Mark Zuckerberg
BB MEETS AFRICA
Mark Zuckerberg
By BB Meets Africa the :
- 8 June, 2021
Zuckerberg born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, into a comfortable, well-educated family.
Zuckerberg had a strong interest in computers at a very early age. At the age of 12, he used Atari BASIC to create a messaging program he referred to as “Zucknet.” His father used the program to work in his dental office, so that the receptionist could inform him of a new patient without having to scream across the room. The family as a whole used Zucknet to communicate at home as well.
Mark worked on other programs as well, as he was in school. Three of his fellow students asked him to help work on an idea for a social networking site known as Harvard Connection so they can create a site for dating for the university. He agreed to work on the project but later on dropped out to work on a his social networking connection, The Facebook. He kept on working on different features over the years as other companies like yahoo, MTV networks threw an offer to buy the program but he turned down all offers and focused on making Facebook better. Though the journey has not been all rosy, he maintained his focus over the years and today he is listed amongst the 10 most wealthy men in the world.
Mark got married to Priscilla Chan in 2012, a Chinese-American medical student he met in the university and they have two daughters.
Mark Zuckerberg – Inspirational Quotes
Keep Moving Forward
Ideas do not come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started. Finding your purpose isn’t enough. Purpose is that feeling that you are a part of something bigger than yourself, that you are needed and you have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.
You will always get criticized for moving too fast because there is always someone who wants to bring you down. Some big companies wanted to buy us but I didn’t want to sell, I wanted to see if we could connect more people. Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose this was the start up dream come true. One of my closest advisors told me that if I do not sell the company right now, I will regret my decision for the rest of my life. Within a year every single person on the management team was gone and I felt alone.
I wondered if I was just wrong, an imposter, a 22years old kid who had no idea how things actually worked. Years later, I understand that, that is how things work when there is no sense of high purpose so it’s up to all of us to create it so we can all keep moving forward together. J.K Rowling got rejected 12 times before she finally published Harry Porter, even Beyonce had to make hundreds of songs to get hello. The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built chat systems and tools and games, study tools and music players. The challenge for our generation is to create the world where everyone has a sense of purpose.
LESSON LEARNT:
To have a vision is a great achievement, to focus on the vision till it becomes a reality is a greater achievement but the greatest achievement is when we stand alone when all else fails, no one believes in us, everyone leaves but we keep on pressing because we found our purpose and we know it will work once we do not throw in the towel.
