Acknowledgments

My family—Lynn, Chris and Katrina—the greatest social network a guy could ask for, and the ones that give me that look when it comes to taking the next risk. Love you!

Facebook’s advertising team—Mark, Sheryl, DRose, Murph, Jake, KX and all the great teams I had the very good fortune of building with—who let me come to the other side of the table.

Facebook’s leadership headed by Mark and Sheryl—one of the greatest CEO/COO tandems ever—and Chris, Schrep, Jay, Chamath, Javier, Alex, Naomi, Fischer, Gary, Kevin, Mike, Jan, Brian, Lori, David, Yann, Brendan, Palmer, John, Michael and one of the deepest management benches in Silicon Valley—who have the vision and the will to build Facebook toward its achievable-unachievable mission.

My friends and the community of more than 1.7 billion people who fill all of it with life.

My agent Jeff Herman for envisioning this story to begin with and tirelessly taking up the cause of a first-timer. My editor Stephen S. Power for trusting me to put this on paper and giving me the fantastic guidance and amplification to dramatically improve it.

My friend and writer of great female lead characters Adam Rakunas who helped me place my foot during the first step of this long journey. The gracious friends who were willing to be early readers and commenters, including Robert Siegel, Dennis Carter, Ann Lewnes, Gokul Rajaram, Deborah Conrad, Brad Boston, Pete Clark, Geoffrey Moore, Annie Wilson, Roberta Thomson, Will Platt-Higgins, and Marc Pritchard.

Managing editor Miranda Pennington, senior development editor Barry Richardson and copyeditor Fred Dahl, typesetter and interior designer Sabrina Bowers, proofreader Julie Grady, and creative director Cathleen Ouderkirk for ensuring the quality of the finished book matches the quality of its subject, and director of publicity Irene Majuk for quarterbacking the effort to get the word out.

And AMACOM for giving the best untold story in Silicon Valley voice and reach.

With all the gratitude only a rookie can feel.