Twitter At Five: Not Spitting Out Well
Fortune: Trouble @Twitter: There's no shortage of drama at Twitter these days: Besides the CEO shuffles, there are secret board meetings, executive power struggles, a plethora of coaches and consultants, and disgruntled founders. (Like Williams. The day after Dorsey announced his return to the company -- via tweet, naturally -- Williams quit his day-to-day duties at the company, although he remains a board member and Twitter's largest shareholder, with an estimated 30% to 35% stake.) These theatrics, which go well beyond the usual angst at a new venture, have contributed to a growing perception that innovation has stalled and management is in turmoil at one of Silicon Valley's most promising startups, which some 20 million active users rely on each month for updates on everything from subway delays to election results -- and which a growing number of companies, big and small, seek to use to market themselves and track customers. ...... It has been months -- an eternity in Silicon Valley -- since the company rolled out a new product that excited consumers. ...... Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg used to watch developments at Twitter obsessively; now he pays much less attention to the rival service. ...... Twitter doesn't lack talented engineers, potential paying customers, or loyal users -- and it certainly has plenty of money in the bank ..... The problem is a board and top executive team that don't always appear to have control of its wide-ranging cast of characters, including founders who have attained near-celebrity status (another co-founder, Biz Stone, is a regular on NPR, and earlier this year Dorsey was profiled in Vanity Fair), headstrong and divisive managers, and investors used to getting their way. ....... in the first half of 2009, Twitter added more users more quickly than almost any web service in history ...... the company tells Fortune that in coming months Twitter will roll out new features and ad products ...... "Twitter could be 10 or even 100 times bigger. I'm hopeful for that," says Reid Hoffman ....... "But it's not a given. It's never a given." ...... Twitter hates being lumped in with Facebook as a social network, but comparing the two companies helps illustrate why Twitter finds itself stuck in neutral. ...... Zuckerberg .... although he still dabbles in writing code, he spends his time refining the product and strategy. He's been criticized for being ruthless, ambitious, and single-minded in his quest to build Facebook -- a common knock on the few founders who stay atop their companies. (Exhibit A: Bill Gates.) ...... Unsure of what they'd created, the founders basically turned Twitter over to its users -- initially a bunch of techie early adopters -- and watched what they did with it. The result was a bit of anarchy ...... By the end of 2008 the board decided that Dorsey, a taciturn engineer with no previous management experience, was no longer the right CEO. Williams, who succeeded him, has been accused of pushing Dorsey out, but in an exclusive interview for this story, he put the responsibility for making that decision on the broader board: "We thought about recruiting somebody from the outside," he says, "but the company at that stage was so fragile that bringing in someone from outside was risky. So the VCs asked me if I would do it." ....... By that time, communication among the Twitter founders, especially Dorsey and Williams, had started to fray. According to Greg Kidd, an early investor, Dorsey today is circumspect but firm on the subject of his relationship with Williams. "The most he's ever said about Ev is, 'We don't talk.'" ........ Williams, a reserved Nebraskan ...... Having dabbled in improvisational theater early in his adulthood, Costolo inspires confidence with his refined public speaking ability, quick wit, and fast decision-making skills. ...... Williams left in December for vacation, extended it to January, then through March. On March 29, the day after Dorsey returned as product chief, Williams announced he wouldn't return to the company in a management role. ...... growth of U.S. visitors to the site has leveled off more than a year after its massive spike upward in 2009 ...... international traffic to the site jumped 83% in the past year ...... the 20-month plateau has come so early in the company's trajectory ....... Many believe that Twitter's search results, which increasingly show up on other sites, are its real jewels. For anyone striving to see events as they unfold, there are few better places to turn. ...... the company lacks a coherent philosophy about what it wants to deliver to customers in the first place. ...... Three days after Dorsey's March 28 return to daily duty at Twitter, the company killed the Dickbar. ...... three people close to Square say Dorsey told them that he views his involvement with Twitter as short term. ...... "The act of getting from there to here was violent," he says. "We've had a revolving door of senior leaders who leave." ...... if Dorsey is right and managing a startup is indeed like managing a theatrical company, it probably is a good idea to give the performers and stagehands a little love. That way maybe they can #gettheiracttogether.I did offer my services but Twitter would not listen.
Making Dick Costolo An Offer He Can't Refuse
