Zuckerberg: “We Don’t Build Services to Make Money”

It takes someone really special to look beyond money, lots of money to build something lasting. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is just such a person, but not many people have heard his saying (or writing) in a long letter embedded in Facebook’s filing to go public:

we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.

I never really think that way, you know, chicken and egg way when it comes to thinking “build service” and “make money”. But it gets me thinking…

The following is the juicy piece of his letter, it’s rewarding to read.

“I started off by writing the first version of Facebook myself because it was something I wanted to exist. Since then, most of the ideas and code that have gone into Facebook have come from the great people we’ve attracted to our team.
Most great people care primarily about building and being a part of great things, but they also want to make money. Through the process of building a team — and also building a developer community, advertising market and investor base — I’ve developed a deep appreciation for how building a strong company with a strong economic engine and strong growth can be the best way to align many people to solve important problems.

Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.

And we think this is a good way to build something. These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.
By focusing on our mission and building great services, we believe we will create the most value for our shareholders and partners over the long term — and this in turn will enable us to keep attracting the best people and building more great services. We don’t wake up in the morning with the primary goal of making money, but we understand that the best way to achieve our mission is to build a strong and valuable company.