A More Perfect Union
Dorsey: We talk a lot about founders. We put so much emphasis on the founding moment of a company, the founding moment of an idea. This is what everyone wants to be. I think that's actually not reality.
The great companies don't have just one founding moment. They have multiple founding moments. Look at the United States. These guys had a good idea, but their best idea is captured in the phrase — a more perfect union. We did not get everything right today. We're not going to get everything right now. Others will come and they will finish the painting.
The great companies don't have one founding moment. They have multiple founding moments.
Lincoln Was a Founding Father Too
Dorsey: People like Lincoln completely changed how everyone thought about living in a union. I would consider him a founding father of our nation, of our ideas. That is what we always want to strive for in our companies — multiple founding moments. Not just one.
Lincoln completely changed how everyone thought. I'd consider him a founding father too.
Twitter's Multiple Founding Moments
Dorsey: A lot of people look at Biz, Ev, and myself as the founders of Twitter. And then just stop. But Twitter has had multiple founding moments throughout its history. We had one spark in 2006. We built and built and built. And then we listened.
A lot of what you see in Twitter today — the @symbol, the hashtag, the retweet, the word 'tweet' — came from the people using the service. It was not invented by the company. We just made it easier because we were really good listeners.
The @symbol, the hashtag, the retweet, the word 'tweet' — all came from the people using the service. We were just good listeners.