Great thought piece. Love how this was framed in the context of this fable.

Question: How can people compare how entrepreneurs "live for the mission"?

Not all missions are created equal. Comparisons of raison d'etre are subjective.

Pincus has said in interviews that he would not consider leaving Zynga other than by natural exit. That would suggest that he wants his legacy to be social games. My sense, however, is that his mission has another focus: building companies. Pincus co-founded startups in consumer and enterprise before Zynga, as we know. That commitment to building has introduced products, and in Zynga's case, created many many jobs. Cool.

So, who's to say that one's mission is any less or more noble than another's? That's where the distinction between types of missions becomes important.

Could Pincus imagine a world without social games? Debatable, but decisions like the claw-back grant suggest that his mission is more personal than Zuckerburg's. Could Zuckerburg imagine a world without social connection? No, because he has demonstrated his confidence that the world would be a better place with it.

Neither of these entrepreneurs' mission is lackluster, but they are different. And, Zuckerburg's product obsession + delayed gratification wins the trust of FB users that FB's mission is more than the individual who founded it, it's personal to them, so it's worth enduring the Game-of-Thrones winter.

Why is Zynga so poorly rated on Glassdoor? Culture starts at the top.

If you start by "doing every dirty trick in the book", you find that you can't stop.

It takes a lot of guts to take on a truly controversial subject like this. I applaud your courage.

Hey Adam,

Great piece. I wrote up some quick thoughts in response here:

Don't Count Out The Grasshopper

Gordon, I agree that we should not count out the grasshopper.

My goal in writing the article was to send the message to Mark Pincus that Zynga should be thinking longer term.

I believe that message has been received. Now let's see what Zynga does from here.

(And Chris, thank you!)

Agreed. With all the news of late, Zynga must be hearing the message loud and clear.

And also very much agree with Chris, def took some courage to write that post!

Thanks Gordon.

My other goal in writing the article was to send the message to investors in Facebook and Zynga that they should be investing for the long haul, not what happens to the stock price in 2012.