My number one piece of advice is: you should learn how to program.
Mark ZuckerbergRead
This is a perverse thing, personally, but I would rather be in the cycle where people are underestimating us. It gives us latitude to go out and make big bets that excite and amaze people.
Interpretation
Underestimation can be an advantage, allowing for bold risks and impressive achievements.
Mark Zuckerberg reflects on the advantage of being underestimated, suggesting that it provides a unique opportunity for individuals or teams to take significant risks that can lead to remarkable outcomes. This mindset fosters creativity and innovation, as the pressure of expectations is lifted, enabling new ideas and ventures that can surprise and delight others.
In practice
During a motivational speech at a startup conference.
My number one piece of advice is: you should learn how to program.
I literally coded Facebook in my dorm room and launched it from my dorm room. I rented a server for $85 a month, and I funded it by putting an ad on the side, and we've funded ever since by putting ads on the side.
People can be really smart or have skills that are directly applicable, but if they don't really believe in it, then they are not going to really work hard.
Simply put: we don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services.
The question isn't, 'What do we want to know about people?', It's, 'What do people want to tell about themselves?'
Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both.
Excellence isn’t about meeting the spec, it’s about setting the spec. It defines what the consumer sees as quality right this minute, and tomorrow, if you’re good, you’ll reset that expectation again
The formula is simple - do more of what is working, do less of what isn't, and try on new behaviors to see if they produce better results.
We all know a variety of ways to make a living. What's even more fascinating is figuring out ways to make a fortune.
When you play this game twenty years, go to bat ten-thousand times, and get three-thousand hits, do you know what that means? You've gone zero for seven-thousand.
Are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain? … I'd rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that's just not reality. … I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.
I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.
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