http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/open_features-hacker-dropout-ceo.html
Nice piece from FastCompany about Adam Zuckerberg and FaceBook. Everybody loves a rags to riches story.. This is one.
Thanks for the link Omar.
Frank,
Here was the shocker for me:
“Looming over the Facebook talk is the specter of Friendster, the first significant social-networking site. It reportedly turned down a chance to sell out to Google in 2002 for $30 million, which if paid in stock, would be worth about $1 billion today. Now Friendster is struggling in the Web-o-sphere, having been swiftly eclipsed by the next generation of sites.” I remember meeting Jon Abrams several times here. You could see that things were getting heady with all the attention for his company. According to Reid Hoffman (early investor in the company), basically the whole social networking space was Abram’s to lose.
Omar.
I know what you mean Omar.. the problem with all these Web2 co’s is that the social space is duplicable if you bring enough capital (human/currency) to bear. Anyone can start a website/forum/social network.. When you own domain names (lots of ‘em).. you get free traffic and a re-do if your ideas go wrong. It’s the ultimate burn-down value proposition. An opportunity to reach for the sky.. and a parachute to save you if you’re wrong.
Frank, my partner in P Trades, Karel Baloun, wrote an excellent book called: Inside FACEBOOK… you can find it on amazon–it’s great book from top level insider (Karel was First Senior Engineer) on how they made FACEBOOK happen, with excellent insights on Zuckerberg, the future direction of social networks, entrepreneurship and internet business opportunities , for those interested in the internet and biz in general i would regard it as a must read-also it’s very inspirational! – Patrick Kerr of Ptrades and Oil Gas Futures
***FS*** Thanks sincerely Patrick.
Patrick,
Thanks for mentioning the book. I’ve ordered it.
It’s really difficult knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. Silicon Valley is littered with lost fortunes. People actually left the founding teams of Oracle, Ebay and many other great businesses. I’ve also heard of the fortunes lost when people didn’t sell during the bubble.
This reminds me of something a wise friend once told me: “It takes luck to make money but smarts to keep it.” I’m not gonna forget that one anytime soon, lol.
Facebook, Friendster, and Myspace all share one thing in common, they are brands. Brands are slaves to trends. Generic words (to some degree) are not. There are have been countless brand name jeans.. but 100 years later, “jeans” remain. If you want to scale up quickly across multiple markets, building 1,000+ brands is not a good way to go.
Don’t fully agree here.
Google is a brand. You know what the big G is worth.
Ask (way better domain) is an also ran.
OTOH, maybe the good domain name is playing a big part of keeping Ask in the game.