Former YouTube product officer on money struggles during early days: ‘Google had a cash pile over there, but I had to…’

Former YouTube chief product officer Shishir Mehrotra said that securing funds at YouTube during its early growth years was more difficult than raising money in the open market. Speaking on the Grit podcast (via Business Insider), Mehrotra recalled that even though Google had a “cash pile”, he had to request funding internally. “Google had a cash pile over there, but I had to go ask for investment from it,” Shishir Mehrotra said during the podcast interview. “It’s just like raising money from a venture capitalist,” he added.

Even with Google’s resources, he said the internal funding process was restrictive. “Everybody around you can say no, and only one person can say yes,” he said, referring to Google CEO Sundar Pichai as the sole decision-maker for major investments.