Waze founder speaks candidly about being under Google's umbrella
Waze has been one of the more popular navigation apps for a while now, and not too much has changed in that app experience since the company was purchased by Google. Like other Google acquisitions like Motorola and Nest, Waze has been left to operate independently, but with the additional resources of Google behind it; and, recently Waze founder Noam Bardin was fairly candid about what that relationship is like.
First, Bardin joked that he's not too worried about making money now that the company has the backing of Google; but, eventually during the interview with Jessica Lessin, editor of The Information, Bardin opened up a bit more. He talked a bit about the new pressure that has been placed on himself and his team since becoming part of the Google empire. While Waze has been left to run independently, and he no longer needs to worry much about making money, his perspective on the business has changed, saying:
If you look at it now from the Google perspective, how do you make billions of dollars? Hundreds of millions doesn’t count anymore, how do you make billions? And that’s the question we’ve been tasked. Is this a Google-scale business or is this a nice business for a startup?
That is a big question, and a huge shift in perspective for a team of just a handful of people. Obviously, Google must believe that the business can scale, or else it wouldn't have spent around $1 billion for the company and its product.
source: Re/code
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