"Management was basically incredibly incompetent, for a long time, and were so unfair to employees at the company that they felt this was the only option"
Why not just quit and get a new role? I don't really understand how being unionized under terrible management is desirable.
Almost every successful Google product over the last 15 years has been the result of acquiring an already-built product and marketing + distributing it well: Youtube, Nest, Waze, Doubleclick, Android.
Products that are organically created within Google (even Google Hire, created via acquihire) have a pretty awful track record.
We were fortunate to have Geoff as one of our YC group partners in S2015 and he asked tough questions and kept us focused more so than almost any other early investor we had. Looking back, Geoff really helped us maximize our full potential - all the way from day 1 through selling our company.