Worried my startup idea might be Googleized? Not at all. Google has some pretty smart people, and I'm sure they would realize that they would be better off buying my work rather than trying to duplicate it.

The same probably goes for anyone here who has made significant progress -- Google would rather buy a startup than try to compete with them.

I don't think this is always true... it seems to me that they have tried to reproduce it first and if they fail then they consider a buy. Google video, orkut, free411, office... etc. They also don't always buy...

You probably have to worry more about them producing a technology that obsoletes your app...

Google has a huge case of NIH syndrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Invented_Here

Except for YouTube, DoubleClick, Zenter, Deja, Blogger, JotSpot, Picasa, Keyhole, Phatbits, Urchin, Writely, hmm...OK, so you're either wrong or we disagree on the meaning of "Google has a huge case of NIH syndrome".

..or you're wrong. Just to cover all the options.

We know they assembled their own hardware from day 1. We know they manage their own backend and platform. They have their own version control. They designed their own buildings at various places. They are even planning to spend 2 years building their own HR tool (but you didn't hear it from me).

Given that they have to compete in a marketplace, they can't be overly irrational. But you can bet they will try to duplicate something they care about before they consider acquiring a startup. More so than Yahoo or Amazon or even Microsoft.

I think google worries about startups obsoleting their apps.

I think they worry about a better app being built by a startup and it being bought by a large competitor...

Competition is a good thing. If anything, it validates that your idea is a good one, or at least one shared by others.

Google is a giant, but its success with search hasn't proven to translate into de facto dominance of other areas of the web. In most cases they've had to end up buying their competition -- YouTube won the video battle, Google Docs & Spreadsheets was acquired from Writely, Google Earth was acquired from Keyhole...

So don't let Google's interest in a problem scare you away from an idea -- use it to motivate you. The web is the one niche in the economy where a 3-person team can topple a multi-billion dollar corporation.

You are already competing with Google, or better yet, the expectations they have created. Because of their immense ad revenue they can afford to buy companies and apps and then give them away for free.

Although your product may be different you're already competing for people's time and attention online. If you're building something to give away for free - then you are opening up the possibility of being Google-ized (as well as the positive of being bought by them)

Abstractly speaking, obviously.

You're also competing with others who might be acquired by Google who do the same thing you're doing (only you're competing to be the one acquired by Google, or a Google competitor).

The Zenter guys knew Google had a presentation product in development from before they started. Turned out alright for them.