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If you pay even a little attention to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you’ve heard about his yearlong project to travel around the United States, which plenty of armchair observers have claimed is him getting ready to run for political office.
Facebook has repeatedly denied this, though not everyone believes it. The political rumor mill started turning again this week when Zuckerberg used Facebook Stories to praise the early-caucus state of Iowa and its pork tenderloin sandwiches.
But today in a viral tweetstorm, Twitter’s former media/commerce boss Nathan Hubbard laid out a convincing case for the real reason behind this tour.
“Zuck woke up on Nov 9th acutely aware that FB had facilitated a new shift he didn't foresee or understand,” wrote Hubbard, whose LinkedIn page indicates he’s now working on a “stealth” new company. “That's terrifying to a founder.”
He called the idea of Zuckerberg running for president “silly,” saying instead it’s more plausible that the U.S. tour reflects the Facebook CEO’s long-held “ruthless survival instinct.” Hubbard did, however, close with the hashtag #Sheryl2020 — meaning Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who also denies she’s running.
Here’s the full tweetstorm:
1/Zuck isn't running for President. He's trying to understand the role the product he created played in getting this one elected.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
2/Facebook has undergone two major evolutionary events in its history, both of which were driven by what Zuck saw as existential threats.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
3/The incredible revenue growth in mobile (probably the greatest biz execution of our generation) helped Facebook survive a platform shift.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
4/ And the fearless acquisitive streak of Instagram, WhatsApp and others helped Facebook survive a shift in how we communicate and organize.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
5/Zuck woke up on Nov 9th acutely aware that FB had facilitated a new shift he didn't foresee or understand; that's terrifying to a founder.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
6/He's the head of product. So he's ventured out into the world beyond his bubble to do field research and inform how FB will evolve again.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
7/Yes, these pictures we are seeing of Zuck meeting people look like outtakes from Forrest Gump meets The 40 Year Old Virgin...
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
8/And for those reasons it's silly to assign him Presidential aspirations. He has very few of the skills we've just seen it takes to win.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
9/He does, however, have a ruthless survival instinct combined with a boundless desire to learn. That's how he got here, folks.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
10/We have rightly vilified founders of late who could not personally learn, grow and evolve to lead their companies and products forward.
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
11/So I admire a founder who, however Machiavellian, cares enough to understand the people using the platform he created. #Sheryl2020
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) June 25, 2017
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
