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How I Lost 170 Million Dollars: My Time as #30 at Facebook
What was life like in the early days of Facebook? How did the company operate when it was just a small startup? Who were this team of misfits that built one of the most powerful tech companies in the world? In How I Lost 170 Million Dollars, Noah Kagan paints a compelling picture of the ups, downs, hard work, wild partying, and fascinating characters that populated the office during his time as Facebook's 30th employee.
125 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 22, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
January 7, 2019
Noah Kagan was employee 30 at Facebook. He was fired after 8 months, before any of his stock options vested. Had he stayed three years he would be worth 170 million dollars (at the time of publication in 2014--more than double that today, more than triple that last summer). He now lives in Austin and wrote a somewhat interesting book about his life at Facebook. A few insights that stood out to me:
1. Kagan started working at Intel. "At big companies, you get complacent, meet others who are like that, and end up learning the skills you need to work at big companies." Kagan was getting soft and had contempt for all those who were soft. But he encourages people to keep their day job until they have the side business going. "There's no point jeopardizing your livelihood until you are nearly certain that what you are working on is, indeed, working." And what should you work on? "Solve your own problems in starting a business. You understand the problems the customer (yourself) faces and the ideal solution versus having to do market research. Also, it is much easier to persist with that business when times are tough."
2. The first thing Kagan realized at Facebook was how smart the people were. The second thing he noticed is how they assumed success was guaranteed. They believed they were destined for greatness. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. Zuckerburg kept total control of the product. He trusted others to make a lot of decisions, but he never allowed anyone to make any decision about what went live on the website. Zuckerburg kept sole and complete control of the product. Facebook didn't trust the users to know what they wanted. The medium was too new for potential users to understand what they wanted. Zuckerburg knew that users would scream and complain about every change to the site. He had contempt for their ignorance, believing he knew better than users what they wanted. It is as arrogant as hell, but it worked. Kagan believes that Zuckerberg didn't just get lucky. He beat competitors like MySpace (which was a lot bigger at the time) by making a lot of right decisions, and quickly fixing bad ones, over a 10 year period of time. It was an amazing focus on one thing (growth), attention to detail (every comma and word on the site), and an amazing work ethic (and some luck) that made it happen. Zuckerburg would spend a lot of time alone thinking deeply about where he wanted Facebook to go. It was his baby, built with a lot of help, but to his vision. Zuckerberg "was all about doing something great and not just about making money."
3. Facebook was a fratboy sexual harassment haven, like most programming shops in the past decade. Employees were encouraged to park on the street--and Facebook would pay their parking tickets. They drank a lot of Framboise--"a delicious French sweet beer you should definitely try".
4. Facebook "looked at engineers as gods and I still see it that way today. Engineers create. Everyone else's role is to support them as much as possible and remove anything in their way."
5. "Only people who kept taking initiative stayed around to help the business grow." It was a start-up and no big-company complacency was put up with. They fired people quickly--there was no loyalty--only the business mattered--as Kagan would soon find out. Zuckerberg's "ability to add people and immediately remove people is one of his strongest skills. He removed people immediately who were holding Facebook back and quickly promoted the ones who were helping it achieve success."
6. Zuckerberg had a room Kagan called "The Matrix": "It was an eerily all-white room with a white table, two whiteboards, and white chairs. He used this as his main meeting room and spent time diagramming things on the whiteboard for people who met with him." I want. Except wood paneled. With leather chesterfield sofas. LOL.
7. Why did Kagan get fired?
a. He leaked a story to TechCrunch about opening up Facebook beyond .edu addresses to allow corporate users to join the night before the big reveal. It was a casual conversation with a reporter at Coachella. He thought it was safe. The reporter went right to his computer and filed a story, pre-empting the announcement the next morning. People were not happy.
b. Kagan had a blog that was semi-popular and he kept promoting his own brand. Zuckerberg didn't like it. Kagan kept it going. Dumb move.
c. Kagan failed to impress Moskovitz on a simple project to choose which business domains should be invited to join Facebook first. He half-assed it and lost Moskovitz's (and maybe Zuckerberg's) faith in him.
d. Kagan failed to adjust to Facebook's growth. The company went from 30 to 100 employees in 6 months and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a refurbishment/redecoration of the offices, including very expensive high-end Herman Miller Aeron chairs. Kagan criticized the expenses, chaffed at the implementation of organizational policies and procedures. He didn't understand that nice offices were necessary to attract the best talent. Kagan generally tried to keep the frat-boy atm going longer than was appropriate
8. A final thought at the end of the book: "When a 'bad' thing occurs, the key point is to process the pain, LEARN for the next experience, and know it will get better. It always does. Remember when you broke up with your first significant other and you never thought you'd meet someone better. You always do." Love the optimism. Might be irrational, but what choice do we have but to believe and move forward? Full speed ahead.
1. Kagan started working at Intel. "At big companies, you get complacent, meet others who are like that, and end up learning the skills you need to work at big companies." Kagan was getting soft and had contempt for all those who were soft. But he encourages people to keep their day job until they have the side business going. "There's no point jeopardizing your livelihood until you are nearly certain that what you are working on is, indeed, working." And what should you work on? "Solve your own problems in starting a business. You understand the problems the customer (yourself) faces and the ideal solution versus having to do market research. Also, it is much easier to persist with that business when times are tough."
2. The first thing Kagan realized at Facebook was how smart the people were. The second thing he noticed is how they assumed success was guaranteed. They believed they were destined for greatness. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. Zuckerburg kept total control of the product. He trusted others to make a lot of decisions, but he never allowed anyone to make any decision about what went live on the website. Zuckerburg kept sole and complete control of the product. Facebook didn't trust the users to know what they wanted. The medium was too new for potential users to understand what they wanted. Zuckerburg knew that users would scream and complain about every change to the site. He had contempt for their ignorance, believing he knew better than users what they wanted. It is as arrogant as hell, but it worked. Kagan believes that Zuckerberg didn't just get lucky. He beat competitors like MySpace (which was a lot bigger at the time) by making a lot of right decisions, and quickly fixing bad ones, over a 10 year period of time. It was an amazing focus on one thing (growth), attention to detail (every comma and word on the site), and an amazing work ethic (and some luck) that made it happen. Zuckerburg would spend a lot of time alone thinking deeply about where he wanted Facebook to go. It was his baby, built with a lot of help, but to his vision. Zuckerberg "was all about doing something great and not just about making money."
3. Facebook was a fratboy sexual harassment haven, like most programming shops in the past decade. Employees were encouraged to park on the street--and Facebook would pay their parking tickets. They drank a lot of Framboise--"a delicious French sweet beer you should definitely try".
4. Facebook "looked at engineers as gods and I still see it that way today. Engineers create. Everyone else's role is to support them as much as possible and remove anything in their way."
5. "Only people who kept taking initiative stayed around to help the business grow." It was a start-up and no big-company complacency was put up with. They fired people quickly--there was no loyalty--only the business mattered--as Kagan would soon find out. Zuckerberg's "ability to add people and immediately remove people is one of his strongest skills. He removed people immediately who were holding Facebook back and quickly promoted the ones who were helping it achieve success."
6. Zuckerberg had a room Kagan called "The Matrix": "It was an eerily all-white room with a white table, two whiteboards, and white chairs. He used this as his main meeting room and spent time diagramming things on the whiteboard for people who met with him." I want. Except wood paneled. With leather chesterfield sofas. LOL.
7. Why did Kagan get fired?
a. He leaked a story to TechCrunch about opening up Facebook beyond .edu addresses to allow corporate users to join the night before the big reveal. It was a casual conversation with a reporter at Coachella. He thought it was safe. The reporter went right to his computer and filed a story, pre-empting the announcement the next morning. People were not happy.
b. Kagan had a blog that was semi-popular and he kept promoting his own brand. Zuckerberg didn't like it. Kagan kept it going. Dumb move.
c. Kagan failed to impress Moskovitz on a simple project to choose which business domains should be invited to join Facebook first. He half-assed it and lost Moskovitz's (and maybe Zuckerberg's) faith in him.
d. Kagan failed to adjust to Facebook's growth. The company went from 30 to 100 employees in 6 months and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a refurbishment/redecoration of the offices, including very expensive high-end Herman Miller Aeron chairs. Kagan criticized the expenses, chaffed at the implementation of organizational policies and procedures. He didn't understand that nice offices were necessary to attract the best talent. Kagan generally tried to keep the frat-boy atm going longer than was appropriate
8. A final thought at the end of the book: "When a 'bad' thing occurs, the key point is to process the pain, LEARN for the next experience, and know it will get better. It always does. Remember when you broke up with your first significant other and you never thought you'd meet someone better. You always do." Love the optimism. Might be irrational, but what choice do we have but to believe and move forward? Full speed ahead.
July 1, 2016
I wish there were more stories and details about FB, not saying there weren't any. Still a fun read.
August 17, 2017
Super high "truthful fact”-to-word ratio -- so many interesting and useful anecdotes in such a short 110 page book. Kagan provides (mostly) accurate witness to Zuckerberg and Facebook's early days, and shows remarkable insight into his own mental growth and the psychology of entrepreneurialism.
I do wish the book was more polished, and more deeply descriptive. This is not Kirkpatrick's “The Facebook Effect", but having tried to write a book like this, I know how emotionally painful it is. You just want to turn away from it, no matter how valuable you recognize it to be. And Noah was deeply honest and personal, which too isn’t easy in public writing.
I disagree with Zuck being scary — the sword and punches were just a joke. Everything positive about Zuck in the book is true and genuinely important to understanding the man. As an engineer who lived the same story, I can say that on that side of the fence we didn’t have parties, and we did have a ton of exhausting work. I second the shout out to the brilliance of the Ops team and the blinding intelligence and astounding boldness and effectiveness of the other engineers.
Noah is right that this story should encourage everyone to overcome their own frustrations and demons.
I do wish the book was more polished, and more deeply descriptive. This is not Kirkpatrick's “The Facebook Effect", but having tried to write a book like this, I know how emotionally painful it is. You just want to turn away from it, no matter how valuable you recognize it to be. And Noah was deeply honest and personal, which too isn’t easy in public writing.
I disagree with Zuck being scary — the sword and punches were just a joke. Everything positive about Zuck in the book is true and genuinely important to understanding the man. As an engineer who lived the same story, I can say that on that side of the fence we didn’t have parties, and we did have a ton of exhausting work. I second the shout out to the brilliance of the Ops team and the blinding intelligence and astounding boldness and effectiveness of the other engineers.
Noah is right that this story should encourage everyone to overcome their own frustrations and demons.
June 6, 2018
Not bad. Nifty little read
Noah in writing this book gives a sneak peak at Facebook's early years & it's inside operations. While this book is meant to tell his (Noah's story) it inadvertently (at least to me anyway) told the story of Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, wins & fails and the culture he created in the early days. That's what really stood out for me when reading this.
Noah in writing this book gives a sneak peak at Facebook's early years & it's inside operations. While this book is meant to tell his (Noah's story) it inadvertently (at least to me anyway) told the story of Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, wins & fails and the culture he created in the early days. That's what really stood out for me when reading this.
July 11, 2016
How I Lost 170 Million Dollars was completely relatable to me. Having gone through similar circumstances (just in a much smaller scale), I felt Noah Kagan's story compelling. Who knows, maybe he has inspired me to tell my own personal tale. I appreciated the way he incorporated his background and prior work life into the story, as well as ending the book with a strong positive message about not giving up and realizing your own dreams, while remaining focused on the right priorities. Very well written.
February 18, 2020
Fun and Entertaining
A great read on the challenges and experiences of a start up from someone who lived it. Many of the classic issues including the entrepreneurial focus, personality challenges, age tension and growth vs culture are covered. I found myself laughing out loud and nodding throughout. Great read.
A great read on the challenges and experiences of a start up from someone who lived it. Many of the classic issues including the entrepreneurial focus, personality challenges, age tension and growth vs culture are covered. I found myself laughing out loud and nodding throughout. Great read.
February 28, 2017
Very interesting stories about the early days of Facebook. Noah is a character for sure, and it's very insightful to look at the world from his perspective. Lots of other great stories in this book too.
January 8, 2017
While an editor/proofreading would be of some help, it was a very interesting and straightforward (I should say) read in all if you're interested in stories about Facebook's early days.
November 10, 2017
I've become acquainted with Noah via his appearances on The Art of Charm and the Tim Ferriss experiment and he's not really known for "being fired from Facebook" mostly because he's been so busy building other things of note. I appreciated the humility it took to write about a public firing and loss of potential wealth, but I also appreciated the insight into the very early days of Facebook. There are echoes here of what Ben Mezrich discussed in his landmark Accidental Billionaires which was the major source document Aaron Sorkin used in writing the screenplay for the film The Social Network. Yes, the man in control of one of the most powerful websites in the world would scream at his employees and throw water on an employee's computer. Yes, he did walk around with a samurai sword threatening to cut people's heads off. Yes, the way they build and innovate was and is the reason that they are where they are. Interestingly, this book is much more about Noah's personal baggage and how he worked through it than the firing itself, which is glossed over and not truly discussed in depth. But that's not the point. The point is that this is fascinating not just from a personal development point of view - how Noah dealt with his insecurities of being a Berkeley guy amidst Stanford and Harvard types - but also from a business point of view - encounters with Moskowitz, Thiel, and Zuckerberg, names we know were integral in shaping FB into the global force it is today and is still to become.
Short read and fascinating for those interested in this space.
Short read and fascinating for those interested in this space.
March 2, 2018
This was a light read when you consider the amount of money mentioned here. I once lost $500 on a bad internet decision. Wah!
Noah is a successful producer of good things web related. He is sharp and fun.
It was intriguing, at least, to hear the inner workings of Facebook in the early days. With such high standards Kagen has gone on to achieve more. he is worth following.
Keep in mind, he is old compared to many internet peeps. But he is young, compared to me.
So if you are OK being taught by youngsters, grab this book to look into the world of dotcom hyper-productivity.
If you visit his sumome.com site, I believe you can get this book for free or a reduced price.
Noah is a successful producer of good things web related. He is sharp and fun.
It was intriguing, at least, to hear the inner workings of Facebook in the early days. With such high standards Kagen has gone on to achieve more. he is worth following.
Keep in mind, he is old compared to many internet peeps. But he is young, compared to me.
So if you are OK being taught by youngsters, grab this book to look into the world of dotcom hyper-productivity.
If you visit his sumome.com site, I believe you can get this book for free or a reduced price.
January 26, 2023
It’s a short book. Gives some insight on early days of Facebook. If you like to read about stories from FAANG early days then this is a good read.
My take aways are:
- Remove people who are holding your venture back and quickly promote the ones who are helping it achieve success
- don’t be a colleague that others call a “liability” i.e. someone who has the potential to fuck things up.
- retain those people who keep taking initiatives, they will help the business grow. (If growth is the #1 target)
- quickly fix bad decisions.
- for high growth business, the best employees are those who put company first.
My take aways are:
- Remove people who are holding your venture back and quickly promote the ones who are helping it achieve success
- don’t be a colleague that others call a “liability” i.e. someone who has the potential to fuck things up.
- retain those people who keep taking initiatives, they will help the business grow. (If growth is the #1 target)
- quickly fix bad decisions.
- for high growth business, the best employees are those who put company first.
July 1, 2017
Very encouraging
Picked this book due to the Facebook connection which as I thought was an interesting insight into working there. But I unexpectedly ended up relating to the "layoff,firing "
Having recently had the same happen at the "love of my life" job
I found the author very inspiring. By revealing his hiccups he was extremely helpful in getting me through my own. The suggestions on moving forward gave me what I needed to move past this time.
Thank you for your honesty and encouragement.
Picked this book due to the Facebook connection which as I thought was an interesting insight into working there. But I unexpectedly ended up relating to the "layoff,firing "
Having recently had the same happen at the "love of my life" job
I found the author very inspiring. By revealing his hiccups he was extremely helpful in getting me through my own. The suggestions on moving forward gave me what I needed to move past this time.
Thank you for your honesty and encouragement.
March 11, 2018
Nice easy interesting read!
It was a nice insight of early days in Facebook from someone who actually worked there. Get to know the person behind Facebook, Mark, more humanely way. Well written and helpful lessons to take with me!
I recommend this book to everyone who would like to know a little bit more about Facebook and how was the life on its early days.
It was a nice insight of early days in Facebook from someone who actually worked there. Get to know the person behind Facebook, Mark, more humanely way. Well written and helpful lessons to take with me!
I recommend this book to everyone who would like to know a little bit more about Facebook and how was the life on its early days.
June 23, 2019
An okay story that is still light on real details
There are a few points where the author skirts around details, such as his firing, that would have provided better lessons had more color been provided.
The book is a good look into the realities of certain early stage startups and does a good job framing why the impact and mission matters more than, and often results in, money.
There are a few points where the author skirts around details, such as his firing, that would have provided better lessons had more color been provided.
The book is a good look into the realities of certain early stage startups and does a good job framing why the impact and mission matters more than, and often results in, money.
January 31, 2021
Solid perspective on early startup (Facebook)life
Solid book overall. Offers perspective on early startup work/life. As someone who ended up leaving a startup in a similar manner, it brought some reflection my way. Was nice to read that someone had a similar experience and was able to work through the fallout.
Solid book overall. Offers perspective on early startup work/life. As someone who ended up leaving a startup in a similar manner, it brought some reflection my way. Was nice to read that someone had a similar experience and was able to work through the fallout.
October 22, 2017
Reality check please!
This story is a great reminder that anyone can get fired and it's hard especially when you have given your life to the company. Thanks Noah. This was real and I learned something from it. I'm inspired by your decision to work for yourself as your father did.
This story is a great reminder that anyone can get fired and it's hard especially when you have given your life to the company. Thanks Noah. This was real and I learned something from it. I'm inspired by your decision to work for yourself as your father did.
June 5, 2017
Noah Pain, Noah Gain
Noah can never take the pain of being fired away, but he can tell you about his experience which he embraced and made the best of.
Noah can never take the pain of being fired away, but he can tell you about his experience which he embraced and made the best of.
July 28, 2017
What a waste
Poorly written self-aggrandizement that isn’t worth the number of words in this review. One two three four five six seven.
Poorly written self-aggrandizement that isn’t worth the number of words in this review. One two three four five six seven.
January 10, 2018
Insightful little quick read that is honest and open. Interesting to hear about the inside Facebook world and how some of the features we now know well we're developed.
February 21, 2018
Thanks, Noah, for 1) the inside scoop from a time and place I was very curious about and 2) the perspective of "it's not all about the money."
July 21, 2021
Nice ,inspirational and entertaining aboutNoah journey in facebook
Gave me a great insight on fb on earlier days and its growth
Gave me a great insight on fb on earlier days and its growth
August 17, 2021
Really quite good—not polished or professional writing, more like a longform blog post, but a unique, earnest, and insightful look into Facebook's early years.
Read
September 3, 2021Quick simple impactful
I liked it, the reading style is easy, and there isn't much else to say. Zuck seems like a lighting rod for good talent.
I liked it, the reading style is easy, and there isn't much else to say. Zuck seems like a lighting rod for good talent.
January 18, 2024
It’s a good book however I feel like it could have been a blog post. Either way I’m looking forward to his new book!
February 22, 2017
I guess Zuck liked to threaten early FB employees with a Samurai sword. #ProTips
February 27, 2015
interesting story about early Facebook and useful business tips
This book offers an interesting view on how working at early Facebook was and it has a good share of useful business pointers about startups and entrepreneurship. It also illustrates perfectly the old adage about no matter how many times you went down, you have to keep getting up and putting everything in what you believe is right in order to succeed. Well deserved 4 stars.
This book offers an interesting view on how working at early Facebook was and it has a good share of useful business pointers about startups and entrepreneurship. It also illustrates perfectly the old adage about no matter how many times you went down, you have to keep getting up and putting everything in what you believe is right in order to succeed. Well deserved 4 stars.
January 12, 2015
Incredible Story
I read Noah's blog post before I purchased this book. It is jam packed with lessons on startup work ethic and what it really takes to succeed at a Silicon Valley startup. Startup life is not for everyone. If you're willing to makes sacrifices in your life because you believe in the company then to for it.
I read Noah's blog post before I purchased this book. It is jam packed with lessons on startup work ethic and what it really takes to succeed at a Silicon Valley startup. Startup life is not for everyone. If you're willing to makes sacrifices in your life because you believe in the company then to for it.
August 29, 2016
While Noah Kagan is clearly a competent writer, he is not gifted with words making for a less than extra-ordinary time reading about his experience at Facebook the place where he was employed and subsequently fired. This had the makings of an excellent book but Mr. Kagan needed to inject many more adjectives, embellishments etc;
March 15, 2015
Great read
Noahs story in a lot of ways is very relatable. We all get knocked down for one reason or another, and all though the price tag may not even closely resemble $170 mil, we get to choose how we react.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
Noahs story in a lot of ways is very relatable. We all get knocked down for one reason or another, and all though the price tag may not even closely resemble $170 mil, we get to choose how we react.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
November 10, 2015
Finally
I've been curious about this story. Noah lays it out there like he knows how, warts and all. It's a lesson we can all learn to be honest wi ourselves and how we choose to look at adversity vs opportunity.
I've been curious about this story. Noah lays it out there like he knows how, warts and all. It's a lesson we can all learn to be honest wi ourselves and how we choose to look at adversity vs opportunity.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews