IT started in a Banchory bedroom and has propelled Pete Cashmore to idolatry status among social media revolutionaries.
Now the blog site Mashable is due to make Mr Cashmore, 26, a very rich man after reports it is due to be sold to news giant CNN for a reported $200 million (£128m).
The success of the site, which delivers technology and social media news to around 15 million users a month, saw Mr Cashmore leave Aberdeenshire to make his mark in San Francisco's Silicon Valley.
It was there his good looks and charm earned him the tag of "Brad Pitt of the Blogosphere", with Mr Cashmore namechecked in many magazine articles that celebrated either eligible bachelors or business visionaries.
Accolades included a mention in Time Magazine's 100 in 2010, with Mr Cashmore credited alongside Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg for his influence on the social media phenomenon.
It is a sizeable achievement for the former Banchory Academy pupil who finished school two years late due to poor health and who swatted away the prospect of university to concentrate on emerging technology and media.
He is often referred to in the American press as a college drop-out done good. The peak of his success so far, the sale of Mashable, is expected today.
Tim Wright, co-founder of social media agency Twin Tangibles, based in Glasgow, said any sale would be "great for Scotland and obviously great for Pete".
He added: "Mashable is a very, very popular site. It is very trusted as a source of content as it is essentially crowd-sourced in the sense you have content coming in from a whole range of different sources.
"It exemplifies all the great things about social media – that sense of inclusion, of sharing and being built by the community. It is all these things that make it a hugely regarded source."
Mr Wright added Mashable was a strong example of how this type of website had become a successful, commercial model, following in the footsteps of social networking giant Facebook.
He said: "Pete has achieved much the same thing and it is an acknowledgement that mainstream media have to wake up to the impact of things like Mashable. It is not a case of one supplanting the other. It is recognising both have a role to play."
Mr Cashmore returned to Scotland for a spell a number of years ago to refocus energy on his business and moved back to his family home, where he worked 20-hour days in a bid to combat the time difference.
Mr Cashmore has now settled down with Canadian photographer girlfirend Lisa Bettany and lives in San Francisco, but travels frequently to see his family.
The potential purchase of Mashable is the latest in a long line of news organisations buying into the influential and lucrative blog market.
Last August, CNN acquired Zite, an iPad magazine publisher, reportedly for between $20m and $25m (£12.7m to £15.9m). It followed AOL's purchase of technology blog TechCrunch for an estimated $25m (£15.9m) in September 2010.
If the CNN acquisition of Mashable goes ahead, however, it will be the highest amount paid for a news site that specialises in technology and social media.
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