I joined Google as part of the Blogger acquisition in February 2003. There were only six of us on the Pyra Labs team and we were Google's first acquisition*. Google was only about 600 employees strong. There were times when we felt like royalty and other times when we felt like guinea pigs but all-in-all it has been an amazing ride. I'm very grateful that after joining that I was not only able to contribute on Blogger but to start-up my own product (Google Reader) which by most accounts is now the #1 web-based feed reader. When I wanted to get back to business development I found a great home on a fantastic team and even got to work on products I know and love like Picasa, Reader and Blogger.
I've been working with Blogger for a long time. In October 2000, I tracked down the co-founders Ev and Meg. Having become a Blogger user and fan in mid-2000, I asked if they were making any money and if they could use any help. The answers were "No and Yes." Even though I was an unpaid consultant and friend of the company at the time I devoted myself to what I believed would become huge. I'm glad I was right and even more glad that they accepted my help.
Despite the fun I've had at Google and the weird looks I'm going to get from people for turning down the free Google food, massages, excellent benefits and the like - I feel I've got that entrepreneurial/start-up bug deep within me and I can't help but think about the next thing. I'm going to take a little time off while I think about what is next (hopefully while surfing and riding my bike in Santa Cruz) but I've decided to leave Google. I have a few ideas but if you have a better one - let me know. Below is a quick infographic of some stats I've compiled on the things I've worked or transpired during my time here. To all of my co-workers reading this, you still work at an amazing company and I thank you for your friendship, also I'll be stopping by for lunch. ;)
* Google acquired the assets of Deja.com before our acquisition, but not with live humans.
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