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Not really, he did it inside a big company with a nice cushy salary and lots of hardware supporting him. Absolutely ZERO risk.

That's not a founder.

It's a great product, he did a brilliant thing, but he's not the gmail 'founder'.

Exactly. 'Creator' or 'original developer' would be far more accurate language and prestigious enough on it's own.

...and he probably wasn't all that "passionate about" it either.