I've been thinking about this a lot. What if the best thing a consumer-first company could do is to just focus on that? The whole DNA of a company is different when you're building for a person versus for a procurement department. The incentives just don't align.
https://twitter.com/ondeviceguy/status/1958613874682536345
It's a question of culture. Consumer products are built on speed, scale, and delight. Enterprise is built on stability, security, and sales contracts.
Trying to house both under one roof can create a war for resources and identity. (Read: "The Innovator's Dilemma")
Trying to house both under one roof can create a war for resources and identity. (Read: "The Innovator's Dilemma")
Imagine this: Google shutters its enterprise arm. Yes, they’d lose ~$54B/year in revenue (based on Cloud's $13.6B in Q2), and the market would panic. It would be a huge, painful, short-term hit. The headlines would be brutal. But what would they gain?
They'd gain focus. Thousands of their most brilliant engineers and product minds, currently trying to win a distant #3 spot in the cloud wars against AWS and Azure, would be instantly freed up. All that brainpower could go back to the core mission.
That mission is AI. Google's true, defensible moat isn't enterprise software; it's the petabytes of data from its billion-user products: Search, Android, Maps, YouTube. This is the fuel for the next generation of truly helpful, ambient AI.
By doubling down on consumer, they play a game only they can win. Instead of fighting Microsoft on their turf (enterprise), they make Microsoft fight on Google's turf (data-rich consumer AI). It completely reframes the competition.
Ultimately, it's about courage.
The courage to prune a profitable business to protect an essential one. To choose a clear identity over chasing every available dollar.
I have a feeling that kind of focus is what it will take to truly win the next decade.
The courage to prune a profitable business to protect an essential one. To choose a clear identity over chasing every available dollar.
I have a feeling that kind of focus is what it will take to truly win the next decade.
It remains to be seen if @sundarpichai will double-down on this vision and shepherd Google to its once great consumer vision and focus by letting go of the distractions.
For the sake of the internet which we grew up on/with/contributed to, I truly hope he does. Cheering on...
For the sake of the internet which we grew up on/with/contributed to, I truly hope he does. Cheering on...
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