In the cold light of day, Mark has done nothing more than anyone else would, there are sharks everywhere 1) waiting to steal your idea 2) to claim you stole their idea. What counts is ideas first then a whole lot of other skills and elements but in the end, what happens in the market is the only law there is. The moral of the story is, if you have the idea and the skills to make it happen, do it. Don't for one second rely on legal tenets to protect you after the fact. They don't work and never have. This is the cold sober fact. If you have what it takes prove it.
Mark did nothing wrong here. There was nothing really novel about FB, it was clean and doing what others do. FB does not claim Ning and everyone else are coping them... The only thing that is wrong is the assumptions that others made about how the real world works and that they are now sour grapes is absolutely no surprise. It won't be the first nor the last case where someone strikes gold and the rest of the world claim they helped hold the torch and then want a cut.
This comes from someone who has had millions in ideas 'directly' (drawings off the desk) stolen from him...
I don't cry about that, I play by the rules of the world, it's tough out there and to play you do so by the real ruthless rules of survival of the fittest or you will be a looser in a court claiming your owed a living.
Sure I had loads of ideas stolen, but I'm also a realist and know that I also borrow from others whom I stand upon their shoulders when I make my way in my ventures.
Next time if you have a good idea, don't talk about it do it....
There are plenty of other successful companies that weren't founded on fucking over everyone who helped in the early stages. Google for example. They didn't transfer the IP to a new corp after they realized it was a good idea.
I would agree with you on the surface, however the problem in my book arises when he was contracted to perform services and intentionally delayed production. It's sabotage, not savvy. Very poor taste and does not constitute a smart business man nor worthly competitor; a weasel's move. Had he heard the idea and walked away lacking confidence in their ability to execute, well... that's a completely different story.
Regardless, I still think he's a genuine entrepreneur and the success of Facebook is a reflection of his ambition. I only wish I had not heard this side of the story, it contradicts a more positive image I associated to him. It also sounds like success has gone to his head, a discount to fortune that makes it lonelier at the top.
The assertion that he intentionally sabotaged them seems just a touch far-fetched. They made an (it sounds like) informal contract with a procrastinating college sophomore, in the middle of a busy school term. Occam’s razor would suggest the delays were caused by disinterest, procrastination, and the busy-ness of his schedule, not malice or greed.
These guys were supposedly working on their site (of a relatively simple and obvious idea) for a year, with nothing to show for it, and their conclusion is: “'That's supposed to be us.' We're not there, because one greedy kid cut us out."” As if the 10 hours of work Zuckerberg didn’t do on their site was the only thing separating failure from unbelievable riches.
Yeah, its inconsistencies like these in the article that make you question just how much of the article is a good depiction of Z and how much of it is just pure spite.
Mark did nothing wrong here. There was nothing really novel about FB, it was clean and doing what others do. FB does not claim Ning and everyone else are coping them... The only thing that is wrong is the assumptions that others made about how the real world works and that they are now sour grapes is absolutely no surprise. It won't be the first nor the last case where someone strikes gold and the rest of the world claim they helped hold the torch and then want a cut.
This comes from someone who has had millions in ideas 'directly' (drawings off the desk) stolen from him...
I don't cry about that, I play by the rules of the world, it's tough out there and to play you do so by the real ruthless rules of survival of the fittest or you will be a looser in a court claiming your owed a living.
Sure I had loads of ideas stolen, but I'm also a realist and know that I also borrow from others whom I stand upon their shoulders when I make my way in my ventures.
Next time if you have a good idea, don't talk about it do it....