How Mark
Zuckerberg Became an Icon: 5 Key Lessons
Facebook's
founder has already attained status as one of the entrepreneurial greats. Here
are some of the moments that were key to his path.
Though the world has witnessed
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg undergo some striking changes over the past 10
years, some fundamentals--like his wardrobe, for instance--have remained
largely unchanged since he started a college social network in 2004. Another
thing that has stayed the same? His mission to connect everyone in the world
through his website. "It's a utility to increase information flows, where
you can express yourself and meet the people around you,"Zuckerberg told Inc. in 2006,
the year he made our 30 Under 30 List. What has changed is how Zuckerberg has
gone about accomplishing that mission. Time and experience have equipped him
with the skills of an increasingly adept leader--one who's collected under
pressure and unrelenting in his vision. Take a look at the timeline below to
see how far this icon has come from his Cambridge dorm room.
Embrace
the Hacker Way
Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg
hacks together facemash.com, a website that lets students rate their
classmates' attractiveness. Harvard nearly kicks him out. Zuckerberg takes the
site down, but he's now fascinated with social connections and the viral web.
Three months later, he releases a new project called thefacebook.com.
Learn From the Best
Zuckerberg rents a
place in Palo Alto, originally planning to live there for just a summer. He
would later say that if he could do it over, he would have stayed in Boston.
But, Zuckerberg added,
the startup world was foreign, and he had much to learn from Silicon Valley.
Don't Compromise on Your
Vision
In likely the most important moment in
Facebook's history, Zuckerberg, turns down Yahoo's $1 billion acquisition
offer. Facebook is two years old and has 9 million users. The 22 year-old shows
he's not in it for the money and isn't willing to let someone else dictate the
direction of his company.
Pay It Forward
Zuckerberg and his
wife Priscilla Chan become America's biggest philanthropists, donating more
than $970 million worth of Facebook stock. At 29, Zuckerberg is one of the
world's youngest
billionaires and he has
demonstrated a commitment to philanthropy long before fellow donors like Bill
Gates and Steve Jobs did in their lives.
Find People Smarter Than You
After
years of hearing criticism about Facebook's lack of a mobile strategy,
Zuckerberg closes a deal to buy mobile messaging service WhatsApp for $19
billion. Zuckerberg defends the jaw-dropping figure, saying that the startup
acquired 450 million users faster than any other company in history.
BY LAURA MONTINI
http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/icons-how-mark-zuckerberg-and-his-social-network-outgrew-harvard.html?cid=em01016week10a
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