A Gist About Mark Zukerberg, The CEO of Facebook.com

When Mark Zuckerberg showed up in Palo Alto three years ago, he had no car, no house, and no job. Today, he's at the helm of a smokin'-hot social-networking site, Facebook, and turning down billion-dollar offers. Can this kid be for real?

EnlargeHacker. Dropout. CEO.


“I'm just lucky to be alive." Mark Zuckerberg, the 22-year-old founder and CEO of social-networking site Facebook, is talking about the time he came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun. It was the spring of 2005, and he was driving from Palo Alto to Berkeley.

Just a few hours earlier, he had signed documents that secured a heady $12.7 million in venture capital to finance his fledgling business. It was a coming-of-age moment, and he was on his way to celebrate with friends in the East Bay. But things turned weird when he pulled off the road for gas. As Zuckerberg got out of the car to fill the tank, a man appeared from the shadows, waving a gun and ranting. "He didn't say what he wanted," Zuckerberg says. "I figured he was on drugs." Keeping his eyes down, Zuckerberg said nothing, got back into his car, and drove off, unscathed.

Today, it is an episode that he talks about only reluctantly. (A former employee spilled the beans.) But it fits the road he has taken--an adventure with unexpected, sometimes harrowing, moments that has turned out better than anyone might have predicted.

Zuckerberg's life so far is like a movie script. A supersmart kid invents a tech phenomenon while attending an Ivy League school--let's say, Harvard--and launches it to rave reviews. Big shots circle his dorm to make his acquaintance; he drops out of college to grow his baby and Change The World As We Know It. Just three years in, what started as a networking site for college students has become a go-to tool for 19 million registered users, including employees of government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. More than half of the users visit every day. When a poorly explained new feature brought howls of protests from users--some 700,000--the media old and new jumped to cover the backlash. But Facebook emerged stronger than ever. According to comScore Media Metrix, which tracks Web activity, it is now the sixth most-trafficked site in the United States--1% of all Internet time is spent on Facebook. ComScore also rates it the number-one photo-sharing site on the Web, with 6 million pictures uploaded daily. And it is starting to compete with Google and other tech titans as a destination for top young engineering talent in Silicon Valley. Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer, says it is on track to bring in $100 million in revenue this year--serious money indeed.

Yet there is an undercurrent of controversy about whether Mark Zuckerberg is making the right decisions about the juggernaut he has created. Late last year, a blog called TechCrunch posted documents said to be a part of an internal valuation of Facebook by Yahoo. The documents projected that Facebook would generate $969 million in revenue, with 48 million users, by 2010. The New York Times and others reported that Yahoo had made a $1 billion offer to buy Facebook--and Zuckerberg and his partners had turned it down. This followed an earlier rumor of a $750 million offer from Viacom. Yahoo, Viacom, and Facebook would not comment on the deal talk (and they still won't). But Silicon Valley has been abuzz ever since.

"It's all been very interesting," deadpans Zuckerberg, sitting in a conference room in Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters. He looks every bit the geek in his zippered brown sweatshirt, baggy khakis, and Adidas sandals. He came into the room eating breakfast cereal from a paper bowl with a plastic spoon. He still lives in a rented apartment, with a mattress on the floor and only two chairs and a table for furniture. ("I cooked dinner for a girlfriend once," he admits at one point. "It didn't work well.") He walks or bikes to the office every day.

Zuckerberg's college-kid style reinforces the doubts of those who see the decision to keep Facebook independent as a lapse in judgment. In less than two years, the two reigning Web 2.0 titans have sold out to major corporations: MySpace accepted $580 million to join News Corp., and YouTube took $1.5 billion from Google. Surely any smart entrepreneur would jump at a chance to piggyback on those deals.

Transforming Business Ideas Into Millions

Having a great idea on a buisness is one thing accomplishing that idea is another. Business owners need capital to pursue their vision.

I was curiose to learn more about the best ways to acquire start-up funding and other financing for business ventures, I spoke with RaiseCapital CEO Richard Singer. Here's what he had to say on the topic:

Q: What is the first thing business owners should do when they have an idea that they want to start up a business?

A: Research, research and more research! The first thing you must do is research every aspect of your idea - from potential competitors, to costs, to how long it will take to get your idea developed. You will also need to ascertain how much initial capital you will require. Without that knowledge, getting your idea past the development stage will be next to impossible.


Q: Small business owners are often lectured on the importance of networking. How important is it for start-ups to network?

A: Networking is the best way to build professional relationships, maintain and cultivate contacts and disseminate information about yourself and your business. Networking can help you get over the bumps that inevitably impede business development. Effective networking can be a low cost form of marketing. Start-ups can use networking to help fund projects and identify potential employees or strategic partners.


Q: Where and How should business owners concentrate their networking efforts? Is it better to network at small events or high-profile events?

A: A mix of both small and high profile events is best. High profile events can allow you to network among a large group of accomplished people, however, small events afford you the opportunity to have more "face time" with those at the event. Networking on the internet is also an effective tool that does not require you to be away from your office or business.


Q: Are there ways for existing businesses owners to use the Internet to get the funded they need?

A: Entrepreneurs and existing business owners can use our website RaiseCapital.com to seek funding for their ventures. The RaiseCapital.com platform allows entrepreneurs and existing businesses to market their business ideas and capital needs directly to investors for free.


Q: How exactly does RaiseCapital.com work?

A: RaiseCapital.com is a free website that allows users to post their business ideas and capital needs whether a start-up or existing business; using text description, pictures and/or video presentation. Once you become a member and post your business idea, registered investors will have the ability to contact you directly via email about your capital needs. Investors have the ability to directly communicate with members who have posted their capital needs. In addition, registered investors can set up industry email alerts, create a watch list and use our search technology to find local, regional or nationwide (and Canada) investment opportunities. Investor registration is also free and easy.


Q: Entrepreneurs are sometimes shy when it comes to seeking start-up funding because they worry about someone stealing their business idea. Is this a legitimate worry? What can business owners do to protect themselves and their ideas?

A: If you have concerns about your idea being copied, then you might consider revealing only enough information with respect to your business idea to garner interest from investors. There should not be any disclosures that would allow someone to misappropriate your idea. If you have such concerns, then once an investor contacts you, you might want to consider asking that investor to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement before you fully reveal your product or business idea in full detail. The RaiseCapital.com website has a sample confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement that we encourage members to review. Many business ideas that are posted on the RaiseCapital.com website do not lend themselves to copying, in such circumstances a confidentiality agreement many not be necessary.


Q: Are there any common scams that people should be aware of when searching for start-up funding?

A: The easiest way to avoid scams, whether common or not, is to use common sense. If a potential investor asks you for money up-front, that is typically a sign that something is wrong. The so-called "Nigerian Scam" has used this technique to swindle millions of dollars from an unwary public. In addition, if someone is making an initial contact asks you for personal information unrelated to your business, such as your personal bank information, tax returns, your date of birth and social security number; you should be extremely suspicious.


Q: Do you have any other tips you can share with start-ups and existing business that are seeking capital?

A: Patience and perseverance should be any entrepreneur's mantra. The fund raising process is lengthy and time consuming. It requires patience to grow a company from nothing to something. It requires perseverance to negotiate the inevitable ups and downs of fund raising. Most importantly, you must convey to investors your commitment and belief in your venture. If you don't then no one else will.