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biz stone
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Biz Stone
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Jeff Bezos invests undisclosed amount in Twitter
The favorite downtime-riddled platform for sharing the lumps life gives you in 140 characters or less, Twitter, has received a hot investment infusion of an undisclosed amount from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital. Spokesperson Biz Stone promises everyone that "Twitter will become a sustainable business supported by a revenue model," though they must have been a bit more specific when pitching to Bezos and Sabet. Sabet, for his part, earned himself a seat on Twitter's board with the deal. [Twitter Blog]
biz stone
rumormonger
Twitter tries to steal Apple's spotlight
How sly: Twitter's Biz Stone posted over the weekend that "there's going to be some very interesting breaking news happening on Twitter." By which Stone means that people are going to be using Twitter to report on Steve Jobs's keynote at Apple's WWDC event today. Jobs is expected to announce a new version of the iPhone, but only after boring the bejeezus out of everyone who's not a developer with a lot of inane news about software — not that that will stop Apple transcriptionists from Twittering Jobs's every exhalation. More »
nerdfight
Twitter's existential crisis a masterwork of fingerpointing
Twitter's founders are waging a behind-the-scenes war with Blaine Cook, the blogging service's former chief architect. The subject: Who's responsible for the service's perpetual outages. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington ran a series of leading questions about Twitter's infrastructure, attributing them to "people who say they’ve seen Twitter’s architecture." I don't think that's true, if only because I received a similar set of questions, before Arrington's post went up, from a source who identified himself as a "friend of Blaine." In their official response, Twitter cofounders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone — they're the two one always forgets about, because they're not as interesting as Evan Williams — go out of their way to avoid naming names. More »
nerdfight
Ariel Waldman, Twitter, and the "whore" algorithm
Don't call Ariel Waldman a "whore" where Google can hear you. That's the only firm conclusion we can draw from a confusing fracas that left even Twitter cofounder Biz Stone unsure who can call whom a whore on the service. Waldman, a blogger and community manager at quasi-rival messaging site Pownce, called out Twitter for allegedly failing to uphold its own terms of service, setting off an online firestorm. More »
twitter
Despite reports, Twitter funding not done
GigaOm reports: that Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams "reached an agreement with investors today to raise $15 million in funding at around $80 million pre-money valuation. "It's not true," a VC involved in the deal tells us. "Nothing is done." Silicon Alley Insider's sources concur.
twitter
Why VCs love Twitter's downtime problems
Last we heard about microblogging service Twitter's latest funding round, Union Square Ventures partner Albert Wenger told us — and, via Twitter, the world — that he was taking a lunch meeting at Twitter HQ. That was April 25. Despite rumors of an imminent deal, there's been no announcement. So why can't Wenger and his USV partner Fred Wilson close the deal? One theory: an unexpected bidding war over a service that grows more mainstream every day. A source familiar with this type of funding situation explains: "You know that thing about failure is an orphan, success has a million dads? VCs want to buy the right to say Twitter was theirs." And for this crowd, Twitter's downtime problems are a bonus. More »
we read twitter so you don't have to
VC takes Twitter founders out to lunch
Someone carefully let it be known today that Twitter cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are looking for $15 million in venture-capital funding. We emailed existing Fred Wilson, a partner at Twitter investor Union Square Ventures, to ask if Twitter's been in touch, looking for a re-up. Wilson's unresponsive answer: "Yes, Union Square Ventures is an existing investor in Twitter." Lucky for us, Wilson's colleague Albert Wenger isn't nearly as discreet. He Twittered about his destination for lunch: Twitter headquarters.
venture capital
Twitter seeks $60 million valuation first, business model later
Twitter, a communications tool for marketers, self-promoters and journalists, is trying to raise a third round of venture capital Silicon Alley Insider reports cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are looking for $15 million, valuing the company at $60 million. Current investors include Union Square Ventures and Charles River Ventures. SAI guesses Stone and Williams have pitched Spark Capital, too. Twitter raised $5 million for a $20 million valuation last summer. The company still hasn't found a business model, mostly because users, by and large, view Twitter messages on cell phones or third-party desktop applications, not the Twitter.com website. We find this endless groping embarrassing. Twitter limits messages to 140 characters. Why not shorten it to 120 and slap "Sponsored by Coke" to the end of each message? That seems easier.
exits
Twitter cans another engineer
When Twitter hired Lee Mighdoll as VP of engineering and operations in January, cofounder Biz Stone called him the "perfect match" for the company. Not anymore. Mighdoll is out after just three months of the job. "The match was not perfect," Stone told SAI in an email. Mighdoll is the second engineer reported to have left Twitter in the last two days; architect Blaine Cook fled the country yesterday. Neither was able to fix Twitter's oft-reported propensity to crash. We hear the final straw to break Biz Stone's back was not the breakdown yesterday that TechCrunch described as a "privacy disaster". Makes sense, because isn't that Twitter's raison d'être?
online advertising
Twitter launches in Japan with ads
Twitter cofounder Biz Stone once said, "There will never be ads on Twitter.com." Note that Stone never said anything about Twitter.jp. News.com reports that Twitter has launched in Japan, with ads. "Ads are important," Twitter backer Joi Ito said. "It's always harder to add ads later. So we're launching with them in Japan." What a tiresome PR game: Are ads any less important in the U.S.? If Stone wants to add them to Twitter.com, he and cofounder Evan Williams should go ahead. The ads in Japan actually link to the advertiser's Twitter feed. WIth that kind of arrangement, Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis will surely sign up as charter sponsors.
online advertising
Where Twitter's ads are -- and aren't
Ads on Twitter? They already exist — just not where TechCrunch's Duncan Riley thought they appeared. Twitter cofounder Biz Stone denied Riley's report, telling Silicon Alley Insider, "We're not putting ads on Twitter.com" — meaning Twitter's website. Of course. That would be the stupidest imaginable place to put ads, and Stone knows it. Which is why, for almost half a year, Twitter has been running ads elsewhere. More »
breakdowns
