Page 115 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

102 grow from within

pions. An initial core team typically includes a project manager,
a technical lead, a product marketing manager (for competi-
tive analyses, focus groups, market targeting, and so on), a
user-interface designer, a quality-assurance specialist, and an
attorney (for privacy, trademark, and other legal input).
If a project team believes that it has a winner, it appeals to the
Google Product Council for formal project funding. The Prod-
uct Council, which includes the company founders, top execu-
tives, and engineering team leaders, provides broad strategic
direction and initial resources. The Product Council meets
weekly to hear new business ideas. Successful project teams can
receive assistance from the Google Product Strategy Forum to
formulate a business model and set milestones. At this early
stage, however, Google applies no preconceived criteria or hur-
dle rates to the projects. As long as a project appears to have
potential and maintains the interest of Google employees, it can
continue. The potential to profitably leverage Google’s core—
search, advertising, and channel partners—is typically not the
first criterion applied to new business concepts. Of course, the
notion that “Yahoo! might do it” provides added impetus for
Google to try new things, as the Internet industry is changing
constantly and remains highly competitive.
Only after a team successfully proves the technical aspects
of an idea and demonstrates consumer interest does Google
focus on how the firm’s core elements might be leveraged to
enable the emerging business model. At this point, the Google
Product Strategy Forum may begin to play a more active over-
sight and support role, including obtaining more significant
resources, directing formal and regular engineering reviews,
acquiring outside capabilities, or making some other part of
Google work with the project team. On occasion, the Google
Product Strategy Forum will ask a project team to report to it;
for example, if a competitor launches a new offering in the