Google Analytics 团队：背后的故事与创业启示
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After the acquisition, Urchin’s web-hosted analytics software, Urchin On Demand, became the Google Analytics we’re now familiar with. Their client-hosted version, simply named Urchin, was rebranded as “Urchin from Google”.
But more than just the product names changed after the acquisition.
Paul Muret?became the Director of Engineering at Google Analytics. After spending more than a decade working on the product, he gave his first keynote speech during the Google Analytics Summit last October.
Jack Ancone?became the Senior Director of New Business Development at Google.
Brett Crosby?is now the Director of Product Marketing at Google. He also sits on the board of directors at?Euclid Inc., which provides in-store consumer analytics for retailers.
Like the other founders,?Scott Crosby?also worked for Google as Senior Program Manager after the acquisition. Upon joining Google he made 2 key decisions: to live in San Francisco and not drive to work. So with his brother Brett,?he founded SF2G, a community that promotes cycling to work. He left Google in 2010 and is also now the COO of Euclid Inc.
As for?Urchin, while its web-hosted version lives on as Google Analytics, the client-hosted version wasn’t so lucky. Though they released 3 more version upgrades since the acquisition, sales for Urchin software were?discontinued on March 2012.
Google Analytics has a history that’s as long and as colorful as the reports it generates. Even if its startup days were over a decade ago, there are a few things up and coming entrepreneurs can learn from this story.
Startup Lesson #1 – A successful idea doesn’t need to be unique or flashy. But it has to be useful.
The Urchin team’s “big idea” wasn’t their development and hosting services, but the analytics tool they developed to process website tracking results.
Analytics software isn’t really the first thing that comes to mind when you try to think of a product idea that could change the world.
But the thing is, they?did?change the world – at least online. They provided something faster and more user-friendly than what was available at the time, which became the widespread standard.
Startup Lesson #2 – Recognize your opportunities for pivoting.
Sure, Urchin software could have been?just another feature?in their web hosting and development services, but if the team had persevered with their original business plan, they wouldn’t have realized the full potential of their new product.
It’s clear that whatever they pursue, the founders of Google Analytics are still passionate about empowering people by giving them easy access to important data. The Crosby brothers are still working in analytics, only now it’s for brick-and-mortar retail interactions. And Paul Muret is still working on the product he’s been building all these years.
While there are lessons to be learned, the history of Google Analytics proves how successful you can be despite hurdles, pivots and taking risks, which is encouraging for those of us in the early chapters of our own startup stories.
