusive, minimalist and still useful to users, and found myself in awe of the noble aspects of the company's mission to make information searchable and accessible to diverse users around the world. Despite the weighty responsibilities of developing such a rich and nuanced dataset, rife with sensitive information, I was left with the impression that Google was up to the task and its founders and leadership generally meant well in their creative and academic approaches to innovation.
In The Facebook Effect, I was impressed by the intense level of collaboration across Mark Zuckerberg and the founding team, including Dustin Moskovitz, Sean Parker, Matt Cohler and others. It was clear that Mark was a decisive leader, but I really liked how tight-knit this team was, and was impressed with the close relationships the young founder forged with industry titans such as Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreesen and others. The team worked incredibly hard, but they also seemed to build very strong buzz early on through this dynamic and passionate collaboration. It was interesting to hear about the philosophical goals of the project in making the world more open and transparent and in changing the balance of power so that people were better able to self-organize and share ideas directly. I did think there was a rebellious and disruptive element of the project that was made clear through the book, and the implications of that are still unraveling to this day, especially with considerations around personal data and the right to privacy. At the same time, it was refreshing to hear how much Zuckerberg pushed back against over-commercializing the company early on, and how focused he was on creating a lasting product serving the needs of his users.
In The Everything Store, I was surprised to see how much of a solitary endeavor the project was, especially in its early days. It was also clear from the book what a strong impact Bezos's experiences at D. E. Shaw were in his management style and in a broader sense his operating model. I was impressed with how much the early nurturing he had at D. E. Shaw was in motivating and supporting him to make the move, and at the same time was surprised to see how a calculating commitment to being data-driven has been key to Jeff's working style since the beginning. It was also surprising to see what a long haul its been, with Bezos at the helm building up the modern-day indispensable behemoth over a twenty five year span, through dot-com bubbles, recessions and more.
Although I am left with the impression that Amazon has the most commercial focus of the three major tech players, I found the ability of all three teams to avoid focusing on the short-term and instead drive relentlessly over the years to build organizations of lasting value incredibly inspiring. I look forward to seeing what comes next with all three.
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