Ten Things to Learn from
Google's Success

chillibreeze writer — Atish Patankar

The first name that comes to most peoples’ mind when they want to use a search engine on the web is ‘Google’. Google has paved the way globally for technological innovation, business prudence, product quality and effective marketing. Google’s success hasn’t been gained overnight. Instead, it has been a combination of foresight, good business thinking, product innovation and of course luck. Here are ten things, which could potentially benefit companies aspiring to achieve success just like Google did, in their industry.

1. A unique product

Google was successful because it made good business decisions, constantly improving its products as well as expanding its product base. But at the core of its business was and still is a very unique, solid and effective search engine more popular than any search engines currently in the market. The point is that even before delving into competitive pricing and effective marketing strategies it is important that you offer something, which most companies in the same industry don’t. It may be a product or even a service.

2. Focus on core competency first

Google has always focused on keeping its original products robust and on the leading edge of technological advancement. This helps them invest in other areas without putting themselves at too much risk. If your company manufactures television sets, make sure that it provides a good quality product at a reasonable price. You may also make and sell other electronic products such as stereos, MP3 players and so on and while a drop in sales for these products for whatever reasons will result in a loss of market share, any damage to the primary product will result in a ten-fold damage. Remember, your company gains primary stock value due to your core competency.

3. The battle against inertia

Google was very successful with its core product, the search engine, but it didn’t stop there. They kept improving it while constantly probing non-traditional markets such as mobile services (SMS service), desktop searches (Windows search has been used traditionally with a Windows OS), etc. For a company it is necessary to keep making better its current products but at the same time it is equally important to look out for new markets and opportunities because the competition is most certainly doing that!

4. Getting the right people

Your company is only as good as the people who work for it. Google carefully chose its people because they wanted to make sure that the people coming in were mentally aligned to the company's goals and objectives. Not only should they have the necessary skill sets to adjust to the culture and perform in it, but they should thrive in this environment. For Google, the important qualities to look for in potential employees were creativity and imagination more than experience and education.

5. The best defense is offense

Google recently launched their web document tools such as Google spreadsheets and documents. Microsoft has dominated the offline market for the longest time and though this does not look like a direct hit it does make them think and put a foot back in defense. It pays to be proactive instead of being reactive. Penetrating into foreign territory with aggressiveness but with sufficient research and logic will more often than none lead to sustained growth.

6. Promote the right culture and then embrace it

People popularly know the Googleplex today, the Google HQ boasts of state-of-the-art facilities that has everything from swimming pools and hair stylists to a multi-cuisine cafeteria and day-care center. Reason? Because Google wants its employees to feel more than just employees and their work place more than just a cubicle with a desk and a computer. Google promotes a ‘family’ environment with all the comforts of a home and more. Why? Because the philosophy is that a happy, free and content mind is a creative, imaginative mind free of day-to-day stress and problems. While other companies don’t need to take this to heart and start doing some of the same things Google does, but the important thing to learn is that create an atmosphere, which is conducive for your employees so that they may be effective in their work. If your company makes products that require in-house breakthrough research, most of the times around the clock, you may try building temporary housing facilities on site if possible. You get the idea.

7. Speed to market

In today’s environment, speed to market can make or break your company or at least cause significant damage or enormous profitability. Google has an unusual strategy in that it releases beta products very quickly in the mainstream user market while it contemplates on financing strategies and product quality. They buy time but make sure the consumers get a taste of the product, so that by the time it is ready to sell it; users are hooked on to it. Speed is important and it pays off. The thing to remember though that speed to market should not be confused with hastiness, which could have a hard-hitting backlash instead of potential profitability.

8. Be honest to your company’s mission statement

Google’s mission statement explains their desire to make quality data universally available. For the same reason they never insert ads into their search hits. In fact when AOL first wanted to use Google’s search engine capabilities on their website it asked them to insert ads. They refused and have steered clear of it ever since. They got the contract with AOL two years later. Your company needs to understand and value what it stands for and function by it. Publicly owned companies will soon lose shareholder confidence if they exhibit hypocrisy in business practices.

9. Find the right investors

If your company is really a start-up looking for promising investors then the importance of getting the right-minded (for your company) investors cannot be stressed more. It doesn’t make good business sense to approach pharmaceutical companies for funding when your company is all about IT, at least in most cases, unless there is a vested interest. These investors often sit at the Board of Directors meetings and have a yay or nay in a lot of crucial decisions.

10. Believe in Luck!

Believe it or not luck is important too, the lack of which can cause serious damage. Does this mean that the company should sit back leaving itself to the mercy of fortune? Of course not. Though you can never achieve ‘good luck’ you can certainly align your decisions in a way that would make it more likely to be lucky than unlucky. Looking at long-term losses instead of immediate gains while making decisions is imperative.

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—About our writer: 'Atish Patankar is a Engineer working in Los Angeles, California. Though he has been in the US for close to 5 years now, he wants to go back home someday, to Pune, India where the rest of his family including his younger brother and parents currently live'.

 

 

 

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