Becoming Facebook

Becoming Facebook

by Mike HOEFFLINGER
Released April 2017
Publisher(s): AMACOM
ISBN: 9780814437971

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Book description

Facebook’s founding is legend: In a Harvard dorm, wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg invented a new way to connect with friends…and the rest is history. But for the people who actually molded this great idea into a game-changing $300 billion company, the experience was far more tumultuous and uncertain than we might expect.

Mike Hoefflinger was one of those Facebook insiders. As a computer engineer turned marketing innovator who worked with COO Sheryl Sandberg, Hoefflinger had a front-row seat to the company’s growing pains, stumbles, and reinventions.

Becoming Facebook tells the coming-of-age story of the now venerable giant. Filled with insights and anecdotes from crises averted and challenges solved, the book tracks the company’s development, uncovering lessons learned on its way to greatness:

  • How Facebook recovered from its “disastrous” IPO
  • How the growth team achieved the impossible
  • Why Facebook’s News Feed ads were the company’s most important business decision ever
  • How Google+ attacked and lost
  • Why—and how—Instagram and WhatsApp were added to the mix
  • What the company does to win the talent wars
  • What makes Zuckerberg, Sandberg, Cox, and other A-teamers tick
  • Which products and technical advancements are on the horizon and why
  • And much more

Intimate, fast-paced, and deeply informative, Becoming Facebook shares the true story of how Zuckerberg joined the ranks of iconic CEOs like Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos—as Facebook grows up, overcomes setbacks, and works to connect the world.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Title
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. Part 1 Setting the Scene
    1. 1: The Bell Tolls: Half the company it used to be
    2. 2: Finding Your Inner Zuck: Everything at Facebook starts with Mark Zuckerberg, but it doesn’t end there
  8. Part 2 10 Challenges on the Road from Also-Ran to Juggernaut
    1. 3: How Facebook Turned Down $1 Billion
      1. Lesson 1: Know whether this is your next thing or your last thing.
    2. 4: How Facebook Became Your Lens on the World
      1. Lesson 2: Add by subtracting.
    3. 5: How Facebook Grows . . . and Grows
      1. Lesson 3: Know your North Star Metric, Magic Moment and Core Product Value.
    4. 6: How Facebook Built a $10 Billion Business in Three Years
      1. Lesson 4: Everybody wins if you democratize something for customers of all sizes.
    5. 7: How Facebook Goes Fast
      1. Lesson 5: Speed is a feature.
    6. 8: How Facebook Beat Google
      1. Lesson 6: Crossing the chasm is the best defense.
    7. 9: How Facebook Became More Than Facebook
      1. Lesson 7: Disrupt yourself before someone else does.
    8. 10: How Facebook Plays the Long Game
      1. Lesson 8: Some long games are worth playing if you take care of business in the meantime.
    9. 11: How Facebook Wins the Talent Wars
      1. Lesson 9: Employee engagement is everything. Fit to people’s strengths and ignore weaknesses.
    10. 12: How Facebook Became the Biggest of the Big
      1. Lesson 10: Care more.
  9. Part 3 The Future
    1. 13: Messaging Becomes the Medium: Two more giant apps and an artificial intelligence based on trillions of pieces of data.
    2. 14: Connecting the Next Billion People: The most questionable business decision for the best reasons.
    3. 15: “Transporting” a Billion of Us with VR and AR: Building the last screen.
    4. 16: What If Facebook “Wins”? Reknitting the Pangea of the mind.
  10. Part 4 Parting Thoughts
    1. 17: Failure Isn’t: Facebook doesn’t always hit it out of the park, and that’s a good thing.
    2. 18: Nothing Lasts Forever? No technology company is immune to disruption.
  11. Acknowledgments
  12. Notes
  13. Index
  14. About the Author
  15. Free Sample Chapter from Extreme Teams
  16. Other Best-Sellers from Amacom
  17. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Becoming Facebook
  • Author(s): Mike HOEFFLINGER
  • Release date: April 2017
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814437971