Meeting Mark Zuckerberg

In this episode, host hotlou shares the story of the day he met his lord and savior Mark Zuckerberg.  Unsurprisingly, there’s a bit of a meandering — this time on the current state of stand-up comedy — until Lou shares the story.  But buckle up and get ready to hear way more about how Zuck feels about the Palm Pre than you could have ever hoped for.

Meeting Mark Zuckerberg

hotlou meeting Mark Zuckerberg

It was 2010 and while Zuckerberg was becoming more well-known, he was far from the senatorial-testimony-having household name he is today.

The Facebook developer conference (which is now known as f8) was much bigger than it had been in the past.  Still, all you had to do to attend was to buy a ticket.  Today, you need to apply.  But if aren’t able to get in, they stream nearly all the content live and on replay.

Among the many benefits of attending live in recent years is that they’ve handed out free Oculus devices. (Note: hotlou was fortunate enough to apply and get in to the conference in 2019 and received an Oculus Quest)

Back in 2010, however, Zuckerberg’s anonymity was prevalent enough that he mostly just walked around the conference as another attendee.   Seeing him throughout the day wasn’t unusual.  In fact, he even attended the party and was at one point dancing by himself near the back of the crowd.

After the first full day, Zuck was standing with a few other people chatting when Lou realized he may never get another opportunity to chat with him given his growing fame and, with it, inaccessibility.

Lou approached and just as he arrived, Zuck announced loud and clear “that’s it … no more [expletive] pictures!”

And the moment could not have been more perfect for Lou to have asked, “actually, Mark, how about one more?”

Lou handed his phone to what may have been Sheryl Sandberg.   Zuck noticed the type of phone and turned to him and incredulously asks “really?  A Palm Pre?”.

It may be worth noting that Zuckerberg was rocking an Android at the time.

Still, Sheryl snapped the photo.  The Zuckerpunch now behind us, we exchanged a few pleasantries and both went on our f8ful ways.

Take Chances

The lesson here for everyone is that even if you think you know the outcome, it usually doesn’t hurt to ask!

You’re going to get a bunch of people telling you no in your life.  Some people think because of hearing no over and over, that you shouldn’t even try.  Let this story show you that you might not hurt to try.

Mark Zuckerberg Authenticity

It was actually the following year (2011) that he had Andy Samberg impersonate him during his keynote. Note: Lou mistakenly mentioned during the podcast that these were the same year.

Zuckerberg had — as Lou anticipated — become part of the American zeitgeist.  And was still on the very likable upswing, so asking a very popular SNL cast member to join the event was fitting.

Mark Zuckerberg is Data

Mike mentioned he looks the most Data-esque in the photo with hotlou, but included here is a fine meme presented as counterpoint.

The Palm Pre

Perhaps the Palm Pre was far more clairvoyant that we all realized.  And the name may have been a subtle implication about it being a “Pre-iPhone” since it included a ton of features that the iPhone & iOS later became known for.  A few worth noting:

• Cards for apps
• Swiping up to close apps
• Swiping up from the bottom of the screen to switch between apps
• Banner notifications
• Single button
• Wireless charging

The list goes on.  Apple and Google really have demonstrated in even the last couple years how far ahead of its time the Palm Pre’s WebOS was by only just recently introducing a few of these features in recent years.

The Growing Louxicon

Let’s not forget to mention, welcome to the celebrity listener list, Dave Chapelle!  What a treat it must be for you to be listening to the Dave Chapelle of podcasts hosts, hotlou!