SGN Founder's Rambling, Jetlagged, Semi-Lucid and Beautiful Email On Entrepreneurism

In this scene, Draper, turns off the lights and begins to project personal pictures of himself with his family. As he speaks he says:

"[Teddy} also talked about a deeper bond with the product. Nostalgia. It's delicate but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means 'the pain from an old wound.' It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a space ship; it's a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel. It's called the Carousel. It let's us travel the way a child travels; round and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved."

The look on the faces of the executives of Kodak as the lights come back on is so classic. Goose bumps rippled across my skin as I watched this scene. I remember my parents showing slides shows on their Kodak Carousel in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The dust in the air. The darkness of the room. The pride of my father as he projected our travels and vacations to us and friends. The delight in the eyes and voices of my parents and their friends as they watched and shared reflections of our recent past.

I realized at that moment, that Facebook, is my Carousel. Facebook is my time machine. It is my projector. It is a digital place where I know I am loved by my family and my friends. It is the room where my friends are showing me their slide shows from their lives, their travels. It is a slide show of the human soul. Of the human endeavor. It is the projector that brings clarity and focus to the lives of others. It brings us out of our inner sanctum and to the outer world of our relations. It displaces time and space and brings us back together again no matter how far or long we have been apart. We have all had that experience where you see your friend after 10 or 20 years and it feels like only a day has passed. That is because bonded human relationships are truly timeless. Those bonds can get tighter and stronger when we tap into the power of Facebook.

Those inside of Facebook must know and be driven by a higher mission and cause. They must realize that they should not treat their jobs as normal jobs. They are and should be on a mission to innovate around and extend Zuckerberg's genius and make it ever more elegant, relevant, personal and inspiring. Facebook is not a technology. It is not a portal. It is not a media company. Facebook is a new form of human communication. It is more akin to the invention of a new language. A new language the world is learning to adopt, appropriate and make its own. It is about anthropology and psychology. It is about humanity. It is about evolution. It is more than a job. It is a cause. A cause whose form can affect the function of our world.

If the cause is extended correctly as a new form of communication it can make an ever bigger dent in the universe. The challenge for Zuckerberg as he scales is to weed out those who are in it for the cause and those that are in it for something else. He has always surrounded himself with amazing talent who deeply believe in the cause- like Sean Parker and Matt Cohler. And he has amazing talent and leadership like Sheryl Sandberg, Dave Morin, Chamath Palihapitiya, Ruchi Sanghvi and others who are deeply driven by the cause. A cause this important must remain pure to become a once in a century contribution to how we live our lives and how we exchange ideas and goods together.

Those who are building businesses around this cause must also put the cause first. We must not dilute it. This new form of communication is what can bring us together across boundaries in ways that make it efficient for an entrepreneur like me to build a global gaming company with talent from everywhere. I see what I do as a cause too. I see Social Games as also a new form of communication and entertainment as important as email, instant messenger and television. I see games bringing people together in new and fun ways that they have never had a chance to connect before. (fluff)friends is a great example of a new community filled with love, that connects people together in totally new ways and engenders loyalty and communication. Users create totally new content like videos and even a children's book that no one could have ever predicted. By focusing on inspiration and user experience we will help evolve the form and the function and make it a part of daily life.

This new branch of gaming would not have been possible without Zuckerberg's bold bet that openness leads to greatness for all. It's an idea and meme that is spreading to every other closed system. Closed systems must go. Increased transparency married with open systems and user driven extensions and content will lead to a better world for all.

It is now 4:46 am here. I now will try to get some sleep and wake up in a few hours. There is another city to travel to. More connections to make with talented developers and artists and more dreams and ideas to bring to life to share with you all in the near future. The Carousel turns.

-Shervin Pishevar

Somewhere in Eastern Europe

September 27, 2008