Path (noun); a way beaten, formed, or trodden by the feet of persons or animals. Dave Morin’s Path has been beaten by the tech press, formed by his experiences at Apple and Facebook, and trodden by the feet of over 2 million users.
It is a path paved with serious star-power and scandalous setbacks, and one journey certainly worth revisiting.
The “Humble” Beginnings of Dave Morin
Dave grew up under the big sky of Montana. Perhaps this is where he first wished upon the stars to one day become something special in the world (wide web). As it turns out, someone (or thing) was listening.
Dave, Meet Steve
First order of business for Dave: learn design and marketing. Unfortunately, he was only able to land a few management positions at a small company not necessarily known for its design and marketing skills. I think it was called Apple something?
Oh, right. What I mean is Dave was in the big leagues straight out the gate (managing the Higher Education Marketing and Creation and Collaboration teams at Apple) and learning from the masters. Good thing too, because he was about to meet a kid called Mark and revolutionize our social media world.
Dave, Meet Mark
Dave took his newfound Apple skills and hooked up with a little team out on Palo Alto, who thought maybe they could make the Internet more open and social. The year was 2006. The team was Facebook.
Dave served as Senior Platform Manager for several years, contributing to the launches of Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect. His work with small-developers building businesses on Facebook’s Platform sparked his own desire to go it on his own, and in early 2010 he dropped his mic in the Facebook auditorium and started out on the path of solo startup righteousness.
Dave, You’ve Found Your Path
With serious Apple and Facebook credentials in tow, Dave grabbed Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning and headed out on the road to find the next great social media platform. This led him to find his true Path in life.
Ok, enough with the path metaphors. The point is Dave is the co-founder and CEO of a mobile social media app called Path. If you’re not one of Path’s 2 million users then you probably have no clue what it is or how it works.
So, here’s the rundown:
- Path is a mobile “Smart Journal”
- It helps you to create a “path” of your daily life to share with close friends and family
- It features world-class mobile camera technology for easy photo and video uploads.
Dave is very passionate about Path, even turning down $125 million offer from Google to buy it. But isn’t it just a Facebook for phones?
The difference, according to Dave, is the intimacy of Path. Facebook has built the cities and the town squares. Path builds your home in Facebook City. It’s where you invite friends and family to your dinner table to share your meals, your photos, and your life.
So, who would likely be at Dave’s dinner table? Probably his former bosses Mark and the late-great Mr. Jobs. And, interestingly enough, Britney Spears might stop by. Apparently, she’s a Path user with 150 “close” friends. I would obviously attend, but I think my invite might have gotten lost in the mail. Luckily, I’m skilled in virtual dinner party crashing.
