16 Odd Facts About the Day Google Was Founded
Google has become so integrated into our daily lives that it’s hard to imagine a world without it. From answering our most pressing questions to helping us navigate unfamiliar streets, this tech giant has fundamentally changed how we interact with information.
However, the story of Google’s beginning has some fascinating quirks that many people don’t know about. Here is a list of 16 odd facts about the day Google was founded that showcase just how humble and unusual its origins really were.
The Wrong Date Is Often Celebrated
Most people think Google was founded on September 4, 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin filed for incorporation. However, they actually began working on their search engine, initially called “BackRub,” in January 1996 while they were PhD students at Stanford University.
The incorporation date simply formalized what had been developing for years.
The Name Was a Spelling Mistake
In order to symbolize the enormous volume of data they intended to manage, the company’s founders first intended to call it “Googol,” a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. When a check was made out to the newly established company, the word “Google” was misspelled, but they chose to keep it.
They Operated From a Garage
The “headquarters” of Google were actually a rented garage in Menlo Park, California, on the day the company was formally founded. Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube, owned this garage.
For the young business at the time, the $1,700 monthly rent was a substantial outlay of funds.
The First Server Was Made of Lego
When Google was founded, the team’s first web server was partially constructed using Lego bricks. These colorful building blocks were used to create a case that housed ten 4GB hard drives, allowing them to test their PageRank algorithm on a larger scale than previously possible.
Funding Came Before They Had a Bank Account
On the day of Google’s founding, the company received its first investment check of $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Interestingly, they couldn’t deposit it immediately because they hadn’t yet opened a bank account for the company.
They Almost Sold for $1 Million
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Around the time of Google’s incorporation, Page and Brin approached Excite CEO George Bell with an offer to sell their technology for just $1 million. Bell rejected the offer.
Considering Google’s current valuation is over $1 trillion, this ranks among the worst business decisions ever made.
Stanford Owned the Patent
When Google was founded, the PageRank algorithm that made their search engine unique was actually patented by Stanford University, not by Page and Brin themselves. Stanford later licensed the patent exclusively to Google in exchange for 1.8 million shares of the company’s stock.
The First Employee Was a Fellow Student
Craig Silverstein, a fellow PhD student at Stanford, was Google’s first employee. He was hired before the company was even officially founded and helped build the original search engine infrastructure.
Silverstein stayed with Google for over a decade before leaving to join education startup Khan Academy.
The Homepage Was Incredibly Basic
On its founding day, Google’s website was remarkably simple—just a white page with a text box and a button. This minimalist design was partly due to Page and Brin’s limited knowledge of HTML, but it became a signature feature that distinguished Google from cluttered competitors.
They Initially Opposed Advertising
When Page and Brin founded Google, they were strongly against the idea of advertising on their search engine. Their original academic paper about Google stated that advertising would make search engines inherently biased.
Of course, ads later became Google’s primary revenue source.
The Founders Worked on Roller Skates
The garage where Google was founded had a concrete floor and was quite long. To move around more efficiently, Page and Brin often wore roller skates while working on the early search engine, giving a playful atmosphere to what would become one of the world’s most valuable companies.
The Google Dance
On the day Google was founded, the search results would frequently change dramatically when they updated their ranking algorithms—a phenomenon later dubbed the “Google Dance.” These monthly updates would cause websites to move wildly up and down in search rankings, creating chaos for early website owners.
No Business Plan Existed
When Google was officially incorporated, Page and Brin didn’t have a formal business plan. They were primarily focused on improving search technology rather than making money.
This academic, research-focused approach would later become a hallmark of Google’s corporate culture.
They Had Just 10,000 Searches Per Day
On the day Google was incorporated, the search engine was processing only about 10,000 searches per day. Today, Google handles approximately 8.5 billion searches daily—a growth of 850,000 times since its founding.
The “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Was There From Day One
From the start, Google’s homepage had the humorous “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, which directs users to the first result without going through the search results page. It is among the first instances of Google’s lighthearted approach to technology.
The Founders Didn’t Take Salaries
When Google was founded, neither Page nor Brin drew a salary. They reinvested all the initial funding back into the company and lived frugally to keep the operation running.
This bootstrapping approach helped them stretch their initial $100,000 investment until they secured more substantial funding.
The Digital Revolution Continues
From a rented garage to one of the world’s most influential companies, Google’s journey reflects how technological innovations can reshape society in unexpected ways. The modest beginning of this search engine giant reminds us that transformative ideas often start small, with determined individuals solving problems they find personally meaningful.
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