Quote · My First Million
Brainstorming business ideas with a billion-dollar founder
Where this was said
If you pick the right body of water, you don't have to have the right boat
At 3:03 · chapter starts 3:00
Pincus was running Tribe, a failing social network, when Sean Parker brought a 19-year-old Zuckerberg into his office. The young founder wore flip-flops, put his feet on the table, and handed out a business card that read 'CEO, bitch.' Pincus felt the inevitable cocktail of irritation, admiration, and self-loathing — he was not a first-time founder, he had swagger, and his company was sinking. But the metrics were so extraordinary that ego had to yield to executive function: 60-80% of Facebook users logged on every day, every profile had a real cell phone number, and trust was fully solved. [1] — Mark Pincus "Zuckerberg walked into Pincus's office at 19 wearing flip-flops, feet on the table, handing out a card reading 'CEO, bitch.' His DAU metric…" 12:44 Pincus knew enough to invest. He should have copied the model entirely, but pride and what Peter Thiel would call 'moral arbitrage' held him back. By 2010, Zynga was 80% of Facebook's app ecosystem — an overgrown teenager — and the tension around Facebook Credits exposed a very different Zuckerberg: one who spoke not in business terms but in the language of destiny, telling Pincus that standing in the way of Facebook's credits system meant standing in the way of fate itself. [2] — Mark Pincus "He was explaining it more in a way that like — don't you get that this is like in the way of the destiny and the fate of this company? So y…" 15:17
Market selection beats execution every time. If you're in the wrong ocean, the best boat won't save you — but in the right ocean, almost any boat will work. Pincus has lived this truth repeatedly, from missing the early Facebook upside to correctly betting on social gaming.
Zuckerberg walked into Pincus's office at 19 wearing flip-flops, feet on the table, handing out a card reading 'CEO, bitch.' His DAU metrics were so absurd — 60-80% of users logging on daily — that arrogance was completely warranted. Sometimes the cards you're holding make the attitude irrelevant.
At the height of its partnership with Facebook, Zynga represented approximately 80% of the entire Facebook app ecosystem, making it an overgrown, dominant player.
