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Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Child CEO, Should Hire a Real CEO

Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, Feb 06, 2008
 

I have thought for a while that Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook Founder and CEO) is certainly a very smart guy for starting Facebook and bringing it to its current level of success.  But I also think he is crazy for not selling at least a portion of his personal holdings - just to take some winnings off the table and make sure he is set for life.  Zuckerberg could do this with about 1% of the company, and still have a gigantic stake in Facebook.

The other thing that I find surprising is that he, and the investors, think he is the best CEO for the company right now.  They have hundreds of employees and are thinking about going public. Now, when I was 23, I certainly thought I was capable enough to lead a huge company through and IPO and manage all of the employees.  But, I was wrong.

4 Reasons Why Mark Zuckerberg Should Hire a New Facebook CEO

  1. Mark Zuckerberg will have trouble building a team.  The job of the CEO is to build and hire a great team.  Many really qualified VPs will have trouble working for a 23 year old.  No matter what your knowledge of social networking, there are just larger corporate issues you have zero experience with, and I think being 23 makes it a lot harder to hire a great management team.
  2. Mark Zuckerberg will have trouble pleasing Wall Street.  Wall Street (those folks you need to deal with after an IPO) can be hard to please.  One thing that they value is experience and seniority.  The current Facebook CEO has neither.  Having a gray-haired person in charge makes Wall Street feel good, and makes IPOs smoother.
  3. Mark Zuckerberg will lose touch with the customer.  Facebook is no longer for college students.  It is growing by over 250,000 users per day, and the biggest demographic is people not in college.  This is a very different audience with very different needs from college students.  One very valuable skill that marketing and product development people hone over many years is the ability to understand customers that are not like themselves.  I do not think a 23 year old can do that.  And it is critically important that the CEO has the pulse of your target market.
  4. Mark Zuckerberg has the wrong skills for the next phase of Facebook.  Facebook has crossed the chasm.  It is now going into the mainstream and has well over 60 million members.  Facebook is not about innovation, being scrappy and developing cool new stuff anymore.  Facebook is now about monetizing page views, a proper management structure for growth, and building profits.  Mark is clearly a good founder and startup CEO.  That role almost never overlaps with the roles of a mid-stage growth CEO.

Disclaimer - I have not met Mark Zuckerberg.  I have no idea how truly smart/stupid, mature/childish he really is.  This article is an opinion based on a little work experience and watching an episode of 60 minutes.  And of course, I am also jealous!

For some other commentary on Facebook, see this article about the top 10 Facebook career mistakes and the classic "Cool Wand" Facebook story.

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COMMENTS

Mike...all valid points. I saw the same interview. My only comment is if a VP does not want to work for a 23 year old that has a company on the trajectory that MZ has THEY are missing the opportunity. Also, there are a bunch of really good leadershiop training courses/seminars that he could involve himself with and that could be an option too.
There is also a book by Bob Fifer, Gordon Quick called the Enlightened CEO and they talk about the different skill sets that are required by CEO's as they travel through the growth of their companies. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1934380105?tag=mysuccessgate-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1934380105&adid=1AQ0M281NG9458Z5PEMW&

posted @ Thursday, February 07, 2008 7:07 AM by jim peake

Jim - Great points. Of course in the blogosphere you always want to take a side. I do think there are things he could do to improve, but it is a tough hill to climb.

posted @ Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:42 AM by

Yes Mike...he has a lot of problems we'd all love to have! ;-)

posted @ Thursday, February 07, 2008 10:27 AM by jim

Yup. I am certainly jealous!

posted @ Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:52 PM by

I couldn't agree more, but maybe Mark has that other side of him that the public hasn't seen yet. Individuals are allowed to make mistakes and grow from them (especially at 23). He can clearly set himself up for life with the snap of a finger, but what fun is that when you are 23 and building the next best thing to Google. Retirement is one thing, pride is another. We apparently watch the same television programming, and I'd like to see the unedited version. By the way, great link to the "cool wand" story.

posted @ Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:42 AM by Chris

I think you ought to let Mark Zuckerberg do his own thing. After all, what would have happened to Apple, Microsoft and dozens of other companies if the stock holders insisted on an older CEO to run their companies. Look at Googe. The founders should have been the CEOs. If they were the company would be a better company today.

posted @ Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:49 PM by Duane Sincerbox

@Duane - I think the Google example backs up my point, not yours. They are an amazing success by any metric and they brought in some "adult supervision". How and why do you think the co-founders would have done better without Eric Schmidt?

posted @ Monday, March 03, 2008 9:17 AM by

On one hand you have a point and on other you don't. What I mean is even if he's not a "qualified" CEO, all he has to do is surround himself with the right people and he'll do just fine. Get the right CFO get a ggod team and obviously pay them well and he should have no problem achieveing his goals

posted @ Monday, March 24, 2008 12:31 PM by amir

What is the "Next Phase" of Facebook any how? I have a Start Up that will break ground in 2009. Iam working with TomTom, Mike Murphy of FaceBook, Beryl Wolk, The Discovery Channel, PBS and working on a couple of other relationships.  
 
 
 
I am looking for a good CEO and I have conducted the entirety of where we are today on my own. I am not sure what this says but I know I need to get the proper foundation in place before I try to build my temple or else I will have built a giant card house that a single gust of wind will demolish and I am only 33. 
 
 
 
I believe that a visionary is not locked into society according to typical social rules and biases. A visionary gains respect through creation and the more people that benefit from the vision the more the vision will take shape. In essence the perpetual system is one in which the biproduct of the system creates the demand for the system to exist. Based on the fundamentals of a perpetual system age and or maturity are obstacles that only identify the opportunity for growth and change. A person who has a bias based on age is person blindfolded and has an opportunity. Age has little relevance in creativity and or vision. 
 
 
 
James 
 

posted @ Friday, August 22, 2008 4:32 PM by James

I could not agree with you more Mike (and yes, full disclosure, I work with Volpe) Everyone, check out this article: http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/31/technology/facebook_cfo.reut/index.htm 
 
Zuckerberg needs to become President and give up the Job of CEO to someone who knows how to do it, PRONTO.

posted @ Wednesday, April 22, 2009 4:21 AM by Rosanna

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