Jack Dorsey Book Summary

Jack Dorsey Book Summary Preview

Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has been the platform of choice for political uprisings and media scandals alike. It's a favorite outlet for President Donald Trump and the birthplace of hashtag culture. But in the mind of Jack Dorsey, self-made billionaire and founder of two world-changing startups, Twitter began with a pipe dream, a taxi service, and an impulsive cross-country move to Silicon Valley.

The Power of Instant Messaging

Jack Dorsey, now 43, is a man of humble beginnings. He was born to a homemaker and businessman in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended Catholic High School and made pocket money as an occasional vintage fashion model. He had no idea that his teenage obsession with taxicab dispatch software would change the world forever.

Dorsey's first project was developing open-source software for taxi dispatch services. He was still in high school when a taxi company adopted his first program. From there, he attended the University of Missouri – Rolla for two years, followed by a two-year stint at NYU from 1997-1999. While at NYU, Dorsey kept thinking about the power of instant messaging. He wanted a way to update his friends on his daily musings that were quick, shareable, and easy to read. In 2000, he developed a prototype using email messaging and his Blackberry, but no one was particularly interested in bite-sized, mobile updates. He tucked the idea away and started looking for work.

Like many CEOs, Dorsey dropped out of college. For a few years after leaving NYU, he was short on cash and deep in credit card debt. His interest in alternative medicine led him to massage school, where he became a licensed masseuse. He bounced from relationship to relationship and city to city, following romantic partners and working as a coder for his father's mass spectrometer company, an engineer, and even a full-time babysitter. Shortly after that, he started working for the podcasting company Odeo, where he met future Twitter co-founders Biz Stone, Noah Glass, and Evan Williams. When Odeo went out of business in 2006, Dorsey shared his instant messaging prototype idea with Stone, Glass, and Williams, and Twitter was born.

A Reluctant Billionaire

In 2006, Dorsey posted his first tweet under the simple handle @jack. The team bought the Twitter domain for $7,000, and Dorsey became the CEO at only 30 years old. He put on a suit, took out his nose rings, and tried his best to look the part.

But Dorsey struggled with the long hours and fast-paced life of Silicon Valley startups. He was notorious for leaving early to attend yoga class and explore his passion for fashion design. Though he saw Twitter through two rounds of funding, he passed the gauntlet to Williams a year later and became the chairman of the board. While Williams focused on the day-to-day operations of Twitter, Dorsey set his sights on investing in Foursquare, and shortly after that launched a second company, Square, that would allow businesses to take mobile payments using a smartphone attachment.

In 2013, Twitter went public, and...

Please login to access the full text and audio summary for FREE

Users get access to two FREE summaries. Become a pro user for unlimited access.

Login

Congrats! You've unlocked a 50% discount. Use coupon code WELCOME for 50% off Sumizeit Premium.

Save time with unlimited access to text, audio, and video summaries of the world's best-selling books.
Become a pro user