Who were the people behind Facebook when it was just a startup? And where are they now?
Only two of Facebook’s first 20 employees still work at the company — and you can probably guess one of them.
Most left during the social network’s early days to work at other tech companies or start their own. Several have become successful investors at large VC firms. Out of Facebook’s first 20 employees, only two were women. Many are now absurdly rich, following Facebook’s IPO in 2012.
Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook’s first CTO, was Mark Zuckerberg’s roommate. The two dropped out of Harvard together to move to California and work on Facebook.
Employed by Facebook: February 2004 – November 2009
Position: Cofounder
Where he is now: He’s the cofounder and CEO at enterprise software company Asana. He also cofounded Good Ventures, a philanthropic firm with the mission “to help humanity thrive.” He has a net worth of nearly $12 billion, according to Forbes.
Chris Hughes cofounded Facebook and served as the site’s first spokesman. He later coordinated all social networking aspects of Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Employed by Facebook: February 2004
Position at Facebook: Cofounder
Where he is now: After working on Obama’s 2008 campaign, Hughes became executive director of Jumo, a startup that tried to utilize social media to change the world. In 2012, he purchased a majority stake in The New Republic and became its executive chairman and editor-in-chief. He put the magazine up for sale in 2016 after it failed to become profitable.
Hughes is now co-chair of the Economic Security Project, a group that wants to make universal basic income a reality in the U.S.
Eduardo Saverin was a Facebook co-founder and its first CFO. He famously sued Mark Zuckerberg and the two reached a settlement.
Employed by Facebook: February 2004
Position: Cofounder
Where he is now: After winning a legal battle with Facebook which let him retain his cofounder status, Saverin began angel investing in startups like Qwiki and Chris Hughes’ Jumo. In 2011, Saverin (who was born in Brazil) renounced his U.S. citizenship and moved to Singapore, likely because of the taxes he’d have to pay following Facebook’s public offering.
He says he has no hard feelings when it comes to Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg, who ousted him from the company shortly after its launch. Saverin has a net worth of roughly $8.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Sean Parker was an early employee at Napster and was founding president of Facebook.
Employed by Facebook: June 2004 – January 2006
Position: President
Where he is now: Parker has invested in a number of tech startups, including Spotify and Asana, and was a partner at VC firm Founder’s Fund until 2014. He has a personal net worth of roughly $2.6 billion.
More recently, he’s been experimenting with his own businesses. He tried to create a new buzzy video startup, Airtime, but it flopped. His most recent project is a platform for renting movies at home while they’re still in theaters, but it’s been met with backlash from Hollywood and theater unions.
Andrew McCollum designed Facebook’s first logo and worked on a side project with Zuckerberg called Wirehog.
Employed by Facebook: February 2004 – September 2006
Position: Cofounder, engineer
Where he is now: McCollum joined Flybridge Capital Partners as an entrepreneur in residence in 2011. Then he became a partner at the VC firm NEA. Now he’s invested and involved in other tech startups, such as Quilt and JobSpice.
Taner Halicioglu was Facebook’s first “real” employee outside of the founders. He built out the entire initial hardware infrastructure.
Employed by Facebook: October 2004 – November 2009
Position: Senior Software/Operations Engineer
Where he is now: Halicioglu became the Lead Reliability Engineer of Battle.net at Blizzard Entertainment. Now he is a lecturer at UC San Diego in the school’s Computer Science and Engineering department. He recently donated $75 million to the school to create its Halicioglu Institute of Data Science.
Naomi Gleit was tasked early on with making sure “literally everyone in the world was on the site.” Aside from Mark Zuckerberg, she’s the longest serving employee still at the company.
Employed by Facebook: April 2005 – Present
First position at Facebook: Marketing Associate
Her position now: Gleit is VP of Social Good at Facebook and one of Zuckerberg’s top lieutenants. She leads all of the company’s efforts around safety check, fundraising tools, and similar features.
Kevin Colleran lived with Zuckerberg in Facebook’s 2004 summer sublet house in Palo Alto. Now he’s a VC.
Employed by Facebook: April 2005 – July 2011
Position at Facebook: Global Partnerships
Where he is now: Colleran was one of the last initial employees to leave Facebook. Now he’s managing director at VC firm Slow Ventures with Dave Morin and other early Facebook employees.
Gilles Mischler built and designed Facebook’s IT infrastructure from the ground up.
Employed by Facebook: June 2005 – May 2010
Position: SiteOps Engineer
Where he is now: After Facebook, Mischler went to game developer Playdom. He was only there for a few weeks when the company was acquired by Disney for more than $700 million. Now he’s a network engineer at Dropbox.
You can thank engineer Scott Marlette for being able to visually stalk all of your friends. He created Facebook’s first photo application.
Employed by Facebook: June 2005 – January 2010
Position: Engineer, Product Manager
Where he is now: Marlette went on to co-found medical startup GoodRx. Now he’s a partner at VC firm Slow