Sundar Pichai unveiled the original Google Cardboard without ever seeing the final design

The folks over at Buzzfeed have put together a lengthy profile on Google CEO Sundar Pichai. One of the more interesting tidbits is a story about Google Cardboard at Google I/O 2014. As you know, that was when Cardboard was originally unveiled to the masses. Everyone in the audience was given a free Cardboard device. It seemed like a perfect launch, but behind the scenes, there was a lot of anxiety.

Clay Bavor, VP for virtual reality, was leading the Cardboard project. He showed off the progress to Pichai about 8 weeks prior to Google I/O. He was impressed and told Bavor to have the device ready to launch at the event. Since there was such a rush to get the project done, that was the last time Pichai was able to check in on the project.

The original plan was to put a Cardboard device in each swag bag. However, at the last minute, Pichai decided he wanted to announce Cardboard on stage and immediately hand them out. Pichai announced the device on stage without ever seeing the final design or the final version of the software. He had complete trust in the Cardboard team. Thankfully, Cardboard was released without a hitch.