Do you think you would have gone that far when Google was just a search bar with better results? (I'm not particularly claiming that this is the next Google, only that the next Google is extremely hard to spot)

I think you're playing down how much better the search results were between Google and Altavista & Co. I agree the next Google could come out of left field, but my comment is directed toward the author's headline, implying that his company is "the next Google." I may have misinterpreted what he meant, but that's what I was speaking of.

I think he was not saying that he had the next Google; just that most startups have similar screening processes.