The biggest risk you can take
Mark Zuckerberg's interview in Y Combinator was quite interesting.
Starting with his early days building Facebook, the idea behind building products, his low points, what he sees as the major transformations in the coming years and the best advice he can share to young entrepreneurs.
Here are the excerpts:
Starting with the early days:
Mark was fascinated by people and how they work. Understanding people, understanding their language and how they communicate was part of his observations when studying psychology.
Back then on the Internet you can find anything like news, music, books, reference materials etc.,
But there was nothing about people and what's going on with them.
It started with
Did he think Facebook was going to be a company when he started building it?
No, It started with Mark and his friends using it to connect with one and another.
Here is what he says when asked for advice that comes to his mind for people who want to build products.
Even if its small or local. People decide to start a company before they even decide what they
want to do. Believe in what you are doing and knowing there is value in it.
About low points:
When Yahoo offered to buy the company, which he considers a turning point for the company.
The point that was painful was not turning down the offer, but after that huge amount of people quit as they felt that was the right thing to do.
But things changed when News feed was launched which is one of the most used products in the world.
How to decide what to build? How to do something totally new?
About hiring and talent:
Being a person who started with no experience he believes in investing in people who are talented even if they have not done that before.
Major transformation in the coming years
Advice to someone who wants to make the world better:
Pick something they care about and work on it.
But don't commit to turning into a company until its working.
Starting with his early days building Facebook, the idea behind building products, his low points, what he sees as the major transformations in the coming years and the best advice he can share to young entrepreneurs.
Here are the excerpts:
Starting with the early days:
Mark was fascinated by people and how they work. Understanding people, understanding their language and how they communicate was part of his observations when studying psychology.
Back then on the Internet you can find anything like news, music, books, reference materials etc.,
But there was nothing about people and what's going on with them.
It started with
Building tools for people to express themselves.People have the deep thirst to understand whats going on around them.
Did he think Facebook was going to be a company when he started building it?
No, It started with Mark and his friends using it to connect with one and another.
Here is what he says when asked for advice that comes to his mind for people who want to build products.
Start with the problem that you are trying to solve rather than trying to build a company.
Even if its small or local. People decide to start a company before they even decide what they
want to do. Believe in what you are doing and knowing there is value in it.
About low points:
When Yahoo offered to buy the company, which he considers a turning point for the company.
The point that was painful was not turning down the offer, but after that huge amount of people quit as they felt that was the right thing to do.
But things changed when News feed was launched which is one of the most used products in the world.
How to decide what to build? How to do something totally new?
The key is building a company that learns quickly and have a learning culture.
About hiring and talent:
Being a person who started with no experience he believes in investing in people who are talented even if they have not done that before.
Major transformation in the coming years
- Connectivity - Getting more people connected to the internet.
Connecting everyone. - AI
- Virtual reality
Advice to someone who wants to make the world better:
Pick something they care about and work on it.
But don't commit to turning into a company until its working.
In a world that's changing so quickly the biggest risk you can take is not taking an risk.If you are stagnant and don't take those decisions you are supposed to take, you fail.
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