1. In everyday conversation, it doesn't come up. Not that I hide the fact that I left early, but the natural conversation usually goes "when I was working at Google ..." not "When I was working at Google, which I left after only 8 months, ..."
2. Sometimes it does come up (including while interviewing for my current job), and someone will ask me why I left so soon. I just tell the truth, which is that I liked my coworkers and the perks but didn't particularly enjoy the big-company atmosphere. Most people I talk to working in startups can identify with that and don't hold it against me. Of course, if I had a string of several companies that I worked at for less than a year each, I'm sure that would be interpreted differently. But that's not the case.
2. Sometimes it does come up (including while interviewing for my current job), and someone will ask me why I left so soon. I just tell the truth, which is that I liked my coworkers and the perks but didn't particularly enjoy the big-company atmosphere. Most people I talk to working in startups can identify with that and don't hold it against me. Of course, if I had a string of several companies that I worked at for less than a year each, I'm sure that would be interpreted differently. But that's not the case.