Chapter: Stories of Timing
In 2005 the 35-year old artist David Choe did some gambling and made himself into a millionaire. He was hired by former Facebook president Sean Parker to paint a mural at Facebook’s first office in Palo Alto, California. When the mural was finished, Parker gave Choe the option of being paid in cash or in stock options. At the time, Facebook was only a year old and only open to college and high school students. There was no “like” button, no revenue from advertising and no hype of a $5 billion dollar initial public offering (IPO). Even so, he chose to go with the stocks as payment.
Choe was added on as an “adviser” and received 0.1 to 0.25 percent of the company earnings. Today, after the huge success of Facebook – you do the math! Choe’s share of the company is now worth somewhere around $200 million. That’s a mind-blowing figure, especially if you consider that he was homeless after having painted that fateful mural. In 2003 he led a difficult life, doing jail time for cashing forged checks, stealing, and assaulting a security guard. Choe, who now lives in Los Angeles, said he thought that the idea of Facebook, famously founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard University dorm room, was “ridiculous and pointless” at the time.
Today, his work can be seen in galleries all over the world. The artist, who began spray-painting in his teens, created the cover art for Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s multi-platinum album Collision Course in 2004. In 2008, he also painted a portrait of the then Senator Barack Obama – a painting that now hangs in the White House.
Possible Moral
The decision seven years ago by a Korean-American muralist and graffiti artist to turn down thousands of dollars in cash for his work made him a very, very, rich man. The story points out why one should think twice before choosing the instant reward, in this case getting paid in money. Do more jobs for free. Take a chance to be repaid in other ways, but remember that gambling on a dot com can either make you miserable or make millionaires out of receptionists.
Story from We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish.
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We All Need Heroes
Short StoryHey there! Here you'll find a collection of mixed stories from my debut book 'We All Need Heroes', which celebrates people with brave and innovative ideas. The finished book is filled with a huge mix of inspirational and fun short-stories of people...
