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Twitter Cofounder Biz Stone: If You Don't Love It, Failure Is Guaranteed

By Biz Stone · Investing · 1 min read

Stone says he made the mistake enough times to know what the most important thing is. If you're not emotionally invested in what you're working on, failure is pretty much guaranteed.

Key Points

Success is not guaranteed, but failure is if you're not emotionally invested
Odeo failed not because of Apple — the team just didn't care about podcasting
Three years of everyone saying Twitter was stupid — emotional investment carried him through

Success is not guaranteed. But failure pretty much is guaranteed if you're not emotionally invested in what you're working on.

The Most Important Thing

Stone: If I had to say one thing, the most important thing — and I did it wrong enough to realize that now I know what it is — success is not guaranteed, but failure pretty much is guaranteed if you're not emotionally invested in what you're working on.

Why Odeo Died

Stone: We didn't care about podcasting. That's why Odeo didn't work. It's not because Apple got into podcasting. We could have pivoted and done something else. We didn't podcast. We didn't listen to podcasts.

We didn't care about podcasting. That's why Odeo didn't work. It's not because Apple got into podcasting.

The Tweet That Changed Everything

Stone: With Twitter, early on, Evan had a tweet that said 'sipping pinot on the water after a massage and nap.' And it made me laugh out loud. I had kind of an out-of-body experience because I was like — I'm laughing out loud at something I'm working on.

Once I realized that, I was like — I love what I'm working on. And that carried me through unbelievable amounts of negativity for the first three years of Twitter. Everyone was saying how stupid it was. If I wasn't emotionally invested in loving it, I would have believed everyone.

That carried me through unbelievable amounts of negativity for the first three years. If I wasn't emotionally invested, I would have believed everyone.

The One Piece of Advice

Stone: You might have an idea that you think other people will like. I think that's the wrong way to go. You have to love what you want to do. That is my one piece of advice — have emotional investment in your work and you will be far more likely to succeed.

You might have an idea you think other people will like. That's the wrong way to go. You have to love it.