Mark Zuckerberg
Harvard University · Facebook / Meta
From Harvard Dorm Room to a $1 Trillion Company
8 April 2026
Mark Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook" from his Harvard dorm room in February 2004, initially as a social directory exclusive to Harvard students.
Explosive Growth
Within 24 hours of launch, over 1,000 Harvard students had signed up. The platform quickly expanded to other Ivy League schools before opening to universities across the US. By the end of 2004, Facebook had reached one million users.
Dropping Out and Scaling Up
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year to move to Palo Alto. Peter Thiel provided a $500,000 angel investment in mid-2004, followed by a $12.7 million Series A from Accel Partners in 2005.
The Result
Facebook went public in May 2012 at a $104 billion valuation. Today, Meta is worth over $1 trillion with 3+ billion monthly active users. Zuckerberg was just 19 when he started — proof that the best ideas come from solving problems you personally experience.
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