Paul T. Buchheit is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

. He developed the original prototype of

Google AdSense Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...

as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

's former company motto ''

Don't be evil "Don't be evil" is a phrase that was used in Google's corporate code of conduct, which it also formerly preceded as a motto. Following Google's corporate restructuring under the conglomerate Alphabet Inc. in October 2015, Alphabet took "Do the r ...

'' in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel.

Early life and education

Buchheit grew up in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He attended

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

where he studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and rowed crew.

Career

Buchheit worked at

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

and later became the 23rd employee at

. At Google he began developing

in 2001, with its innovations in search and storage. He also prompted what would become

AdSense Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...

. Leaving Google in 2006, Buchheit started

FriendFeed FriendFeed was a real-time feed aggregator that consolidated updates from social media and social networking websites, social bookmarking websites, blogs and microblogging updates, as well as any type of RSS/Atom feed. It was created in 2007 by B ...

, which was launched in 2007 with partner

Bret Taylor Bret Taylor (born July 10, 1980) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is most notable for co-creating Google Maps and his tenures as the CTO of Facebook (now Meta Platforms), the chairman of Twitter, Inc.'s board of directors pr ...

. FriendFeed was acquired by

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

in 2009 in a private transaction that resulted in Buchheit being a Facebook employee. In 2010, Buchheit left Facebook to become a partner at the investment firm

Y Combinator Y Combinator (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator launched in March 2005. It has been used to launch more than 3,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Quora, PagerDuty, Reddit, Str ...

. From 2006 (when he started investing) until 2008, Buchheit invested about $1.21 million in 32 different companies. and he left Facebook to become a full-time angel investor. He continues to oversee angel investments of his own in "about 40" startups (by his own estimate) and is active with

Philanthropy

In 2009, Buchheit set up

Google Moderator Google Moderator was a Google service that used crowdsourcing to rank user-submitted questions, suggestions and ideas. It was launched on September 25, 2008 and shut down on June 30, 2015. The service allowed the management of feedback from a lar ...

to crowdsource ideas for the causes (501(c)3 non-profits) should benefit from his financial support. To quote him: Buchheit has donated to various health organizations since the death of his 33-year-old brother from pancreatic cancer. Buchheit has stated that he believes society has the technology and resources to provide adequate food, housing, education, and healthcare for everyone, using only a fraction of available labor and resources. In his view, this implies it is possible to put an end to

wage slavery Wage slavery or slave wages refers to a person's dependence on wages (or a salary) for their livelihood, especially when wages are low, treatment and conditions are poor, and there are few chances of upward mobility. The term is often used ...

. Buchheit further stated:Paul Buchheit Talk
at Startup School Europe 2014, London, UK.

Honors and awards

Buchheit won the 2011 ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'' innovation awards for the ''Computing and telecommunications'' field."Monitor And the winners were… Innovation awards: Our annual prizes recognise successful innovators in eight categories. Here are this year’s winners",

, December 3, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchheit, Paul American computer programmers American bloggers Living people Gmail Facebook employees Google employees Case Western Reserve University alumni People from Webster, New York Intel people Sun Microsystems people Microsoft employees Winners of The Economist innovation awards Y Combinator people 1977 births