Eventually, I gathered support from engineers who wanted to build Google Photos instead of the assigned social network, despite our bosses' explicit instructions not to pursue it.

I didn't want my previous work on Bump to be a failure, so I fought to pursue the opportunity with Google Photos, refusing to take no for an answer.

After being told to leave the team twice, I leveraged my connections in the industry to gain support for building Google Photos, and ultimately, we got the green light to proceed.

On our first day at Google, we found out that all our plans were changed, and we were assigned to work on Google+ instead of Google Photos, which created a lot of conflict for me.

After selling our company to Google, we planned to rebuild our photo roll idea with Google technology to create Google Photos, and I was optimistic about its success.

To create a product like Google Photos that billions will use, you must be fully committed and understand that success rarely follows a straight path; expect failures and challenges along the way.

In the early days of Google Photos, we observed that while many users dropped off quickly, a stable percentage remained engaged, which gave us confidence in the product's potential for growth.

Google Photos was a hit from day one, growing rapidly and becoming one of the fastest-growing products of all time, reaching over a billion users in less than four years.

During a successful period at Google Photos, I was diagnosed with leukemia, which changed my perspective on life and work.