Q & A With the Googleplex...
Mike: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I realize you must be busy.
Googleplex: No problem Mike.
Mike: It really appears as though you pulled out all the stops tonight for the SES attendees. Are you pleased with the turnout?
Googleplex: Well the Google Dance is a fun event. It lets some people come in and have a bit of a look around. Folks seem to get a kick out of it. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves. They seem to be.
Mike: I'll say. This is my first trip to SES in San Jose. Did you host a big party last year as well?
Googleplex: We had a party for last year's SES but it wasn't on site like this.
Mike: I see. Was there any special effort/attention paid to Google dance this year? I mean, did you kick it up a notch or two to generate a little buzz and good sentiment for the IPO?
Googleplex: Mike, I can't talk about the IPO. You know that.
Mike: Well, yeah… but technically you aren't an employee or anything. You're a building and we aren't really talking you know (I'm making this up).
Googleplex: Good point. OK. Here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with being a multi billion dollar company. People are so jaded in the post bubble market that lots of them automatically assume that we're just the next in line to go down. It's unfounded. A wise man once said ‘history can teach us nothing' you know.
Mike: Well, actually I think that was just Sting paraphrasing Hegel, and I don't think-
Googleplex: Whatever. Anyway, Google is about fun. We believe a company that provides a key service and does it better than anybody else has a great future. It's got nothing to do with yesterday, Mike baby. We're all about the now and moving forward. And we're not evil.
Mike: Who said anything about being ev… - Wow, you have a dunking booth over there even.
Googleplex: You know it.
Mike: What about the detractors and naysayers out there that talk about things like the upper limits of technology. Yahoo has a pretty fast search too you know. Some people say your focus is too narrow and that you're kind of a one trick pony when compared to some of your more diversified competition. Certainly, your technology is impressive, but what happens if the competition catches up with your technology?
Googleplex: Mike, please… We are definitely more than just technology. What an absurd notion. We have email now, we have search appliances, news, images, blogs…. We have a little thing called AdWords. Oh, and don't forget the algorithm. Who else has one of those - as good as ours I mean. We've got plenty of stuff in the ol' cooker too. Just you wait.
Mike: True. AdWords is doing well and blogs are certainly big. I like my Gmail too.
Googleplex: Thank you.
Mike: But what about the whole click fraud thing? I'm hearing things like 5-15% of paid clicks could be fraudulent these days. Given the percentage of your revenue that is bound to come from paid search, it seems like that could be the kind of problem that investors might be a bit skittish about.
Googleplex: We take click fraud very seriously and you can rest assured we're taking appropriate measures. No, I can't tell you more. It's a secret. We're on it though.
Mike: OK. Well, that's good.
Googleplex: Don't worry about it. We're Google. We're strong. We have established ourselves as an innovator and an industry leader.
Mike: Without a doubt. You throw a nice party too.
Googleplex: Thank you. We have Donkey Kong over there you know.
Mike: Saw that.
Googleplex: And we're not evil.
Mike: Yeah, I read that on your site. Good to know. Well, you're a spectacular campus Googleplex - top notch all the way. I can safely say you're easily the nicest inanimate object I've had an imaginary conversation with all day.
Googleplex: You're too kind. You should come back by here in the next couple of months if you can. We're going to be making some landscaping changes pretty soon.
Mike: Really? Well the grounds are already fantastic; I don't know what you'd change.
Googleplex: We're going to be getting rid of all the mulch.
Mike: I see. Going with a little more color maybe? Some lava rock? Decorative gravel?
Googleplex: I'm thinking $20s.
Mike: Nice.
With that, the Googleplex excused itself and we both went back to the party. Unfortunately, I had been away too long and missed out on the cool glow in the dark Google cups they were giving away. Oh well, maybe next year… I hope so anyway.
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