Google handles roughly 3.5 billion searches every day. The search engine is used so often that the term Google became a verb, but not everyone knows the history behind Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s massive success.
Brin’s Childhood
On August 21st, 1973, Sergey Brin was born to Eugenia and Michael Brin in Moscow, Russia. Searching for better opportunities, Sergey Brin’s family left Russia and eventually moved to America in 1979. Brin’s father taught at the University of Maryland and his mother secured a job as a NASA scientist.
Brin frequently found himself bored in class because the math was too easy for him. When he turned nine, Brin received his first computer from his father. Personal computers weren’t often found at home, so he amazed his teachers by preparing a project printed off the computer.
After high school, Brin enrolled at the University of Maryland at only fifteen years old. At nineteen, he graduated with a double degree in computer systems and mathematics. He received a scholarship which paid for the rest of his schooling.
An Important Partnership
It was on campus at Stanford that he met Lawrence “Larry” Page, who would eventually become the Google CEO. They did not immediately get along; however, their common interests brought them together.
Brin and Page worked together on a research project to make it easier to find information on the internet. They decided that ranking websites according to popularity worked better than the current methods and implemented a test with the search engine BackRub.
From Backrub to Google
The name Backrub was replaced with a more memorable name. Googolplex was suggested by their friend, a name that is equivalent to ten raised to the power of a googol. Basically, a number so large it is difficult to imagine. They used the shortened googol but spelled ‘Google’ as we know it now. The domain name was registered on September 15th, 1997.
Google Inc. was born in September 1998. The business started out small. In fact, their first office was a rented garage, but it didn’t take long for the word to get out. Eventually, Google was processing 10,000 daily requests.
Brin and Page loved the clean layout and were firmly against advertisements clogging the page despite their need for revenue. Instead of banner advertising, they decided to list sponsored sites based on user searches. This service became Google AdWords.
AOL propelled Google to new levels of success by displaying their sponsored results and reaching an additional 34 million users. Stock prices soared from $85 each in 2004 to $600 each in 2007. Stocks played a pivotal role in making the Google co-founders billionaires.
Other Google Services
Google AdSense shows specifically targeted ads to earn revenue based on user engagement. Google Book Search is a database of books scanned from campuses and libraries across the country.
Gmail was unveiled in April 2004, a cost-free email service. And in 2005, Google Maps was released, co-founded by brothers Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen. The technology Google Instant shows suggestions as a user types. Trying to compete with social media giant Facebook, Google+ was announced as a social networking program but was never quite as big.
Future, high-risk technology is produced under Sergey Brin’s supervision. These programs and products include Google Glass, smart contacts, and other projects part of Google X.
Sergey Brin’s Current Status
Brin’s yearly income is only $1.00, but he receives most of his money through Google stock. His net worth is over $37 billion. He married Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder of 23andMe and they have two children. Although separated, they are still officially married. He lives in Los Altos, California.
Sergey Brin reached his dreams through hard work and careful planning. His ideas have inspired many others and will hopefully continue to do so for many years yet.
