When Aaron Stanton was a student at the University of Idaho, he had an idea. He tried to bankroll the idea on his own, but soon realized he would need much deeper pockets to make his idea work.
And, he thought, who better than the folks at Google Inc. to help bring his idea to reality.
A couple of years ago, he made some half-hearted attempts to reach the Mountain View Calif.-based company by telephone and e-mail. But he got nowhere.
Then this past Christmas, his father got sick and nearly died, and Stanton, 25, of Boise, knew if he was ever going to make his dad proud, he'd better make his move soon. He decided to go to Google, show up unannounced and make his pitch. He bought a plane ticket for a flight on Feb. 11 and the die was cast.
"I figured the worst that could happen was I got down here and found myself spending a week in Mountain View," Stanton said in a telephone interview from California.
Once he was there, he would pitch his idea to the folks at Google. It's an idea he thinks fits right in with the Google spirit and business model.
"So I figured I'd get down here, walk in through their front door, ask for a meeting and one of two things would happen: They could give me a meeting and five days later I'd come back and make my pitch and then I'd go home, or they'd turn me away at the door."
On Feb. 5, Stanton had launched the Web site www.cangooglehearme.com and put together a basic Web page and posted one entry. Stanton said he didn't intend to create a blog about the process of meeting with Google, but that's what happened.
Before he left for California, Stanton spent a few days preparing his presentation. So when he boarded the plane, he carried his Flash presentation with him on his laptop and in many backup forms, including versions that worked on a Mac, Windows and Linux. He has it on a CD, flash drive and a version that he uploaded to the Internet.
"I figure that if you're going to show up at someone's front door, you might as well come prepared," Stanton wrote on his Web page. "Anything less would just be rude. I've got the camera with me, so I'll try to make a video update once I'm down there."
On Feb. 12, while he was walking on the campus, he met up with a job applicant who had an interview in Google's lobby 43.
"So I followed him into his lobby and he let me talk to the receptionist, and then I went up and introduced myself to her and told her I was in town for a few days, and I was hoping to have a chance to talk to someone about a business idea I had and could I set up an appointment," Stanton said.
The receptionist, however, told Stanton that it is not permitted to just walk in and set up a meeting, and that he had to fill out a form on the Internet to request one. Unwilling to give up easily, Stanton went to a few more building lobbies on campus and asked for a meeting, but was summarily turned away by each receptionist.
He drove back to a friend's house where he was staying and decided to do what the Google receptionists told him to do. He was also prepared to just sit in their lobby and wait, if necessary.
"So I went home and submitted my Flash presentation to their site," Stanton said, "so I could go back and sit in their lobby and if anyone asked me what I was doing there, I would tell them that I just wanted to let somebody know that there was a presentation waiting for them online and to go find it and watch it, and decided whether or not it was worthwhile to go talk to me about it."
Sometime during the night, Stanton discovered that one person from Google had visited the Web site. Stanton was pleased that at least one person from Google knew he was there. By the morning, Stanton said about 1,500 people from inside the Googleplex had visited his Web site.
Next, he received an e-mail from someone named David from inside Google. The subject line was, "We can hear you :)."
"The smiley face was really important because it was a sign that I hadn't [made people angry]. That was the first time I realized that my message was really well received and that I came in peace," Stanton said. "Either that or maybe they were just circulating my picture so the security guards would know who I was."
David then set up a brief "hear the idea make sure it's not stupid" meeting with Stanton and asked him for additional materials. Google also required that he sign a nondisclosure agreement, which is why he can't talk about his idea or any subsequent meetings he might have with Google.
A Google spokesman confirmed the company had met with Stanton, but declined to provide further details because of the confidentiality agreement.
Since his site went live, Stanton has become the talk of the blogosphere. Some famous bloggers, including Microsoft's Robert Scoble, who met with Stanton in an Apple store, and AOL Inc.'s vice chairman Ted Leonsis have blogged about his improbable quest.
He has received e-mails from around the globe offering good luck. "Fascinating story. If your idea is half as good, I'm sure you'll go far," was one e-mailed response. "Wow ... ur really inspiring dude ... I wish you all the best ... hope ur all dreams come true :-)," said another. Someone even wrote a theme song for him. And last week, he had a nonbusiness lunch with a number of Google staffers.
"I've been getting a lot of e-mails asking me if I was inspired by anything, and the answer is yes, in fact I was," Stanton said in his blog. "If you're enjoying this adventure, you'll love the one that inspired me to get here. It was a movie called My Date With Drew, in which an average guy named Brian tries to get a date with [actress] Drew Barrymore, basically by just asking around a lot and not giving up. I cheered for Brian through his movie in the same way that people have been cheering for me in a more real-time fashion. If you haven't seen My Date With Drew and think what I'm doing is fun, go rent it. You'll love it. Trust me. I did."
Stanton is still waiting to hear from Google about his business proposal. He said he's scheduled to fly back to Boise on Tuesday.