Dustin Moskovitz is one of the co-founders of Facebook (now called Meta). Moskovitz played a key technical role in Facebook’s early days but is not as well known as Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. In 2011, he became the youngest self-made billionaire based on his stake in Facebook. In 2008, he founded another successful company, Asana, a platform that helps teams track and manage their work. Moskovitz is an investor in many companies and has donated money to several philanthropic causes. He also serves on the boards of many companies and non-profits.
10 Things About Dustin Moskovitz
1. Moskovitz was born and raised in Florida
Moskovitz was born on May 22, 1984, in a Jewish family – his dad was a psychiatrist and his mom was a teacher. He spent his younger years in Florida – he was born in Gainesville and grew up in Ocala. He graduated with an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme from Vanguard High School.
2. He attended Harvard University for two years. He quit Harvard to start Facebook.
He studied Economics at Harvard University for two years. He quit Harvard in 2004 to work on Facebook full time with Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook, originally called thefacebook.com was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz in their dorm room at Harvard. Facebook started as an online directory for Harvard students. Moskovitz was Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer and later Vice President of Engineering. Facebook went public in 2012 making Moskowitz a billionaire.
3. He is very good friends with Mark Zuckerberg
Though Moskovitz left Facebook to start Asana, he remains good friends with Zuckerberg. Moskovitz has an agreement with Zuckerberg that allows Zuckerberg to vote for his shares.
4. He founded Asana in 2008
In 2008, Moskovitz left Facebook to start a company called Asana with another Facebook employee Justin Rosenstein. Asana develops tools to help companies manage projects. In 2020. Asana went public and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Asana is consistently ranked as one of the best collaboration and productivity apps. The company often makes the list of the best places to work. Employees also rate Moskovitz’s leadership very high on websites such as Glassdoor.
5. Moskovitz is a billionaire
Moskovitz is a billionaire. Though he has invested in many companies, his wealth primarily comes from his interest in Facebook and Asana. Moskovitz and his wife Cari are the youngest couple to sign the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, committing to donate most of their wealth to philanthropy.
6. He is an investor in the photo-sharing site Path
Moskowitz is an investor in the mobile photo-sharing site Path. Path was founded by David Morin, a former Facebook employee. In 2011, Google made a $100 million offer to buy Path but Moskovitz convinced Morin not to sell.
7. Mindfulness played a key role in his success
Moskovitz believes that mindfulness plays an important part in his life and is the key to his success
Mindfulness has helped me succeed in almost every dimension of my life. By stopping regularly to look inward and become aware of my mental state, I stay connected to the source of my actions and thoughts and can guide them with considerably more intention.
– Dustin Moskovitz
8. He met his wife Cari on a blind date
Moskovitz met Cari on a blind date in 2011. Cari worked as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. The couple married in 2013.
9. Founded Good Ventures
With his wife Cari, Moskovitz founded Good Ventures, a philanthropic organization. Good Ventures has partnered with Givewell, an organization that evaluates charities, to promote effective charitable giving. This collaboration led to the Open Philanthropy Projects, a separate organization, which helps figure out the best way to give large sums of money to do the most good.
10. Moskovitz is a Democrat
Though Moskovitz considers himself an independent thinker, he has voted exclusively for the Democratic party. He donated $45 million to support the Joe Biden campaign for President in 2020. His company Asana was the second largest contributor to Joe Biden, only behind financial behemoth Bloomberg. In 2016, he donated $16 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
