Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

This Xoogler Might Be the Next Bill Gates

Former Googlers make ever-widening waves across Silicon Valley

By Lev Weinstein, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 4, 2008 2:40 AM CDT

(Newser) – In the past few years, Google has lost some serious firepower to the startup frontier, Luke Dittrich writes in Esquire. With self-styled Xooglers providing the brain power not only for two dozen or so startups, but for the venture-capital firms that fund them, it’s likely “the next big thing to come out of Google won't come out of Google at all.”

Google manages to retain a better-than-average percentage of employees, but the pedigree of the Xooglers—the creator of Gmail, or intance, and the guys who thought of buying YouTube—make them a force to be reckoned with. So much, in fact, that the company recently announced plans to head up its own venture-capital arm to make some coin off the bleeding.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Google recently set up its own venture-capital arm, at least in part to try to get a piece of the big ideas coming from company alumni. (Getty Images)

Google's leaps-and-bounds growth have pushed some employees to quit and go back to their startup roots. (AP Photo)

Google's former director of acquisitions, Salman Ullah, now heads Merus Capital with two other Xooglers. (AP Photo)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Erin and I have spoken about this, and I just think that we both feel like, well, maybe at the end of the day someone is doing this, planting this, because it puts more attention on the network. - Maria Bartiromo on rumors of rivalry

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

This YouTube Star Earns $1M a Year

Ray William Johnson's one-man show has 1.5 billion views

(NEWSER) - Sure, it's full of keyboard cats and double rainbows, but these days, YouTube is also a serious moneymaking machine. YouTube star Ray William Johnson is showcasing the medium's potential: With more than a billion total views, he's making about $1 million a year through his clips, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . Thanks to a twice-weekly show that gets 5 million regular viewers, the comedian—who mocks other popular YouTube clips—currently boasts the site's biggest audience. He goes by RayWJ. More»

Google, Yahoo, 13 Others Declare War on Phishing

New set of standards could make email more trustworthy

(NEWSER) - A new anti-phishing effort, backed by the big email service providers as well as banks, PayPal, social networks, and other companies, could dramatically reduce the number of scam emails you get in your inbox. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are backing the new plan; 15 companies in total have come together to create DMARC.org, which officially launches today and will promote standard technologies to authenticate email. The hoped-for end result? If you get an email that claims to be from paypal.com, you could trust that it is actually from paypal.com. If it works, companies would be able to communicate with customers in new ways, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Google Tries Again with Gmail iPhone App

This time it loads, but still lacks some key functions

(NEWSER) - Google is trying again with its Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch after its first attempt two weeks proved to be a quick failure . The new app is out today, and Business Insider reports progress: It loads this time without errors, and Google fixed the problem related to notifications. It's still pretty basic, though, notes ReadWriteWeb , meaning users can't do things like check multiple accounts. "For now, little has changed about the app that many panned as insufficient for a native Gmail app," writes Jon Mitchell. Google promises upgrades soon in a blog post . More»

Gmail Immediately Pulls Buggy iPhone App

Users complain it's 'unusable'

(NEWSER) - Google finally released its long-awaited stand-alone Gmail client for iPhones, iPads, and iPods today—only to immediately pull it down after a flood of complaints over bugs. “The iOS app we launched today contained a bug with notifications. We have pulled the app to fix the problem,” Gmail’s official Twitter account said. “Sorry we messed up.” A brief message on Gmail’s blog said much the same thing. More»

Microsoft Video Slams Snooping 'Gmail Man'

Pokes fun at Google for scanning your inbox

(NEWSER) - You’d never tolerate your mailman behaving the way Gmail does: That’s the message of a chuckle-inducing video—believed to be made by Microsoft—that takes direct aim at the email service’s advertising techniques. Mocking Gmail for scanning your inbox as a way to target advertising, the video introduces "Gmail Man," who "peeks at every subject in unreal time." More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

This Xoogler Might Be the Next Bill Gates