During a talk at Stanford for the engineering school’s centennial year, Google and Alphabet Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin recalled why Google Glass failed. He was joined onstage by Stanford president Jonathan Levin and Dean Jennifer Widom.
Google Glass, which launched in 2013, was a brand of smart glasses that enabled users to view and navigate through notifications and other smart phone functions projected in front of them. It was a breakthrough moment, but Google discontinued the product for the general consumer just a couple years later in 2015.
Brin referenced the Glass failure when a Stanford student asked him, “What mindset should aspiring entrepreneurs, like myself, adopt to avoid repeating earlier mistakes?”
“When you have your cool, new wearable device idea, really fully bake it before you have a cool stunt involving skydiving and airships,” Brin said. “That’s one tip I would give you.”
Levin laughed, but Brin’s advice was honest. Glass wasn’t developed enough before it hit the market, which led to a speedy decline.
The new, flashy product quickly lost appeal for its clunky design, expensive price tag, and concerns about privacy. People even nicknamed wearers “Glassholes.”
“I think I tried to commercialize it too quickly, before, you know, we could make it more, you know, as cost-effectively as we needed to and as polished as we needed to from a consumer standpoint and so forth,” Brin said. “I sort of, you know, jumped the gun and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m the next Steve Jobs, I can make this thing. Ta da.’”
Founders can find it hard to step away from work when their company rests on their shoulders. The concept of having “work-life balance” has sparked fierce debate among entrepreneurs, who question if it’s even possible to have the best of both worlds: scaling a multimillion-dollar business, with enough downtime to recharge. Two-time founder Nicole Bernard Dawes is a strong advocate of unplugging from the job—but only for her employees.
“I think I probably am a little bit of a hypocrite, because I don’t unplug. I never do,” Dawes tells Fortune. “I never want to be the person that’s holding up a member of our team.”
The serial entrepreneur encourages her staffers to totally disconnect from work once they’re off the clock, but doesn’t give herself the same breathing room. Having scaled two companies to success, she’s assumed the responsibility of always being on for decades. Dawes first founded organic, non-GMO tortilla chip brand Late July in 2003, which currently lines the aisles of Targets, Whole Foods, Krogers, and Walmarts across the country. Campbell’s acquired a majority stake of the business in 2014, eventually buying the rest of the $100 million company in 2017. In 2018, Dawes broke into another consumer packaged goods (CPG) market again, this time with zero-sugar, sustainably packaged soda line Nixie. The brand raised $27 million in new funding earlier this year, with its products being sold in over 11,000 major grocery stores.
With more than two decades of entrepreneurship under her belt at Late July, Dawes had pushed through economic downturns and many sleepless nights. But the hardships didn’t stop her from returning to the startup scene as Nixie’s founder—having grown up in the business world, Dawes is not so easily deterred. However, she doesn’t want work to overtake her staffers’ lives.
“I signed up for this. I am the entrepreneur, I did this to myself—a self-inflicted situation. [My employees] didn’t sign up to be entrepreneurs,” Dawes says. “I am very comfortable taking downtime, but also making sure I’m available.”
Dawes says never unplugging is “my life”—and she grew up in it
Many leaders out there, like Google cofounder Sergey Brin, expect their staffers to clock in more than the typical nine-to-five job. But Dawes doesn’t hold her her employees to have the relentless work-ethic of entrepreneurs who pride themselves on having no personal lives.
“I think that where a lot of [leaders] differ, is extending that to their team. I feel very strongly that it should not extend to the team,” Dawes explains. “But I also feel like that is how I grew up. My father missed a lot of stuff because he felt like that was what you had to do. So I was determined I wasn’t gonna do that. I wanted to be present at things for my kids, and I wanted [it] to be okay for our team to be that way, too.”
Dawes witnessed the pitfalls of entrepreneurship as a kid growing up in her parents’ food businesses. She spent her childhood years working the front counter of her mother’s health-food store, and roaming the floors of her late father’s $4.87 billion snack empire: Cape Cod Chips. As a kid in a family running two businesses, Dawes says it could be difficult for her parents to step away from the job. So when she decided to follow in their footsteps as a two-time founder of successful CPG brands, she knew exactly what to expect.
“When you decide to become an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of people [saying], ‘It’s stressful, it’s lonely, it’s all these things.’ And that’s true, but this is where I was really fortunate: I grew up in this business, so I entered eyes wide open,” Dawes says. “That’s why it’s really important to be passionate about your mission, passionate about your products. Because you do have to sacrifice a lot on the other side.”
Dawes still makes time for the important things
While Dawes admits she has difficulty stepping away from the grind, she still makes time for the things that keep her sane.
“You have to choose what’s the most important thing in that moment. I don’t think as an entrepreneur—at least for me—I’ve never really, truly, been able to shut off completely,” Dawes says. “But I also make time to have family dinner almost every night. There were things that were priorities to me, and I still make them priorities, like going out for a walk every day or exercising.”
The entrepreneur also loves hitting the beach, reading, and cooking—and despite it feeling like a chore to many, Dawes really enjoys going to the grocery store. She calls it her “hobby”: observing what new products are stocked on shelves, and what items shoppers are gravitating towards. It’s gratifying to witness people pick up a bag of Late July or a case of Nixie drinks to bring home to their families, something she feels immensely grateful for. While getting her brands into those grocery aisles has been no easy feat, it’s all been worth it in the end. Dawes says passion is what eases the weight of her work-life balance.
“Sometimes when I wake up in the morning like, ‘I can’t even believe I’m this lucky that I get to do this job,’” Dawes says. “And because I feel that way, it doesn’t feel like working. I’m getting to do something fun all the time.”
House Democrats released a small but notable sample of documents obtained from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. And one line really sticks out.
The line appears to be from a 2014 schedule for the late sex trafficker, dated Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014: “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)”
It’s unclear which “island” the line may be referring to, but the obvious suggestion is that it could be a private island in the Caribbean owned by Epstein himself. The island is known as Little Saint James, but most people online just call it Epstein Island.
The press release from Democrats even refers to it as “evidence of a pending trip by Elon Musk to Epstein’s island.”
Excerpt from a schedule for Jeffrey Epstein released by House Democrats asking if Elon Musk was still visiting the “island.” Screenshot: Oversight Dems
The fact that this line appeared in a schedule for 2014 seems notable. Musk has repeatedly denied being involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes. But internet commenters have frequently raised questions about a Vanity Fair Oscars party on March 2, 2014, where Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Musk were photographed together.
Back in 2020, Musk addressed the frequent questions about his photo with Maxwell in a tweet, writing, “Don’t know Ghislaine at all. She photobombed me once at a Vanity Fair party several years ago. Real question is why VF invited her in the first place.”
Maxwell was interviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice in August and told Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and now a top official at the DOJ, that she first met Musk at a birthday party for Sergey Brin in 2010 or 2011.
“I met him in—I don’t remember the year, but it’s going to be in 2010, ’11, something like that, I think, if my memory serves,” Maxwell said. “And I was at an event for Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. And Sergey had arranged for—it was for his birthday.”
Maxwell said that Epstein was not present for the birthday party, but the New York Times reported in August that Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse included photos of the late sex offender “alongside” famous people like Pope John Paul II, Mick Jagger, Elon Musk, and Fidel Castro.
Representatives for Musk didn’t respond to an email on Friday, but he’s previously said he had nothing to do with Epstein. However, the billionaire Tesla CEO hasn’t been shy about accusing others of being affiliated with the late pedophile.
Musk accused President Donald Trump of being “in the Epstein files” in early June, not long after the two men had a very public falling out. Musk later deleted the tweet, and the two men were photographed sitting together at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk last weekend.
Shortly before the 2024 presidential election, Musk also complained to Tucker Carlson that the Epstein client list hadn’t been released. “You know, I think part of why Kamala’s getting so much support,” Musk said, “if Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public.”
Musk suggested that Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, were on “the list.” Hoffman reportedly visited Epstein’s island in 2014, according to a 2023 article from the Wall Street Journal.
Musk isn’t the only name mentioned in the six pages released by House Democrats on Friday. Bill Gates is also on Epstein’s schedule for Dec. 5, 2014, in New York. It’s listed as a “TBD TENTATIVE Breakfast Party” with Bill Gates.
Excerpt from a 2014 schedule for Jeffrey Epstein that mentions Bill Gates. Screenshot: Oversight Dems
Gates met with Epstein several times, and the Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Epstein had blackmailed the Microsoft co-founder over an alleged affair with a Russian bridge player in 2017. Epstein reportedly wanted Gates to donate to a charitable foundation he was trying to set up with JPMorgan Chase, according to the Journal.
The newly released files also include an email sent to Epstein with his schedule on Nov. 27, 2017, that lists a lunch with Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel in New York.
Excerpt from a document released by House Democrats showing Peter Thiel on a schedule to meet with Jeffrey Epstein. Screenshot: Oversight Dems
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019, and his death was declared a suicide. But many people don’t think that’s how he died, and roughly 70% of Americans think the federal government is hiding something about Epstein.
Julie K. Brown, the journalist who’s arguably most responsible for bringing Epstein’s crimes to broader public attention in the late 2010s, tweeted “Have these been redacted by @GOPOversight @OverSightDems or by the Estate?”
We don’t have an answer to that question yet, but the press release from House Democrats notes, “Extensive redactions have been made to protect victims as Committee investigators continue to analyze the new documents.”
Democrats clearly aren’t going to stop asking about Epstein, who was friends with President Trump for about 15 years before they had a falling out.
“It should be clear to every American that Jeffrey Epstein was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world,” Dem Oversight spokesperson Sara Guerrero said in a statement posted online.
“Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims. Oversight Democrats will not stop until we identify everyone complicit in Epstein’s heinous crimes. It’s past time for Attorney General Bondi to release all the files now.”
Elon Musk infamously threw Donald Trump under the bus in June when he insisted that the president was “in the Epstein files,” a reference to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But a newly released interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell might put the spotlight back on Musk when it comes to all things Epstein.
Maxwell, who’s in prison for sex trafficking a minor, was recently interviewed by Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal attorney and now a top official at the U.S. Department of Justice. Redacted transcripts of the interview, along with audio recordings, were published to the DOJ website on Friday.
Brin’s birthday bash
Blanche asked Maxwell about several powerful people, according to the transcripts, including Elon Musk:
TODD BLANCHE: Okay. So I want to just — we went through several individuals yesterday and I want to go through just a couple of more names and ask if you — if you know them. And if you do know them, how you know them. Do you know Elon Musk? GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I do. BLANCHE: And how did you meet Mr. Musk? MAXWELL: I met him in — I don’t remember the year, but it’s going to be in 2010, ’11, something like that, I think, if my memory serves. And I was at an event for Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. And Sergey had arranged for — it was for his birthday. And we were — or a bunch of us, I don’t even remember how many we were, but not many of us. Maybe — I don’t know. If I say 40, I could be wrong. If it was 30 or 50, I don’t remember. I’m sorry. Went to another friend’s island. Somebody called Mr. Pigozzi in the Caribbean and — not with Epstein, he was not there, to celebrate Sergey’s birthday. And we were there together for, I want to say, three or four days, something like that in my memory. And Mr. Musk was present for that. BLANCHE: And that was the first time you met him, as far as you know? MAXWELL: As far as I remember, yes.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Epstein advised Sergey Brin on tax matters in 2007. But Musk and Brin have their own drama. In 2022, Musk denied having an affair with Brin’s then-wife Nicole Shanahan, who would go on to become Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in the 2024 presidential campaign. Brin divested from all of Musk’s companies after the alleged tryst, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The photograph
Blanche then went on to ask Maxwell about Elon’s brother Kimbal, who was reportedly set up with a girlfriend by Epstein many years ago, according to a report from Business Insider in 2020.
BLANCHE: Did you meet — did you know his brother, Mr. Musk’s brother? MAXWELL: I don’t know if I’ve ever met him. I know that he has a brother and I don’t think I met him. BLANCHE: Aside from that time in — around 2010, on the island in the Caribbean for a couple days, did you — have you seen — do you know Mr. Musk beyond that time? MAXWELL: We met at — I was at the Oscars and we met at the Oscars. BLANCHE: What year was that, earlier or later? MAXWELL: It was post that event, I believe. BLANCHE: And do you know whether Mr. Epstein knew Mr. Musk? MAXWELL: I believe they did. And the only reason I say that is not from my memory, but because I saw — I think I saw — my memory is that in discovery, they were communicating on email. BLANCHE: So you have no personal knowledge of that? MAXWELL: I have no — BLANCHE: It’s just what you’ve — what you’ve seen from the press or from discovery? MAXWELL: And I believe his brother as well, actually. BLANCHE: Excuse me? MAXWELL: Mr. Musk’s brother as well. But I don’t — my — like I said, my memory is not — it’s not as good as I would like it to be. And I just want to say that.
Maxwell seems to be referring to a Vanity Fair Oscars party on March 2, 2014, where she and Musk were photographed together. Musk has previously suggested she photobombed him during that event.
Writing in a tweet from 2020, Musk insisted, “Don’t know Ghislaine at all. She photobombed me once at a Vanity Fair party several years ago. Real question is why VF invited her in the first place.”
But the fact that Maxwell claims they met years earlier, in 2010 or 2011, seems to be new information, provided Maxwell is telling the truth. Prosecutors alleged that she perjured herself, but dropped those charges after she was convicted of sex trafficking.
The President and that other birthday
This new interview will obviously be highly scrutinized, given the number of people who are named. But it’s also important to keep in mind what kind of incentives are at play for Maxwell, Blanche, and Trump. Not only was Blanche Trump’s former attorney, but he was also pretty damn chummy with Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus. Blanche appeared on Markus’s podcast twice, according to ABC News.
Trump has been cagey when asked about Maxwell, even giving a bizarre answer to questions during his first term when she was first sent to prison. During a White House briefing in July 21, 2020, Trump said, “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well, whatever it is.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well whatever it is.” (July 21, 2020)
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times recently reported on a birthday album made for Epstein in 2003 that included friendly letters from men like billionaire Leslie Wexner, attorney Alan Dershowitz, and President Trump. The letter included a line that the two men “have certain things in common,” and reportedly states that “enigmas never age,” ending with the line “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
A photo of the letter hasn’t been made public, but fake versions of the letter have gone viral online. Trump was friends with Epstein for at least 15 years before they had some kind of falling out. Trump defenders insist it was because Epstein was being a “creep” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, while others believe it had more to do with a real estate deal where the men were competing to buy a property.
It’s extremely unusual for a high-ranking official at the DOJ to personally interview someone in prison. But these are extremely unusual times.
Children: A son born in 2009 and another child born in 2011
Education: University of Michigan, B.S.E., 1995; Stanford University, M.S., 1998
Google is a play on the word googol, the term for the numeral one followed by 100 zeroes.
Page has a vocal cord condition that he says is responsible for his hoarser, softer speaking voice. He also has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a disorder that causes inflammation of the thyroid gland.
2010 – Kittyhawk, a flying car company, is founded by Sebastian Thrun with the backing of Page. On September 21, 2022, Kittyhawk announces that it plans to “wind down” operations.
April 4, 2011-October 2, 2015 – CEO of Google.
August 10, 2015 – Google announces a corporate restructuring, forming an umbrella company called Alphabet and naming Sundar Pichai as the new CEO to the core business of Google. Page will serve as Alphabet’s CEO and Brin will serve as president.
August 2021 – New Zealand government officials confirm that Page is a New Zealand resident following news that Page entered the country during border restrictions due to Covid-19. According to immigration officials, Page applied for residency in November 2020.
A regular Jane celebrating a personal renaissance after a long-term relationship might commemorate the new era with an ankle tattoo of a spiritual saying. When you’re a billionaire, you could do it instead with a $500 million megayacht.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made waves in May riding around the roughly 127-meter “Koru,” a Māori term that may signify a fresh start, with his reported fiancée Lauren Sanchez. (In 2019, Bezos finalized his divorce from MacKenzie Scott, whom he was married to for 25 years).
Tech billionaires like Bezos, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have all purchased their own mini vacation hubs at sea, decking their boats with amenities like gyms, spas, pools, nightclubs, and movie theaters.
For those wishing to experience life aboard these multi-million-dollar yachts, some are available to rent out for a few nights or weeks at a time. Late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s yacht can be booked for $2.2 million per week or more, according Bloomberg.
Chartering yachts owned by billionaires like Alphabet cofounder Sergey Brin has previously cost customers anywhere from $773,000 a week to $1.2 million.
Take a look at some of the yachts that have been owned by tech billionaires.
A mystery buyer bought a 414-foot superyacht that was once owned by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $278 million. Allen had the boat, which was named “Octopus,” built in 2003 for $200 million. Since the tech billionaire’s death in 2018, the boat had been listed for as much as $325 million.
Octopus in Canary Wharf, London, in 2012. Ki Price/Reuters Source: SuperYacht Times
The wealthy can book the yacht for a weekly rate of $2.2 million or more, through the luxury company Camper & Nicholsons, Bloomberg reported last year.
414ft luxury yacht ‘Octopus’ owned by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, is moored to fuel up at Ege Ports in Kusadasi district of Aydin, Turkey on April 27, 2015. Ibrahim Uzun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Amazon founder Bezos’ $500 million megayacht, the roughly 127-meter “Koru,” sparked attention in May for its artistic decor. A sculpture of a woman on the boat appeared to observers to be the likeness of Bezos’ reported fiancée Sanchez, who was also seen that month on the yacht sporting a large ring.
Jeff Bezos was spotted aboard his megayacht “Koru” in May. Lift Aircraft.
Even before its completion, “Koru” drew the ire of Dutch people vowing to hurl eggs at the boat if it would require a historic bridge in Rotterdam to be taken apart to let it through. An egg crisis was averted however, as the company making the ship found a less-irksome alternative.
View of the Koningshaven Bridge, known as De Hef in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Peter Dejong/AP
Bezos has long been interested in yachts. In 2019, he was spotted aboard entertainment mogul David Geffen’s superyacht.
David Geffen’s superyacht Flickr via BI
Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison owns a 288-foot yacht named Musashi that he acquired in 2013. The yacht has several amenities, including an elevator, swimming pool, movie theater, and both an indoor and outdoor gym.
The Oracle cofounder also has a knack for competitive yacht racing, and helped to found and back a racing team, called Oracle Team USA, in 2000. The team has found success and won several prestigious titles over the years.
Xaume Olleros/Getty Images Sport Source: Telegraph
Ellison previously owned a bigger, 454-foot yacht called Rising Sun, which was designed specifically for the CEO in 2005. That yacht reportedly has 82 rooms, a movie theater, a wine cellar, and a basketball court. However, Ellison sold off the Rising Sun to Geffen for a reported $300 million.
Ellison’s boat, Musashi, is a sister ship to the yacht of another billionaire, former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert. However, the yacht, named Fountainhead, is often mistaken for belonging to billionaire investor Mark Cuban. “The guy who owns the boat tells everyone that it’s mine,” Cuban told Page Six in 2016. “It’s so crazy … I don’t even own a boat.”
Ellison’s yacht reportedly influenced the decision of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to get a boat himself. However, Jobs never set foot on the boat — the yacht was commissioned in 2008, but wasn’t completed until 2012, a year after his death.
When Jobs died in 2011, his yacht — along with his $14.1 billion fortune — was inherited by his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of a social-impact nonprofit called the Emerson Collective. The 256-foot yacht is named Venus, and is worth $130 million.
Google’s billionaire cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are known to splurge. An Insider feature in December documented some of the trappings of their luxury, including planes and yachts.
Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page. Getty / Michael Nagle
Page owned a yacht named Senses, a $45 million, 194-foot boat that he bought in 2011 from a New Zealand businessman. He’s since sold the yacht, Insider reported in 2021, a vessel that had a private beach club with a Jacuzzi and sun beds, both indoor and outdoor dining areas, and a helicopter pad. It’s unclear what other sea vessels he owns, though Insider has previously reported he might have another yacht.
Dragonfly, the $80 million boat that has a movie-theater, shares a name with Google’s once-secret project to launch a censored search engine in China. Google said in 2019 it had officially terminated the project.
Eric Risberg/Associated Press Source: Insider, Forbes.
The former Google CEO picked up the Alfa Nero yacht for nearly $68 million in an auction in June, according to a Bloomberg report. The yacht had apparently been left amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the report.
Eric Schmidt REUTERS/Brian Snyder Source: Bloomberg.
For Skype cofounder Niklas Zennstrom, his interest in yachts skews toward racing and competitive sailing. Zennstrom has gone through a succession of boats all named Ran.
Co-Founder and CEO of Skype Technologies, United Kingdom Niklas Zennstroem listens during a plenary entitled ‘Digital 2.0:Powering a Creative Economy’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, AP Photo/Michel Euler
The Ran VII yacht is among the most advanced of Zennstrom’s boats. The racing yacht uses electrical power, which Zennstrom has said makes it “lighter, less drag, quieter, and most importantly it is environmentally friendly.”
The 40-foot yacht has been meant to compete in regattas through the racing team owned by Zennstrom and his wife, Catherine. The Ran racing team launched in 2008, and has won some prestigious regattas.
Barry Diller, chairman of digital media company IAC, co-owns a $70 million yacht with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.
Diane von Furstenberg, left, and Barry Diller. Scott Olson/Getty Images Source: Business Insider
The sailing yacht, named Eos, is 350 feet long with six bedrooms. The power couple has hosted many celebrities over the years — a few that have been spotted aboard Eos include model Karlie Kloss, actor Bradley Cooper, journalist Anderson Cooper, and singer Harry Styles.
For Jim Clark, the cofounder of Netscape, one yacht hasn’t been enough. Clark has owned boats for more than 30 years, and in 2012, he put up two of his sailing yachts for sale.
Jim Clark, right. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Source: Business Insider
Clark listed the boats for a combined $113 million: the 136-foot Hanuman for $18 million, and the 295-foot Athena for $95 million. However, Clark has yet to offload Athena. Clark also previously owned a 155-foot yacht named Hyperion, and currently also owns a sloop called Hanuman.
Charles Simonyi worked at Microsoft until 2002, and oversaw the creation of Microsoft Office software. A few years before he left, Simonyi decided to purchase a yacht. He told the designer that wanted his yacht to be “home away from [his] home in Seattle.”
The product of that conversation in 1999 is Simonyi’s yacht named Skat, meaning “treasure” in Danish. The yacht measures 233 feet long, and is unique with its nontraditional design and gray color. Skat features a matching gray helicopter, a gym, and motorcycles.
Opulent British billionaire Richard Branson owned a yacht until he sold it in September 2018. The 105-foot catamaran sold for $3 million, significantly lower than the $9.6 million price Branson listed the boat for in 2014.
