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Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

fortune.com

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Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#11

Post by jpatokal »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #5

But while the company still earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, during his tenure Page has helped to diversify the business. Notably, YouTube is expected to generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year Maybe I am being pedantic but aren't revenues from Youtube also based on advertising? To the broader point though, why aren't more investors also putting money toward these "moonshots?" Is it because…

The time horizon for moonshots is way too long for the average VC. Google started working on autonomous cars c. 2010, and I'd be fairly astonished if they're available for sale to the general public by 2020.

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#12

Post by shas3 »

jpatokal wrote: post #11
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #5

But while the company still earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, during his tenure Page has helped to diversify the business. Notably, YouTube is expected to generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year Maybe I am being pedantic but aren't revenues from Youtube also based on advertising? To the broader point though, why aren't more investors also putting money toward these "moonshots?" Is it because…

The time horizon for moonshots is way too long for the average VC. Google started working on autonomous cars c. 2010, and I'd be fairly astonished if they're available for sale to the general public by 2020.

Google is a public company, and I think the average Wall Street investor is even more 'short-term' than VCs. In fact, it should be a surprise that investors are not questioning such spending. What insulates these moonshot projects from investor ire is that as an expense, they are only a very small part of the total revenue of Google.

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#14

Post by ajcarpy2005 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #5

But while the company still earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, during his tenure Page has helped to diversify the business. Notably, YouTube is expected to generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year Maybe I am being pedantic but aren't revenues from Youtube also based on advertising? To the broader point though, why aren't more investors also putting money toward these "moonshots?" Is it because…

Well some startups that were making progress towards these moonshot ideas have been bought by Google. Also, they have a significant portion of the world's smartest human beings. But there are exceptions; there are companies, big ones and startups, that are working on self-driving cars, cancer-detecting nanotechnologies, high-altitude balloon-based Internet, robotics, home automation, etc.

Thinking further into this question you've posed...there has been a lot of discussion here on HN about how hardware is harder to work with than software. Whether this is true in anything other than for psychological or cultural reasons, who knows. But certainly there is more 'entropy' with your invested failures along the road to success and it's not as simple as deleting or cutting and pasting LOC in a computer file. Hardware is material.

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#15

Post by surfmike »

shas3 wrote: post #12
jpatokal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The time horizon for moonshots is way too long for the average VC. Google started working on autonomous cars c. 2010, and I'd be fairly astonished if they're available for sale to the general public by 2020.

Google is a public company, and I think the average Wall Street investor is even more 'short-term' than VCs. In fact, it should be a surprise that investors are not questioning such spending. What insulates these moonshot projects from investor ire is that as an expense, they are only a very small part of the total revenue of Google.

I think the recent stock split and creation of non-voting shares is also to help insulate these moonshot projects.

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#16

Post by bronson »

mkm416 wrote: post #10
mahyarm wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the typical strategy of just asking for something more when it's presented to you, to get more results. It's easier to ask than to make.

The joke is that it's a time machine. Someone brings a working one of those to office and I wouldn't care if it's powered by a butter churn.

You'll care if it's powered by something with a little more kick, like plutonium.

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#17

Post by Ygg2 »

corysama wrote: post #9
mahyarm wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the typical strategy of just asking for something more when it's presented to you, to get more results. It's easier to ask than to make.

The joke was probably intended as a jab at unreasonable managers, but joke-Page did catch an important engineering flaw: After you use the wall-socket-powered time machine to travel through time, there is likely to not be a wall socket at your destination...

Depends on what principles the machine works. Realistically, it transfers information several milliseconds from future into present. Socket present.

Unrealistically, it can only travel couple of years into the future/past. Socket present.

Unbelievably realistically, it can travel hundreds or decades of years into the future/past. ???

Re: Larry Page is making huge bets on new technology

#19

Post by [deleted] »

ajcarpy2005 wrote: post #14
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #5

But while the company still earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, during his tenure Page has helped to diversify the business. Notably, YouTube is expected to generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year Maybe I am being pedantic but aren't revenues from Youtube also based on advertising? To the broader point though, why aren't more investors also putting money toward these "moonshots?" Is it because…

Well some startups that were making progress towards these moonshot ideas have been bought by Google. Also, they have a significant portion of the world's smartest human beings. But there are exceptions; there are companies, big ones and startups, that are working on self-driving cars, cancer-detecting nanotechnologies, high-altitude balloon-based Internet, robotics, home automation, etc. Thinking further into this q…

[deleted]
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