You don't want to "apply" for things. You want your google VP to be having a beer with your ex-boss and worrying that his pet project was going to fail because they just can't find a guy who can really $X.
But your ex boss knows a guy who absoulutely can $X, and just finished $X'ing his company back from the brink of disaster. Lets give him a call to see if he's available.
HR will be told to give that guy an offer and, optionally, collect a resume to keep on file.
That's what we're talking about here, and it's where you want to get yourself if you want to build a career as an individual contributor.
Edit: I see from your other post you haven’t interviewed since 1999. Sounds about right. The hiring process does not work how you think it should.
From talking with other devs in my peer group, this doesn't seem uncommon.
No, HR will be told to get that guy into the interview pipeline as soon as possible, so he can go through the same process everybody else does for a similar position.
If they buy the company that you built specifically to get access to you, do you think you'll still end up getting screened out by some junior dev on a whiteboard? All policies have exceptions. Your goal is to be exceptional.
In this case probably not, but you'll have to do several rounds with the VPs. Of course the tenor is very different, more conversational / situtational instead of technical questions. But you're still being sniffed out. Unless you're already pals with the VP.
Could you elaborate on that? Do you mean being a contractor should be your goal as "the guy" or the hirer?
It can make sense for consultants, doing short gigs here and there. People can refer you elsewhere when the current work is completed, they ain't gonna keep you anyway.