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≥ "He saw the digital future once. Can he repeat the trick?" Zuckerberg copied an idea someone else came up with, used shady business tactics to screw his cofo

≥ "He saw the digital future once. Can he repeat the trick?" Zuckerberg copied an idea someone else came up with, used shady business tactics to screw his cofounders, was lucky enough to start at Harvard which helped differentiate and legitimize his me-too product, then rode network effects to success (mostly because it was managed by competent adults who were as unscrupulous as he is). He's done nothing else. Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus were acquisitions, and the company's core product has become simply a disinformation machine which no one under the age of 25 will touch. The only thing Zuckerberg has done is make money. Which is all well and good, but his "vision" is non-existent, as demonstrated by his insane focus on VR when he could be doing so much with the platforms he already has.

crazygringo 4y ago
I'm no fan of Zuck or Facebook, but I will say that his success wasn't due merely to network effects, or else he'd never have beaten MySpace. Back in the day, he was basically an insanely good, detail-oriented product manager that kept relentlessly innovating Facebook. Other social networks kept making mistakes, he didn't. Facebook worked and kept getting better, for many years. And it made money because he brought in Sheryl, since he was good at product but not good at business. But that's all he was, just a really really good product manager. So you're right -- nothing visionary about it. And he had no idea what to do when the News Feed began actually affecting elections and civil wars around the world -- totally and utterly out of his depth. And now he wants to be the "visionary"... and is taking down the entire company in the process. It's really a sight to behold. And it's the kind of egotistical indulgence that's only able to happen when investors allow founders to keep control.

crazygringo 4y ago

I'm no fan of Zuck or Facebook, but I will say that his success wasn't due merely to network effects, or else he'd never have beaten MySpace. Back in the day, he was basically an insanely good, detail-oriented product manager that kept relentlessly innovating Facebook. Other social networks kept making mistakes, he didn't. Facebook worked and kept getting better, for many years. And it made money because he brought in Sheryl, since he was good at product but not good at business. But that's all he was, just a really really good product manager. So you're right -- nothing visionary about it. And he had no idea what to do when the News Feed began actually affecting elections and civil wars around the world -- totally and utterly out of his depth. And now he wants to be the "visionary"... and is taking down the entire company in the process. It's really a sight to behold. And it's the kind of egotistical indulgence that's only able to happen when investors allow founders to keep control.