Top Seattle Google exec doesn’t watch TV

Cory Bergman November 14th, 2007

Peter Wilson, who heads up Google’s 400-person engineering office in Seattle, just wrapped up speaking before a group of business leaders here. “I haven’t watched TV since ‘99,” he said. When asked about the last show he watched, Wilson added, “I remember Seinfeld was very popular.” If that wasn’t enough to confound the TV folks in the crowd, Wilson went on to explain how “most innovations and product definitions (at Google) come from the bottom up.” They hire smart engineers, empower them, provide a little structure around the edges, and let the chaotic process feed innovation. A little different than media companies, eh?

By the way, Seattle’s technology scene is rapidly expanding. Besides Google’s aggressive ramp-up in the area (they’ve built offices in two neighborhoods here), Yahoo is building an office complex for as many as 700 employees and Microsoft has kicked off a massive campus expansion with a potential capacity for 12,000 new employees. Whew.