Supercars, Everest's South Col, and Google's Fear of Failure
Google founder Larry Page was at Foo Camp on the weekend, which was interesting, if unsettling to have him plop down near me at a tented talk by Ian Wright of supercar X1 fame. Page helicoptered in, which I don't begrudge him (even if he risked a South Col windstorm reenactment by landing beside a lawn of loosely-secured tents) given the amount of time it takes to make the Sebastopol sojourn. Page's presence, however, sparked some interesting conversations about Google. Among other things, many people closer to the company than me proffered that it was becoming much more afraid of failure, and that, more than many other things, was likely to make life tougher going forward for the company as it looked for new legs to its business.
Interesting thought. 1
