Steal the Pieces, Build the Puzzle

Why the best ideas are often borrowed, not born

Have you ever wondered where innovation comes from? If you’re picturing a lone genius having a eureka moment, think again.

Innovation isn't about reinventing the wheel. It's about novel combinations.

In 1996, a college student named Paul Buchheit failed to build his own email software. This "failure" haunted him for years to come. Little did he know, it was setting the stage for something big.

Buchheit joined Google as employee number 23. When tasked with a side project, he saw another chance to bring his email idea to life.

But there was a problem: Google was a search company, not an email provider.

So what did Buchheit do? He got clever.

Building on foundations, creating breakthroughs

On day one, he turned Google Groups code into a working prototype. At first, Gmail could only search Buchheit's email.

But people still used it. Why?

Because it solved a novel problem.

Users started saying, "It would be even better if I could search my own email." Buchheit listened to the feedback and built those features. This process of iteration continued for three years.

Every technique used to build and scale Gmail in the beginning was reused from other parts of Google's code.¹ Buchheit wasn't reinventing the wheel. He was taking existing pieces and arranging them in a new, compelling way.

Twenty-five years earlier, another tech visionary had a similar epiphany during a visit to a research facility.