Of course you can't make off with someone else's preexisting detailed plans.
But what if you brought as much or more to the planning as others? If your multitudinous 'partners' want vast credit for concepts and feature requests while you handle all the details and execution? If they're treating you like a 'contractor' (your analogy) when you know you're the prime mover? If there's nothing but vague oral agreements about future possibilities?
I see it as: Zuckerburg realized he could better do what he wanted to do -- indeed wanted to do even before meeting HarvardConnection -- on his own. They parted ways after barely 3 months of informal collaboration (while also full-time students).
No doubt both sides fumbled a lot of the communication. They were undergrads, after all. What did they know about clear agreements, scoping development efforts, clearly assigning IP rights of side projects, managing expectations, the value and novelty (or not) of ideas? A lot less than they all know now, I'm sure.
But what if you brought as much or more to the planning as others? If your multitudinous 'partners' want vast credit for concepts and feature requests while you handle all the details and execution? If they're treating you like a 'contractor' (your analogy) when you know you're the prime mover? If there's nothing but vague oral agreements about future possibilities?
I see it as: Zuckerburg realized he could better do what he wanted to do -- indeed wanted to do even before meeting HarvardConnection -- on his own. They parted ways after barely 3 months of informal collaboration (while also full-time students).
No doubt both sides fumbled a lot of the communication. They were undergrads, after all. What did they know about clear agreements, scoping development efforts, clearly assigning IP rights of side projects, managing expectations, the value and novelty (or not) of ideas? A lot less than they all know now, I'm sure.