Childhood & Early Life
Dustin Moskovitz was born in a Jewish family in Gainesville, Florida on 22nd May, 1984. His father was a psychiatrist and practiced it in Florida. His mother was a teacher and artist.
He graduated from the Vanguard High School as he grew up in Florida. He pursued IB Diploma Program followed by economics at the Harvard University. However, 2 years after attending the University, he took a year off and shifted to Palo Alta in California, where, he started working full time on the Facebook project.
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Career
Dustin’s career started in February 2004, when he, along with roommates, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and friend, Andrew McCollum, started making plans about the launch of Facebook.
Facebook was originally designed to serve as an online database directory for students studying at Harvard as an aid tool to find fellow members. It was named as thefacebook.com.
However, in June 2004, the team took a year off and moved to California to work on the expansion of Facebook worldwide. They hired 8 new employees along with investor, Sean Parker.
Dustin was the lead programmer and the head of the technical department in Facebook.
According to Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin learnt programming in a few days and joined the team as the programmer. Dustin was the first CTO and VP of Engineering of Facebook.
He played an important role in the growth of Facebook as he watched over the architecture and working of Facebook. Dustin had a 7.6 % shareholding in Facebook.
On 3rd October 2008, he announced that he would be leaving Facebook to co-found Asana, a web application. He successfully co-founded Asana, along with partner, Justin Rosenstein.
In 2011, Asana was successfully launched out of Beta. It is a web based mobile application that helps team collaboration on team projects without the use of e mails.
Dustin is also known for investing in ‘Path’, a mobile photo sharing website, which was created by a former Facebook engineer, David Morin. It is said that Dustin’s advice proved vital in influencing Morin to decline a buyout offer by Google.
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He also invested in the Artificial Intelligence Company, Vicarious.
He, along with his wife, Cari Tuna, started the philanthropic organization, Good Ventures. Good Ventures has donated about $100 million for programs that supported Malaria eradication, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Deworm the world initiative and GiveDirectly.
He and Cari were the youngest couple to sign the ‘Giving Pledge’ by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates that commits billionaires to donate major part of their wealth to charity.
Dustin is working on a joint collaboration with GiveWell which has led to a new spinoff. This is called the Open Philanthropy Project, with an aim of innovating a way to use large sums of money, starting with the wealth of Dustin himself, for the betterment of society.
Personal Life
Dustin is married to girlfriend, Cari Tuna, a former Yale Daily News writer and Wall Street journalist.
Being a billionaire, he still believes that money should only be used for good cause and supports charity widely.
He had provided $10,000 to all of his engineers after successfully launching Asana, so as to improve the gadgets, equipment and other working conditions of the employees.
Dustin does not believe in showing off his money and wealth. He leads a normal life. He majorly uses his money for charity and philanthropic causes.
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Dustin is an active supporter of the Democratic Party.
He is in open opposition to Donald Trump, the current President of the United States of America and donated around $20,000, supporting Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate in 2016 Presidential campaign.
He states that Trump’s presidency is significantly dangerous to the country.
They both regularly attend the Burning Man, an annual gathering that is mainly influenced by principles like self-reliance, radical inclusion, self-expression and others.
While leaving Facebook, he had stated that it was a precondition that he was starting something which won’t be about chasing money.
According to him, “There are a lot of people building small ideas now. There's an idealization of being an entrepreneur, but the most important thing is to have a really great idea.”
Dustin states that the movie ‘The Social Network’, which describes the development and birth of Facebook, overemphasizes on certain unnecessary aspects and neglects some people that were vital in the making of Facebook.
Dustin is still good friends with Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook. Mark considers Dustin as one of his most important and trusted confidants.
Facts About Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz is not only one of the co-founders of Facebook, but he is also an avid philanthropist, focusing on causes such as poverty alleviation and global health.
Despite his immense success in the tech industry, Moskovitz enjoys spending his free time pursuing outdoor activities like hiking and camping.
In addition to his work in the tech world, Moskovitz is known for his interest in mindfulness and meditation, which he credits for helping him stay grounded and focused.
Moskovitz is a strong advocate for workplace diversity and has implemented initiatives at his companies to promote inclusivity and equality.
Fun fact: Moskovitz is a skilled chess player and has been known to participate in friendly games with friends and colleagues.
