Google's journey: From Stanford to Silicon Valley -- a revolution in the digital world

The history of Google, a company that has significantly transformed the digital world, is an inspiring tale of innovation, ambition and an unyielding quest for information. The story unfolds in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, in 1996, where two Stanford University students, Sergey Brin, a Russian immigrant, and Larry Page, crossed paths. Brin was tasked with showing Page around the university.

Despite some initial disagreements, they found common ground in their shared passion for data mining and retrieval. This shared interest would eventually lead to the creation of a search engine that revolutionized the way people interact with the internet.

In 1996, Page and Brin embarked on a project they dubbed 'BackRub.' The aim was to utilize backlinks to determine a website's importance. The name 'BackRub' was derived from the system's unique ability to analyze 'back links' or citations. The project ran on Stanford's servers for over a year, but was eventually discontinued due to bandwidth usage.

Recognizing the potential of their creation, Page and Brin began refining the BackRub project. Their goal was to develop a large-scale search engine that provided relevant and reliable results. The name 'Google' was inspired by the mathematical term 'googol,' a number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros, reflecting the founders' vision to organize the seemingly infinite amount of information on the internet.

In August 1998, Sun Microsystems' co-founder, Andy Bechtolsheim, wrote a check for $100,000 to a company that didn't officially exist yet -- Google Inc. This investment allowed Page and Brin to move from their makeshift office in a garage and formally register Google Inc. on September 4, 1998.

In its early days, Google's simplistic design starkly contrasted the flashy advertisements that cluttered other search engines. Google's home page was clean, simple, and focused solely on search functionality. This user-friendly approach, coupled with its superior search results, quickly earned Google a loyal following.

Google's first significant product expansion came in 2000 with the introduction of AdWords, a system allowing advertisers to purchase keyword-specific advertisements. AdWords, now known as Google Ads, marked a significant milestone for Google, providing a substantial revenue stream that fueled further expansion.

From its humble beginnings in a Stanford dorm room, Google has grown into a multi-billion dollar corporation, influencing virtually every aspect of the digital world. Today, Google's mission remains the same as it was in the early days: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Through continuous innovation and expansion, Google -- and its parent company Alphabet -- continues to shape the future of the digital world.