Mark Zuckerberg won't rule out competing with independent apps | Hacker News Reader

Mark Zuckerberg won't rule out competing with independent apps

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

10 pointsbyrneseyeview16 comments

All in all, that's an almost completely vacant interview.

I might get slammed for this, but I think this shows that Facebook has grown far beyond something that Zuckerberg has the ability to effectively lead. A key part of building a company is knowing when it's time to step aside. This was a good opportunity for him to really clarify some things about the company, and especially to put their developer community at ease. Instead, it came across as a combination of deer-in-the-headlights, and unwarranted smugness.

I think I would be pretty happy with his performance thus far if I were an investor. Anything he says about anything is going to either blow up in his face or come back to bite him in the ass. Saying nothing and continuing to have explosive growth and app development along with massive valuations seems like a pretty good way to handle things.

And if they cashed out right now, then they would remain happy. But, they're not cashing out, they're going further.

Knowing how to handle a media interview, and say the right things, is an acquired skill. Saying nothing is not a sign of a good/strong CEO.

His attitude reminds me of the attitudes of some exec's from mp3.com that I met with in 99 or 2000. All attitude and arrogance and no substance. The mp3.com guys thought that because they were on top of the world at that instant, they would remain there forever.

> A key building a company is knowing when it's time to step aside.

How about: "A key building a company is knowing if it's time to step aside." From what I can see Zuckerberg is doing a damn good job. If I had stock in Facebook him being replaced would make me sell it.

It's always "when".

Sometimes, "when" happens early on, sometimes a CEO manages a 20 or 30 year career, and then "when" comes much later when a successor is named. Other times, "when" comes in the form of a sale of the company.

But, it's always when, never if. Part of the CEO's duty is to prepare for the when, to make sure it happens in the right way at the right time.

There are many business books that cover this topic, but "Good to Great" is a recommendation if you haven't read it already. There are a few good examples of cases where the CEO was the entire company, which in the end is a sign of poor leadership and management skills.

All of the people lauding accolades on Zuckerberg sort of surprise me. He has done little more than ride the wave of social networking on a chance. Don't get me wrong, he has done better than others, but so far I have not really seen any indicators of visionary leadership or great forethought from him. And back to my first comment, his recent interview doesn't do anything to enhance his image.

Clearly Mark Zuckerberg has a good understanding of social networks. I think all of this talk about adult supervision is insulting; it is no surprise the interview ended there.

At this stage, making Facebook into a lasting, successful company (via acquisition or independent existence) is more about knowing how to run a company and make the right decisions than it is about social networks.

I wish there was some sort of approval process those apps went through.

Is anyone reminded of MySpace with some of these apps? I am not on a social network to be bombarded with "You've been bitten by a vampire!" notifications on a daily basis.

I guess they figured the best approval process was "Do people like this app enough to add it?"

But yeah. The vampire app should just be more honest: "One of your friends wants to infect you with AIDS. When you have AIDS, you can give it to all your other friends!"

So just set notifications from that application to be ignored. Let the vampires have their fun.

Of course, but ideally I wouldn't be bombarded with that junk to begin with.

"... On how many employees the 300-person company will have in a year: 700. ..."

Compared to Craigslist this is lot. What are all these people going to work on? Anyone care to guess the programmer/phb ratio?

Pretty low. 300 people is not 300 programmers.

"... Zuckerberg was asked if Facebook needed a "grownup" to run the company. The 23-year-old CEO said,"We have thought about developing a good team rather than hiring a CEO with experience in this space, and I'm not convinced that exists. Instead we are focused on building a strong team." ..." ~ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6643

Now I think I know why (after doing a bit of reading). Facebook for all its sophistication does not have much to offer beyond the connectivity. Hence the reason to open up to external developers. One problem with that is you'll get a couple of killer useful applications but a lot of pretty ordinary ones. ~ http://www.slate.com/id/2168872/

So while Facebook has had extraordinary growth for it to continue as it's investors (or soon to be investors) expect it needs a continuous supply of "Visicalc", "Word" or Killer Apps to sustain and continue growth. Hence the need to develop a bigger team.

Why should he rule out competing with independent apps? It's a platform, anyone can build apps, including Facebook, to compete with anyone else. He did however state any competition should be done on equal footing.

Well, duh.

You live by the sword, die by the sword.

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