‘Hacker. Dropout. CEO.’ That is how one recent article described Mark Zuckerberg, the 22 year-old CEO and founder/creator of Facebook. They forgot Genius. Born and raised in a small town in New York state, he began programming computers in 6th grade. A pivotal point in his life came during high school, when he transferred to the ultra-prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy.
While there, he worked on several projects that would have been facebook-type successes in their own right, but weren’t pursued further. This included smart music apps that could predict what music you would want played next (Synapse Music Player), to an early peer-to-peer sharing network application (Wirehog). He then went on to a little ol’ university by the name of Harvard. This is where Facebook was born.
How exactly did Facebook survive and emerge from the social networks dogfight, and why didn’t it burn like Friendster and Bebo? Well, that’s a bit of a complex question. Was it the exclusivity of only having it open for college students? Was it a superior design and layout? Or was it just good planning and management? Whatever it was, Zuckerberg did it, and he did it well.
What sets him apart is his long term plan for the company. The norm for a majority of dot-com startups is to have an exit strategy that includes selling out (not in the bad sense) after about 3-5 years to a bigger fish. MySpace did it, and so did YouTube. So when Zuckerberg said no to a $2 BILLION buyout offer from Yahoo, analysts and reporters thought he was crazy. It turned out his own internal valuation of the company was even higher than the $2 billion Yahoo thought it was worth ($8 billion to be exact- based on MTV’s valuation and target demographic), and plus he was more interested in developing the company further, something that has excited the internet community and has us waiting in anticipation of what the next stage in the social web evolution will be.
Related Article: Facebook and Comcast to join forces and bring video diaries to TV.
As far as business philosophy is concerned, we know that he hires the best talent to make the best company, and makes the company atmosphere a fun one- a very Googleish attitude. Will he too then follow in the successful footsteps of Google and strike it rich in the IPO market? Well, that’s tough to say. There has yet to be a Web2.0 company that is based on the “social internet” (user generated) that has gone public. Facebook could be the first if Zuckerberg resists the temptation of a big payday.
Zuckerberg’s been going strong thus far, and given his optimism for the future of Facebook, I’m not one to speculate on this wisdom of turning down $2 billion… TWO BILLION DOLLARS for less than 2 years worth of work. Hmmpf. Good Luck, Mark. Let me know if you need a financial manager.
Details*
Full Name: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
Born: 14-May-1984
Birthplace: Dobbs Ferry, NY
Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Computer Programmer
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Founder, Facebook.com. Founded the student-oriented social network Facebook.com, launched 4 February 2004.
High School: Ardsley High School, Ardsley, NY (1998-2000)
High School: Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH (2000-02)
University: Psychology, Harvard University (dropped out)
Facebook- Founder and CEO (2004-)
*From NNDB.com
Every week we profile business leaders and trend-setters in our “Profiles” section. To see more more profiles of great business leaders, click HERE.
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