Do you seriously mean to suggest that Google got to profitability on 20k?
AdWords was not launched until 2000 so it wasn't possible they were turning a profit before then.
In fact, IIRC it was Google's success at doing the "Get users first and profit will come" that made it fashionable among Web 2.0 startups. The idea was pretty disreputable after hundreds of Web 1.0 startups tried it and flamed out spectacularly.