So, you wanna do business with Google?

This made me chuckle. Its true, if you work at Google people who you haven't talked to in years, or who imagine they knew you back when, will approach you to get you to hook them up with someone inside Google who can see the value of their idea/product/company/etc.

My short answer got down to:

"So nice to hear from you, be successful in your endeavor, develop market leadership, and execute faster than Google. The correct person from Google will then contact you. Cheers!"

There are a lot of things you can say about Google but 'unaware' isn't one of them. And especially if the technology at hand is so clearly a 'good fit' with Google then you can assume that Google is aware of it and if they haven't deployed it then they have already rejected it.

That last bit is key, for better or worse, nearly everyone at Google thinks they know better than you, they are smarter than you (or you would be at Google), and anything you think you know about the value of what you are doing is wrong because if you were right Google would already do it.

Now you and I both know that with great hubris comes great blindness, but the only way to convince someone at Google that you've got an idea that is both good and that they need, is to execute on it so well that it starts causing them some pain. Just telling them about it won't get you anywhere. Trying to get a meeting where you want them to sign a deep NDA to prevent them from stealing your idea is a non-starter.

The good news is that you don't have to worry about "getting in touch with the right person" at Google. Don't spend any time on it. Just do what you're doing well and if they care, they will get in touch with you. If they don't they won't and you won't have wasted any time courting them.

There is another issue which generally gets swept under the rug--the liabilities to both parties related to disclosures of Intellectual Property. Non-disclosure agreements don't really work, particularly if both parties are actively working in the same area of technology. There is always the potential that one or another of the parties may (inadvertently) insert IP owned by a third-party. Even casual IP disclosures can pollute an employee and prevent them from working in a particular area because they are tainted. Given the problems and liabilities, it is amazing that any business ever gets done.