[rchaud]

That's not a cynical take for anyone who's observed the past 20 years of the web.

Page and Brin explicitly spelled out how advertising could change the incentives of a search engine. That didn't stop them from selling out immediately and letting the VCs install a CEO to 'businessify' the company.

[scarface74]

Did you at any point think that Google was going to be a non profit?

[blowski]

I remember being a naive 20-something and believing they’d find a new way of doing business. Maybe a co-op.

[rchaud]

No I didnt. I did think they could make money outside of adtech as numerous software busineses before them had done.