Bechtolsheim's Google Check

A story about how Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, became one of Google's first investors by writing a check before the company even existed.

"Larry and Sergey show up to meet Andy, they have a little laptop and they're trying to show him a demo of Google. They tell him to search for something, and when the results come up, it's magic - the results are way better than traditional search engines. They start telling him their thesis and how they're thinking about raising money to turn this into a company.

Andy says, 'Guys, there's a lot of things we could talk about right now, but I think it's easier if I just give you money.' He goes back to his Porsche, comes back with a checkbook, and writes them a check for $100,000 to Google Inc.

They're like, 'Hey, we haven't even incorporated the company yet.' He goes, 'It doesn't matter.' They ask about valuation, and he says, 'Guys, this is the best idea I've ever seen. Take the money, start building.' He gets back in his Porsche and drives away without even knowing how much of the company he just bought.

He ended up investing at a $10 million valuation. Google today is worth multiple trillions. He owns 2% of the company - he didn't even realize this at the time because they hadn't decided on a valuation. He was so excited about this company because he knew when he saw it that this was the greatest idea he'd ever seen."