A man claiming to be the “third” founder of Google has appeared out of the woodwork. In a video recording, Hubert Chang, claims that as an NYU Ph.D student in 1997, he was introduced to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin by Stanford professor Rajeev Motwani of Stanford University (btw he can’t even pronounce ‘Motwani’). He says he helped them come up with PageRank, the business plan, and apparently the name Google. The story first appeared on Webrence.

Chang says he decided to pursue his Ph.D as a promise to his father and had planned to join Larry and Sergey upon the completion of his Ph.D. Upon graduation in 2002 when he contacted Larry and Sergey he apparently got the brush off. Larry and Sergey had their people respond to Chang’s emails.

I have no idea if this is true. It could be a claim made up by Chang for various reasons. If he really was a founder, what made him wait so long? I have contacted Hubert Chang to get his side of the story. I have also contacted professor Rajeev Motwani (whom I have known for many years) and he, too, advised me and introduced me to some big shots. His expertise in databases, data mining, information retrieval, and web searching far surpass most people’s comprehension of the subject.

Google is a success story not just due to its technical prowess but also due to strategy and execution of the strategy. Chang does not mention that he knows Ram Shriram (our conference keynote), who is on the board of directors of Google and is also a founding member. Ram is one of the most brilliant strategists in the web industry. His understanding of online advertising was a game changer. Whatever Chang’s contribution was, it would pale in comparison to Ram’s, Rajeev’s, or Eric Schmidt’s.

Responses from Hubert Chang and Rajeev Motwani