But if Facebook hustled, they could get this done in a single weekend, without any outside bankers. Zuckerberg wanted to hustle. He was one of Silicon Valley’s greatest chess players, thinking several moves ahead. If Facebook took too long to negotiate, Systrom would start calling his friends and mentors. Zuckerberg knew, from his former employee Cohler on Instagram’s board, that Systrom was close with Twitter’s Dorsey. Zuckerberg didn’t have the friendship advantage. But the faster he made the deal, the less likely Systrom was to call someone who would give advice unfavorable to Facebook—or a
...more