So many brains are leaving Google to start their own niched business. I will list some of them here:

Douglas Merrill recently left to EMI Group (April 2008)
Sheryl Sandberg
Ethan Beard
Justin Rosenstein
Gokul Rajaram
Louis Monier, Anna Patterson, Russell Power
Jason Liebman, Sanjay Raman, Daniel Blackman
Steffen Mueller
Vanessa Fox
Dan Daugherty
Kevin Fox
Bret Taylor
Jim Norris
Paul Buchheit
Sanjeev Singh
Brian Dick
Jess Lee
Nathan Stoll
Sean Knapp, Belsasar Lepe and Bismarck Lepe
Jason Shellen
Biz Stone
Evan Williams
Jason Goldman
Rob Radez
Gabor Cselle
Chris Sacca
Clint Guerrero
Georges Harik an American Lebanese:
Georges Harik was Director of Googlettes and a Distinguished Engineer at Google. As Director of Googlettes, his team was responsible for the product management and strategy efforts surrounding many starting Google initiatives including Gmail, Google Talk, Google Video, Picasa, Orkut, Google Groups and Google Mobile. As a Distinguished Engineer, Georges was the co-developer of the technology behind AdSense, the first engineering manager of the Google Search Appliance, and the co-author of the original product plan for the AdWords Online system. Georges has contributed to numerous patents covering Google’s search engine and advertising networks.

Georges worked previously at SGI, where he was a developer on MineSet, a data mining product. Prior to his work life, Georges received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he focused on mathematical models of genetic algorithms, programs that evolve to solve problems, that are inspired by natural processes.

Georges is currently an advisor to various startups focusing on the areas of internet applications, biotechnology and education. Georges’ academic interests lie in the intersection between large computer systems, lots of data, and artificial intelligence.