CS50 Lecture by Mark Zuckerberg (2005) [video](youtube.com)
youtube.com
CS50 Lecture by Mark Zuckerberg (2005) [video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFFs9UgOAlE
8 comments
> You can have a product built by a single person in PHP and if it catches itself in the wind it will become a multi-billion dollar entity.
I think this is both true, and doesn't really convey the whole story of what's needed. If it catches in the wind it can be successful and make some money, maybe a few million if you're extremely lucky.
To make tens of millions, you have to be lucky and aggressive, otherwise someone will copy your idea and add the aggression themselves.
To make it to billions, you need the luck, you need the aggression, and you need an extra level of luck to be at the right place at the right time to capitalize on a major change.
Facebook did it with social media. Myspace and Friendster were around too, but Facebook provided a clean interface and hit critical mass sooner.
Apple did it with the smart phone. They weren't first, but their product was better enough to distinguish itself when smart phones started really being worthwhile for the average user (while already a low billion dollar company, they jumped an order of magnitude with the iPhone).
Google did it with the search engine. They weren't the first, but they were enough better a the time that internet usage was really taking off that it catapulted them into a position of leadership in search engines, and internet starting pages.
Microsoft did it with operating systems, and was able to ride the wave of computer ownership and business needs to dominance.
In each case, I think it wasn't just the product, but also the time being just right that caused the success. In each case there were competing products prior to the market leader that weren't that technically inferior, and in some cases might have had some superior features. In each case, it's not just the timing that matter, but also that they aggressively capitalized on their fortune to expand and entrench.
I think this is both true, and doesn't really convey the whole story of what's needed. If it catches in the wind it can be successful and make some money, maybe a few million if you're extremely lucky.
To make tens of millions, you have to be lucky and aggressive, otherwise someone will copy your idea and add the aggression themselves.
To make it to billions, you need the luck, you need the aggression, and you need an extra level of luck to be at the right place at the right time to capitalize on a major change.
Facebook did it with social media. Myspace and Friendster were around too, but Facebook provided a clean interface and hit critical mass sooner.
Apple did it with the smart phone. They weren't first, but their product was better enough to distinguish itself when smart phones started really being worthwhile for the average user (while already a low billion dollar company, they jumped an order of magnitude with the iPhone).
Google did it with the search engine. They weren't the first, but they were enough better a the time that internet usage was really taking off that it catapulted them into a position of leadership in search engines, and internet starting pages.
Microsoft did it with operating systems, and was able to ride the wave of computer ownership and business needs to dominance.
In each case, I think it wasn't just the product, but also the time being just right that caused the success. In each case there were competing products prior to the market leader that weren't that technically inferior, and in some cases might have had some superior features. In each case, it's not just the timing that matter, but also that they aggressively capitalized on their fortune to expand and entrench.
Some of that is very strong on the cringe.
When I was that age (I'm actually the same age as him) I would have been "strong on the cringe too"
"When you started Facebook did you think it would become a full-fledged business?"
"No."
"No."
It boggles my mind how many people try to replicate Mark Zuckerberg by dropping out of college, or wearing the same thing every day, or [insert cargo cult trend of the year here]. But everyone sits around writing business plans and designing logos and hiring freelancers without actually having a product yet.
People like the idea of starting a business. Be their own boss, do what they want, make a lot of money. So when they design logos or make business plans, they're indulging that dream. But starting a business is difficult, and people, even subconsciously, don't like that part.
The sad part is, they don't know that they're dreaming.
The sad part is, they don't know that they're dreaming.
This was posted just a couple weeks ago and made it fairly high up the front page. I usually don't complain about reposts, but this seems excessively soon.
No doubt nobody cared about Facebook. It was worthless, it was badly coded, it was a webpage. When that thing reached a valuation of $1m I couldn't believe he didn't sell it. What kind of idiot would offer a million dollars for such a thing. Then it went up from there. Now I think whoever stands to gain from a sale of Facebook is a moron. It's valued at hundreds of billions. Just retire. Make another website on the side in your spare time, take as much time as you like. Do whatever you like. Let whoever dropped that much cash on a website to their devices.
At the same time I'm blown away by how many people still use that thing. Regardless of how many scandals after scandals occur.
Facebook is one of those things that makes me not understand tech anymore.