Prompt Cast
The Acquisition and Impact of Writely on Google Docs
TLDR Google's acquisition of Writely in 2006 was a strategic move to enter the productivity app market, but it ultimately did not unseat Microsoft Office. While Google Docs is sufficient for most users, Microsoft's Office 365 and Outlook have gained significant market share, leaving Google with minimal revenue in the productivity space.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
This episode of Acquired covers the acquisition history and facts of Writely, which eventually became Google Docs.
04:48
Google acquired Writely in March 2006, which was the second acquisition in their online office productivity suite, and shortly after that, Google Docs was released publicly.
09:17
Google decided to get into the business of productivity apps and made the judgment that buying Writely would be a faster way to get there than building in-house.
14:04
Google has been looking for what's next and wants to be more than just a search company, so acquiring Writely and other productivity software companies makes sense for them.
18:50
Google Docs was a low-end disruption to Microsoft Office, but it didn't fulfill its promise of unseating the incumbent, and while there are still industries that require high-fidelity rendering of documents, for most people, Google Docs is sufficient for their needs.
23:33
Google's strategic decisions around Google Docs made sense at the time, but the landscape and battleground for productivity has changed, with Microsoft's Office 365 and Outlook now winning significant market share.
28:34
Microsoft's native clients and cloud applications have become excellent, allowing them to capture the majority of the value in productivity, while Google, as an advertising company, has almost zero capture in terms of dollars being spent on productivity.
33:16
Statsig has added important AI companies like Microsoft and Atlassian to their customer base, and has expanded their product offerings to include dedicated feature flagging, warehouse native experimentation, and product analytics.
38:33
The acquisition of Writely by Google was a distraction and a major dilution of focus for the company, as they were looking for a second huge business in productivity tools that never became a huge success.
43:56
The host recommends the book "Creativity, Inc." by Ed Catmull, which discusses the creative process and the importance of struggle in producing something great, using examples from Pixar.
Categories:
Technology
Business
