"Here are Overture's policies," AOL said, dropping a phonebook-sized document on the table with a thud. "These are their editorial policies for what is allowed and what is not. Let's see yours."

"Fine. We'll show you ours," Alan replied. "Let's set up an appointment and do it right." We had no policy manual. But we would have one by the meeting the following Monday. Five minutes after that exchange, Omid was on the phone to Sheryl. "Overture has a binder," he told her. "We have to have a binder! We have to have a binder!"

Sheryl and AdWords staffer Emily White spent the weekend pulling one together. While they were at it, they pulled together an editorial team. AOL wanted to know how many people Google had dedicated to reviewing ads and approving them. By enlisting everyone in advertising operations who had ever looked at an ad, Sheryl stretched four to fifteen. "We didn't lie to them," she asserted, "but we included everyone we possibly could."