As much as I hate accepting this, Sean Parker became a known name in India after the movie Social Network had been released; but even today, the face most people associate with the name is not of Sparker himself, but of Justin Timberlake. Depressing, I must say! The guy who gave us free music downloads, and possibly led to the rise of a plethora of music sharing portals deserves more respect and acclaim than that.

Why this post? Because of all the entrepreneurs you have seen around, Sean Parker is one who can be described by one and one word only - Enigma! Hated by some VCs who see him as an unknown variable, totally unpredictable; and loved by many others because of the simple fact that VCs love 'big' ideas, and Parker is someone who has them in plenty. As LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman says - "Sean Parker is a big-ass visionary". Sean Parker, if we are to believe former Facebook growth chief, Chamath Palihapitiya, is exact opposite of the way he has been portrayed in the movie The Social Network. "The movie needed an antagonist, but that's not what he was". When the movie was released, even Parker came up with a comment - "I wish my life was that cool." Sean Parker's initial work can be attributed to co-founding music-sharing site Napster, which blew up the record industry and Parker came in limelight on account of tons of legal cases; and then the address-book service Plaxo - two rich concepts, entirely different from each other, and both executed in a manner so perfect that the organic growth they received possibly paved way for the rise of Social Networks as we see today. This was before Parker went ahead to become the 24-year-old President at Facebook, taking it from colleges in and around US to a social network giant. The common denominator in all these three names just mentioned is the fact that Parker was eventually bounced off from all three. :-)

The strength of Parker lies not in the companies that he founded, or accelerated growth of; it lies in his ability to perceive the direction the world is heading. A quality that has managed to create for him a personal network of the who's who of modern internet. As Forbes rightly calls "His network of Billionaires controls the internet". Ram Shriram, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerberg - no matter whom you name, Parker has them on his speed dial.

The legal cases in Napster, the controversies surrounding Facebook, you would think that the guy will hang his boots now; but have a look at the kind of traction Spotify is gaining on Facebook, Forbes latest cover featuring Parker as an agent of Disruption, the proposed live video startup - Airtime, and now finally his debut on twitter with an apologetic tweet to Zuck, I think Parker is just starting.