Sean Parker: Rolling With The Punches Billionaire Style


“A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion  dollars.”

This is the famous saying of “Sean Parker” in The Social Network , a movie which tries to tell the story of the founding of Facebook. The story is loosely based on reality, but one thing is true about the above quote, a billion dollars is cool, and Parker has a couple of billions to his name.
Sean Parker, the real Sean Parker, is a billionaire who has featured in several rich lists. He is the 19 year old genius behind Napster, the founding President of Facebook, the co-founder of Plaxo and the brain behind Spotify. All of these companies have been instrumental in changing the way we as human live. But it hasn’t been all roses for this tech-billionaire:
It hasn’t been some kind of fairy tale for me. All of my success has been born of failure. Your childhood dreams are always tales of glory; reality is a lot messier and more dramatic.
-      Sean Parker
A Dalliance With The FBI At 16 years Of Age
During his teenage years, Parker was a pretty good hacker, and basically, that is pretty much what he used to do. Once, his father, having been outraged at Parker’s inconsistent performance in school, grabbed the keyboard from his hands and tore it out of the computer. This is how Parker recalls it: I started crying and saying, ‘Dad! You don’t know what you’re doing! I have to log out!’ But he didn’t let me.” Unable to cover his tracks, the FBI was able to locate him and this earned him a sentencing to community service (he was a minor).
Was this a really bad thing for the billionaire-to-be? Not really. Not according to Parker. Seemingly, being sentenced to community service for hacking into a Fortune 500 company produced one of his most romantic experiences. There, he met a girl. One day she wrote her phone number on Parker’s hand—in ballpoint pen, he remembers fondly—and a few months later, he says, “I lost my virginity to her.” He explains: “I thought it was an incredible cosmic irony. This was the most romantic experience of my life and I met her because I’d been raided by the F.B.I.”
The Napster Affair
At 19 years of age, together with his younger friend Shawn Fanning, Sean Parker created the free song-sharing service that changed the music industry forever. In its first year, the music file-sharing network gained tens of millions of enthusiasts. This was it for him, right? No, wrong. The first nail to the fairy tale were the numerous lawsuits filed against the company for supposed copyright infringement. The final nail was he being pushed out of the company he helped to create.
I lived on couches for something like six months. I had no home. I was totally broke. I would stay at a friend’s house for two weeks, then move because I didn’t want to become this permanent mooch.
-      Sean parker
A Company Named Plaxo
After realizing that his electronic address book was outdated, Sean Parker got the idea of helping people to keep their address books updated. It took some time for the idea to finally crystallize, but after knocking on several doors, they managed to get funding from Sequoia, the venture capitalist firm.
Within no time, people warmed up to this service. It became one of the most famous service providers on the web. He had brought viral marketing to a new high. Things were shaping up for the budding billionaire. But just then, he got kicked out of yet another company he had helped to create from scratch. This was in early 2004. He was again on the streets, as always, seriously broke.
And Then There Is Facebook
Sean consistently argued that Facebook was going to be really big. If Mark ever had any second thoughts, Sean was the one who cut that off.
-      Peter Thiel, 1st Facebook Investor, Bilionaire Hedge-Fund Manager and Co-founder of PayPal

Sean Parker then stumbled upon something which was then called “TheFacebook”. As people around at the time confess, he played a pivotal role in helping to shape up the company to be the global phenomenon that it is today. As David Kirkpatrick notes in his Vanity Fair article, “Had he not joined founder Mark Zuckerberg in Palo Alto in the summer of 2004, when the fledgling Facebook was just five months old, the service almost certainly would not be the colossus it is today.”
His experiences in being kicked out of companies he owned helped him to protect the Facebook co-founder. He was instrumental in ensuring that Mark held control at all times. Well, as for him, he was later forced to leave the company later on.
Currently
Well, Sean Parker is rich. Very rich. He loves the good life and he isn’t afraid to spend his wealth on a closet full of Tom Ford suits, exclusive white shoes, $100, 000 luxury cars or several charities of his choice. He is still rolling, he is till going. He is doing it all in style. Billionaire style.
If there’s some triumphant end of the story, I guess in a roundabout way I’ve gotten what I wanted… which is the ability to do interesting things and the wealth to be free.... I can sort of do what I want. 
-      Sean Parker


Sean Parker At Amazon.com




Success Stories: The Best So Far As Inspiration Is Concerned


There are many ways through which you can be inspired. Maybe nature may do the trick for you. Maybe your day to day experiences. It may also be a great inspirational book, movie or song. I don’t really know what really does the magic for you. All I can tell you is that nothing really does it like a real-life true story.
Contrary to what most people believe, people who really make it in life are never luckier than you are. Well, if there is really any element of luck in their lives, it is luck they created. If they did create it, it means that you too can create yours. This is so because one thing is for sure: there is a set of universal success principles which when applied are guaranteed to lead to success. This is true independent of whether success to you means having more money than you can spend, finding love, changing the world or simply being able to live life absolutely on your terms!
I am starting this blog so as to share with you some of the most amazing success stories in the world. You will notice that all the stories will be about brilliant people who achieved their dreams. No matter the real-life stories that we share, what is important is that you be able to extract the principles that the various successful people applied, and thereafter apply those principles in your life.
I guess this is enough for an introductory post. I guess we are all set to start this inspiring journey. I know the ride will be worthwhile for as long as it will last.
All the best!