Interview with Mark Zuckerberg

By Colin Hill Red class HW #7 2/27/11 I am interviewing Mark Zuckerberg, the 25-year-old founder and CEO of the immensely popular social network, Facebook. Facebook is a website where people take their social circle of friends and interact and communicate with them online. Currently, about one in twelve people in the world have a Facebook account. This interview is being held at the Facebook Headquarters at 156 University Avenue in Palo Alto, California. The date of this interview is July 21, 2010, which is the day that Facebook hit the milestone of 500 million users. During your sophomore year at Harvard, you created a site called FaceMash. On this site, any Harvard student could rate pictures of undergraduate girls according to their hotness. What in the world were you thinking? Didnt you know that you could get in huge trouble? You got all those pictures illegally! What was going through your mind when you shut down FaceMash after its unexpected success? How did you deal with the resulting consequences? Excuse my language, but the first thing that went through my head was HOLY S**T what have I done? FaceMash was simply a fun project for the personal enjoyment of a couple of friends and me. When I walked into my dorm room and saw that my computer had frozen and that the website had gotten over twenty thousand hits, I immediately shut it down and began to think about what kind of trouble I would get in. The whole experience was quite surreal. I tried to not think about the dreaded ad board, the committee of administrative officials that was responsible for suspensions and expulsions. After I had calmed down a bit, I went to talk to my friend Eduardo Saverin. He told me that if I did have to face the ad board, to use my obvious social awkwardness to my defense. I ended up facing the ad board. The fact that I was genuinely confused about the negative reaction to FaceMash showed the ad board that I was a good kid with no bad intentions. They simply gave me a form of probation; they really just told me to

stay out of trouble for the next two years, or else. Luckily, this incident didnt affect my academic standing. My reputation, however, was going to be damaged for good.

Many people are truly honored to be accepted into Harvard, one of the most prestigious schools in the world. You never seemed all that impressed by your college experience there. Is that even a question? Is this even an interview? I thought that I was going to come in here, and you were going to ask me some nice, simple questions. People these days I was just providing some background information to the readers. Now calm down and answer my questions. How would you describe your overall college experience? I was seen by most people as that outcast computer geek. That label was true in many ways. I was majoring in computer sciences, and I excelled at it. I could code websites like a baker makes cookies. I launched several websites, most of which were just meaningless projects to keep me busy. Based on my label, you can probably guess that I was socially inept and very awkward, especially around attractive girls. Whenever a girl tried to talk to me, I would become very shy and embarrassed, which resulted in me rambling about random and useless bits of information that no girl would ever care about. Throughout my whole college career, I was battling to gain, or sometimes regain, a good reputation. How could I pick up girls if my reputation wasnt good? However, what many people dont understand is that I did have a girlfriend, whom I am still dating now. Her name is Priscilla Chan. To sum it all up, I would describe my college years as scary, overwhelming, chaotic, and most of all, life-changing. Eduardo often criticized your lack of motivation towards the further development of Facebook. Looking back on your attitude, what would you change?

This may seem superficial, but the first thing that comes to mind is my attire. Everyday, I dressed like a true college boysweatpants, an oversized sweatshirt, and Adidas flip-flops. Through my experience in the technological industry, I have learned that first impressions are everything. Businessmen will not want to invest money in someone who doesnt dress the part. And I would also want to be more involved in the various meetings, whether its advertising, marketing, publicity, or whatever. Eduardo pretty much handled those single-handedly, and I wish I had had more input on those kind of decisions. All in all, if I could change one thing about Facebooks early stages of development, it would be my motivation and involvement towards improving the website.

Did you ever feel bad about allegedly stealing the idea for Facebook from the Winklevoss twins and Divya? I get asked this question all the time, so let me start off by saying: How can I feel bad for something I didnt do? What many people fail to understand is that Facebook was a completely separate project from their HarvardConnect. Facebook utilized numerous aspects which HarvardConnect did not. And yes, I do understand that I shouldnt have just put them off like that, but mistakes are mistakes and its over now. I understand that I should have been honest with them and told them that I was working on my own project. But in the end of things, the best man won, and look who prevailedme. In the biography The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, it is mentioned that over the summer break of 2004, Eduardo moved to New York for a banking internship, while you worked on Facebook in California. How did you feel about Eduardos decision? I hate that book. I hate Ben Mezrich. I wish Ben would just Whoa there, you seriously need to calm down. The question please?

Sorry about that. Sometimes I wished that Eduardo would loosen up a little and enjoy life for what it was. First of all, Eduardo had no idea what he was missing out on. California was like one interminable party. I attended parties frequently, and of course hooked up with some smoking hot California girls. Not to mention the honor of living a couple houses down from Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and Plaxo. Sean is basically the godfather of the computer world. And it doesnt take a genius to realize that a companys development will slow down if its being operated from two opposite sides of the country. For a couple months, Facebooks development definitely slowed down a great deal. It eventually picked up again, though. During the summer of 2004, Eduardo began to be less involved in Facebook. What has Eduardo done to get Facebook to where it is now? Eduardo has been a truly invaluable resource to Facebook. Although he is no longer working for me, his impact on Facebook undoubtedly helped it to get to where it is now. To begin with, he funded the project very generously with tens of thousands of dollars straight from his own pocket. His generosity was just one of his virtues as a friend and as a business partner. Also, you may know about how he froze the company bank account during the summer of 2004. While I hated him for it at the time, I owe him great thanks for keeping the project serious, and treating it like a true business. Most importantly, Eduardo motivated me to persevere on the project. He was the driving force behind Facebook in its early stages. How did you initially feel when Eduardo froze the company bank account, possibly destroying Facebook in its most fragile state of development? Did your feelings change over time? At first, I couldnt believe his spiteful actions. I was devastated. I thought for sure he was jealous of the high life I was living, and this was his way of showing his anger for being less involved in Facebooks development. This action showed where he stood at the time; he didnt understand that Facebook was no longer about two kids in a dorm

room. However, I later came to realize that this action forced me to get back into reality and really dedicate myself to this project which we started together. I didnt have the capacity or the interest to still hate him for it. While I forgave Eduardo a long time ago, I have not forgotten what he did. After this incident, I began to start considering lowering Eduardos share in Facebook to around 10%. Most significantly, Eduardos freezing of the bank account made it clear to me that he wasnt as willing as I was to dedicate his life to Facebook. At one point during the rapid growth of Facebook, you basically expunged Eduardo from the company. Do you regret this decision? Whoa there, wait one second. I didnt expunge Eduardo from the company; I simply diluted his share, as the businessmen say. Sure, his share eventually diminished to a miniscule amount, but expunge isnt quite the right word. So anyways, I do not regret my decision. However, I do admit that I shouldve given him more of a chance. Perhaps I couldve told him honestly about how I felt regarding his increasing indifference towards Facebook. Nevertheless, I fired Eduardo in the interest of success. Eduardo was beginning to become a drag to Facebook. He just wasnt pulling his weight. If I decided to keep Eduardo, who knows where Facebook would be right now? Maybe if I kept Eduardo, Facebook would have a billion users right now. I dont have time to ponder on that. The point I am trying to make is that firing Eduardo was in no way a betrayal of our friendship. It was a business decision, and hopefully a wise one. After Sean Parker, basically the godfather of computer sciences, got arrested, you seemingly fired him without a thought. Do you regret firing him? What is with all this talk of regret? After all, I am a multi-billionaire that owns the most successful social network in the world. People need to stop obsessing over the past. Dear god. I just realized how angry Im getting. Im sorry; I really shouldnt be giving you a hard time. Look at me rambling on and on. I just keep talking about useless stuff. You probably dont care about what Im sayingif youre even listening.

Mark? Can you please? Oh yeah, the question. To make a long story short, I do not regret firing Sean. It had to be done. Underage drinking and illegal drug use are serious crimes, and I dont need that looming over Facebooks reputation. This was a similar situation to the Winklevoss twins and Eduardo. They became a threat to Facebooks success, so for the companys sake, I had to eliminate them. And not to be mean or anything but look where Facebook is now. One in twelve people in the world have a Facebook. Obviously I did something right. While you are certainly concerned about your companys reputation, you seem to not be particularly concerned with your own reputation. How do you believe this has affected Facebook, if at all? There is a time and place for reputations. In 2004, when I first started Facebook, I couldnt have cared less about maintaining a good reputation. Its not like I was getting it back after the whole FaceMash incident. As Facebook has become more and more significant, I have been more careful about my reputation, but I am still relatively laidback about the topic. Everybody makes mistakes, and I have faith in human nature that when I make mistakes, they will forgive me and not hold it against me. Speaking of holding it against me, have you heard Britney Spears new song, Hold It Against Me? That woman needs to realize that her career is over. Lets get back to the question Mark Sorry, I was getting off topic. Where was I? Oh yeah, holding my mistakes against me. Furthermore, most of society probably doesnt even care anymore. As long as the website is up and running, most people probably wouldnt care if I was a serial killer. Well maybe thats going a little far. But you get my point. So all in all, I am smart enough to not let mine or my companys reputation become too awful, but relaxed enough to not let it get to me.

Throughout the chaos and drama of creating Facebook, your friendship with Eduardo was tested relentlessly. How has the journey of creating and developing Facebook impacted your relationship with Eduardo? Eduardo, Eduardo, Eduardo! How many questions about Eduardo are you going to ask?!? Enough already. I guess Ill get to my answer now. The tension between Eduardo and I started with our conflicting ideas and personalities. In its very early stages, Eduardo took Facebook very seriously, more so than I did. Eduardo often urged me to take on more of a role in improving Facebook. I was the one always wanting to go to parties, relax, sleep, and in general, just take it slow and have fun. While Eduardo wished I would pull my weight, this conflict actually meant nothing in terms of our friendship. It wasnt until I began to take Facebook seriously that we began to really butt heads. Once I got my head in the game, Eduardo and I were no longer the free-willed college boys we once were, but businessmen vying for success. Over time, our youthful collaboration fell victim to the adult world of money, business, and cunning lawyers. Do you believe that your friendship with Eduardo will ever be fully mended? If so, will you actively try to repair your friendship? Friendship and trust is like a piece of paper. Once its crumpled, it will never be perfect again. This is a perfect analogy for the circumstances of my relationship with Eduardo. He and I will never be friends like we were back in sophomore year of college. You may also know that a lawsuit still exists between Eduardo and I. I am not legally allowed to release the details of our lawsuit, but let me tell youits very complicated. Dont get me wrong, we dont hate each other or despise one another or anything like that. I believe we have both handled the situation in a mature and proper way. I look forward to possibly partnering in business with Eduardo in the future. I willingly forgive, but I do not forget.

Quite simply stated, Facebook has changed the way the world communicates and interacts with each other. When did you realize how Facebook was revolutionizing the way people relate to one another? HA! Simple? Are you kidding me? Well my SIMPLE answer is when I didnt feel like a college kid anymore. I knew that Facebook wasnt just a website when it took off so rapidly. Within just a couple weeks after the launch, 85% of Harvard was already on the site. From there, I spread Facebook to other colleges, such as Stanford and Yale. Not to mention when Eduardo put $10,000 of his own money into the companys funds. It was this moment that I realized how seriously he was truly taking Facebook. Soon, VCs began to track Eduardo and me down on campus. That was such an odd experience, seeing grown men in lavish business apparel randomly sitting in the back of my classes, with their eyes trained on me like a hawk. I knew that I could possibly have something revolutionary on my hands when Sean Parker, the creator of two enormous websites, wanted to speak with me. Sean Parker is like, the God of computer sciences. I practically worshipped him. And he was interested in me. Shortly after my meeting with Sean Parker and the publishing of an article in the Stanford Daily, 85% of Stanford had joined in twenty-four hours. Growth as rapid as that was unheard of. Now, this will sound ridiculous, but there was a moment one day in the summer of 2004, when something suddenly just clicked in my head. It was like some kind of divine message of sorts. I remember it clearly; I was sitting on the couch with my laptop, making some code alterations, and this idea just came to me. Suddenly Facebook became more important than my Harvard classes. Just like that, Facebook became a priority over my education. Next came the meeting with the innovative and ground-breaking entrepreneur, Peter Thiel. He has helped an endless number of small websites such as PayPal become international successes. After discussing business for three hours, he invested $500,000 in Facebook. Believe it or not, that was considered a fairly small investment. His investment was to simply get us up on our feet, strong and ready to succeed. Now that Facebook was really beginning to take off, I had to make some very difficult decisions. First was firing Eduardo. This was not only a huge step for the company, but a crucial realization for me. I came to the realization that this was no longer about Eduardo and I being friends and

working together, it was about making the right decisions to propel Facebook to success. And as if that werent enough, I also fired Sean Parker, because of his arrest. I knew that I didnt need Eduardo or Sean. The night I fired Sean, I thought to myself, I have fired the two people closest to me. What have I done? After a couple drinks, I had an epiphany. Im CEO, bitches. You are part of the last generation that has experienced the creation of the internet. Are you calling me old?!? No. Remember, youre one of the youngest CEOs in the world. Dont tell me what I am. I know that already. Make up your mind! Okay now youre just being difficult. Look whos talking! Okay then in your opinion, how has the concept of privacy evolved since the founding of the internet, and eventually Facebook? The information that people now openly share on the internet used to be considered personal and private information. This includes birthdays, hometown, and even someones interests and hobbies. Then the internet came into play, and this gave people control over what information they decided to share. Facebook has even further revolutionized this control, by allowing people to choose who can see what information, and who cant. However, along with the decreased standards of privacy, comes a heavy consequence. Now, whatever you release onto the internet is there forever. Sure, you can delete it, but you cant ensure that someone didnt copy it, save it to their computer, or share it with someone else. This is why I designed Facebook so you can customize your privacy to be as strict or unrestrictive as you desire. You make it a point that you did not initially want to form a company out of Facebook. What made you change your mind?

As Facebook grew more and more immense, I eventually realized that it was inevitable. It occurred to me that Facebook was no longer about Eduardo and I working on a fun project in my dorm room. It had excelled beyond our expectations, and become a very popular website that was growing rapidly. Without the support of a company, I would not be able to keep Facebook going. Building a company allowed me to align a larger group of brilliant people towards developing something great. A company is an efficient organizational structure in which you can really reward people for their accomplishments. Essentially, a structured company is the best way to get the most out of the best people. During the summer break of 2004, you moved to Silicon Valley in California. How did this affect the development of Facebook? Moving to Silicon Valley had a huge impact on Facebook. First let me tell you a bit about Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Silicon Valley is home to many of the worlds largest technology corporations. A large number of enormous companies and corporations have been born there. Some of these include NASA, Apple, Microsoft, eBay, Google, Amazon, and many more. When I first moved to Silicon Valley, I was only 19 years old. I couldnt even drink alcohol yet! I had so much to learn. Silicon Valley is a great and world-renowned place to meet plenty of brilliant entrepreneurs. There are ample opportunities for venture capital firms to support new companies. Not to mention Sean Parker, who made so many connections for me. For example, he was the one who arranged for me to meet with Peter Thiel, whom I mentioned earlier in the interview. Undoubtedly, the investment and legal communities in Silicon Valley lifted Facebook off the ground towards astounding success. Unlike most other companies, you, the original founder, are still the head of the company. How has remaining CEO of the company affected Facebook in the long run?

Many other founders of huge companies like Facebook end up getting pushed out by venture capital firms and replaced by professional management. In my experience in the technology industry and its history, it seems that companies with their original founders as CEO have had more success. This is because the founder has a better sense of why the company was created in the first place. I know what my wishes are for Facebook. And I am constantly sharing my wishes and dreams with my employees, so they can hopefully carry those dreams out. Facebook is on a roll, and if there was a drastic change of management, all the progress I have worked so hard for could go down the drain. With the founder as CEO, better decisions will be made, as the founder knows best what their true vision for the company is. Obviously you cant run this company by yourself. How do you ensure that your ideas get developed and Facebook stays up and running? Over the years, I have made sure that I surround myself with plenty of talented people. CEOs have a tendency to become dominant, arrogant, and greedy. To prevent this from happening to me, I constantly remind myself that it is never just one person. I would be nowhere without the help of the brilliant people that have aided me through this journey. I have numerous talented executives, such as Sheryl Sandberg, who is Chief Operating Officer, or Mike Schroepfer, our head of engineering. In addition, it has been amazing to have my sister, Randi, as part of the Facebook team as the Director of Market Development. I can always relate to her, and she knows me better than anyone else. Unlike seven years ago in 2004, you are now a confident, intelligent, and incredibly successful businessman. Why thank you, Im flattered, but that isnt a question. I wasnt finished. But youre welcome. Looking back, have you made any mistakes? If so, what decisions do you regret? I have always lived by the motto move fast and break things. The idea is that unless you are making mistakes, you are not moving fast enough. That being said,

Facebook as a company has made many mistakes. However, I believe that we moved so fast and much such a big impact so quickly, that we were actually able to get away with some mistakes. Facebook is a colossal community. In fact, if Facebook was a country, it would be the third most populated country in the world, behind only India and China. So you have to realize that with a population that large, it is impossible to make everyone happy. I will never make a decision that makes the whole Facebook community happy. There is no way to please 500 million people. There will always be some people that complain. I believe this is a very important lesson for entrepreneurs to learn. Making mistakes is okay, and it is a normal occurrence in any company. At the end of the day, the goal of building something is to build something good, not to make no mistakes. How do you make decisions that will alter Facebook, and how does user feedback influence these decisions? With 500 million vocal users, we get an immense amount of user feedback. This shows what we are trying to achieve as a company. We try our best to give everyone a voice. We really listen what people have to say, and decide what feedback is useful and what isnt. That is one reason why the internet is so great; you can get immediate feedback on any decision that you make. Contrary to popular belief, there are no decisions that I make myself, and there never will be. I always seek the advice, ideas, and opinions of my employees. I recognize the importance of fair team work, and I believe that is why Facebook has done so well. Thats it for today. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to educate us about Facebook! No problem. Can I leave now?

After the interview, Facebook continued to grow at about the same rate as before. With about 200,000 new accounts a day, Facebook is now at more than 550 million users. Shortly after hitting the milestone of 500 million users, a movie called The Social

Network was produced. The movie depicts the history of Facebook from the development of its predecessor, FaceMash, in Marks dorm room, to Facebooks incredible growth through its short six year life. The Social Network won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Mark Zuckerberg is now 26-yearsold and still CEO of Facebook, which is still expanding and improving.