Zuckerberg Declares The Hacker Way in IPO with $28 Billion Jackpot

As Facebook filed for its initial public offering (IPO) on Feb 1, the letter to investors was also released. The most notable remark by Mark Zuckerberg is that Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected.

The core of Zuckerberg's letter can be described as The Hacker Way. It emphasizes the original meaning of hacker, which has always been portrayed negatively mostly and is associated for break into computers and disobeying ethics.

In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I've met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world.

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo.

Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of Facebook. We have the words Done is better than perfect painted on our walls to remind ourselves to always keep shipping, Reuters quoted Zuckerberg as saying.

Along with the letter to the investors, Zukerberg also unveiled the five core values for Facebook management such as Focus on impact, Move Fast, Be Bold, Be Open and Build Social Value.

According to the IPO filing by Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder owns 28.2% stake in the company. If Facebook successfully raises up to $100 billion, Zuckerberg's stock could be worth $28 billion. The filing also revealed that Zuckerberg was paid $1.49 in salary for his role as CEO.

It is known that Zuckerberg and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz had signed a pledge to give away the majority of his wealth to charity.

If Facebook keeps its promise of making a better world in terms of openness and connection (coupled with charity work), Facebook will not only be darling to the millions of investors, who expect to be a billionaires, but also to ordinary people.