MEETING THE FOUNDERS OF GOOGLE – Way Back When

 

Google-Wiser All the Time

By Eileen Majors

 

   It was September of 1998 when Google filed for incorporation in California and opened a bank account with their newly formed name. Founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had only met a couple of years earlier when Sergey was assigned to show Larry around for a look at Stanford University. Their collaborations would change the world.

   The name they chose for their venture is a play on the word, googol, which equates to the figure followed by 100 zeros, which is equal to 10 to the 100th power.

   As you can imagine, they were planning for something big, a way to use the world wide web to spread a seemingly-infinite amount of information.

    During that time, Google set up workspace in a garage in Menlo Park. PC Magazine soon reported that Google “has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results” and recognized them as the search engine of choice in the Top 100 Web Sites for 1998
.

 

 

   It had to have been the summer around 1999 or 2000 
when I met two young men on the beach at Lake Almanor. 
My late husband Mike was renting SeaDoos, but these two 
wanted to ride the stand up models they saw on the beach, 
our personal machines, Kawasaki Jet Skis. Mike told them 
they were not in the rental fleet, so they weren’t insured 
for renting. It was then that they told Mike they were the 
guys that started Google. Explaining what that was to 
Mike, who had not ever yet been on a computer, was not 
easy.


   Mike quickly tells them, “My wife’s got a computer.” and 
yells to me, “Hey Babe, you ever heard of Google?” I walk 
over. “These guys started Google,” he said, adding, “I’m 
gonna let them ride our stand-ups.”
(Mike loved any opportunity to show off the fast skis he built.)

 

 

 

I was brand new at computers. I had just bought one and 
my late sister, Merilyn, was teaching me the ropes. I was a 
rookie, no doubt, and a bit frustrated with the whole 
“computer thing” when I met the two. I was, however newly 
intrigued and amazed by Google, who seemed to answer 
every question I asked online.

   I quickly asked, “How is it you guys know EVERYTHING?”
They both chuckled. Then one answered, “I’m sorry, but that’s 
the best question you could ask.”

   Having been in rural marketing all of my life, I quickly added, “and who pays for it?!!” They both laughed again and one responded, “Sorry again, but that’s the second best question you could ask.” We all laughed and they hit the water on our two fastest stand-up jet skis.

At the time, I had no doubt in my mind it was the guys from Google, I googled Google and found the boys had been passing through this area on their way to a big event during that time frame, but whether it really was them or not, I suppose I cannot be sure. However, I was inspired as I realized this giant and valuable tool was about to hit marketing’s book of business in a really big way.


 

 

   It wasn’t long before I was a whiz on the computer as 
my sister, Merilyn had told me when she was teaching 
me, “You’re going to be better at this than me.” I laughed, 
and it was laughable as she was already making all the 
flyers and menus for her business, Buffalo Chips Pizza in 
Downtown Westwood. Hers was one of the few businesses 
for miles that had its own website.

 

   After working on the print side of advertising for nearly 
two decades, then onto manage a radio station, I would 
end up pursuing my own venture, publishing Mountain 
Valley Living Magazine. And as soon as I did, I signed up 
for my Gmail account and kept my eye on Google, using 
their services, whenever i did need the tech world, ike 
buying AdWords Express to promote Nor Cal Real Estate 
and seeking out articles offered by Google for advice.

   A few years later we were off to Denver for a huge digital marketing 
conference, put together specifically for publications like 
ours; numerous days of learning all about digital marketing 
from many contributors I had been following online.

   We 
are still excited about helping more businesses get found 
online. If you have a business and want to hear more about
digital marketing opportunities, email Eileen at mountainvalleyliving@gmail.com.