tech
Google's founders didn’t market test Alphabet’s name before launching the now $1.9 trillion juggernaut. Here's the advice Steve Jobs gave Larry Page
Even from Google’s inception, cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin considered the company’s potential for astronomical growth. Named after “googol,” the term for the numeral 1 with 100 zeros behind it, Google, then just a search engine founded in 1998, would become as large as the internet would allow.
TL;DR
- Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin envisioned astronomical growth for the company.
- Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, is valued at approximately $1.9 trillion and ranks No. 1 on Fortune's 2026 Most Innovative Companies list.
- Steve Jobs advised Larry Page to focus on five core products and eliminate the rest to avoid spreading the company too thin.
- Page believed that Alphabet's diverse ventures were interconnected and that limiting the company would be a mistake.
- Page and Brin did not market test the name 'Alphabet,' as they intended it to be a brand for companies and employees rather than a consumer brand.