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I used to think Facebook was a stupid product created by a stupid person. After seeing “The Social Network,” I realized Facebook is a stupid product created by a very smart person (or people, depending on whose story you believe).

If you haven’t seen “The Social Network,” you should. It recently won four Golden Globe awards (nominated for two others) including best screenplay – which was written by the fantastic Aaron Sorkin. The film delves into the story of Facebook’s beginnings and tackles various social topics. A great movie all around.

To be clear, my aforementioned realization is based on the assumption of a certain amount of historical accuracy with the movie. Having done absolutely no research on Mark Zuckerberg and having never met him, I based my idea of him on his product – Facebook. Doing so led me to believe he was a narcissistic voyeur who simply wanted to profit off the burgeoning field of social networking. While all of that may still be true, I thought he was just an idea man with no real skills.

Turns out not only did he have great ideas, but he also had the knowledge and skill necessary to implement those ideas. On top of that, he had an understanding of what his target demographic wanted and adjusted his product accordingly. The fact that his product is a time-wasting, self-absorbing, privacy-demolishing website is irrelevant. Mark Zuckerberg knew how to build a business.

So what do we take away from all this? Starting a business takes more than just a good idea; in fact, you can start a business with a really bad idea and if enough people want it, a bad idea can turn into a good business (see also: Reality Television, the Snuggie, etc.). The difference is the skill. If you don’t have the skills necessary to implement your idea that’s fine; you’ll just have to partner with or hire someone who does.

Facebook wasn’t just an idea. The people behind it had to have the skills to make it happen. The same is true for any business. There’s a balance of dedication, skills, creativity, and ideas that have to work together in order to achieve success.