Soon after Paul Buchheit joined Google in 1999, he coined the phrase “Don’t be evil,” which along with profit and loss, remains the yardstick by which Google is most commonly judged. As employee No. 23, Buchheit created Gmail and helped start AdSense, the advertising program that is Google’s second-biggest revenue source.
After leaving Google in 2006, Buchheit started FriendFeed in 2007, which was acquired by Facebook in 2009. He had become one of the lucky few with an inside view on the development of arguably the two most important companies on the Internet.
After leaving Google, Buchheit became an angel investor, investing about $1.21 million in 32 different companies from 2006 to 2008. Since leaving Facebook late last year, Buchheit has been a partner at Y Combinator, a Mountain View venture capital firm that brings together early-stage startups, providing a small amount of financial support, and a large dollop of entrepreneurial advice and community. For Buchheit, who loves the process of laying down a company’s foundations, it’s a great environment.
“PB,” as he’s known to friends, sat down with the Mercury News at Y Combinator for a recent conversation — he was wearing a Gmail warm-up jacket — where he talked about the rivalry between Google and Facebook and the distinct cultures of the two founder-driven companies. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q What drew you to leave Facebook for Y Combinator?
A To me, it’s just the most exciting stage, when the company is being formed, all the early stages that will define them forever. A company like Google or Facebook, a lot of things at those companies are the way they are because of something that happened a long time ago, and it would be very difficult for anyone to change. A lot of the patterns of how a culture works get set down very early by the founders and the early employees. So as a person who’s very interested in the development of companies and culture and products, this is where it’s happening, right? Imagine if, as a reporter, you could go talk to Google or Facebook when it was two or three people — wouldn’t that be interesting? Well, this gives me an opportunity to get to know these companies when it’s two or three people.
Q So much gets written about the rivalry between Google and Facebook. Is that overblown?
A There is an interesting competitive element there because Facebook is growing very fast, and obviously, Google would like to compete in the social-networking space. They have finally realized its importance, and they are finding themselves, maybe for the first time, with the realization that there is someone who is way, way ahead of them.
There was a moment with Microsoft that they assumed that Google was like, “Well, yeah, search isn’t that important. And if it does become important, we’ll just hire some people and we’ll take over.” They kind of thought it was something they could win really easily, and they underestimated the difficulty of it. I kind of feel like Google may have reached that same moment with social networking, where they realized, A, it’s important, and B, it’s really hard to win.
Q How is the culture of Google different from the culture of Facebook?
A A lot of it just comes down to different founders. I think that’s the most important thing to understand about both companies, that the founders are still very much a driving force.
Q So how are Larry Page and Sergey Brin different from Mark Zuckerberg?
A I think (the Google founders) have a little bit more of an inventor mindset. That’s not to say there isn’t the invention aspect (at Facebook), but if you look at the sorts of things that Google is doing, it seems to be all over the place. You’re like, how does this fit into the overall strategy? It’s because it’s an opportunity for them to build all of these cool things. It’s like, “Well, of course I want this thing that scans books, and a self-driving car.”
That’s not, I think, the direction Facebook will go. Facebook, it does have a little bit more of a strategic mindset, in terms of building out that network. Hacking is a very central part of the Facebook culture.
That’s something that’s a little bit difficult for people to understand exactly, because hacking means different things to different people. I have a fairly positive view of it, but in fact, it’s not really a positive or negative thing. It’s a process of discovering the hidden rules. And that’s really where I think a lot of Facebook’s success comes from: they were able to figure out which things actually mattered.
If you go out and ask people what makes a successful social network, they will give you all the wrong answers, which is why there are so many failed social networks. It’s all about the network. I think they understand that better than anyone, that it’s all about the network.
Q In what sense?
A Did you see the Facebook movie? I thought it did a pretty good job — obviously it wasn’t all accurate — but remember there was one point where he starts talking about taking over the surrounding schools? That’s a very network-strategic way of thinking of it, because you’re asking, “Why does someone sign up?” Well, their friends are there, or the people who they want to be their friends are there. It’s not because it has these neat features. It’s all about the connections.
Contact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories.
Paul buchheit
Age: 34
Hometown: Webster, N.Y.
Education: Case Western Reserve University
Employment: Partner at Y Combinator, a Mountain View venture capital firm
Family: Married, two children
five things about Paul buchheit
1. As a child, had pet ducks named Donald and Daffy.
2. Daughter was born 100 days premature.
3. Wore a tiger suit on his wedding day.
4. Was on the rowing team in college.
5. Does not believe in reality.
