Company · Media · Technology · founded 2006

Twitter / X

Microblogging and social networking service founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. Elon Musk bought it in 2022 and renamed it X in 2023.

Of the 5 people here linked to Twitter / X, 1 is a founder and 1 is still there. 2 of them also appear at Intel. These are people who succeeded, not the odds of succeeding.

Description and founding year: en.wikipedia.org. Each person's role links to its own source on their profile.

5 people at Twitter / X

Executive

Role

Acquirer; CEO, then executive chairman and CTO of X Corp., 2022–now

Also at

Zip2 PayPal SpaceX Tesla OpenAI Neuralink xAI

Source · medium confidence. Completed the purchase in October 2022. The Twitter page says X is now owned by a SpaceX AI subsidiary, so his present title is not established.

Still there

Technology 2 / 2

Elon Musk

CEO, Tesla and SpaceX; owner, X (formerly Twitter)

wealthy · some · college degree

Founder

Role

Co-founder; CEO 2007-2008 and 2015-2021; chairman; board member until May 2022

Also at

Block Bluesky Instagram

Source · high confidence. Wikipedia gives CEO 2007-2008 (removed October 16, 2008), chairman 2008-2011, executive chairman March 2011-2015, interim CEO July 2015, permanent CEO October 2015, resignation as CEO announced November 29, 2021.

Past

Technology · Software · Finance 3 / 1

Jack Dorsey

Co-founder of Twitter; co-founder and "Block Head" (CEO) of Block, Inc. (formerly Square)

middle-class · some · some college

Investor

Role

Led Kleiner Perkins' $150 million investment, 2012

Also at

Intel Kleiner Perkins Google Amazon

Source · medium confidence. The page says he led the 2012 investment; no board role is stated.

Past

Venture Capital · Technology 2 / 0

John Doerr

Venture capitalist; chairman of Kleiner Perkins

comfortable · well-connected · graduate degree

Investor

Role

Early investor, by his own account

Also at

Beats Electronics Intel Tesla Dropbox OpenAI Anthropic

Source · medium confidence. He is quoted saying he invested early and sold when Jack Dorsey left. No years or amounts are stated.

Past

Music 8 / 8

will.i.am

Founder, Black Eyed Peas; co-founder, Beats Electronics

public housing · outsider · no college

Employee

Role

Intern

Also at

Foursquare Andreessen Horowitz Walker & Company Brands Procter & Gamble

Source · medium confidence. Wikipedia says he interned at Twitter before Foursquare but gives no year; this file's own ageAtIndustryEntry note says 2009, but that source was not opened this session.

Past

Beauty & Cosmetics · Consumer Products 8 / 8

Tristan Walker

Founder and CEO, Walker & Company Brands (Bevel)

poverty · outsider · graduate degree