[staunch]

...why purely engineer-driven start-ups fail: no business sense.

I'm not sure how you managed to draw that conclusion. His bonus point is that the CTO didn't even do work, that's hardly engineer-driven. And they had a Stanford MBA, who was apparently a drain during product development.

Most successful technology startups are engineer-driven. Google is the ultimate example of just how far a couple engineers can go without any "business sense".

[especkman]

Who was it at Google who had the sense to clone Overture's business model, I wonder.

[nickb]

It was Omid. He put his job on the line and the company when he bet on AdWords.

http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#omid

[albrecht]

An MBA. The average MBA isn't the kind of person you want, but a really bright MBA can be a game changer if they stay out of your hair.

[paul]

Nope. Also, it's not a clone in any meaningful sense.

[far33d]

AdWords was invented by Eric Veach, formerly of Pixar, wasn't it?

[paul]

What does it mean to invent a product? Adwords is just a name. The actual system was built and rebuilt and improved many times. Eric did do a lot to make it a success though -- he's part of the reason why Google makes so much more money than Yahoo.

[far33d]

I guess I was saying invent as in "came up with the thing that differentiates it from everything else out there" - in this case, the auction system.