

Would the Facebook IPO have bombed if Mark Zuckerberg had an MBA? - vmyy99
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/would-the-facebook-ipo-have-bombed-if-mark-zuckerberg-had-an-mba/2012/05/29/gJQA7d74yU_story.html

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malachismith
You've GOT to be kidding me.

"Mr. David A. Ebersman has been Chief Financial Officer of Facebook Inc. since
September 2009. Mr. Ebersman oversees Facebook's finance, accounting, investor
relations and real estate functions. Prior to joining Facebook, he served as
Chief Financial Officer of Genentech Inc., from March 5, 2005 to April 2009
and its Executive Vice President from January 2006 to April 2009. Mr. Ebersman
also served as Senior Vice President of Finance at Genentech Inc. from January
5, 2005 to March 2005 and as Senior Vice President of Product Operations from
May 2001 to January 4, 2005. He joined Genentech in February 1994 as a
Business Development Analyst and served as its Senior Director of Product
Development from March 1998 to February 1999, as Vice President of Product
Development from February 1999 to May 2001, as Manager of Business Development
from February 1995 to February 1996 and as its Director of Business
Development from February 1996 to March 1998. Prior to Genentech, he served as
a Research Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division. He has been a
Director of Castlight Health, Inc. since July 14, 2011. He has been a Director
of Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. since July 2004 and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals
Inc. since July 2009. He is a fellow in the Henry Crown Fellowship Program.
Mr. Ebersman holds an A.B. in Economics and International Relations from Brown
University."

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josephmosby
The author doesn't make a very good case in favor of MBAs (or, in my opinion,
college in general). He does, however, make a great case in favor of
management and experience working with other people.

Mark Zuckerberg might not have ever run a company, but he clearly knew how to
inspire the people he asked to work for him. I think the fact that he had to
learn how to at least manage his small team before receiving funding worked
well for Facebook, and he grew at a pace that allowed him to continue to
learn.

Giving a 19-year-old genius enough funding to do damage before he's ever
learned to manage people is a much larger risk than funding a team that has
proven it can work together. By the time Mark had gotten that funding power,
he had already gone through the trials of managing employees on a small scale.

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vmyy99
64% of CEOs of the top 100 Fortune 500 companies don’t have an MBA. Other
useful facts - [http://www.webpronews.com/is-an-mba-worth-it-
infographic-201...](http://www.webpronews.com/is-an-mba-worth-it-
infographic-2012-03)

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rstevenson542
I really like the logic this author used to counter the college graduate
earning statistics. From a financial standpoint, this is brilliant:

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-altucher/dont-send-
your-...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-altucher/dont-send-your-kids-to-
co_b_409900.html)

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mindcrime
I'm getting tired of Vivek Wadhwa and his elitist crap... he seems to think
that if you didn't attend an Ivy League university that you are some inferior
class of human who obviously cannot do anything on your own, much less do
anything right.

I'm sure Vivek is a smart guy, but he's _way_ too much of an apologist for
academia. Like, does anybody else _really_ believe that getting an MBA is the
only way to learn the skills he thinks Zuckerberg was lacking?

And who's to say that Zuck was wrong to wear a hoodie to the IPO roadshow
meetings? Is there any evidence that that had anything to do with, well,
anything?!???

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rstevenson542
Exactly... Facebook's IPO didn't fail because Zuckerberg wore a hoodie.
Facebook's IPO failed because the company was grossly overvalued. $42/share,
really? I can't stand academics, his opinions are so misguided and narrow
minded. I wanted to barf when I saw Vivek on 60 minutes a few weeks ago.

~~~
rhizome
And it was grossly overvalued because the list of shareholders who needed to
be taken care of was loooong.

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rstevenson542
Facebook would not EXIST if Zuckerberg would have spent 6 more years in the
draining rat trap that is academia. He wouldn't have been able to move to the
valley, get funded by Thiel, and receive REAL WORLD business experience. Its
ironic that some asshole with a degree is playing backseat driver to Mark
Zuckerberg, who is STILL one of the wealthiest men in the world. MBA's are for
corporate assholes. If your career aspirations are to write crap articles for
the Washington Post, go ahead, get your MBA.

The reason Facebook's IPO failed is because of lack of consumer confidence in
the company itself. The majority of IPO's throughout history have been
exponentially over valued. I wouldn't touch ANY IPO with a ten foot pole. Let
alone a company whose business model is based on invasive, ineffective, and
overpriced advertising.

