Startup culture in 2005–2006 lacked many later norms, making large acquisition offers feel unimaginable. The narrator considered early exits attractive given rapid value creation and personal circumstances. Very early company months brought severe personal crises: a girlfriend's coma, a pet's death, and a mother's diagnosis of aggressive stage-four glioblastoma. The mother's continued support and her apology reframed mortality for the narrator, reducing the emotional impact of business setbacks. Those experiences cultivated gratitude and a perspective that business problems pale compared with personal loss, influencing subsequent leadership and decision-making.
In 2005, 2006, it was not the startup economy. All the things we take for granted now were not a thing yet. I still distinctly remember the headline of Zuck turning down that billion-dollar offer [from Yahoo] as being so preposterous. I just thought, my God, if I could have gotten that much money for a few years' worth of work, I would've taken it in a heartbeat.
You have to consider $10 million of value creation in 16 months. When we first got the offer, I'm thinking: It's been not even a year. This is more money than my parents will earn their entire working lives. A certain amount of it is just my own naivete and also my circumstances.
And so, as a first-time CEO, fresh outta college, you're feeling invulnerable, feeling really good about building this business. And then all of these things happen. And in particular when my mom was diagnosed, it really framed mortality for me in a new way. This was an aggressive stage-four glioblastoma. They gave her a few years. To hear that and continue to have just unflappable support from her-I mean, literally her first words to me when I saw her at the hospital were "I'm sorry,"
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