The Archives

03.19.10

The need for speed General, Innovation, Product | (1)
Erick Schonfeld wrote an article in TechCrunch today called Google's Need For Speed, in which he argues Google is obsessed with speed because it leads users to do more searches, which results in more ad clicks. He notes Google research that shows delays of a few hundred milliseconds returning results translated to 0.6% fewer searches by users, which could add up to tens of millions of dollars per quarter in lost revenue. It is true Google is obsessed with speed. Recent examples include TechCrunch's confirmation that Google's URL shortener is the fastest on the Internet as well as the statement by Gmail product ...
03.01.10

What I learned at Google Entrepreneurship, General, Innovation, Product | (2)
It has been almost a year since I left Google, yet I am struck how often I refer to lessons I learned there as I make daily decisions for KlickFu. I thought it might be helpful to summarize some of the most important things I learned at Google, some of which may be fairly obvious, and some may be less so. 1. Speed is the most important feature of any product. This is true for any tech product, and especially true for web services. You may believe users are going to love the new bells and whistles you are designing for ...

Mark Geller