A Story that Unlocks Your Limit to GrowthㅣAditya Agarwal | EO

And Oracle w- had really interesting technical problems, but I was looking for something that was more fast-paced, that was kinda really kind of, you know, able to move a lot faster.

I happened to get introduced to Mark through a common friend.

Mark was about 19 years old at that time.

He had just moved out from Harvard.

You know, one...

This is one of the beautiful things of Silicon Valley.

In Silicon Valley, people want to connect people.

I had no idea who Mark was, and I'll be honest, I had no idea what Facebook was, because Facebook launched at Carnegie Mellon after I graduated, so I'd never used the product.

So I went to meet Mark because somebody said, "This is a really, you know, passionate, intense, young person.

Go meet him.

See, you know, just you might enjoy the conversation." It was a short conversation with him.

It only lasted 15, 20 minutes.

We discussed some of the technical challenges, and we discussed a little bit about, like, "Hey, man, like, why is, why are you doing this? Why is this fun?" I did not know much about the product, but I was very sure that, like, I would have fun, like, when I was working at Facebook, and I would learn from the people, 'cause they were also, like, intense, they were driven, they were ambitious.

I think that when people make decisions about companies to start, I think oftentimes, you know, outside of Silicon Valley, the question is like, "Oh, what did you see in the idea? Did you understand it was gonna be such a big thing?" And I think what they miss out is that early days you don't know.

You can have a good idea.

An idea that felt good could be bad, vice versa.

But what you do know is that, like, this is a person that I want to, like, work with.

Like, this is an interesting person who has interesting ideas, and we will iterate our way to build something great, and that's exactly how I felt about Mark.

I still remember when I decided to join Facebook, I called my mom and dad, and they were like, "You're crazy.

Why are you leaving your well-paid, safe kinda job? You just got there.

Why not spend, like, the next three or four years building up a s- a base of savings?" But I think I always was just like, "Man, if I, if I'm not gonna take a risk when I'm 23, when am I gonna take a risk?" And then I spent the next six years.

And Oracle w- had really interesting technical problems, but I was looking for something that was more fast-paced, that was kinda really kind of, you know, able to move a lot faster.

I happened to get introduced to Mark through a common friend.

Mark was about 19 years old at that time.

He had just moved out from Harvard.

You know, one...

This is one of the beautiful things of Silicon Valley.

In Silicon Valley, people want to connect people.

I had no idea who Mark was, and I'll be honest, I had no idea what Facebook was, because Facebook launched at Carnegie Mellon after I graduated, so I'd never used the product.

So I went to meet Mark because somebody said, "This is a really, you know, passionate, intense, young person.

Go meet him.

See, you know, just you might enjoy the conversation." It was a short conversation with him.

It only lasted 15, 20 minutes.

We discussed some of the technical challenges, and we discussed a little bit about, like, "Hey, man, like, why is, why are you doing this? Why is this fun?" I did not know much about the product, but I was very sure that, like, I would have fun, like, when I was working at Facebook, and I would learn from the people, 'cause they were also, like, intense, they were driven, they were ambitious.

I think that when people make decisions about companies to start, I think oftentimes, you know, outside of Silicon Valley, the question is like, "Oh, what did you see in the idea? Did you understand it was gonna be such a big thing?" And I think what they miss out is that early days you don't know.

You can have a good idea.

An idea that felt good could be bad, vice versa.

But what you do know is that, like, this is a person that I want to, like, work with.

Like, this is an interesting person who has interesting ideas, and we will iterate our way to build something great, and that's exactly how I felt about Mark.

I still remember when I decided to join Facebook, I called my mom and dad, and they were like, "You're crazy.

Why are you leaving your well-paid, safe kinda job? You just got there.

Why not spend, like, the next three or four years building up a s- a base of savings?" But I think I always was just like, "Man, if I, if I'm not gonna take a risk when I'm 23, when am I gonna take a risk?" And then I spent the next six years.