????雖然在基因泰克非常成功，但在Facebook，他面臨的是截然不同的一個世界：這是一家自由自在的初創企業，一大群20出頭的工程師們天生就不相信“西裝革履的家伙”擁有絕對的話語權。

????埃伯斯曼非常努力地去了解Facebook的業務，試圖融入其中。埃伯斯曼是一個關注細節的人，喜歡眼見為實，因此，他花了很多時間研究Facebook的廣告業務，熟悉公司那些昂貴、極其耗電的基礎設備。當初，Facebook決定實施公司歷史上最大的資本項目——在俄勒岡中部建設一個龐大的一流數據中心時，他在建設期間多次親臨現場，監控進度。

????融入Facebook的文化還需要打破常規，干出一些大多財務人士都不會做的事情。當初，埃伯斯曼就曾經領導財務部發起了一場“編程馬拉松”（hack-a-thon），效仿Facebook工程師們常見的通宵編程合作。

????結果：當時規模尚小的財務高手團隊一夜間就“攻克”了一個跨越多個年份的預算案。它的意義已不在于財務計劃本身，更多的在于團隊建設。“這個預算案還需要幾個月的時間才能最后敲定，”埃伯斯曼2010年在為數不多的一次采訪中這樣告訴我。“我們這樣做是為了與公司文化銜接。”

????埃伯斯曼的另一項業余活動則為他在Facebook員工中贏得了更多口碑：他作為貝斯手加入了Feedbomb，即Facebook內部的金曲翻唱樂隊。這支樂隊已在Facebook的七周年慶典上、在帕洛阿爾托和舊金山的很多場合進行過演出。（在Facebook上的一張樂隊照片中，埃伯斯曼換下了自己常穿的正裝襯衫，穿著一件槍炮玫瑰的T恤。）“工程師們非常欽佩樂手，”Facebook一位老員工稱。“這為他贏得了很多好感。”

????埃伯斯曼很強的運營背景也讓Facebook及未來的公眾投資者多了一層放心。

????Facebook高調的首席運營官謝莉爾?桑德伯格未來離開Facebook后的去向長期以來一直是硅谷的談資。當然，沒人覺得她短期內就會離開。但如果未來桑德伯格選擇政治或公共服務領域，埃伯斯曼將是一個理想的繼任者。萊文森說：“很少有他干不好的工作。”

????For all his success at Genentech, at Facebook he was confronted with a radically different world: a freewheeling startup, where 20-something engineers with an inherent mistrust of "suits" ruled the roost.

????Ebersman worked hard to learn the business and to fit in. A detail-oriented person who likes to see things for himself, Ebersman spent hours drilling down on Facebook's advertising business, and becoming familiar with the costly, electricity-guzzling infrastructure. After the company decided to go forward with its biggest capital project ever, a giant state-of-the-art data center in central Oregon, he visited multiple times during construction to keep tabs on its progress.

????Fitting into Facebook's culture also took some stepping out of what you'd think of as the comfort zone of most finance professionals. Early on, Ebersman led a finance department "hack-a-thon," modeled after the all-night programming sessions that are common among Facebook's engineers.

????The result: a multi-year budget that was "hacked" overnight by a still-small team of finance whizzes. It was more exercise in team-building than actual financial plan. "It still took months to finalize it," Ebersman told me in a rare 2010 interview. "It was meant to be a nice tie in with the culture."

????Ebersman earned additional credibility with the Facebook troops through an extracurricular activity: He joined Feedbomb, Facebook's in-house top-40 cover band, as its bass player. The band has played at Facebook's 7th birthday party and a number of venues in Palo Alto and San Francisco. (In a band photo on Facebook, Ebersman traded his usual buttoned-down shirt for a Guns and Roses t-shirt.) "Musicians have a lot of respect among engineers," says a veteran of Facebook. "It gave him a fair amount of cred."

????Ebersman's strong operational background provides an extra layer of comfort for Facebook and its would-be public investors.

????The post-Facebook aspirations of Sheryl Sandberg, the company's high-profile COO, have long been the talk of Silicon Valley. No one expects her to leave any time soon. But if Sandberg opts for a future in politics or public service down the line, Facebook would have in Ebersman a well-prepared executive to step into her shoes. Says Levinson: "There are very few jobs he wouldn't excel at."