🃏 Sherry Jiang’s Post

I don’t believe in luck; I believe in alignment. Opportunities don’t simply ‘happen’—they arise when you align yourself with your goals, position yourself strategically, work hard and smart over time, and boldly articulate your vision. By staying true to your vision and actively seeking opportunities, you can create your own luck. You manufacture luck by positioning yourself in sight of opportunity and ensuring you’re aligned wholeheartedly to what you’re creating. Then, have the audacity to ask for what you want. (Nine times out of ten things don’t just fall in your lap). The 1/10 times they do, it’s often the dividend of a lengthy relationship and mutual support over years. Picture: My first touchpoint with Google in 2014 when Google moved into Fishburners (HQ at the time) then years later Women Making Waves partnered and co-hosted an event with Google Cloud in 2023. (With power team Hayley Evans, Mike Langford, Mike Ciesla 🚀 ) P.S back then Fishburners was #30 of global Google startup hubs, surely a LOT more Google startup hubs now!

I lost 20% of my net worth in my first year after leaving Google to run my startup. For much of the 2010s, my net worth growth was fueled by a golden goose: Google employee stock options. From 2014 to 2021, the value of my Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) nearly tripled, delivering an impressive 16% annual growth. When you're making money on something, its hard to see why you should get off the ride. Then came the post-COVID interest rate hikes, responding to inflationary pressures from supply chain disruptions and pent-up pandemic demand. Interest rates are like gravity - when they go up, prices come crashing down. The result? My net worth took a 20% the same year I left Google to work on my startup. I've developed a simple, AI-powered portfolio rebalancing simulator for all my friends who work in tech. Check it out in my blog article, or watch a video walkthrough of it on YouTube (links in the comments)!

Work on bets, 20% of your time. Working in startups I've noticed that when you're still in the early phase trying to figure things out, at least one engineer's ~20-40% of bandwidth should be allocated to working on bets. This person could be someone who's a tinkerer and loves to solve difficult unknown problems. When you give enough freedom to a smart engineer, magic might happen. The ideas may or may not work out but it gives the team an opportunity to experiment. And if any of these bets land, it's a huge win. While reading "How Google Works" I came to know that Google also does something similar with their 20% Rule. Googlers are encouraged to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will help Google solve a problem. Great products like Maps, Google Adsense, Gmail, Google News, Cardboard were built by people working on their 20% bets. A lot of other companies have also followed this approach, like Atlassian's 20%, and Apple's few weeks off work. I'm a believer of the fact that when smart people are given autonomy, they can come up with fantastic solutions to one of your most difficult problem. Try to give them a chance, if Google can do it, you can too. #google

Google has its public graveyard of projects, and let me tell you, it was eye-opening. The sheer volume of ideas, experiments, and ventures that have come and gone is striking. But what is the purpose of showing off dead projects? For starters, it's a reminder that innovation is messy. Google, despite its resources and talent, has seen its fair share of failures. And they are willing to embrace failures. They understand that not every idea will resonate with users or stand the test of time. And that's okay. It's often through failure that the most valuable lessons are learned. At Lemon AI, we also test and learn. Every two months, we unveil significant product announcements, complemented by ongoing improvements. And of course, not every idea works best to solve the problem of our clients. So for us, it's essential to strive for quality while remaining adaptable to market needs. By embracing both innovation and market insight, we choose a course of purposeful growth. The graveyard of projects isn't a place of defeat; it's a testament to the creative spirit.

People believe leaving Google for a startup/edtech venture is a risky move, they don’t know about the safety net Google provides. Google has a policy that if an ex-Googler (Xoogler) wishes to rejoin Google at the same level and within one year of departure, they don’t have to give interviews! They are directly moved to the team matching phase. So, as long as there is an opening in Google for the same level, they can easily join back. For the high performers, they sometimes even extend this limit to two years. I know many people who rely on this while leaving Google. They know they can try something different for a few months and if it doesn’t work out they can easily come back. I have even seen people coming back within 2 months of leaving Google.

Do you still use ‘Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle’, one of the world’s fastest growing internet companies? I am absolutely unsure of my inclination towards Google from yahoo during my childhood. Nonetheless, more of a reason to now divulge into understanding the dynamics of the rise and fall of Yahoo! 📒 Yahoo founders never thought of it as a business opportunity until 1994. It was a simple list of their personal favorite websites and in a directory format to enable seamless tracking. 🎬 The company earned via ad spends and later added targeted customer product and services to generate additional source of sustainable income 📈 They unfollowed the traditional organizational structure; Instead, multiple cross functional product teams were hired strategically. However, these product teams operated as standalone start-ups eventually resulting into non-cohesive long term vision for the company as a whole. 📉 In the later stage, Yahoo’s acquired companies were proving to be direct competitors of Yahoo’s internal business teams resulting to immense organizational level chaos. 🔍 Blatantly rejecting Larry Page’s Google acquisition offer in 1998 (worth USD 1 Million) was the starting time of Yahoo’s downfall. In the due course, Google played along with its valuation numbers and yet again Yahoo failed to acquire the company. 🤳 Facebook was downsized by Yahoo in 2006, resulting Zuckerberg to reject Yahoo’s acquisition offer of USD 850 million. 💰 In 2008, Yahoo also turned down Microsoft’s offer for acquisition (worth USD 44.6 Billion), the year of peak revenue. The company was eventually later required by Verizon at 1/10th of the original offer and acquired again in 2021 by Apollo Global Management. Despite pre-dating internet giants such as Google, Amazon, Yahoo is not really in the league now! Have you been a Yahoo user, and when did you pivot to other internet platforms? #yahoo #google #startups #casestudy #yahoofinance #yahoocase #internetgiant #casebook

Thank You, Google! A New Chapter Begins 🌟🚀 I'm turning a page on an extraordinary journey at Google. It's a bittersweet moment filled with gratitude. What a journey! ❤️ The heart of Google really are it’s people! Google wasn't just a workplace; it was a community of friends and mentors. I found friends for life and mentors who have shaped my journey. The leadership and guidance I received here have been transformative. To everyone who's been part of this journey, you have my deepest thanks. 🌱 Excellence is my new standard At Google, excellence is the norm, not the exception. Every day I was surrounded by incredible talent and most inspiring individuals I've ever met. 🔍 Embracing the Entrepreneurial Call Leaving Google, a company that is filled with opportunities and growth, was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. But the entrepreneurial spirit within me is calling. I'm stepping into a world of new challenges and possibilities, carrying the invaluable lessons from Google. 🚀 What's Next? As I embark on my entrepreneurial journey, I'm excited about what lies ahead. While I'm not ready to reveal all just yet, I promise it's going to be thrilling. To my Google family, thank you for an unforgettable chapter. To those following my journey, let's stay connected. The next chapter is shaping up to be a remarkable blend of passion, innovation, and new beginnings. Here's to leaping into the future and exploring endless possibilities. Thank you, Google, for everything! #Google #Farewell #NewBeginnings #EntrepreneurshipJourney

I have told our story in different ways to many people.. Being frugal is one of the inherent qualities of a start up team. There have been times when we were not sure of making the next paycheck. And for the founding team often we did not get a pay check many times. When we traveled we huddled two or even three to a room at times. We used the cheapest forms of travel staying in small wayside inns and eating at the local deli. We booked flights using algorithms and platforms that gave us maximum benefit and traveked economy with the lowest fares. We never had company cars and still don’t have any perks that other people have like club memberships etc. we never took any dividends in all those years investing every dollar of profit back into the company. Many other things that I can think of. That discipline of using money prudently is fundamental to business and life. And even when you grow big making sure you utilize every dollar for the things that really matter are part of that discipline. Here is the exCEO of Google talking about the start up days on Google. This deeply resonated with me.

When you don't understand it, you call it a scam. This is what happened with our startup back in 2019. 📍It dropped our Google ratings to 1.4 What happened actually? → One of our marketing campaigns got a tremendous response and we couldn't handle it due to a staff shortage. → Me and My co-founder Musavir Khurshid Khurshid were full of calls, complaints, and negative reviews. It was a terrifying enough situation to tackle because everything was going out of the zone. The idea is why did this happen; This all occurred because out of a sudden, we have got 3x work but the least number of staff. The idea is, many bootstrapped startups actually face this pain because; 📍They don't have fancy spaces to work in. 📍They don't have a lot of staff. But they have; 📍enthusiastic team 📍zeal to grow on their own 📍ready to take up new challenges. The best part about this scenario is that we learned how to handle unforeseen scenarios. It made us ready to take up new challenges in spite and despite of any situations. If you face such situations with your life and work, ping me to get a free consultation call! Link in comments👇 P.S: Now we have 4.4 Google ratings given by 3,173 writers so far.

Twenty-five years ago, Google was born in a garage, and today, it's worth $1.5 trillion 🚀 But did you know they almost sold very early on? In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's co-founders, approached Excite CEO George Bell with an offer to sell their search engine for just $1 million. Bell countered with $750,000, thinking he was getting a bargain. But Page and Brin stood firm at $1 million. The deal fell through. Fast forward to 2024, and that $1 million investment would have been worth hundreds of billions! But it doesn't end there. Even after Google started gaining traction, they faced skepticism: • In 2002, Yahoo declined to purchase Google for $3 billion • In 2006, Yahoo tried again, offering $1 billion, but Google now wanted $5 billion These pivotal moments in Google's history remind us that even the biggest players can overlook groundbreaking opportunities. Remember this story when facing rejection or doubt. Today's "crazy idea" might be tomorrow's trillion-dollar company. Innovation often looks like madness... until it doesn't. #startup #vc #google #venturecapital