Eduardo has finally moved in with Mark and everyone else in California. He notices computers everywhere in the room. When he finally gets back to Harvard, it is his final year in university so he reduces his class in order to focus on Facebook. Mark seems a bit angry with Eduardo because of the fact that Eduardo froze the bank account. Mark then retaliates by proceeding with the investor meetings that were against Eduardo's wishes. Right now, Facebook is at almost a million users (750, 000 specifically) and Mark thinks that Eduardo should back off a little while he also contributes to the business aspect of Facebook. While Eduardo was in New York and Mark in California (Mark has dropped out of Harvard and now lives in California), Eduardo had added some special features like a "wall" where people would communicate with one another. There were also groups for people to join and create, an idea suggested to Mark by Eduardo.
Eduardo is in front of Facebook's lawyers who have presented him a deal that they wish for him to sign. The document supposedly curtailed Mark's ownership of Facebook, down to 51% while Eduardo owns 34% and Sean Park would have 6.47% while Dustin would have 6.81%. Eduardo thinks that he is being included especially when Mark invites him to a party that will be held in California when Facebook has reached a million users. Soon after, Eduardo receives an email from Mark requesting for him to come down to California for an important meeting and to train someone who would help with the business aspect of the company. In the email, it states that Dustin is selling a part of his share and Sean Parker had received 2 million dollars profit from Facebook. Bewildered, Eduardo goes to California with the intentions to ask Mark how it's possible Dustin and Sean are doing all of this when they are not a big part of the company. When he comes, he meets with Mark and lawyers. The lawyer basically tell him that he would be expunged from Facebook and he has almost no shares. He feels extremely betrayed by Mark as he is also told that Sean is now the new vice president of Facebook.
Meanwhile, Sean Parker takes Mark to an important meeting but requests that he acts like a "diva". He tells Mark to show up to the meeting 15 minutes late while wearing pajamas and to act like he doesn't care because he runs the show and everyone wants to be a part of it. Eduardo is back at Harvard - graduating and he could not be more proud of all of success both in high school and at the university. After graduation day, Eduardo begins planning out where to go from there/what to do with his life. First, he starts off by hiring lawyers, sending out letters, and making his intentions clear to Mark that he wanted to sue them for depriving him of what rightfully is also his. He hated the fact that he will go against his friend in court but he felt that he needed to do what he needed to do.
Sean is at an undergraduate party where there is drinking and tons of craziness and illegal acts going on. The police come to stop the party then they arrest him. He is not sure if he has been set-up or simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time but he knows that Mark will get very angry with him. Likewise, Mark fires him from being a part of Facebook because it will give the company a bad reputation/name to say that their vice president, who is 26 was at an undergraduate party flirting with girls and drinking with people who are underage. Back in Boston, the bacchanalian Eduardo sees one of the twins at a party. He simply approaches him and the book ends with him telling the twin that Mark had betrayed and screwed him up, too.
"Then full realization hit him like a gunshot to the chest, shattering him from the inside out, destroying a part of him that he knew he'd never get back." (Mezrich 239)
"To Eduardo, this was betrayal, pure and simple. Mark had betrayed him, destroyed him, taking it all away. It was all right there, in the papers in his hands, as clear as the pitch-black letters imprinted on those ivory-white pages." (Mezrich 239)
I love the imagery that Mezrich used to describe the sensation that was going through Eduardo's mind as he just realizes that he has been betrayed by his best friend. The imagery used is that of a gunshot and he also uses simile to compare the realization to the gunshot at the chest. Gunshots are meant to destroy/injure and likewise, betrayal serves the same purpose. In this first quote, he makes the use of "showing, not telling" which I like because I can picture it more while in the second quote on the same page, he sort-of explains it by saying that Mark had betrayed him and destroyed him. I then admire and love when he said the "pitch-black letters imprinted on those ivory-white pages." I mean, can he truly get more descriptive than that? I love the description of the ivory-white pages, it's not often that I see paper being described that way especially the pitch-black letters that are striking out to him. In addition, he once again makes use of simile with the use of "as". One technique that I think Mezrich used to make it even more descriptive is the fact that he described the adjective. He says "pitch-black". Most people would just say black but he added the pitch to make it clear that it's extremely dark. Besides, there are more than one shades of black...the pitch/really dark black, off-black, etc. Then with the white page description, he says "ivory-white". To me, that makes it more fun to read and adds more details to description.
For me, I felt the emotion Mezrich was evoking as he stated Eduardo's state of mind as he is being betrayed. Therefore, the quote serves its purpose to me by reaching out to me - the reader, and forcing an emotion out of me as I am reading. I feel that it was very malicious of Mark to do that to his friend but then again, there must have been a misunderstanding somewhere. I'm sure if one was to ask the two of them, they would both tell their tale of the story and it may very well be two opposite things. Eduardo felt that he contributed to the making of Facebook, he did, at least financially, while Mark felt that Eduardo betrayed/was seeking to destroy Facebook by freezing the account and a few other things. To me, Eduardo cared about Facebook, about Mark, and about everyone's well-being. It is truly a shame that their friendship had to be destroyed and Eduardo cannot share in the jubilation of Facebook.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. I don't believe that I was ever bored or found myself sleeping to the book. It is a melodramatic book so there was always excitement that I was eager to continue reading. Prior to reading it, I watched the Social Network which I later on discovered after some chapters that the movie is based off on it, as there are several striking similarities. It was definitely a fun read and I was not expecting a "history" book to be like that. Usually, I envisage history books to be those that you would just have to force me to read and one that I would simply fall asleep to. However, this was not the case. I have witnessed other people say the book was boring at parts but I really liked it. For a history book especially, I would have to say that it was pretty darn good :)
****I absolutely loveeee and admire Ben Mezrich's rich grammar and vocabulary in the novel. Omg, I learned countless numbers of new words and techniques in my writing so I have to give him tremendous props for that. I'm a big fan.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Accidental Billionaires(169-224)
The chapter begins with the twins and their friend Divya launching their website, ConnectU. They got an Indian computer nerd to help them do it and although they are excited that it is being launched for the first time, they are very pissed off. They are still angry because they believe that Mark stole their idea and their franchise. If he had not had done that, it would be their names in the media and their website that everyone nationally would be talking about. Therefore, they think that although the website is out there in the public, Mark has stole their thunder and their website probably will not be as successful. They are not angry at the idea that Mark might possibly make a huge profit out of the website because their families are rich but they're angry at the fact that he is getting fame out of what is rightfully theirs. In addition, it is unfair and frustrating.
In California, Mark and his friends spot Sean Parker as he is walking down the streets around his girlfriend's house. Initially, he does not recognize them and finds it strange that college guys were in this neighbourhood because the environment, overall, is for wealthy older people. He is then happy to be seeing them and sees it as fate had brought them together once again. Sean is living at his girlfriend's parents house and will be homeless in a few days. Mark then makes a gesture that he can come live with them and Sean takes the invitation. Throughout the time that Mark is talking, Sean finds it very strange that Eduardo is not there to contribute and is even thinking that maybe he is not part of the equation anymore. The next few days, Sean begins to realize how passionate Mark is and how much of a genius he truly is. At times, Mark is working from 12 noon until 5 AM to expand thefacebook into a bigger project. Sean starts excluding Edardo from his mind because the fact that he is not here means that he does not want to be here so now knows the way for him to make a huge profit is to work with these four guys in front of him. In Sean's mind, in order to create a social network website, you have to be social. So he is going to try to eradicate Mark's social awkwardness and will introduce him to a world of partying, drinking and girls. As for Eduardo, he thinks that it is simply unfortunate he will not be a part of the journey.
Eduardo is tired of missing the big meetings and the big parties the rest of the guys have been attending. Eventually he changes his mind and quits his internship. He then travels down to California and Mark & the guys are supposed to pick him up from the airport. When they come, he notices that Sean is not with them. Rather, he is at a party. Later on, the guys meet up with Sean at the party where they are invited up to the VIP section with Sean. Sean then pours them a glass of very expensive vodka. At the VIP section, Sean is blabbing on about a time where he was at a party/event for Paypal. Eduardo, on the other hand, is not paying attention because the table next to his is the table of four Victoria Secrets models. One of them begin talking to Mark and after small talk, the next thing Eduardo sees is the model and Mark walking out of the party.
The next day, Eduardo feels his phone vibrate. The person calling is Kelly and suddenly he feels guilty because he has not called her for a while since being in California. Note that Kelly is a very jealous girlfriend who is constantly assuming and accusing Eduardo of cheating. When he picks up the phone, she is sobbing because she had set the present he left for her and his clothes on fire. The fire department had to come set the fire off and were even considering arresting her.
Tyler and Cameron attend a crew meet in England. Although they raced very hard, they are beaten by the Dutch team by two seconds. Afterwards, a man comes to talk to them because his daughter had taken pictures of them racing. When the man says that the daughter can send the pictures to them via thefacebook, both Cameron and Tyler are outraged because they had not realized that the website is becoming an international affair. Their idea is being turned into this exorbitant thing that everyone is talking about.
The next chapter is about Eduardo and his thoughts. He feels extremely excluded from thefacebook because Mark is attending all these meetings set up by Sean with top executives without consulting him. He has been sending Mark numerous messages in the hopes of getting connected with thefacebook. He is also very aware that the company is going to be needing more money as more people join the site. To get his message across, the decides to freeze the account so that neither Mark nor Sean will be able to take money out of the account.
Sean and Mark continue on with their lives. They attend a huge meeting with Peter Thiel, a big business man, who is always looking for the next big thing. Within a span of 15 minutes, he offers them a done deal of $500, 000 to work with them on thefacebook. After careful deliberation, they agree to the deal, agree to drop "thefacebook" to just "Facebook" and agree to letting Mr. Thiel have 7% of the profit. From the perspective of Sean, he thinks that they are better off without Eduardo He thinks that Eduardo betrayed them by leaving at the most crucial time for Facebook, freezing the account, threatening them, and most importantly, threatening Facebook. For that reason, he thinks that Eduardo's 30% profit from the company should be lowered because he is not really offering them anything no longer. Despite that, he is excited to be working towards a company that he knows has so much potential and pleased to be working with Mark Zuckerberg who he knows will do anything for his creation.
"He still had that college girlfriend whom he saw about once a week, and he liked to take long drives when he got tired of the computer-but otherwise he was a coding machine. He lived, breathed, and ate the company he had created." (Mezrich 210)
This quote demonstrates the dedication and hard work Mark had put in before and while creating Facebook. A person once advised me not to text and do other frivolous things because the time that I am taking to do those things are the times where I could be coming up with or implementing on a killer idea. Mark clearly lives by this standard that I was once advised. He only saw his girlfriend once a week (practically was too busy and did not have time for her) and everything he did was dedicated to making Facebook the grande network that it is today. Occasionally, of course, because he is human, he took breaks but those breaks were to take long drives. He did not spend time watching TV or other activities that a copious amount of twenty year olds enjoyed. Rather, he spent time chasing his dreams. My parents always advice me not to watch TV and to find a passion that will get me somewhere in life. They always tell me that TV will always be there after I become successful and it is always best to work towards success now and to enjoy these little things after I have reached the apex. Therefore, this quote allowed me to think in retrospect of many words of wisdom that I grew up listening to and it really shows me the efforts geniuses put in becoming great.
I also like the subtle imagery the author put (if that is imagery) about Mark living, breathing, and eating the company. Ultimately, it shows that that is what he spent his entire time doing because he was dedicated.
In California, Mark and his friends spot Sean Parker as he is walking down the streets around his girlfriend's house. Initially, he does not recognize them and finds it strange that college guys were in this neighbourhood because the environment, overall, is for wealthy older people. He is then happy to be seeing them and sees it as fate had brought them together once again. Sean is living at his girlfriend's parents house and will be homeless in a few days. Mark then makes a gesture that he can come live with them and Sean takes the invitation. Throughout the time that Mark is talking, Sean finds it very strange that Eduardo is not there to contribute and is even thinking that maybe he is not part of the equation anymore. The next few days, Sean begins to realize how passionate Mark is and how much of a genius he truly is. At times, Mark is working from 12 noon until 5 AM to expand thefacebook into a bigger project. Sean starts excluding Edardo from his mind because the fact that he is not here means that he does not want to be here so now knows the way for him to make a huge profit is to work with these four guys in front of him. In Sean's mind, in order to create a social network website, you have to be social. So he is going to try to eradicate Mark's social awkwardness and will introduce him to a world of partying, drinking and girls. As for Eduardo, he thinks that it is simply unfortunate he will not be a part of the journey.
Eduardo is tired of missing the big meetings and the big parties the rest of the guys have been attending. Eventually he changes his mind and quits his internship. He then travels down to California and Mark & the guys are supposed to pick him up from the airport. When they come, he notices that Sean is not with them. Rather, he is at a party. Later on, the guys meet up with Sean at the party where they are invited up to the VIP section with Sean. Sean then pours them a glass of very expensive vodka. At the VIP section, Sean is blabbing on about a time where he was at a party/event for Paypal. Eduardo, on the other hand, is not paying attention because the table next to his is the table of four Victoria Secrets models. One of them begin talking to Mark and after small talk, the next thing Eduardo sees is the model and Mark walking out of the party.
The next day, Eduardo feels his phone vibrate. The person calling is Kelly and suddenly he feels guilty because he has not called her for a while since being in California. Note that Kelly is a very jealous girlfriend who is constantly assuming and accusing Eduardo of cheating. When he picks up the phone, she is sobbing because she had set the present he left for her and his clothes on fire. The fire department had to come set the fire off and were even considering arresting her.
Tyler and Cameron attend a crew meet in England. Although they raced very hard, they are beaten by the Dutch team by two seconds. Afterwards, a man comes to talk to them because his daughter had taken pictures of them racing. When the man says that the daughter can send the pictures to them via thefacebook, both Cameron and Tyler are outraged because they had not realized that the website is becoming an international affair. Their idea is being turned into this exorbitant thing that everyone is talking about.
The next chapter is about Eduardo and his thoughts. He feels extremely excluded from thefacebook because Mark is attending all these meetings set up by Sean with top executives without consulting him. He has been sending Mark numerous messages in the hopes of getting connected with thefacebook. He is also very aware that the company is going to be needing more money as more people join the site. To get his message across, the decides to freeze the account so that neither Mark nor Sean will be able to take money out of the account.
Sean and Mark continue on with their lives. They attend a huge meeting with Peter Thiel, a big business man, who is always looking for the next big thing. Within a span of 15 minutes, he offers them a done deal of $500, 000 to work with them on thefacebook. After careful deliberation, they agree to the deal, agree to drop "thefacebook" to just "Facebook" and agree to letting Mr. Thiel have 7% of the profit. From the perspective of Sean, he thinks that they are better off without Eduardo He thinks that Eduardo betrayed them by leaving at the most crucial time for Facebook, freezing the account, threatening them, and most importantly, threatening Facebook. For that reason, he thinks that Eduardo's 30% profit from the company should be lowered because he is not really offering them anything no longer. Despite that, he is excited to be working towards a company that he knows has so much potential and pleased to be working with Mark Zuckerberg who he knows will do anything for his creation.
"He still had that college girlfriend whom he saw about once a week, and he liked to take long drives when he got tired of the computer-but otherwise he was a coding machine. He lived, breathed, and ate the company he had created." (Mezrich 210)
This quote demonstrates the dedication and hard work Mark had put in before and while creating Facebook. A person once advised me not to text and do other frivolous things because the time that I am taking to do those things are the times where I could be coming up with or implementing on a killer idea. Mark clearly lives by this standard that I was once advised. He only saw his girlfriend once a week (practically was too busy and did not have time for her) and everything he did was dedicated to making Facebook the grande network that it is today. Occasionally, of course, because he is human, he took breaks but those breaks were to take long drives. He did not spend time watching TV or other activities that a copious amount of twenty year olds enjoyed. Rather, he spent time chasing his dreams. My parents always advice me not to watch TV and to find a passion that will get me somewhere in life. They always tell me that TV will always be there after I become successful and it is always best to work towards success now and to enjoy these little things after I have reached the apex. Therefore, this quote allowed me to think in retrospect of many words of wisdom that I grew up listening to and it really shows me the efforts geniuses put in becoming great.
I also like the subtle imagery the author put (if that is imagery) about Mark living, breathing, and eating the company. Ultimately, it shows that that is what he spent his entire time doing because he was dedicated.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
The Accidental Billionaires(108-169)
In this section of the novel, both Eduardo and Mark attend a presentation where Bill Gates is making a speech. Bill Gates, according to the novel, shares some similar inward and outward characteristics as that of Mark. They are both lanky/awkward, pale, not very gregarious, and are not good public speakers. However, their presence, although it may be ungraceful, is still very inspiring. Bill Gates tells the Harvard students about his experiences as a student at Harvard. He had a habit of cutting classes then eventually he dropped out of college to pursue his goal of creating his own business. He also mentions that there very well could possibly be the next Bill Gates in this very room he is speaking in. He also says that if anyone has any ideas and they need to drop out of school, they will be able to come back to Harvard at any time. To Eduardo, dropping out is not a possibility he is even considering. He has worked hard to get himself where he is - at Harvard and continued working hard to maintain good grades. His father would also strongly prevent him from dropping out. Also, Eduardo thinks that entrepreneurship is successful if there is risk-taking involved but the risk-taking only has to be to a certain degree.
At the event, there are these two Asian girls who catches the eyes of Eduardo. Eduardo begins talking to the girls, however, they are more interested about talking to Mark. Recently, Mark has become an instant celebrity on campus and everyone knows who he is and what he looks like. The Crimson newspaper has also published articles about him several times so that has also accumulated to his publicity. Eduardo begins coming up with ideas of how to make Facebook even greater - to him, Facebook is just a successful novelty which has the potentials of expanding much further. He then plans of convincing Mark about showing ads on Facebook because that would enable them to make tons of money off of it. In Mark's mind, he just wants Facebook to be for fun, not necessarily to make money off of it. Eduardo is beginning to feel nervous about the whole thing because as the website is gaining more members, the cost of the server (which he is paying for) is going up. When he meets up with Mark to discuss his plans, both Mark and he read an email sent by Cameron Winklevoss. The email states that Tyler, Cameron, and Divya are all advising Mark to take down the website he created otherwise they will consider taking some legal and ethnic actions. They believe that Mark stole the idea from them and if Mark himself does not take the website down, the next step for them will be to sue.
Both Mark and Eduardo recruit some of their other friends to help out with Facebook. Their friend Dustin will handle the other computer stuff that Mark won't have time to handle while Chris will be in charge of the publicity and getting the name known further elsewhere. The four of them together will all take the site to the next level. They all structure/divide up their works and responsibilities. Mark is the CEO/master/commander and will get 65% of the profit when they add advertisements. Eduardo is the CFO and will handle the business aspect of Facebook. He will get 30% of the profit. Dustin is the vice president and the head of programming and will get around 5% of the company while Chris is the director of publicity and will also get whatever is left. Mark suggests that they expand Facebook onto other schools but only to the elite schools for now. Yale, Columbia, and Stanford will have full access to the website. Still the schools will need too have a school e-mail address to log into the site.
Soon, Mark and Eduardo begin to adhere to the publicity they are receiving from Facebook. After all, the Asians girls they met the other night were interesting in talking to them because of their admiration for the website. Eduardo takes out the Asian girl that he likes and goes to the bathroom with her after their dinner. They both play around and have a little fun. A few minutes later, Eduardo witnesses some moaning sounds coming from the bathroom stall next to him. He then hears Mark's voice and realizes that Mark has more things in common than he thought. They both like to have fun and never realized that a website could get them girls they never thought they would have in a life time.
A few days later, the twins go visit the President of Harvard. They had booked an appointment with him and wanted to discuss with him the idea stolen from them by Mark. They had written a 10-page complaint prior to the meeting. When they meet the president, they begin to become frustrated because the president is making it seem as if their case isn't a big deal. He tells them that he does not see what the big issue is. Still, the twins persist and say according to the Harvard student rule book, what Mark did is an offense and he should be reprimanded for it. He also tells them that it is not a university issue and the dispute should be handled between the people involved. Basically, there is nothing he can do about it and they are on their own.
The next chapter begins with a guy called Sean Parker. He is living nearby the Stanford University campus and has access to a lot of the college girls out there. Sean has a lot of success on his behalf. He is the creator of a website called Napster, which is a music downloading website. His website had got shut down so he created another one with his friend called Plaxo. Soon after Plaxo was created, the website also ended up badly. He now has nothing doing in his life. By the girls on campus and people everywhere, he is seen as a bad boy because he parties, sleeps with a lot of girls, and there are rumours that he does drugs. Throughout this time that Sean has been idle, he has been looking for a big opportunity to get his life back together. He has been searching for the next big thing that he will be a part of. He had heard about Friendster and Myspace but neither of the two were things he wanted too be part of.
Sean Parker then encounters the website "TheFacebook". He loves the idea of it being a social network website. He then looks to pursue the business - hoping that it will be his number 3 career venture after Napster and Plaxo. He schedules to meet up with Eduardo, Eduardo's girlfriend, and Mark at a Chinese restaurant in New York. They discuss a bit about how big the website can get if it is taken the right direction and Eduardo can see by Mark's expressions that he idolizes Sean. Eduardo and Mark had been attending various meetings with different companies to see if they can use the companies' advertisements on the website. Prior to Sean's interest in their website, no other company or businessmen had been interested in them.
Mark and his friends drop a bombshell to Eduardo. They opened up a new website and they will be going to California for the summer to see how that will work out. In addition, Mark will be hiring two interns to assist them. Meanwhile, Eduardo will be taking on an internship at one of his father's company and will also be attending a few meetings for Facebook. He is a bit nervous about being away from Mark for the summer but thinks that they can work on the website from different states. He also agrees to fund Mark's trip and everything else that involves money. Perhaps the separation will give them space to strengthen their business and of course, not much could possibly go wrong within a time span of three months.
"Sean reached across the table, going right for Mark-and Eduardo saw it, then and there-the look on Mark's face, the sudden flush in his cheeks and the brightness in his eyes. Pure idol worship." (Mezrich 155)
This quote shows me what it means to be great. Even the greatest/most successful people have idols that they look up to because that person has accomplished what s/he aspires to accomplish. Here, Mark is idolizing Sean Parker who is a successful programmer himself. Sean is the founder of Napster and Plaxo which were both successful before they got shut down. Sean comprehends Mark more than pretty much anyone does because he has done what Mark is doing. Therefore, he probably knows the best and can probably advice Mark on what to do better than anyone else, of course, if he has good intentions for Mark. I also like the way Mezrich described the idolization process that Mark is going through then lets the readers actually know what is happening. He is using the writing method "show, not tell". He describes the flush of Mark's cheeks and how his eyes lights up while conversing with Sean. However, I think that Mark should be aware of Sean. The first thing Sean does when reaching the table is making contact with Mark only even though Eduardo is next to Mark. If Sean has good intentions and wants to strengthen the company, I would think that he would also want to build up a good relationship with Eduardo as well. Maybe he figures that Mark is more gullible and if he wants to take advantage of someone connected with Facebook, Mark would be the guy. Still, I think that it is good to have idols but when you come up with a brilliant idea, there are going to be plenty of people out there seeking to be part of the idea and betray you. Hence, the title of the book, "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." Perhaps Sean gains Mark's trust and somehow ends up betraying him...
At the event, there are these two Asian girls who catches the eyes of Eduardo. Eduardo begins talking to the girls, however, they are more interested about talking to Mark. Recently, Mark has become an instant celebrity on campus and everyone knows who he is and what he looks like. The Crimson newspaper has also published articles about him several times so that has also accumulated to his publicity. Eduardo begins coming up with ideas of how to make Facebook even greater - to him, Facebook is just a successful novelty which has the potentials of expanding much further. He then plans of convincing Mark about showing ads on Facebook because that would enable them to make tons of money off of it. In Mark's mind, he just wants Facebook to be for fun, not necessarily to make money off of it. Eduardo is beginning to feel nervous about the whole thing because as the website is gaining more members, the cost of the server (which he is paying for) is going up. When he meets up with Mark to discuss his plans, both Mark and he read an email sent by Cameron Winklevoss. The email states that Tyler, Cameron, and Divya are all advising Mark to take down the website he created otherwise they will consider taking some legal and ethnic actions. They believe that Mark stole the idea from them and if Mark himself does not take the website down, the next step for them will be to sue.
Both Mark and Eduardo recruit some of their other friends to help out with Facebook. Their friend Dustin will handle the other computer stuff that Mark won't have time to handle while Chris will be in charge of the publicity and getting the name known further elsewhere. The four of them together will all take the site to the next level. They all structure/divide up their works and responsibilities. Mark is the CEO/master/commander and will get 65% of the profit when they add advertisements. Eduardo is the CFO and will handle the business aspect of Facebook. He will get 30% of the profit. Dustin is the vice president and the head of programming and will get around 5% of the company while Chris is the director of publicity and will also get whatever is left. Mark suggests that they expand Facebook onto other schools but only to the elite schools for now. Yale, Columbia, and Stanford will have full access to the website. Still the schools will need too have a school e-mail address to log into the site.
Soon, Mark and Eduardo begin to adhere to the publicity they are receiving from Facebook. After all, the Asians girls they met the other night were interesting in talking to them because of their admiration for the website. Eduardo takes out the Asian girl that he likes and goes to the bathroom with her after their dinner. They both play around and have a little fun. A few minutes later, Eduardo witnesses some moaning sounds coming from the bathroom stall next to him. He then hears Mark's voice and realizes that Mark has more things in common than he thought. They both like to have fun and never realized that a website could get them girls they never thought they would have in a life time.
A few days later, the twins go visit the President of Harvard. They had booked an appointment with him and wanted to discuss with him the idea stolen from them by Mark. They had written a 10-page complaint prior to the meeting. When they meet the president, they begin to become frustrated because the president is making it seem as if their case isn't a big deal. He tells them that he does not see what the big issue is. Still, the twins persist and say according to the Harvard student rule book, what Mark did is an offense and he should be reprimanded for it. He also tells them that it is not a university issue and the dispute should be handled between the people involved. Basically, there is nothing he can do about it and they are on their own.
The next chapter begins with a guy called Sean Parker. He is living nearby the Stanford University campus and has access to a lot of the college girls out there. Sean has a lot of success on his behalf. He is the creator of a website called Napster, which is a music downloading website. His website had got shut down so he created another one with his friend called Plaxo. Soon after Plaxo was created, the website also ended up badly. He now has nothing doing in his life. By the girls on campus and people everywhere, he is seen as a bad boy because he parties, sleeps with a lot of girls, and there are rumours that he does drugs. Throughout this time that Sean has been idle, he has been looking for a big opportunity to get his life back together. He has been searching for the next big thing that he will be a part of. He had heard about Friendster and Myspace but neither of the two were things he wanted too be part of.
Sean Parker then encounters the website "TheFacebook". He loves the idea of it being a social network website. He then looks to pursue the business - hoping that it will be his number 3 career venture after Napster and Plaxo. He schedules to meet up with Eduardo, Eduardo's girlfriend, and Mark at a Chinese restaurant in New York. They discuss a bit about how big the website can get if it is taken the right direction and Eduardo can see by Mark's expressions that he idolizes Sean. Eduardo and Mark had been attending various meetings with different companies to see if they can use the companies' advertisements on the website. Prior to Sean's interest in their website, no other company or businessmen had been interested in them.
Mark and his friends drop a bombshell to Eduardo. They opened up a new website and they will be going to California for the summer to see how that will work out. In addition, Mark will be hiring two interns to assist them. Meanwhile, Eduardo will be taking on an internship at one of his father's company and will also be attending a few meetings for Facebook. He is a bit nervous about being away from Mark for the summer but thinks that they can work on the website from different states. He also agrees to fund Mark's trip and everything else that involves money. Perhaps the separation will give them space to strengthen their business and of course, not much could possibly go wrong within a time span of three months.
"Sean reached across the table, going right for Mark-and Eduardo saw it, then and there-the look on Mark's face, the sudden flush in his cheeks and the brightness in his eyes. Pure idol worship." (Mezrich 155)
This quote shows me what it means to be great. Even the greatest/most successful people have idols that they look up to because that person has accomplished what s/he aspires to accomplish. Here, Mark is idolizing Sean Parker who is a successful programmer himself. Sean is the founder of Napster and Plaxo which were both successful before they got shut down. Sean comprehends Mark more than pretty much anyone does because he has done what Mark is doing. Therefore, he probably knows the best and can probably advice Mark on what to do better than anyone else, of course, if he has good intentions for Mark. I also like the way Mezrich described the idolization process that Mark is going through then lets the readers actually know what is happening. He is using the writing method "show, not tell". He describes the flush of Mark's cheeks and how his eyes lights up while conversing with Sean. However, I think that Mark should be aware of Sean. The first thing Sean does when reaching the table is making contact with Mark only even though Eduardo is next to Mark. If Sean has good intentions and wants to strengthen the company, I would think that he would also want to build up a good relationship with Eduardo as well. Maybe he figures that Mark is more gullible and if he wants to take advantage of someone connected with Facebook, Mark would be the guy. Still, I think that it is good to have idols but when you come up with a brilliant idea, there are going to be plenty of people out there seeking to be part of the idea and betray you. Hence, the title of the book, "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." Perhaps Sean gains Mark's trust and somehow ends up betraying him...
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