Google Marketing Case Study

Google was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. In mid-1990s the Internet was emerging and the quest for getting relevant data from the Internet had begun. The solutions provided by Yahoo and AltaVista were not adequate to fill this requirement. In 1996, Larry Page and Brin who were at that time PhD students at Stanford, got together to answer this question. They developed a ranking based Internet search algorithm which prioritized results based on relevance. In 1997 they made it available to the students and faculty of Stanford. By 1998 they had indexed more than 24 million pages, but their growth was limited by capital. They soon found an investor in Andy Bechtolsheim who left them a check for $100,000. The company was intended to be called Googol (100100) but since the check was made in the name of Google they registered their company as we know it today. In 1999 they raised another $25 million from two venture capital firms. Google soon realized that advertizing would fetch more profits than licensing. In 2001, they hired Eric Schmidt as the new CEO of the company. Google was going public in 2004 and an initial price range of $108-$135 was envisioned. By this time Google employees had already been given two installments of stock options at 30 cents and $4 which were exercisable at $35. This sudden increase in the value (due to the IPO) made many employees millionaires overnight. And many employees started quitting Google with their money. Google has had a wonderful run till date. But it is facing some tough times with a cut throat competition from Microsoft and other Software giants.
Analysis:
1) Being innovators is the starting point of an entrepreneurial venture. 2) Creativity, Technologically adept and the ability to convert an innovation into a profitable product are the qualities of a successful business model. 3) Strategic windows exist when a traditional way of doing business prevails in the industry for a long time. 4)