Can Google Stop the Brain Drain?

From a Student's Guide to Startups back in 2006:

"Speaking of cool places to work, there is of course Google. But I notice something slightly frightening about Google: zero startups come out of there. In that respect it's a black hole. People seem to like working at Google too much to leave. So if you hope to start a startup one day, the evidence so far suggests you shouldn't work there."

No.

From the article: He says most Googlers' options vest under four- or five-year plans

Google floated in Aug 2004. Here's looking forward to Aug 2008. That may be why Quaero recently got US$306 million investment ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=136759 ) and why SearchMe recently got US$31 million from Sequoia ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=134291 ). The latter is quite telling.