## New highlights added February 2, 2023 at 9:02 AM - If you are treated like an analyst, you are going to act like an analyst ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gr8cr9z4r9pv34madkg0kadx)) - If Internet 1.0 had been about selling stuff (Amazon, eBay), Internet 2.0 was about using the web as a communications medium. “‘2.0’ frenzy around social networking ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gr8csn6znnf3vnjgtre7e508)) - Experience showed that consumer internet companies were often founded by unorthodox characters ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gr8d4mpw2t3hxm1ybzqw0d3q)) - By restricting admission to users with Stanford emails, Thefacebook was managing the Friendster problem of unwanted guests. It had put up the equivalent of a velvet rope outside a nightclub. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gr8dd7dvn6sbmn8vqyfb7f96)) ## New highlights added February 3, 2023 at 9:14 AM - Parker reiterated his conviction that Thefacebook was so valuable that Accel would not offer enough for it ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gray72gmsswq373zw6ej5zsf)) - The question was how to get Thefacebook to accept Accel’s capital. The partnership knew it was up against a corporate investor, probably a big media firm, and Parker had revealed the terms that the rival was offering: a pre-money valuation—that is, the value without counting the new capital going in—of $60 million. After some deliberation, Accel sent Thefacebook a term sheet valuing it at the same $60 million price, but with an offer to inject more money than the other bidder. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01graygrgfajbmb5wy3rc36nvh)) - In a reprise of his conduct at Plaxo, Parker had resumed his erratic behavior: he was arrested (but never charged) for possession of cocaine at a beach house where he was partying with several friends, including an underage woman who was his assistant at Facebook.[[30]](#EndnoteNumber857) Having earlier ignored the lurid murals at the Facebook headquarters, Accel now decided that Parker had crossed the line. Jim Breyer, the Accel managing partner who had taken a seat on Facebook’s board, seized on the incident to demand Parker’s ouster. Despite Zuckerberg’s desire to forgive his friend, Breyer got his way, doing Facebook the service of eliminating a corrosive force within the company. In an echo of the Plaxo finale, Parker was forced to forfeit half of his options. Five years later, those options would have been worth about $500 million ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01graz55gtm464c43nnygyf00n)) - When Facebook went public in 2012, Accel reaped an astonishing profit of more than $12 billion.[[32]](#EndnoteNumber859) For shrugging off the slings and arrows of arrogant youth, the partnership had been amply rewarded. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01graz6nztt0nb8h4wp6cn26zy)) - VCs who back winning startups acquire a reputation for success, which in turn gives them the first shot at the next cohort of potential winners. Sometimes they get to buy in at a discount, because entrepreneurs value the imprimatur of renowned investors. This self-reinforcing advantage—prestige boosts performance, and performance boosts prestige—raises a delicate question. Is there really skill in venture capital, or are the top performers merely coasting on their reputations? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01graz9t2n2e4ck3srkdb7pnk9)) - But in the large majority of examples, new venture firms succeed because of the founders’ experience and status, not because of the claimed originality of their methods. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grb0dbsvxc9j3fpc60k2ys1j)) - As a doctoral student at Columbia University in 2005, a sociologist named Matthew Salganik took a closer look at the *Sugar Man* phenomenon. After all, versions of the Rodriguez story crop up repeatedly in the creative fields: *Harry Potter* became a blockbuster despite initial rejection by publishers. Many books, songs, and movies are good enough to have a shot at fame, yet a tiny number reap the majority of the spoils, and Salganik wanted to understand what determines these skewed outcomes. So, together with some collaborators, he designed an experiment. His results are a good starting point for a verdict on venture capital. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grb0jvesv1qnvb15336q7c0j)) - Try and fail, don’t fail to try. Remember, above everything, the logic of the power law: the rewards for success will be massively greater than the costs of honorable setbacks ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grb0kqh17sfgd3fbvtws74br))