A Tech Star Returns

An alumnus returns a tech star, and students flock to hear him

Gmail creator Paul Buchheit came back to Case to learn from today’s students. They had plenty of questions for him, too.

They knew he was part of Internet history. They knew he created the email application they grew up with. And they knew he earned his computer science degree from the Case School of Engineering, just as they were striving to do.

When Paul Buchheit ’98, MS ’98, returned to campus in October, students were eager to hear from a tech superstar. Buchheit, Google’s 23rd employee and the developer of Gmail, did not disappoint.

In a day-long series of encounters, he met with groups of student leaders, lunched with student startup founders, and engaged in a Q&A with an auditorium of science and engineering majors.

Buchheit exhibited the thoughtful bearing of a mentor as he shared career guidance and academic advice. But he also displayed some of the curiosity and appetite of an entrepreneur as he queried students on their interests, passions and favorite computer games.

“It was just an amazing experience,” said senior Prince Ghosh, a founder of the wind energy startup Boundary Labs, who lunched with Buchheit at Sears think[box]. “Paul is like a living part of modern history—the birth of the Internet. Plus, he’s a super-cool guy.”

Third-year student Elias Suarez, one of several student leaders to meet with Buchheit in a group setting, said the computer whiz from the dawn of the Internet seemed most interested in learning the likes and desires of today’s Case students. But he also freely shared his own experiences and observations.

“I definitely appreciate it,” said Suarez, the president of HackCWRU and the Association for Computing Machinery. “Twenty years ago, he was in the same position I’m in. We need role models. These alumni are not just abstractions, far away. They can connect with us.”

Buchheit, a partner at the venture capital firm Y Combinator, connected with the largest number of students at the Linsalata Alumni Center in the evening. He sat back in an armchair onstage and fielded questions from an audience lightly prodded by Professor Frank Merat, the evening’s moderator.

Dressed tech casual in jeans, T-shirt and pink Nike sneakers with lime-green swooshes, Buchheit delivered advice ranging from practical to philosophical, much of it aimed at people who know how to code.

Think like Apple

While he began his career at Intel, he told the students they did not need to go to work for corporate America—not if they knew software engineering.

“Right now the demand for CS people is just so high, who cares if you work at Amazon? You can work for any startup,” he said. “If you’re just really good, you’ll get a job.”

He advised them to mix in liberal arts classes with their engineering education, to be sure they can engage both their right and left brains.

“Apple products are not just technically good,” he said. “They have these emotional hooks.”

And he told them to try and work for people smarter than themselves.

“Find the best, fun people to work with. People who, when you talk with them, you’re like, ‘Wow!’ They end up creating these magnetic fields,” he said. “You bring in all these smart, creative people, and they feed off each other.”

That’s akin to what happened to him early in his career, when he joined a Google staff of fewer than two dozen people, three years out of Case. He had an idea for a better email program—a free, web-based, searchable application—and hammered out a prototype before anyone knew what he was doing.

Gmail went public in 2004 and today is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world.

“I really wanted it to be awesome,” Buchheit said, adding that his vision dismayed and upset some Google colleagues, who thought he was trying to do too much. A rough draft gave him the evidence he needed to say, “It is possible. I just did it.”

Buchheit returned to that thought later, telling students that a product or a prototype beats an idea in the startup game.

He noted that the founders of Airbnb discovered their concept when they threw up a hasty website inviting visitors to sleep on their floor because they needed rent money. The initial experience was positive and shaped their convictions, maybe better than any investment could have.

If you have an idea, “Try it out” at a feasible scale, he said. “Like, what can you do over the weekend?”

There will never be a better time, he added.

“A lot of the value of college is just having time and space to explore and fail and figure out what you want to be doing,” he said.

Buchheit came at the invitation of administrators of the Case School of Engineering, who had asked him to share his insights with students. In an interview with Case Alumnus, he described a mutually beneficial experience.

“I kind of had the feeling, 20 years ago, that I knew where things were going,” he said. “I was pretty confident and optimistic. I don’t feel that way anymore, so I’m trying to fish it out.”

Laughing, he said curiosity drew him back.

“Maybe the students know,” he shrugged. “Hopefully, this is beneficial and fun for everyone.”

Professor Frank Merat (left) moderated the evening Q&A between students and Paul Buchheit.

“We need role models. These alumni are not just abstractions, far away. They can connect with us.” – Elias Suarez

Students love to hear the real-world experiences of alumni. If you would be willing to share your expertise as a mentor, contact Kelly Hendricks, director of alumni relations; Kelly.hendricks@casealum.org, 216-368-0635.