Categories: Business

Google proves the secret to success is failure, 36% of the time

The secret to Google’s success is in its failures. According to some nice research undertaken by The Next Web, 36% of all Google products since 1998 have failed. Out of a total of 251 independent Google products launched since then, 90 have subsequently been shelved, while the rest remain operational.

9% of all Google products are described as “major” or stand-alone. Coincidentally, 36% of these high-profile products have failed also. Major flops include Google Answers, Orkut and Wave, while major success stories are found in products like Android, Gmail and YouTube.

Google fails gracefully though. It has a culture of trying often and shelving under-performing products early. Google launch most new products in beta and to a small core audience of technology enthusiasts to minimise embarrassment. This community knows Google’s experimental nature and respects their approach.

With Google’s recent closure of Labs though, at least part of the era of experimentation at Google may come to an end.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

Recent Posts

AI reasoning and the infinite puzzle of Borges’ Library of Babel

Many people have the intuition that an LLM (Large Language Model, e.g. ChatGPT) doesn't really understand…

3 days ago

UK’s DARPA-inspired ARIA opens ‘Engineering Ecosystem Resilience’ research opportunity

ARIA's opportunity space for engineering ecosystem resilience follows a global trend of public and private…

3 days ago

Healthcare providers now have unprecedented data insights into the patient journey as PurpleLab® acquires KAID Health

In the U.S., we’re seeing an incredible growth of the healthcare analytics market, with the…

4 days ago

First Financial Federal Credit Union prioritizes empathy with Ribbon partnership for inheritance claims 

When our loved ones pass on, it can be one of the most traumatic events…

4 days ago

Tackling antimicrobial resistance with new cleaning protocols

When we hear the word pandemic, our mind is likely to jump to the events…

5 days ago

Peru makes history: defeats Japan to claim Pokémon Unite World Championship title

Team Peru Unite made history in Anaheim, California by defeating Japan’s powerhouse Zeta Division 3-1…

5 days ago