Billionaire Richard Branson Reveals Shakespeare's Influence On Google's Origin

Branson elaborated on the conversation, noting that Brin was inspired by Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be, or not to be, that is the question"

Billionaire and co-founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson

Source : X

Billionaire Richard Branson revealed in a LinkedIn post that the renowned poet and playwright William Shakespeare had an unexpected influence on the creation of Google. Branson shared this fascinating detail recounting a conversation he had with Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

"Where do you find inspiration in your career?" Branson wrote in his post. He added, "I'll never forget when Sergey Brin told me that Shakespeare had no small part to play in the founding of one of the world's biggest companies.”

Branson elaborated on the conversation, noting that Brin was inspired by Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” He further wrote, “But Sergey became most interested in the answer. We were on a Virgin Voyages cruise when he enlightened me with this intel. At the time of his ponderings, Ask Jeeves was the internet’s dominant search engine. Rather than searching for specific terms, people had to frame their queries as precisely worded questions. Jeeves, an old-fashioned butler (perhaps you remember him?), fetched the answers – not always effectively.”

“Sergey decided to search: “To be or not to be”. Jeeves struggled to show him what he was looking for. This became part of the inspiration for Sergey and Larry Page to create Google. They needed to come up with an algorithm that could cover all search terms, no matter which way you worded it. ‘To be’ was the choice Sergey took, which is always a good idea!” he added.

He further added how he ended up finding over 400 companies while Larry founded just one. “It reminded me of the time I was on-stage with Larry and he mentioned how I had founded more than 400 companies, while he had only founded one. Quick as a flash, I replied: “I’ll swap!" I’m not sure Shakespeare has ever been a source of inspiration for me. However, the process of turning a feeling of frustration into a business idea that no one has ever thought of never fails to put a spring in my step,” he wrote.

The billionaire's post quickly went viral, generating a significant amount of attention and a wave of reactions from LinkedIn users. 

“My inspiration has come from hard times in life. Being told you’re not good enough, you can’t do that, and living for other people. Then to find your inner strength, show them you can, and constantly aspire to go that one step more. Growing my career into a role I love and constantly aiming for the next goal. The sense of achievement this gives me inspires me to keep climbing that ladder to success. Along the way, being able to help people, watch them grow, and help them with their journey in life. This adds the sweet touch to the hard work I do and only inspires me more in my desire to grow,” wrote one of the users.