Twitter is going public today. This is something many startups aspire to yet very few succeed in doing. My congratulations to everyone who has contributed to Twitter’s growth over the years. There are many people whose names will not be in the news today who at varying moments made this possible. 

It is also a good point to remind oneself just why these successes are so improbable: because every startup goes on an Odyssean journey in which failure is generally closer than success. I often talk about the Scylla and Charybdis problem where you can err on both sides of pretty much any issue that a startup faces (e.g., you can hire too fast or hire too slow).

Having had a front row seat to Twitter’s journey and the journey of several other startups that have gone from a few people to hundreds of employees I am always amazed when it works at all. While some might interpret that as making the founders of those startups that succeed all the more heroic, I think it is a good reminder that all success in startups also involves a fair dose of luck.

The thing I am most happy about today though is the existence of Twitter itself. Active participation on Twitter has provided me with new connections to people and topics – hardly a day goes by where I don’t discover something or someone fascinating and I am sure today won’t be any different!

Twitter is going public today. This is something many startups aspire to yet very few succeed in doing. My congratulations to everyone who has contributed to Twitter’s growth over the years. There are many people whose names will not be in the news today who at varying moments made this possible. 

It is also a good point to remind oneself just why these successes are so improbable: because every startup goes on an Odyssean journey in which failure is generally closer than success. I often talk about the Scylla and Charybdis problem where you can err on both sides of pretty much any issue that a startup faces (e.g., you can hire too fast or hire too slow).

Having had a front row seat to Twitter’s journey and the journey of several other startups that have gone from a few people to hundreds of employees I am always amazed when it works at all. While some might interpret that as making the founders of those startups that succeed all the more heroic, I think it is a good reminder that all success in startups also involves a fair dose of luck.

The thing I am most happy about today though is the existence of Twitter itself. Active participation on Twitter has provided me with new connections to people and topics – hardly a day goes by where I don’t discover something or someone fascinating and I am sure today won’t be any different!