[dasil003]

> The web is a lottery.

This is quite an overstatement. You don't simply move to Palo Alto and then have a 1/65,412 chance of starting the next Google.

Instead you have to have a great vision, great execution, and great luck. Now Zuckerberg may not have Jobsian vision and execution (or maybe he does, only time will tell), but you can't argue that he executed the hell outta Facebook and he definitely has a vision even if you find it morally bankrupt. This definitely did not just magically fall in his lap, and he certainly deserves most of the credit regardless of what individuals he screwed over at various stages.

[cuergas]

I agree.

/The web is a lottery./d

(except I think it's quite possible for someone to do what's been done with Facebook without also being morally bankrupt)

But is the rest of the comment an overstatement?

Also, you forgot to mention great marketing. In the IM's I believe both of them at one point agree that great visionary ideas, no matter how well they are executed, (alas) do not market themselves.

[dasil003]

No I don't disagree with anything else.

Re: marketing, meh, I think Facebook pretty much went viral. Maybe there was more conscious effort there than I give it credit for, but it doesn't strike me as important for Facebook's rise.