Paul T. Buchheit (born November 7, 1977) is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created the email service Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto Don't be evil in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel.[2][3][4]

Paul Buchheit
Born
Paul T. Buchheit

(1977-11-07) November 7, 1977 (age 47)[1]
EducationCase Western Reserve University (BS)
Occupation(s)Angel investor
Software developer
Employer(s)Google
Facebook
FriendFeed
Y Combinator
Known for
Websitepaulbuchheit.blogspot.com

Early life and education

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Buchheit was born on November 7, 1977, in Webster, New York.[1] He attended the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio[5] where he studied computer science and was part of the college's rowing crew.[6]

Career

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Buchheit worked at Intel and later became the 23rd employee at Google. At Google he began developing Gmail in 2001, with its innovations in search and storage. He also prompted[vague] what would become AdSense. Leaving Google in 2006, Buchheit started FriendFeed, which was launched in 2007 with partner Bret Taylor. FriendFeed was acquired by Facebook in 2009 in a private transaction that resulted in Buchheit being a Facebook employee.[7] In 2010, Buchheit left Facebook to become a partner at the investment firm Y Combinator. From 2006 (when he started investing) until 2008, Buchheit invested about $1.21 million in 32 different companies.[8][third-party source needed].

He continues to oversee angel investments of his own in "about 40" startups (by his own estimate)[9] and is active with Y Combinator.

Buchheit won the 2011 The Economist innovation awards for the Computing and telecommunications field.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Paul Buchheit Success Story". SuccessStory.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  2. ^ "Paul Buchheit on Gmail, AdSense and More". Google Blogoscoped. July 16, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
  3. ^ "Don't be Evil or don't lose value?". April 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "Paul Buchheit's blog". Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  5. ^ "Gmail creator, CWRU Computer Engineering alum Paul Buchheit to deliver his own message at commencement". June 10, 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "Spartan Alumni Rowing Association Members". spartanalumnirowing.org. Spartan Alumni Rowing Association. Archived from the original on August 31, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  7. ^ Kincaid, Jason (August 10, 2009). "Facebook Acquires FriendFeed". TechCrunch.
  8. ^ "Angel investing, my first three years". Paul Buchheit's Blog. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  9. ^ "Facebook's Paul Bucheit Talks About Facebook, Google, and His New Gig". The Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2010. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  10. ^ "Monitor And the winners were… Innovation awards: Our annual prizes recognise successful innovators in eight categories. Here are this year’s winners", The Economist, December 3, 2011.