For many aspiring software developers and entrepreneurs, the name that is the epitome of success is Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg has the conventional tycoon story. He dropped out of his sophomore year to concentrate completely on developing Facebook.
Mark co-founded and launched the app out of his Harvard University dormitory along with Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes in 2004. Today, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the top 15 billionaires in the world with a valuation standing at $71.2 billion according to Forbes.
In June 2021, Mark Zuckerberg revamped his vision for the social media company as a foresight of the digital future. He changed the name of the company to “Meta,” and introduced an augmented reality called “Metaverse.” He described this new leap as “the next chapter for the internet.”
Zuckerberg digitized the human experience of something as tangible as interaction, work, or playing games. This dystopian idea he describes as “You’re basically going to be able to do everything that you can on the internet today as well as some things that don’t make sense on the internet today, like dancing.”
Now that it will be the 1st anniversary of the birth of this parallel world, let’s look at some unfolded facts about the founder of the company, Mark Zuckerberg.
1) Mark Zuckerberg Almost Had A Deal With Microsoft
Back in the day, during his senior year at Phillips Exeter Academy, Mark co-created an application for MP3 fanatics. He created the application along with the Quora co-founder, Adam D’Angelo. For their senior year project, they created an application called “Synapse Music Player” which would create a playlist for the users based on their choices using Artificial Intelligence.
He explained the technology as simple where “There’s a screen you can look at where you can see the probabilities that it has calculated of you playing specific songs.”
After an article in 2002, the college lads were inundated with offers from Windows Media Player, Music March, Moodlogic, etc., Zuckerberg mentioned, “One of the companies offered us $950,000 but wanted us to go work for them for 3 years. We wanted to go to college, so we said no.”
But, a call that could have changed the face of Synapse was from Microsoft. However, the founders backed out of the deal due to suspicion of getting “ripped off” by the multi-billion dollar giant. Finally, they acquired a patent worth $12,000 and split the rights between them.
2) Mark Zuckerberg And His Wife Priscilla Chan Got Married In Their Backyard
When we hear about celebrity weddings, the adjectives like pomp, grandeur, and over-the-top, come to our mind. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Chan decided to hold their marriage in their $7 million mansion, but in its backyard with 100 people! In 2012, the world was taken by surprise by the Facebook CEO’s marriage as he updated his status “Married Priscilla Chan.”
A fun fact, the 100 people invited were also not aware of the wedding. They constructed a ploy by telling the guests that it is a surprise party for Chan as she graduated from the University of California. They pulled a Julia Roberts stunt like her famous Fourth of July wedding. Do not inform the guests about the purpose of the gathering and then spring the wedding on them.
3) The Media Giant Had A Phase Where He Ate The Meat He Killed
Mark went to the Before Christ era a decade ago! He went through a phase where he consumed the meat of the animal he killed. Jack Dorsey, the Founder, and CEO of the micro-blogging site, Twitter revealed this phase when asked about the most memorable encounter with Mark Zuckerberg.
He said, “There was a year when he was only eating what he was killing. Mark made goat for me for dinner, and killed the goat,” Dorsey said. “He killed it before [I got there].” Dorsey continued that he kills it with a laser gun or knife and then sends it to the butcher.
The interviewer was surprised. He continued, “I don’t know. A stun gun. They stun it, and then he knifed it,” Dorsey replied. “I go, ‘We’re eating the goat you killed?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Have you eaten goat before?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I love it.’ “
4) Priscilla Chan Signed A Contract With Him Before Moving In With Him To California
The couple started dating during their Harvard days. In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited his now wife, Priscilla, who was a medical student studying at the University of California, San Francisco, to move into his rented Palo Alto residence.
Prior to moving into the location, she hit him with a Relationship Contract that detailed he was required to provide her with a minimum of one date per week and a minimum of 100 minutes of alone time in a location that is not their apartment and not at the Facebook offices. Of course, he accepted the contract and now they are happily married.
5) Mark Was Against The Making Of The Social Network
The Social Network, a biopic based on Mark Zuckerberg’s journey was released in 2010. The film starred Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake in major roles. The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the movie read, “A mesmerizing, bewildering, and infuriating protagonist makes this movie about Facebook’s creation a must-see.”
However, Zuckerberg was unhappy with the making of the film. Mark Zuckerberg did not want the film made years ago because it can be “hurtful and untrue.” Zuckerberg discussed the film at Facebook’s Headquarters in California.
He was not happy with the fictionalized version of his life. During a Q&A session, he said, “I think the reality is that writing code and then building a product and building a company is not a glamorous enough thing to make a movie about, so you can imagine that a lot of this stuff they had to embellish or make up. They went out of their way in the movie to try to get some interesting details correct like the design of the office, but on the overarching plot… they just kind of made up a bunch of stuff that I found kind of hurtful.”
6) Mark Zuckerberg Is Color Blind
There is a season why Facebook’s logo is blue and has evolved with many shades of blue. The reason being Mark is colorblind. Since his childhood, he had Deuteranopia, a red-green type of color blindness. This makes him see the color blue at its best. Today, the blue logo has become a hallmark of the media giant.
7) The CEO Of Facebook Was Most Followed Person On Google+
Years after the launch of Facebook, Google attempted to replicate its social media networking with Google+. Upon launch, Zuckerberg joined the website immediately. He claimed that this was validation for his vision of the entirety of social networks. Ironically, he became the most followed user on Google+ almost instantly. Funny enough, his profile contains his photograph along with the phrase, “I make things.”
8) GQ Magazine Declared Him As the “Worst Dressed” Man
He has a signature style that did not sit well with the fashion magazine GQ. Mark’s gray T-shirt and jeans got him branded as the “Worst Dressed” Man of the Silicon Valley in the Magazine’s 2011 edition.
9) He Turned Vegetarian In 2011
Jack Dorsey may not again be served the meat of animals that Mark killed. In 2011, Zuckerberg decided to inculcate a vegetarian diet to be thankful for the food he consumes. Mark released a statement, “This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have.”
He continued with his resolution, “This year I’ve basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I’m eating is from animals I’ve killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I’m eating a lot healthier foods and I’ve learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals.”
10) Zuckerberg Created FaceMash At Harvard Leading To A Disciplinary Action
FaceMash was a predecessor of Facebook. It was originally founded by Mark Zuckerberg. It was an app created out of the physical database of students, congregated to tell whether a person is “Hot Or Not.” The project, intended as more of an inside joke than a wide-release software product, spread like a wildfire through the student community, where it quickly prompted outrage and was taken down. He stated, “Issues about violating people’s privacy don’t seem to be surmountable.”
11) Mark Zuckerberg Speaks Good Mandarin
Not only with technological prowess, but Mark is also a pupil of linguistics. During his visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing, he spoke Mandarin for 30 minutes straight during a Q&A session. The reason he cited was to communicate better with his wife, Chan and her grandmother.
12) “Ender’s Game” Is One Of His Favorite Books
The Hailee Steinfeld starrer Ender’s Games was adapted from the novel of the same name authored by Orson Scott Card. The novel presents imperiled humankind after two conflicts with the Formics, an insectoid alien species they dub the “buggers”. In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, Earth’s international military force recruits young children, including the novel’s protagonist, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, to be trained as elite officers. The children learn military strategy and leadership by playing increasingly difficult war games, including some in zero gravity, where Ender’s tactical genius is revealed. The book is an absolute favorite of the tech giant.
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