Yoelle Maarek, the woman credited with the creation of Google Suggest and a variety of other innovative features, has left the company and will now lead Yahoo’s research efforts in the tech hot-bed of Israel. It’s an interesting move, to go from the clear market leader to a company widely criticized for its flaccid search and monetization.
When it comes to innovation, though, Yahoo is no slouch – and a new day may be dawning there with the arrival of new CEO Carol Bartz. Bartz seems to have a good sense of humor and as the creator of the often-wacky Google Suggest product, we assume Maarek does too. Where would you rather work, at Google or at Yahoo, if you had the choice?
Working at either company would have its advantages. Google layoffs seem to be less common and the company’s monetization is clear and strong. Twenty percent time for free form research has got to be nice. On the other hand, Google is more than a little creepy. Researchers there must worry they’ll be assigned to work on brain implants that will turn Orkut users into those little blue people that fly over Google Maps to serve up StreetView.
Working at Yahoo may feel less secure, but there’s something to be said for innovating further back from the front of the pack. Yahoo has done a fabulous job supporting Open Standards and is doing a lot of very interesting API level work.
That said, if Google Wave points to the future of Google in terms of openness, UI and paradigm challenging – that makes things look very different. Joshua Schachter, the founder of Delicious, recently made just the opposite choice – leaving Yahoo frustrated with the stifling environment there and going to Google instead.
On some level both companies are probably big enough to make many entrepreneurs uncomfortable. We are curious though, readers, if you could choose – where would you work? (Personally, I’m quite happy at ReadWriteWeb.)
Yoelle Maarek has made her choice and we’re excited to see what she does at her new gig.
