This is a 2-4 page opinion piece. Based on your readings, how would you address the questions below. This assignment is very different from the blog assignment in which I have very specific citation requirements, and remind you not to "just shoot from the hip." In this case, not only can you "shoot from the hip" but it is welcomed. No citations are required unless you are quoting directly or paraphrasing from someone else's work. Tell me what you think of the business issues presented in this film clip. Absolutely proofread before posting. No rubbish!

In his advice to Mark Zuckerberg, partner Eduardo Saverin suggests that it is time to monetize facebook. Obviously the two have different viewpoints on this. Before monetiziing the site, what other issues should be addressed? In other words, how could they have minimized the problems that followed their startup?

 

“The Social Network” Opinion Piece

Eduardo Saverin suggested that since their new startup, “Facebook,” had already reached 4,000 members, it was a great opportunity for the company or site to start earning revenues through advertising. On the contrary, Mark was not for the idea and thought that it was too early to start advertising initiatives such as installing pop-up ads to generate revenue. Similarly, Eduardo was not thinking of pop-up ads at this stage, but he pointed out that the idea of pop-up ads would nonetheless be part of the site/company’s advertising strategy at some later point. Mark felt that they both didn’t yet have a clear picture of what the company/site was all about, what it can be, and what it will be. He further pointed out that while he agrees that the whole idea about the site/company is cool, that was a priceless asset and they were not ready to give it up.

There are several critical issues that needed to be addressed before the duo could begin to monetize the site. To start with, Eduardo felt that the site’s rapidly increasing popularity presented a lucrative opportunity to start generating revenues through advertising. However, Mark felt it was too early at that stage. In other words, the two needed to figure out key issues such as the company’s business model, value proposition, market, competitors, mission, and vision. For instance, a mission defines a company’s core business, its objectives, and the approach it will use to achieve those objectives. On the other hand, a vision describes the company’s desired future state (Bowen, 2018). Elements of the company’s mission and vision can be linked up to come up with the company’s goals, values, and purpose. In addition, a business concept forms the fundamental idea behind a business and it serves as a meaningful guide in the process of crafting a business plan. It further captures the distinct value proposition of the business within the context of a congested marketplace. As mentioned earlier, both Mark and Eduardo didn’t yet have a clear picture of what the company/site was all about, what it can be, and what it will be.

The second issue that needed to be resolved was concerned with intellectual property rights. They had to resolve the issue of property theft as claimed by the Winklevoss twins. Mark had already received a cease and desist letter from the Winklevoss twins’ lawyer. Mark received the letter almost immediately after they had launched the site and the Winklevoss twins were claiming that Mark had stolen the idea to create Facebook from the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra. The letter implies that Mark had committed property theft and he could face legal action. Consequently, Mark and Eduardo needed to prove that the Winklevoss twins had no grounds for filing legal action. Mark also needed to prove that he didn’t use any of their codes or ideas, therefore his actions did not amount to theft of proprietary information.

The third issue they needed to address to avoid the problems that faced their startup is concerned with protecting the site/company’s intellectual property. It is worth noting that intellectual property is usually the most valuable asset for tech startups such as Facebook. Consequently, safeguarding the site/company’s intellectual property is critical to blocking its rivals from unfairly competing with Mark and Eduardo’s startup. One of the mistakes that Mark did when developing Facebook was agreeing to work on Winklevoss twins’ idea while at the same time working on his new idea. This decision created a situation whereby Mark was dealing with conflicting obligations that certainly put the ownership of his new site’s intellectual property in jeopardy. Therefore, Mark needed to take into account the obligations associated with non-competition and intellectual property.

The other issue that Mark needed to do to protect the company’s intellectual property and avoid the problems that arose later was to draft a clear, formal agreement stating who owns what in the company. The agreement should have been made between Mark and Eduardo as well as between Mark and the Winklevoss twins. Such a move would have prevented the Winklevoss twins and any other concerned parties from claiming ownership of the company’s intellectual property. In this case, the problems arose because formal and clear agreements that are properly documented with respect to information sharing and ownership stakes were absent. There were no records to show the source of the ideas and any form of discussions regarding equity stakes.

Lastly, Mark needed to critically evaluate the core assets in his business idea and decide in advance on the best type of intellectual property protection he required. Although it is true that his startup was lacking adequate funds, there are some simple and affordable methods for preventing the problems that arose while helping to safeguard core assets. For instance, he could have started by conducting a critical evaluation of his company’s value proposition and the intellectual assets that are essential to those value propositions. Such an assessment would help not only in raising capital but also in protecting the company’s core assets. Besides patent protection, Mark should have considered evaluating other intellectual property assets associated with technology firms. For instance, trade secrets, copyrights, cyber security policies, and trademarks are all types of intellectual property assets that can be safeguarded. In summary, Mark should have invested some more time in evaluating the startup’s value proposition and try to figure out the best means of protecting it.