While I still don’t like his hair style, Mark Zuckerberg is on the right track, and is one of the top tech visionaries to watch for the next decade. Why? Because he’s got guts. I ignore the overhyped market “crash” that merely eroded the last 18 months of gains. I focus on the long game. Meta is uniquely positioned to succeed:
- He invests in the future. He’s got the guts to commit significant funding to seeing his vision through. So far, he’s burnt through $10+ billion on his metaverse vision, and admits it will cost billions more for years to come.
- He knows he has to change. Meta is seeing unprecedented competition in its traditional markets, and knows that the only way forward is to change, and instead of taking the easy way out by spinning off the new company, he forces change from the core.
- He knows what he is doing. His company built the most successful product on earth, with nearly 3 billion users. He knows what it takes to build platforms and ecosystems, and has the funds and focus to outrun the competition.
- He knows he’s got to keep his cash cow going. He has a good balance of investing in what produces the revenue today and what will produce the revenue in 10 years – in this, he is different than most publicly listed companies, who are predominately near-term focused.
- The metaverse will be huge. Coined by some as the “internet built by game developers”, it has huge potential for social networking, gaming, shopping, workplace environments, and digital commerce in general.
- He has growth opportunities elsewhere: He has built capabilities that will fuel future opportunities for growth. Did you know Meta has one of fastest AI supercomputers in the world? With the massive investments in AI, sensors, computer vision, avatars, and perceptual science he will be ready to pivot to a multitude of different directions if needed.
Vik Bulletin 