Hatching Twitter

Hatching Twitter

A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal

Nick Bilton

Name Game

The hunt for words that stick

His vibrating phone led him to think of the brain impulses that cause a muscle to twitch. “Twitch!” No, that would never work, he thought. So he continued flipping through the tw’s in the dictionary. ... And then, there it was. “The light chirping sound made by certain birds.” ... A verb. Twitter.
Ejection Seat

Founders ousted through political power dynamics.

The numerous lawyers Ev had consulted had told him, not in so many words, that he was fucked. The board had spent months preparing to oust him as CEO of Twitter, ensuring that once the gears began moving, there was nothing Ev could do to stop them.
Desperate Pivots

Desperation, not genius, drove transformative pivots.

Ev’s worst fear was about to be realized: Odeo was going to fail, which meant Ev, the blogging phenomenon, was actually a one-hit wonder. But he reasoned that if he could pivot Odeo into something else, he could save his name in Silicon Valley.