On Google and innovation

 I chanced upon this fascinating write up on Google Maps via Twitter (@angsuman). I wont write more about the post, because you have to read the post, but in that, this caught my eye. 

That is a post attributed to this post by Steve Yegg - Why I left Google to join Grab. 

The main reason I left Google is that they can no longer innovate. They’ve pretty much lost that ability. I believe there are several contributing factors, of which I’ll list four here. 

First, they’re conservative: They are so focused on protecting what they’ve got, that they fear risk-taking and real innovation. Gatekeeping and risk aversion at Google are the norm rather than the exception.

As someone who loves and follows stories of innovation, this is both surprising and not surprising. Surprising because it is google. Not surprising, because companies, businesses, individuals - once they reach a point of success often begin to repeat the actions that led to success which ultimately leads to their downfall.  (Steve also lists, arrogance and politics and competitor focus rather than customer focus - but thats for a separate discussion). 

But this is a standard story of how companies which were once innovative lose their innovativeness to more nimble competition (and you can read the entire post to see how maps, once seen as an invincible moat is succumbing to that as well).