Ex-Googlers Reveal Startup and Google's Big Weakness

Having the title Ex-Googler is probably a good thing if you’re in the startup business. Twitter, after all, is run by ex-Googlers. That credibility worked the old hype machine for Cuil, too, until it couldn’t perform. Bindu Reddy and Arvind Sundararajan, ex-Googlers, suggest it’s a bad idea to take on Google where Google is strong—like Cuil did with search—but taking it to Google where it is weak can work.

And so they’ve fairly quietly launched Jennifer Van Grove exploring why Googlers like Bindu and Arvind are leaving the company and starting their own sites. The most interesting takeaways:

1.    Google’s too big, rigid and slow for good ideas outside of their core to get traction. That’s why creative, innovative Googlers leave.
2.    Search is a bad idea if you want to threaten Google. (Right, Microsoft?) Google is weakest, because of number one, in the social and real time search arenas.
3.    Bindu Reddy says Facebook and Twitter, not Microsoft or Yahoo, are Google’s biggest threats. 

Here's a nice review of Linkaholix from