Jun 30, 2025 · 3 hr 40 min · 16 segments
We tell the story of the single greatest business ever created: Google search. From its origins as a Stanford research project called BackRub, Google became the front door to the internet. Today it’s…
Ben GilbertHost
David Rosenthal, when is the first time any human being searched for anything ever?
And that story starts in March of 1973 in Lansing, Michigan where Larry Page is born as the second child and second son to Carl and Gloria Page.
And Larry, of course, grows up in Lansing because his dad, Carl Page Sr., is a professor of computer science in nearby East Lansing at Michigan State University.
Now, before my dad, who went to MSU and is an MSU alum, gets too excited here, I regret to inform him, my dad, and you, Ben, that Carl got his PhD from Michigan.
And unfortunately, Larry's mom also went to Michigan.... also got a CS degree there, and also teaches programming as a programming instructor at MSU.
Pretty Michigan heavy, but, uh, pretty amazing childhood in, you know, the early mid-70s here for Larry and his older brother.
I mean, maybe not unique, I'm sure there were a few other households in America, in the world, that grew up with both of their parents steeped in computers as computer science professors, but really pretty unique.
Are you kidding me? Larry Page grew up with two computer science academics as parents in the '70s, which would have meant that his parents would have needed to start in the '50s very, very few households.
Like, right at the same time as the PC era is coming online, and Microsoft, and to just have that be your air, your daily existence growing up as a kid.
David Rosenthal, when is the first time any human being searched for anything ever?
And that story starts in March of 1973 in Lansing, Michigan where Larry Page is born as the second child and second son to Carl and Gloria Page.
And Larry, of course, grows up in Lansing because his dad, Carl Page Sr., is a professor of computer science in nearby East Lansing at Michigan State University.
Now, before my dad, who went to MSU and is an MSU alum, gets too excited here, I regret to inform him, my dad, and you, Ben, that Carl got his PhD from Michigan.
And unfortunately, Larry's mom also went to Michigan.... also got a CS degree there, and also teaches programming as a programming instructor at MSU.
Pretty Michigan heavy, but, uh, pretty amazing childhood in, you know, the early mid-70s here for Larry and his older brother.
I mean, maybe not unique, I'm sure there were a few other households in America, in the world, that grew up with both of their parents steeped in computers as computer science professors, but really pretty unique.
Are you kidding me? Larry Page grew up with two computer science academics as parents in the '70s, which would have meant that his parents would have needed to start in the '50s very, very few households.
Like, right at the same time as the PC era is coming online, and Microsoft, and to just have that be your air, your daily existence growing up as a kid.
Every episode on Radar is fully transcribed, speaker-labeled, and rich with metadata. Here is a taste of this one. Try Radar for free to see the rest.
3 of 8
Google's Secret Increasing Returns to Scale
The hidden genius of Google's auction model - not only do costs decrease as they scale, but revenue per search actually increases, creating an unstoppable competitive advantage.
Why Excite Rejected Google's Superior Search
The shocking moment when Excite's CEO killed Google's acquisition deal because Google's search was too good - it would make users leave their site faster, hurting ad revenue.
Google's Aggressive Toolbar Distribution Tactics
The untold story of how Google aggressively bundled their toolbar with every software download, paying companies to essentially install 'adware' that made users 7x more valuable.
+5 more clips · 11 min 3 sec of audio in all
7 of 23
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
All 8 clips — the highlight moments, each cut as its own audio, with a title and a speaker
All 16 segments — the transcript broken into labeled sections, every ad read marked
All 23 topics — jump to every other episode discussing the same subject
Every related episode — other shows Radar links to this one
No account is needed to search Radar.
