9781422270486

chapter 1

STORY OF A STARTUP

POWERFUL PRESENTATION Boardrooms in company headquarters across the globe—those high-pressure, high-stakes playing fields of industry—are where the grandest of ideas can flourish or fizzle in the blink of an eye. It was early in 2006 when Jack Dorsey stepped up at Odeo’s headquarters in San Francisco and delivered a powerful, life changing presentation that would launch one of the most successful and widely used apps around the world, transforming how people would communicate and share information for years to come. What made the occasion even more remarkable was that Dorsey had spent the bulk of his childhood waging a fierce fight against a speech impediment that often had him retreating to the safety net of home rather than playing with friends or engaging in social activities at school. Odeo’s executives were impressed by Dorsey’s idea and gave him the go-ahead to pursue it—quickly. Within weeks they had a name—Twitter, a plan, and a hearty appetite for success. What transpired in the years that followed elevated the app to staggering success, with nearly 400 million people now using it globally.

7