Under the leadership of chief technical officer Cadir Lee, Zynga pioneered the use of big data and analytics to develop mass market consumer apps, which accelerated testing and development and drastically reduced time to market for games. Over its twelve year run the original FarmVille amassed over 700 million total installs.
It launched on Jand became an immediate viral hit, reaching 1 million DAUs by the end of its first week, peaking at 32 million DAU. FarmVille, which would become the most popular social game at that time, was developed in just six weeks by a team of nine people.
