Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Evan Williams Quits Google

Evan Williams, co-founder Blogger.com has quit Google. Some snippets from here follow.

Six years is a long time. Or a little. Depending.

For me, it's a little under 20% of this life on Earth. And it's the time when I find myself thinking a lot about a particular question: What should I do next?

Why?

A few months ago, I started getting the itch to start another company. There is so much momentum and opportunity on the web right now (he says, as if there hasn't been for the last 10 years). And, naturally, I have the "If I knew then, what I know now" feeling that makes starting again an exciting -- if daunting -- prospect. That's what got me thinking seriously about leaving.

The reason I'm leaving probably comes down to personality more than anything. I've just always been stubbornly independent-minded -- even when it wasn't necessarily in my best interest. I hated school. I dropped out of college (never believing I needed a degree because I wasn't going to work for anyone anyway). I started two or three companies (depending on what you call a "company") before starting Pyra. (Let's just call them "great learning experiences.")