Zuck & Spotify CEO's $1B Secrets

Hey everybody welcome back to the Product Market Fit Newsletter 🚀

My name is Guillermo Flor and I write this weekly newsletter to help founders, growth professionals and product people to grow & fund their companies.

I attended to the Acquired podcast with Mark Zuckerberg and Daniel Ek (Spotify). It was a masterclass for startup founders 📩

So I thought it would be valuable to share the most interesting learnings I picked👇

1. Best Founders are the Best Learners:

Number 1 lesson Daniel Elk got from Zuckerberg:

Zuckerberg can know nothing about a topic, and in a matter of short time, know more about it than most experts.

This allows for continued innovation in Meta.

2. Network effects & technology are the best Moat for any company

1. Network Effects:

Each additional user increases the platform’s value for all users.

At this point META is almost impossible to beat with almost 4billion users

2. Technology:

Meta was born as a tech company and has stayed that way.

They have some of the best talent in the world and that allows them to be the fastest innovators.

Meta’s management team has a good share of engineers 💻

This is because they consider themselves a tech company.

“You don’t want to have every person be an engineer but if you want to build a tech company you should definitely have a good share”

3. Don't sell if you aren't ready to sell:

- How Mark rejected $1 billion offer by Yahoo:

Mark Zuckerberg turned down a $1 billion offer from Yahoo just two years after starting Facebook. His investors wanted to take the deal. He refused.

Under pressure from investors and the board, Zuckerberg believed Facebook had much bigger potential. He saw it becoming a global platform that would change how people connect.

Rejecting Yahoo was risky, but it paid off. Facebook grew into a giant with billions of users, proving Zuckerberg’s vision right.

In 2006, Facebook’s key players included:

• Mark Zuckerberg: Founder and CEO.

• Eduardo Saverin: Co-founder and early CFO.

• Dustin Moskovitz: Co-founder and developer.

• Chris Hughes: Co-founder and spokesperson.

• Peter Thiel: First outside investor.

• Accel Partners: Major early investor.

Zuckerberg's bold decision shaped the future of Facebook.

- Peter Thiel on the $1 billion offer rejection:

4. Avoid losing control of your company and getting fired by investors: