Eighteen years—a long time to build, to learn, to evolve, and to start again.
Last week I made one of the hardest decisions of my career: leaving Google after nearly two decades.
It wasn't a choice I made lightly. Google has been my home, my proving ground, the place where I worked alongside some of the most brilliant, kind, and relentlessly curious people I've ever known. Over the years, I had the privilege of building, of learning, and of pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible.
But deep down, I knew—it was time for a new challenge.
Because this isn't an ending. It's a turning point.
The Backstory
Nine years ago, in late 2015, Mike and I sat down and asked ourselves a question:
What if the security technology we built inside Google could be brought to the world outside it?
For over five years, we had been playing a real-life game of spy vs. spy, tracking the most advanced state-sponsored attackers across the globe. The wake-up call came with Operation Aurora, when Google itself became the target. In response, we formed Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG)—a team dedicated to tracking, understanding, and exposing the world's most sophisticated cyber threats.
But looking beyond Google's walls, we saw something even bigger:
Unknown attacks.
Unseen adversaries.
A battlefield larger than anyone had imagined.
Google had the unique ability to process massive amounts of data, correlate signals across different sources, and connect the dots at scale in a way no one else could.
Yet, all of it—this entire intelligence engine—was locked inside Google.
Keeping it there felt like a disservice to everyone outside the walls.
That's when the idea took root: What if we could take what we built and use it to protect more than just Google?
The Leap
Our first instinct was to go out and build something from scratch.
But this was 2015. Cloud infrastructure was still in its infancy. Starting from scratch would have meant years just rebuilding the foundation.
That wasn't an option.
So instead, we did something different. We pitched it internally, wrote a rough business plan, and landed a couple of desks in the corner of Google X.
And just like that, Chronicle was born.
The next few years were some of the most intense, rewarding, and defining of my career. We weren't just building a product; we were building a mission. We hired brilliant, mission-driven people who believed we could Give Good the Advantage.
We weren't here to make incremental improvements.
We were here to change the game.
The Turning Point
As Chronicle gained traction, Google was evolving. Security became a core pillar of Google Cloud's strategy, and before long, Chronicle was brought into the fold.
Acquisitions are rarely clean. This one wasn't. Many of the people who built Chronicle moved on. Some said it was dead on arrival.
But they were wrong.
Because Chronicle survived.
More than that—it thrived.
And so did the work. In recent years, I explored AI's potential and worked with the team to integrate it into Chronicle's most critical workflows. It quickly became clear: LLMs weren't just promising; they were already making a real difference.
And the more we explored its potential, the more I saw that AI wasn't just reshaping security—it was reshaping everything.
That realization stayed with me.
And as I thought about what comes next, I knew it was time to take on a new challenge.
Stepping Away
Leaving wasn't easy. But it was time.
Eighteen years is long enough to see Google evolve, to help shape its trajectory, and to build things I never could have imagined when I started.
But I knew it was time.
Last week, I walked the halls of Google for the last time.
And as I left, I wasn't thinking about what I was leaving—I was thinking about what we built.
The long nights. The impossible problems. The moments of clarity when everything clicked. And the fact that what we started still stands.
And for that, I feel only gratitude.
And while I'll always be proud of what we built, I knew it was time to start something new.
What Comes Next
Now, I'm sitting in a Blue Bottle in San Francisco, sipping a morning coffee that, for the first time in years, I had to pay for myself.
For a moment, I considered taking a break. After nearly two decades, stepping back, slowing down—it would have made sense.
But the city is buzzing in a way I haven't seen before, only heard about from people who've been here for 30 years.
There's a shift happening—something big, something different. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
To everyone I've worked with, learned from, and built alongside at Google—thank you.
I'm deeply grateful.
- shapor @ (gmail | google).com