Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, equates building a sustainable online empire with building the skyscrapers that shaped the look of modern cities at the turn of the last century. Pincus reflects upon his 15-20 year career in hi-tech – riddled with many companies who asked him to leave – where he was set ineffective entrepreneurial goals. He discusses the change in his perspective; from garnering ROI, to offering sustainability, to building immortal “Internet treasures” – that is, the type of online utility that forever changes the world. He discusses the importance of thinking from the mountain top, and that the rest of the “distractions” – i.e. IPO’s, acquisition, becoming a market leader, etc. – are just fool’s gold.
