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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

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Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#31

Post by kinkora »

rabble wrote: post #17

I know a lot of the early history, I worked there when we hired both Jack and Biz. I can tell you that it's a really good thing that Biz is back on board. Biz was able to articulate what twitter was as the human voice of the company in both directions. From day one the question was always, what does Biz do. Biz bounced around but when he was there things were better. Kind of like the basketball player that Nate Silve…

I just realised you are the same rabble in "Hatching Twitter"[1] and you were there even during the Odeo days!

Since you were too humble to mention it yourself, I thought I point that out to those folks that don't know who you are so that people know your opinion definitely has some weight in the matter. :)

Anyway, interesting that your basic point of Biz was that he was an everyman but I posit that while it may be a good role to have in a startup (with all the internal dramas and such), it may not work in a "corporate" environment given that Twitter has thousands of employees[2]? I have been working for more than a decade and have met my fair share of "everymans" but it is my personal anecdotal experience that these guys usually get shredded in the politics of the corporate world. More so considering that apparently Biz use to get on the nerves of Jack[3]?

A jester can be loved by the king in his court but the minute the King finds him annoying, not long will it degenerate into an off-with-his-head scenario.

Given your intimate knowledge of their relationship, I am curious what are your thoughts from this perspective.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RM8TBPRZ1490F/

[2] https://about.twitter.com/company

[3] http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/11/twitters-founde...

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#32

Post by LeoPanthera »

beachy wrote: post #28
ProAm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of the things twitter needs - strategy? product direction? revenue? - is "guiding the company culture" really that high on the list? This is very typical in dying large companies, you bring back the old guard to try and save the day. Rarely works, but at least it's an attempt.

Steve Jobs.

I dispute this. Steve Jobs didn't save Apple. Apple saved Next. Today's Apple is not the Apple of the 90s - it is Next with an Apple logo on the box.

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#33

Post by mabbo »

fred256 wrote: post #16
mabbo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, twitters market cap went up 1.4%, which is well within the usual ups and downs of normal trading throughout the day. Maybe it was because of this. Maybe it was because some analyst put out a piece on a private feed that said "Twitter might make more money someday".

" more money"? They've yet to make any money.

"Twitter might find a quarter someone dropped on the sidewalk"

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#34

Post by 101km »

rabble wrote: post #17

I know a lot of the early history, I worked there when we hired both Jack and Biz. I can tell you that it's a really good thing that Biz is back on board. Biz was able to articulate what twitter was as the human voice of the company in both directions. From day one the question was always, what does Biz do. Biz bounced around but when he was there things were better. Kind of like the basketball player that Nate Silve…

> "In recent years, talking to twitter employees you get this amnesia over the company's culture and history. People don't know where things came from, they don't know the story of how the came to be. The myth's are complicated and messy. And eventually go so messy the company stopped telling the story of how twitter came to be where it is now all together."

That always happens, the raison d'être gets lost after the initial cohort moves on.

Twitter is just another big corporation now, like any big corp employees will pay lip service to vague corporate values (with a few true believers).

Rolling out a heavily decorated old timer in 1870 will not inspire the troops to fight anew for the glory of the French empire.

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#35

Post by rco8786 »

rabble wrote: post #17

I know a lot of the early history, I worked there when we hired both Jack and Biz. I can tell you that it's a really good thing that Biz is back on board. Biz was able to articulate what twitter was as the human voice of the company in both directions. From day one the question was always, what does Biz do. Biz bounced around but when he was there things were better. Kind of like the basketball player that Nate Silve…

Thanks for your post. I'm curious about what you mean by "I was there when we hired Jack and Biz" though. Were they not founders?

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#36

Post by case »

rco8786 wrote: post #35
rabble wrote: post #17

I know a lot of the early history, I worked there when we hired both Jack and Biz. I can tell you that it's a really good thing that Biz is back on board. Biz was able to articulate what twitter was as the human voice of the company in both directions. From day one the question was always, what does Biz do. Biz bounced around but when he was there things were better. Kind of like the basketball player that Nate Silve…

Thanks for your post. I'm curious about what you mean by "I was there when we hired Jack and Biz" though. Were they not founders?

Rabble was the first Eng hire at Odeo, the podcasting startup founded by Noah Glass and Evan Williams. When Odeo didn't gain enough traction and they were figuring out what to do next, a small Odeo team (which included Jack) prototyped Twttr. And the rest is history.

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#37

Post by setpatchaddress »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #32
beachy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs.

I dispute this. Steve Jobs didn't save Apple. Apple saved Next. Today's Apple is not the Apple of the 90s - it is Next with an Apple logo on the box.

Nonsense. NeXT had largely failed in the marketplace. The best the NeXT people could do without Steve at the helm was Rhapsody, which Steve hated. And Jony Ive worked for Apple, not NeXT.

That said, I fail to see what unique vision either Twitter founder brings to the party.

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#38

Post by evanweaver »

case wrote: post #36
rco8786 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your post. I'm curious about what you mean by "I was there when we hired Jack and Biz" though. Were they not founders?

Rabble was the first Eng hire at Odeo, the podcasting startup founded by Noah Glass and Evan Williams. When Odeo didn't gain enough traction and they were figuring out what to do next, a small Odeo team (which included Jack) prototyped Twttr. And the rest is history.

Well, we still had to scale it.

Re: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is returning to the company

#40

Post by LoungeFlyZ »

fredwilson wrote: post #25
rabble wrote: post #17

I know a lot of the early history, I worked there when we hired both Jack and Biz. I can tell you that it's a really good thing that Biz is back on board. Biz was able to articulate what twitter was as the human voice of the company in both directions. From day one the question was always, what does Biz do. Biz bounced around but when he was there things were better. Kind of like the basketball player that Nate Silve…

Yup

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