

Zuckerberg wannabes squander careers - pathik
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8eb9a7a0-b7cb-11e0-8868-00144feabdc0.html

======
padobson
Part of the problem with movies like the Social Network is that they leave out
key details that enabled a company like Facebook to grow so quickly.

Firstly, Zuckerberg continued coursework and took all of his finals at Harvard
the same time he was starting Facebook. If you don't have the business and
technology acumen to take on a rigorous Harvard course load and run a regional
business (I believe Facebook was well into the Ivy league at the time) at 19
years old, then think about taking a different route to success.

Secondly, I don't know many 19 year olds who can pick up and move to a house
in Silicon Valley for the summer without having to hold down a job to pay rent
and for food and gas. Heck, I don't know any 30 year olds that can do that.
Having achieved 3 months of financial independence at 19 is a good indicator
you can do some big things. If I recall, that summer in NorCal cost Zuck
upwards of 80k.

Finally, for the geek perspective and those who don't think a LAMP website is
anything to be impressed by, Facebook had to maneuver a ton of business
landmines in those early days. Zuck may not have had all the answers to social
patents and investment valuations and expansion strategy, but he found some
people who did - Sean Parker and Don Graham. That ability to find people who
provide strengths to your weaknesses is pivotal to the success of an
entrepreneur.

To be able to do all of this at 19, well, there's a reason there's only one
Mark Zuckerberg.

------
jcc80
While it's just a quick short article - I think the author would be surprised
to learn that many people understand they are sacrificing the career path to
pursue their startup and that they understand the odds against them. If at the
end of it all you look back and say, jeeze that didn't pan out, I should have
worn a suit and stood in line like everyone else, then yeah, you made the
wrong call.

But, if you're like me, even if you're dirt broke (yes) and have failed hard
(yes), you don't care because you enjoy the ride and are learning along the
way. I haven't chosen to skip the career route because this is easy - but
because it's the only thing I can do. I doubt the author would understand
that...or maybe it's just a throwaway article written to get a few hits.

------
greenpaint
If you can't get the user-agent hack to work, or don't have the time or means,
the gist of the article is this: spectacular Web successes such as Amazon,
Google or Facebook are the exception not the rule, and lead talented people to
chase rainbows rather than building solid, steady, profit-making businesses.

This line in particular chimed for me: "Most companies service mundane
requirements, quite possibly business requirements rather than sexy consumer
projects like Facebook." I once spent some time temping in an office that was
part of a complex. Every week a stream of small businesses, some who had
contracts with the company, others who were just pitching, would come to the
door: cleaning, stationery supply, printer cartridge collection, sani-bin
removal and replacement, pest control, and so on. It opened my eyes to how
many business niches there are out there.

------
dadads
Blocked by a registration wall, unless there's a popular hack around this that
I don't know about.

~~~
haasted
It's readable by taking a detour through google :

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tYjkxXj...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tYjkxXjBEr4J:www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8eb9a7a0-b7cb-11e0-8868-00144feabdc0.html+http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8eb9a7a0-b7cb-11e0-8868-00144feabdc0.html&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&source=www.google.com#axzz1TUdSMnQR)

------
majmun
It is false to think that everyone who is working on social network idea are
only motivated by money and want to become next zuckerberg. potential of
revolutionary social network goes beyond money and zuckerberg. To earn
yourself disproportionaly more amounts of money than other people means that
arhitecture of such network is limited to subset of architectures that puts
only you in charge.

------
temphn
> But for virtually the first time in the history of capitalism, the internet
> bubble permitted early-stage companies with no tangible assets to raise
> significant capital based on a plan – but without property, franchises,
> revenues, patents and certainly no profits.

This sounds plausible, but is it actually true? What were the railroad, oil,
electrification, automobile, and aviation booms like?

Zuck in 2004 had his laptop; Google at the same time had 1e11 dollars or more.
But a similar capital difference separates the Wright Brothers' initial
contraption from the cost of the planes made by Boeing.

Anecdotally, it seems that many industries got their start with garage scale
tinkering. How did those old school entrepreneurs raise the capital to build
their businesses, back before VC? Probably has an interesting answer.

