Google's success was largely due to its product being the brand, as it gained traction without spending on marketing, unlike many other tech companies.

The talent market is competitive, but Google is fortunate to attract top talent and has a strong track record of employees starting successful companies.

It's a misconception that having worked at Google guarantees easy access to funding; the reality is much more complex and competitive.

Our first investor didn't believe in the education business model, thinking it was a bad investment, but they were primarily interested because I had previously sold a company to Google.

We raised seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, and Benchmark, who understood marketplaces well.

The early days of Google involved a lot of experimentation with advertising strategies, including self-service ads, which were initially a prototype.

Google started as a research project at Stanford called Backrub, and when Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell it to big internet companies, they were rejected because no one thought search was important.

My last startup, bbop, was founded in 2013 and sold to Google in 2015 for $380 million, with my portion of the proceeds committed to nonprofits through a donor-advised fund.

Having extra funding helps founders approach fundraising with confidence, making it easier to negotiate and plan without being influenced by fear.