The controversy surrounding the emergence of Facebook is one of the most fascinating stories related to the startup culture – one that even spawned a Hollywood blockbuster, called The Social Network (2010). While the Winklevoss twins were known largely due to their involvement in the case, Divya Narendra was the third person who joined them in suing Zuckerberg on the allegations of stealing the idea for Facebook.
Divya Narendra is an American entrepreneur of Indian origin, renowned for co-founding HarvardConnection (later ConnectU) and his pivotal role in the high-profile lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook’s origins, which ended in a landmark $65 million settlement between all the parties.
Divya Narendra: A peek into his early life
Divya Narendra was born on March 18, 1982, in the Bronx, New York, to Indian immigrant parents who were both doctors. Narendra grew up in Bayside, Queens, and demonstrated early academic excellence at top New York schools like Horace Mann. He gained admission to Harvard University, graduating in 2004 with an A.B. cum laude in Applied Mathematics while bonding with classmates Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss over tech ideas.
Later, he earned a J.D. and MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Pritzker School of Law in 2012, blending finance and legal expertise.
Narendra’s role in the Facebook controversy
In late 2002, Narendra and the Winklevoss twins came up with HarvardConnection – a social network for Harvard students to connect via profiles, aiming to expand university-wide. They met and hired Mark Zuckerberg in November 2003 for coding after the campus buzz about his coding skills emerged.
Internal emails revealed detailed discussions on features like profiles and matchmaking, but Zuckerberg allegedly stalled the release. Later, he launched TheFacebook.com on February 4, 2004, sparking accusations of intellectual theft due to similarities. The trio filed complaints with Harvard, then sued Zuckerberg in 2004 for breach of contract and misappropriation. The four-year battle amid Facebook’s explosive growth settled in 2008 for $20 million cash and $45 million in stock, without Zuckerberg admitting fault.
Narendra’s post-lawsuit career
Undeterred by the Facebook dispute, Narendra launched SumZero in 2008, an invite-only platform for hedge funds, analysts, and investors to share proprietary research, now boasting thousands of vetted members and a multimillion-dollar valuation under his CEO leadership.
His estimated net worth now stands at $80 million, reflecting success in fintech networking. Personally, he married model Phoebe White in 2017 and maintains a low-profile life focused on professional innovation.
Narendra left a cultural impact
Narendra’s story inspired his prominent portrayal in the 2010 Oscar-winning film The Social Network, which dramatised the lawsuit and spotlighted his Indian-American contributions to Facebook’s origin tale, though he noted its fictional elements. Today, he symbolises resilience in Silicon Valley.
