Mark Zuckerberg

Well. In 2006, Yahoo wanted to buy the company for a billion dollars, and everyone on our management team wanted to sell it, and the board tried to fire me, and everyone, and basically in the next year, everyone else on the management team left because they, I hadn't done a good job communicating, I mean, I don't want to blame them.

Well. In 2006, Yahoo wanted to buy the company for a billion dollars, and everyone on our management team wanted to sell it, and the board tried to fire me, and everyone, and basically in the next year, everyone else on the management team left because they, I hadn't done a good job communicating, I mean, I don't want to blame them.

I hadn't done a good job communicating the long-term vision because I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I wasn't thinking in terms of this as a company. I was like, this is a great project. It's awesome. A lot of people like what we're doing. I think this will probably continue for a while. I think it's going to be pretty important in the world.

I hadn't done a good job communicating the long-term vision because I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I wasn't thinking in terms of this as a company. I was like, this is a great project. It's awesome. A lot of people like what we're doing. I think this will probably continue for a while. I think it's going to be pretty important in the world.

But I didn't know how to think in terms of long-term financial plans or... Like, make the case to them why it would be worth more than a billion. Yeah, yeah. Or just like, look, we're doing this for the long term. We're not planning on selling the company. So it's like, without having made that case, it was understandable that basically Yahoo comes around.

But I didn't know how to think in terms of long-term financial plans or... Like, make the case to them why it would be worth more than a billion. Yeah, yeah. Or just like, look, we're doing this for the long term. We're not planning on selling the company. So it's like, without having made that case, it was understandable that basically Yahoo comes around.

A lot of people, it's like, this is like all their startup dreams come true. You've got to take this offer. Because I just wasn't in a place where I had the sophistication to basically...

A lot of people, it's like, this is like all their startup dreams come true. You've got to take this offer. Because I just wasn't in a place where I had the sophistication to basically...

articulate a lot of the stuff around where we were going longer term it probably wasn't super confidence inspiring to them when i was like hey i think we should turn this down because we're gonna do this so um so after that i was like all right well i don't want to get fired from my own company for wanting to build it so let's uh try to set up a governance structure that makes it somewhat harder to do that um so

articulate a lot of the stuff around where we were going longer term it probably wasn't super confidence inspiring to them when i was like hey i think we should turn this down because we're gonna do this so um so after that i was like all right well i don't want to get fired from my own company for wanting to build it so let's uh try to set up a governance structure that makes it somewhat harder to do that um so

Learning through suffering.

Learning through suffering.

Yeah, I mean, I think we're having a lot more fun now. We get to work on all the stuff. It's awesome.

Yeah, I mean, I think we're having a lot more fun now. We get to work on all the stuff. It's awesome.

Obviously, starting a company is not bad. I think that there's different schools of thought on how to do it. I think some people think, OK, I want to go start a company, so I'm going to go dive into this idea. And I just think that that's a little bit dangerous because there's this issue, which is you have to be able to be nimble and pivot around until you can figure out what works.

Obviously, starting a company is not bad. I think that there's different schools of thought on how to do it. I think some people think, OK, I want to go start a company, so I'm going to go dive into this idea. And I just think that that's a little bit dangerous because there's this issue, which is you have to be able to be nimble and pivot around until you can figure out what works.

Part of the reason why I didn't think Facebook was going to be the company early on was because when I was in school, I built 12 different things. that were just things that I wanted to exist. And I was like, all right, this is fun. OK, let's build another thing. It's like, OK, this one's fun. People are still using that. I'll help up keep this one.

Part of the reason why I didn't think Facebook was going to be the company early on was because when I was in school, I built 12 different things. that were just things that I wanted to exist. And I was like, all right, this is fun. OK, let's build another thing. It's like, OK, this one's fun. People are still using that. I'll help up keep this one.

But I had a bunch of other ideas for stuff I was going to build too. So I didn't know how to think about what a company was going to be. And so I think there's something about maintaining flexibility that's helpful. Once you hire a bunch of people, It's a lot easier when you can just have meetings in your own head about what direction you want to go in.

But I had a bunch of other ideas for stuff I was going to build too. So I didn't know how to think about what a company was going to be. And so I think there's something about maintaining flexibility that's helpful. Once you hire a bunch of people, It's a lot easier when you can just have meetings in your own head about what direction you want to go in.