4min snip

Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

NOTE

Identity Threat

The speaker recalls a past incident where he was fixated on being right and experienced an identity threat when his proposal was challenged by a colleague. This incident led to a heated conflict and embarrassment. He emphasizes the concept of identity threat, stating that when one's core identity is in question, they defend themselves vigorously. The speaker reflects on the importance of being open-minded and curious rather than focusing on being right. Despite the incident occurring at a young age, it left a lasting impact, making him reevaluate his approach to interactions and the effect they have on others' feelings.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Andrew Bosworth—or Boz, as most people know him—is the chief technology officer at Meta and head of Reality Labs, the company’s augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) organization, which he created in 2017. Boz joined Facebook in 2006 as their approximately 10th engineer, and in his 18-year tenure he built the original News Feed, Messenger, and Groups, as well as many early anti-abuse and infrastructure systems. At various times he has been the engineering director overseeing Events, Places, Photos, Videos, Timeline, Privacy, and more. Before Reality Labs, he ran the Ads and Business Platform product group, where he led engineering, product, research, analytics, and design, taking annual revenue from $4 billion to $40 billion in five years. Andrew currently leads Meta’s efforts in AR, VR, AI, and consumer hardware across Quest, Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and more. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Stories from the early days of Facebook

• Lessons from Meta’s downturn and recent turnaround

• Meta’s culture of transparency

• Boz’s thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro

• Why communication is the job

• Why you should regularly seek help from your manager

• Lessons in setting incentives and avoiding their misuse

• Why you should optimize for a variety in experience in your career

• The importance of trusting your own expertise and not being swayed by external opinions

• Stories of failures and personal growth

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