There are many different examples of entrepreneurship examples in the modern world that show excellent results in their activities. One such example is such a famous personality as Mark Zuckerberg. This paper investigates and analyses Mark Zuckerberg’s entrepreneurial profile, the CEO and co-founder of Facebook and the youngest self-made billionaire. He attended Harvard University, majoring in computer science and psychology and in 2004 he developed Facebook and dropped out of the university to become fully dedicated to his invention. This paper discusses how Zuckerberg discovered and exploited his business opportunity that led to the colossal creation of Facebook. Studying this Facebook founder profile will help determine the qualities and features of effective and successful leadership and company management.
Discovery theory suggests that prior knowledge and expertise will enable individuals to find new ways to combine information and discover opportunities. Zuckerberg demonstrates characteristics of expert leadership and advanced knowledge of the related field of his business (Tobak, 2011). This characteristic is considered a critical asset in discovering entrepreneurial opportunities because it relies on the entrepreneur’s prior knowledge about products and markets (Alvarez, 2007). At the age of 12 he created “Zucknet”, a messaging program for communication with his family (Hartmans, 2017; Borgogni, n.d.). As a student at Harvard, he created Facemash-a platform where students could vote on their attractiveness using his algorithmic creation. Researchers emphasized that beyond economic strategies, entrepreneurs also employ strategies such as social networking to recognize and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities (Companys & McMullen, 2007). Hence, Zuckerberg’s expert leadership was manifested through his ability to combine his programming skills, creativity and utilize his understanding of social psychology. He shaped his environment’s needs and created products that were initially embraced first by his immediate environment, later viewed by the entire world through his future creation of the Facebook platform.
In the process of discovering this fantastic business opportunity time, he adopted an all-inclusive model of the entrepreneurial process that was framed by personal, sociological, organizational, and environmental factors (Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007; Kirzner, 1997). His high sense of ambitiousness and ingenious innovativeness are two characteristics that merged successfully with his ability to determine social and technologies, which are considered as the Silicon’s Valley ideology of “infectious optimism” (Barbrook and Cameron, 1996). Openness to experience reflects a person’s risk-taking, learning, and creativity.
People with an elevated level of openness can be described as creative, innovative, imaginative, reflective, and non-traditional, while those with low openness are often described as old-fashioned, narrow-minded, and lacking analytical skills (Zhao & Seibert, 2006). Zuckerberg famously quoted, “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg — Insights for entrepreneurs”, 2011). In line with the Internet trends, his innovative character and high aptitude for risk were critical factors that led to the groundbreaking discovery of Facebook.
One of the most pronounced successful steps that Mark Zuckerberg took was the adoption of new opportunities as a way to convey a commitment to the market. More specifically, his company Facebook has become a pioneer in the world of social networks. The source notes, “in order to gain the greatest advantage and achieve long-term success, firms need to start operating with investments in full-scale operations” (Choi & Shepherd, 2004). However, such activities may not always provide the organization with a specific place in the market (Dimov, 2012). An essential condition is maintaining motivation and confidence that the audience will like the product. Moreover, it is crucial to have faith in the high-quality use of the technologies used, the qualifications of the hired staff and to provide the company with support from interested parties.
Therefore, in addition to accepting the title of pioneer, Mark Zuckerberg can also be described as an excellent communicator and manager. Thus, he can make balanced and correct strategic decisions and at the same time listen to employees and all interested parties. The ability to ensure effective communication and the achievement of goals with its help also contributes to creating the best working conditions in various departments of the company. It is also noted that these valuable qualities help the creator of Facebook to increase the number of opportunities not only for his organization but also for its followers and the fulfilment of their goals.
Achieving the set goals and objectives is possible with certain leadership qualities. It is known that one of them is a “sense of purpose” (Gio and Yazdanifard, 2015, p. 2). This characteristic makes it possible to find many essential and necessary partners, investors, customers and employees. In addition, a leader with this aspect of personality can effectively shape the company’s strategy, predict their outcome and lead to positive results. The “sense of purpose” is inherent in Zuckerberg and distinguishes him from other managers, as it helps him communicate with a large number of people from different parts of the world. This strategy of his globally popular Facebook makes it possible to provide a valuable and helpful product to more customers at once.
In conclusion, Mark Zuckerberg has been one of the world’s leading entrepreneurs for the past 20 years. His impressive start as a Harvard student, to business entrepreneur, then to the creation of Facebook has paved the way for many following his lead. His creativity, along with leadership, has shown the world the power of a modern-day entrepreneur. Changing the market by introducing the first social media platform has reshaped how other companies and organizations operate. The factor of risk-taking, innovation, and reshaping the internet landscape has led to a thriving new market. While many new social media platforms have been created since the start of Facebook, the expectation of entrepreneurship has been redefined.
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