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Mark Zuckerberg to a New Hire: If I Can Build Facebook, You Can Build a Search Engine

By Mark Zuckerberg · Leadership · 1 min read

Week two at Facebook. No direction. Zuckerberg walks up and says — I think you should write a search engine. Just you. Aditya says — I don't know how. Zuckerberg: dude, if I can build Facebook, you can build a damn search engine.

Key Points

Zuckerberg told a new hire with zero search experience to build Facebook's search engine alone
Aditya wanted to hire someone from Google or Yahoo. Zuckerberg said — you can do it yourself.
The hacker culture that defines Facebook: all of us can build whatever we put our minds to

Dude, if I can build Facebook, you can build a damn search engine.

Week Two, No Direction

Agarwal: Back in 2005, pretty close to when I first started at Facebook — maybe week two or three. Nobody was really giving me much direction.

Mark walks up to me and says — hey dude, I think you should write a search engine for Facebook. Just you. I was like — me and what team? He's like — yeah, just you. It's really important because when people come to Facebook, the first thing they want to do is search for people.

Mark walks up and says — write a search engine. Just you. I was like — me and what team?

If I Can Build Facebook

Agarwal: My first reaction was — Mark, I don't know how to write a search engine. I've never done this. Why don't we go hire somebody from Google or Yahoo?

He looked at me and said — dude, if I can build Facebook, you can build a damn search engine. And I did.

I don't know how to write a search engine. Zuckerberg: dude, if I can build Facebook, you can build one.

The 30 Seconds That Still Define Facebook

Agarwal: Those 30 seconds I still think about. All of us can build whatever we put our minds to. That's the culture that still defines Facebook — this hacker, can-do, total ownership culture.

If I could tell every startup one thing — all of you can do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it. It's probably easier than you think.

All of us can build whatever we put our minds to. It's probably easier than you think.