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Is Google too big to succeed? If startups are flatworms, Google is now a blue whale – a massive, complex organism full of specialized organs and structures all designed to keep it alive, swimming, and consuming vast quantities of food (i.e., data and money). 1/4

platformocracy.comSummer field trip 2.3: Is Google too big to succeed?Wrapping up my second summer field trip, is size destiny when it comes to corporate culture? A tour through my own career, from startups to a 200,000-person leviathan. Is Gemini a Google rebirth, or i...

4/9/26, 2:27 pm0 reposts1 like

Jonathan Bellack

@bellack.com

4 Sept

Keeping the guts of a leviathan in good working order requires predictable employees who are happy to perform their hyper-specific duties without making waves. Being flexible and entrepreneurial threatens that equilibrium. 2/4

Jonathan Bellack

@bellack.com

4 Sept

This was another factor in my decision to leave Google. I don’t mean to say that I don’t believe in dialogue or compromise. But when the opposing side in every debate is “don’t rock the boat,” and you can’t proceed until everyone is satisfied, the results are often neutered and boring. 3/4

Jonathan Bellack

@bellack.com

4 Sept

DeepMind saved Google from AI irrelevance, but with Demis stepping away, is the company reverting to form by prioritizing internal consistency over new ideas? Gotta keep that big blue whale swimming, after all. Read more in this week's Platformocracy - free, weekly, full of analogies. 4/4