He was relentlessly focused on growth in the early days of Facebook, and his enthusiasm hasn’t waned since. In 2005, two years before Facebook formally established the growth team, Noah Kagan, a digital marketer who was employee number 30, brought a revenue generating idea to Zuckerberg. Kagan was concerned that the social network needed to prove to investors that it could make serious money. Standing in a company conference room, Zuckerberg stopped Kagan mid-­pitch, stood up, picked up a marker and wrote on the whiteboard in big letters one word, “Growth.” He would not entertain any ideas outside of growing the total number of users on Facebook. His crystal clear prioritization of growth over all other business concerns—­even revenue—­in the early days was the linchpin of Facebook’s incredible success.5