Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
Before Google became a multi-trillion dollar empire, it overcame competing web directories by prioritizing raw algorithmic speed, relevance, and a highly aggressive distribution strategy.
PageRank revolutionized search by ranking websites based on the authority of incoming links rather than simple keyword repetition on a page.
To scale on a tiny budget, Google built a distributed file system using cheap, commodity hardware and handled server failures entirely through software replication.
Google bypassed the limitations of hand-curated web portals by prioritizing user intent and sending visitors off their site as quickly as possible.