Anything is Possible

I think it is safe to say that The Social Network inspired thousands of people to ask themselves, “How can I create the next Facebook?”  This movie shows us that we all can come up with an idea, create a company, and potentially become the world’s youngest billionaire. The Winklevoss twins had an idea for some sort of social network, which gave Zuckerberg the idea to come up with his own social network. Though the movie concentrates on a lawsuit between the Winklevoss twins and Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network is really about innovation and entrepreneurship in America. 

Zuckerberg comes to Silicon Valley to find programming talent, financing, leadership, and an entrepreneurial culture.  Silicon Valley is the world’s center of innovation and development. The world’s technology comes from this 30-mile long, and 15-mile wide area. There is a lot of money available for people and companies to develop good ideas. One-third of all venture capital goes to firms in Silicon Valley. Many major investment banks have branches in Menlo Park. They raise capital for firms and/or help them merge or acquire other companies. But the money isn’t what started the innovation; the ideas and innovation were there first.  Hewett-Packard, Apple, and Google all grew to multi-billion dollar corporations from garages in Silicon Valley. There is a culture of innovation, a fever that exists in Silicon Valley. Large numbers of people from all over the world come up with ideas.  But ideas are worthless if they cannot be executed, and Silicon Valley is where ideas become realities and businesses.  Zuckerberg knew that he had to be in Palo Alto for Facebook to expand to its full potential.  This is no secret. Last week President Obama went out to dinner with Silicon Valley tech executives: Steve Jobs (Apple), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Eric Schmidt (formerly Google), and even Mark Zuckerberg.  He went to Silicon Valley to discuss innovation in America. He talked about research and development, education, job creation, and a new White House initiative, Startup America, which supports new startups and businesses.  

Entrepreneurship, innovation, and startups are all part of the reason that America is the superpower that it is.  America is the land of opportunity.  Anything is possible in our country. There have to be incentives for innovation.  Drug manufacturers will spend hundreds of millions of dollars investing in medicine hoping that they will discover a cure to diseases. Many people criticize drug companies for having 90% profit margins and ignore the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars were put into discovering their product, and people forget about the hundreds of millions spent on drugs that were never approved by the FDA.  If a drug company were to potentially earn 20% profit margins then it would cut research and development and may never discover a cure that may save my life.  The fact is capitalism incentivizes innovation. Of course, not everyone is motivated by money. Mark Zuckerberg was obsessed with his idea, not with becoming a billionaire. But monetary rewards and successes were a crucial part of Facebook’s development.  Without hiring more people or getting investors to invest in Facebook, Facebook couldn’t have grown into the success that it is today. Innovation is the reason America is so wealthy.  And Zuckerberg is just one example of such an accomplishment. All in all, I hope that The Social Network inspired people all over the world to think, to dream, and to invent.