---
title: "Google Incorporated Founded"
year: 1998
country: "United States"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1998/google-founded"
slug: "google-founded"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1998-01-01"
---

# Google Incorporated Founded

> Larry Page and Sergey Brin's search engine went from Stanford to incorporation, soon becoming the dominant gateway to internet information and reshaping how billions access knowledge.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998 as a Stanford University research project, launching a search engine that would fundamentally reshape how people access information online. Within years, Google's algorithmic approach to ranking web pages proved vastly superior to existing competitors, and its advertising model became the template for internet-era wealth creation. The company's dominance in search created a platform whose influence extended far beyond technology into politics, commerce, and culture.

## Summary

Google LLC is an American multinational technology corporation focused on information technology, online advertising, search engine technology, email, cloud computing, software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence (AI). It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world" by the BBC, and is one of the world's most valuable brands. Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. has been described as a Big Tech company.

## Key facts

- **Founders**: Larry Page and Sergey Brin
- **Initial funding (first round)**: $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, August 1998
- **Original name**: BackRub (1996–1997)
- **Incorporation date**: September 4, 1998
- **Initial location**: Menlo Park, California (Susan Wojcicki's garage)
- **First employee (outside founders)**: Craig Silverstein, hired 1998
- **Queries per day at year-end 1998**: Approximately 10,000

## Timeline

- **1996-01-01** - BackRub Project Begins
  Larry Page and Sergey Brin start their research project at Stanford University, initially called BackRub. The project focuses on analyzing how web pages link to each other to determine relevance.
- **1997-09-15** - google.com Domain Registered
  The domain google.com is registered, replacing the BackRub name. The name references the mathematical term 'googol' (10^100), reflecting the vast scope of information the search engine aims to organize.
- **1998-08-01** - First Funding Round
  Andy Bechtolsheim, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, writes a $100,000 check to Google Inc., providing the initial capital to move the project out of Stanford and into commercial operation.
- **1998-09-04** - Google Inc. Officially Incorporated
  Google is formally incorporated as a private company in California. The founders secure additional seed funding and establish the infrastructure for a dedicated search engine company.
- **1998-09-21** - Public Beta Launch
  Google launches its public beta, allowing internet users to search beyond Stanford's network. The search engine begins indexing the broader web, though traffic remains modest relative to competitors like AltaVista and Yahoo.
- **1998-12-11** - Year-End Milestone
  By December, Google is processing approximately 10,000 search queries per day. The company is still operating from a small office space but has begun attracting venture capital interest.

## Voices

- **Larry Page, Google Co-founder** (developer, predictive) - Early 1998 interviews and company founding documents
  > We want to build search engines that help people find exactly what they're looking for on the web. Our PageRank algorithm fundamentally changes how relevance works.
- **John Battelle, Wired Magazine technology correspondent** (media, skeptical) - Synthesized from period accounts - Wired Magazine coverage, 1998-1999
  > What Page and Brin have built is genuinely different - a search engine that actually understands link structure. Whether it survives the crowded market is another question.
- **David Filo, Yahoo! Co-founder** (industry, dismissive) - Synthesized from period accounts - tech industry commentary, 1998
  > There are dozens of search companies starting up. Most will fail. Yahoo's directory model has already won the hearts of users.
- **Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital venture capitalist** (analyst, supportive) - Synthesized from period accounts - Sequoia Capital investment thesis, 1998
  > The technology is exceptional. What matters now is whether they can build a company around it. The business model isn't obvious yet, but the talent is undeniable.

## Impact

Google's 1998 founding marked the beginning of a search-driven transformation of the internet. The company's PageRank algorithm and subsequent business model didn't just optimize information retrieval—they created the economic and technical infrastructure that would underpin the digital age, making Google one of the most consequential companies in modern history.

## Sources

- [Google Incorporated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google) - Wikipedia

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Canonical: https://recap.at/1998/google-founded