Bearded, friendly foodie Ezra “Fuzz” Callahan joined Facebook in 2004, right when the company was starting. He stayed for 6 years. 

During that time Facebook grew to become a copmany worth many billions of dollars. Because of that, Callahan’s net worth grew to many millions of dollars.

When he married another Facebook employee in 2012, Modern Luxury covered the ceremony.

“The ceremony took place in a garden at a private Malibu estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The couple wanted their wedding to bewarm and elegant, but not over-the-top.”

“The cocktail hour reflected the couple’s passion for food and drinks, as guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres like lobster corn dogs and spicy poke tuna on wonton crisps. Tables made from vintage wine barrels served as charcuterie and wine tasting areas.”

Because of all those billions and millions and the fabulous wedding, you might imagine Callahan joined Facebook in some glamorous fashion. Maybe some top recruiter picked him up in  a limo and took him out for steaks.

Nope.

Back in 2004, Facebook was still a tiny little startup with a few million college kid users. It’s employees were basically the same age – sometimes younger.

They all worked out of a house in Los Altos. Out back, there was a pool with a zipline running over it.

One night around 11pm, the doorbell rang.

Facebook’s first COO, Dustin Moskovitz answered.

“Hello.”

There stood Ezra Callahan. 

He said, “Hi.”

Then there was an awkward pause.

Ezra: “Uh, I’m Ezra. I work at Facebook now. Sean hired me.”

Sean was Sean Parker, the Napster cofounder who had become Facebook’s President after befriending Zuckerberg.

Moskovitz said, “Oh, hmm. He didn’t mention that. Welcome, I guess…”‘

Ezra: “Yeah.”

Another awkward pause.

Moskovitz said, “Ok, well I guess I’ll see you on Monday then?”

Ezra said, “Oh, also I live here now.”

Moskovitz: “Oh.”

Moskovitz recently re-told this story on question and answer site Quora, and that’s where the dialogue above comes from.

To me, the story reminds me of how dingy, strange, and bizarre mammoth Internet companies can be at their beginnings.

It reminds me of how, during her first few days on the job, a young Marissa Mayer bumped into Larry Page, quivering in the corner of Google’s first kitchen. Netscape was sending too much traffic to Google and it had brought the site down.

“It’s all gone horrible wrong,” he told her.

Sometimes the beginnings of great things can be very humble – and a little weird!

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