Google Boston Dynamics robotics sale exposes growing pain

Google transformed itself into Alphabet last year to keep the ambitions of a wild and crazy startup even as the company matured into an increasingly prudent adult. As any millennial can tell you, the shift into adulthood isn’t easy.

The inherent tensions between teenager Google and grown-up Alphabet contributed to the company’s decision to seek a possible buyer for its Boston Dynamics robotics business.

Google bought Boston Dynamics in late 2013 as part of a robotics acquisition spree.

Robots are one of the far-out ideas that Larry and Sergey’s company are exploring for computers that think and act like people so they can drive cars and assist in caring for the elderly.

The Massachusetts-based company generated huge buzz for its online videos like ones showing its ‘Terminator’-esque robots pulling Santa’s sleigh and running faster than Usain Bolt.

It’s easy to see Boston Dynamics as a relatively minor foray by Google that didn’t work out. No harm done.

But the internal discussion about Boston Dynamics shows how tough it can be to reconcile Alphabet’s dual missions: Pursue big and risky dreams but make sure there’s a clear road-map for proven and financially sustainable products.

In short: We want “moonshots,” but with spreadsheets.

Boston Dynamics didn’t seem to find the right balance inside of the Alphabet corporate agenda.

One Google executive in a November meeting discussed frustration with the “messaging around all this ‘gotta make a product right now,’” according to minutes of a meeting.

Officials also grappled with the trade-offs of letting new ideas flourish — but within limits.

One model described with some envy was a Google research group led by Regina Dugan, who gives most fledgling projects two years to prove themselves or else they’re put out to pasture.

Only a handful of companies in the world — Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, perhaps Uber — have both the resources and long leash from investors to pursue wacky ideas that may take years and billions of dollars to pan out.

But all successful tech companies — actually, all successful companies regardless of industry — have to find a way to chase risky ideas to find their next big thing but not commit suicide with ill-advised, expensive and distracting projects.

Google’s founders have been obsessed with making sure Google stays on the cutting edge.

“Over time many companies get comfortable doing what they have always done, with a few incremental changes. This kind of incrementalism leads to irrelevance over time, especially in technology,” Larry Page wrote in 2014.

Yet that way of thinking also bogged the company down with pricey, sometimes conflicting agendas.