Undoubtedly, one of the most relevant news in the technology sector 2012 will be Facebook’s IPO. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, has published an extraordinary letter to potential investors where he explains what Facebook is and wants to continue to be and points to some of the keys to its success.
The letter is not wasted because it describes many of the keys that a company -in any sector- of the 21st century should take into account. First, Zuckerberg highlights how Facebook from the beginning was not conceived to be a company but to carry out a social mission and he says this very seriously. All companies should carry out this “examination of conscience”, focus on the problem they want to solve, the roots, after all, social, on which it is based and not be too distracted by sales. He himself points out that they don’t build Facebook to make money, but they earn money to build Facebook. Bright.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the letter for Startups comes in the last part, the so-called “the hacker way” . In this part of the letter Mark Zuckerberg makes a very interesting reflection on how to create companies. The “hacker” mode is a fast way of doing things, very focused on creating a solution, starting with the basics, testing it and continuously improving it. “Done is better than perfect” is a phrase that exemplifies this new way of doing business in the 21st century.
But he also talks about openness and meritocracy in Facebook’s “hacker way”. This is undoubtedly one of the keys to the success of the company. A company in which ideas prosper not because of who proposes them, but because of themselves, and which makes methods available to everyone involved in it so that new ideas can go ahead, yes, if they have the support of the team.
The creation of social value, speed, ambition (in a good way) and openness are the keys that Zuckerberg reviews in his letter. A brilliant explanation of the roots of Facebook’s success; and a good review of keys in which other companies have to focus our efforts to continue improving.