In 2004, I gave $70 to Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. But it wasn’t to invest in their company, TheFacebook. It was to pay for their ride home after I told them I wasn’t interested. Here’s the full story of how my firm passed on a trillion-dollar opportunity: Back when Facebook was in its early stages, I was the first investor to meet Mark and Eduardo. I was an associate at Battery Ventures at the time, and the meeting took place in my Massachusetts office. Our valuation wasn’t what Mark and Eduardo were looking for, so we ultimately decided to pass on them. We believed that their company had a lot of potential, but the idea of investing behind a sophomore in college for a social network was unthinkable at the time. I found out too late that they didn’t have a means of transportation, and felt terrible learning that they had to pay $70 for a cab from Cambridge to Wellesley. So I drove them back myself, dropped them at Johnston Gate (one of the entrances to Harvard Yard), and gave them $70 in cash to pay for their cab. I guess that if I had put those $70 into the company at that time, they would now be worth A LOT more. Little did Battery Ventures know that that company would evolve into a trillion-dollar juggernaut a few years down the line. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that opportunity again. But something you learn in this business is that if you don’t pass on great companies somewhere in your history, then you’re not seeing great companies. At the end of the day, it’s all part of the journey. And that is, in my opinion, what makes it so fun.
It didn't change much, and that's why they go to Silicon Valley... 😪
It is about the vision and risk tollerent Prove that you really want rhe opportunity again by actively find one. Hit me up at hello@huuk.ai Born to Disrupt the Travel Industry | https://huuk.ai
I still like your discipline and strategy that you've pursued through the years I've known you as an accomplished investor. Here's one truth I've learned which is that price (i.e. valuation) always matters in the vast majority of cases and it only sometimes doesn't matter when you're lucky enough to win on a blockbuster moonshot (of course even then it still matters - the irrefutable truth is that lower price always translates to better upside/ downside math). I find that we tend to have a bias towards results over process / underwriting. Consider the following hypothetical: Let's say an alien came to earth for a day and entered into a casino. In that casino the alien sees someone winning jackpots twice with slot machines - the alien reports back to his extraterrestrial counterparts that he has come to earth and learned how to make big money fast playing the one-arm bandit of slots. Obviously it's a wrong takeaway that slot machines are a good way to make money. Hitting grand slams is sexy and exhilerating, but "money-balling" your way like a Billy Beane might be a more consistent and better expected probability outcome for most of us mortals.
Great humbling story! Maybe it helped make the decision to invest in a little known online pet food and supply retailer company… rhymes with phewy?? LOL! Nevertheless, great story!
I just wanted to add in my comment just so I can appreciate the pure candidness of sharing this story in the first place. think about it, he didn’t have to.
I am curious to know if Mark remembers that you did pay for their cab at least! As a bootstrapped founder, I appreciate everyone who is supporting me even if they don't invest.
Larry, in the post-Uber era, this ride costs half as much. Ready to try again with UniSub? 😀
Most people are not good at things the do the first time. You will not see any athlete at the Olympics, who didn’t train for years. So maybe Facebook simply wasn’t good in convincing investors. It was bad luck, that you were the first. After three or four pitches they learned, what is important to investors. And that’s the whole story.
What remains is that you share the story with us and I had a lot of fun reading it. Thank you very much for that.
Avionics Specialist / Inventor / Patent Holder / Entrepreneur
1ySo true what you said my friend! You can't win em all!.. It's all part of the journey!.. And these journey's are so much fun!!! 😆