Hatching Twitter
Page turning
Clever
Educational

Hatching Twitter A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal

Nick Bilton2013
The dramatic, unlikely story behind the founding of Twitter, by New York Times bestselling author and Vanity Fair special correspondent The San Francisco-based technology company Twitter has become a powerful force in less than ten years. Today it’s everything from a tool for fighting political oppression in the Middle East to a marketing must-have to the world’s living room during live TV events to President Trump’s preferred method of communication. It has hundreds of millions of active users all over the world. But few people know that it nearly fell to pieces early on. In this rousing history that reads like a novel, Hatching Twitter takes readers behind the scenes of Twitter’s early exponential growth, following the four hackers—Ev Williams, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass, who created the cultural juggernaut practically by accident. It’s a drama of betrayed friendships and high-stakes power struggles over money, influence, and control over a company that was growing faster than they could ever imagine. Drawing on hundreds of sources, documents, and internal e-mails, Bilton offers a rarely-seen glimpse of the inner workings of technology startups, venture capital, and Silicon Valley culture.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of siegs
siegs@siegs
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024

lots of drama in this story. bilton must have done a ton of work uncovering all the little details. jack dorsey definitely gets dragged through the mud but according the facts in here, it's justified.

Photo of Aamna
Aamna@aamnakhan
3 stars
Dec 20, 2023

Quite a pageturner. Wish it wasn't as biased as it was.

Photo of Eneko Uruñuela
Eneko Uruñuela@eurunuela
5 stars
Apr 6, 2023

I really enjoyed reading about the behind the scenes of Twitter. Would highly recommend.

+1
Photo of Jowanza Joseph
Jowanza Joseph@josep2
5 stars
Jan 20, 2023

Quite simply the most exciting story I've heard in a long time.

Photo of jack morris
jack morris@jxm
4 stars
Jul 9, 2022

Listened to this book over a few drives back-and-forth from Arlington to Charlottesville. Great book to listen to, since the chapters are loosely connected, and the story is easy to follow. I originally picked it because I'm interested in the story of Twitter's CEOs (specifically how Jack Dorsey headed Twitter, was forced out, and then brought back in again). I enjoyed the stories of the early days of Blogger and Odio and vicariously experiencing the lifestyle of the small startup CEO. I hadn't heard of Noah Glass, Evan Williams, or Biz Stone, and I'm glad that now I have. I really liked the story of the Twitter executives traveling to Iraq to help teach Iraqi leaders how to use Twitter. Twitter carries a lot of social clout, and it was funny listening to the stories of different actors, celebrities, and politicians interacting with the service. But if you're going to choose this book to understand the story of Jack Dorsey, don't do it. The book was published in 2013 (oops) and ends with Dick Costolo as the CEO. It's a story of the founding (hatching) of Twitter, and is fairly light on the more current details. All and all it's a fun read, tells the backstories of some really interesting people, and a provides a solid origin story for the weird radio startup turned billion-dollar media company.

Photo of Matthew Bischoff
Matthew Bischoff@mattb
3 stars
Jun 20, 2022

Thouroughly enjoyable, well researched. Occasionally too cute.

Photo of Bruno Casali
Bruno Casali@brunoocasali
4 stars
Apr 29, 2022

Livro muito bom que fala sobre a criação do Twitter e das suas intrigas... Se fosse para resumir em poucas palavras parece uma novela das 8 que basicamente fala apenas das intrigas e das trocas de CEO da empresa. Gostei do livro, mas esperava mais sobre tecnologia e sobre a companhia em si, mas histórico.

Photo of Josh Clement
Josh Clement@joshclement
4 stars
Mar 16, 2022

Finished this in 1 summers day. Easy to read, written like a really entertaining, thoroughly researched magazine article

Photo of Sarah Christine Gill
Sarah Christine Gill@Gilly
3.5 stars
Mar 12, 2022

Thoroughly enjoyable story of how Twitter was built. I think I might have enjoyed it even more if it dwelled a bit less in the minutiae of the disputes and and more on though do appreciate that is kind of the premise of the book.

Photo of Volkan Yorulmaz
Volkan Yorulmaz@volkanyorulmaz
5 stars
Feb 27, 2022

Ev asked his first question to Bill Campbell, a legendar CEO coach, who had mentored Steve Jobs and a long list of other titans during the coaching session: What’s the worst thing I can do as CEO to fuck the company up? Without skipping a beat, Campbell responded: Hire your fucking friends! For more, visit: https://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2...

Photo of ANDREW BRYK
ANDREW BRYK@andrewbryk
5 stars
Feb 13, 2022

Incredible read. One of my favorites of the past year. A must read

Photo of Bryan Maniotakis
Bryan Maniotakis@bryanmanio
5 stars
Jan 13, 2022

Informative and inspiring, I haven't been sucked into a book like this for quite some time now.

Photo of Nikolay Bachiyski
Nikolay Bachiyski@nb
5 stars
Nov 19, 2021

If anybody wrote fiction startup drama novels, they would surely be less dramatic than Twitter’s early history. Morals for me: * avoid working with your best friends * egos and power are more important than money – you can repay money, but revenge leads to more aggression * when stakes are high it’s “hunt or be hunted” situation * you can change the world * avoid drama.

Photo of Daniel Akang
Daniel Akang@danielakan
4 stars
Aug 22, 2021

Interesting story about the start of Twitter. Focusing on friendship, betrayal and how hiring decisions & fund raising can make/break you.

+1
Photo of Daniel Marino
Daniel Marino@marino
4 stars
Aug 17, 2021

If you are a tech geek, this is a fun book to read. Incredibly interesting history of back stabbing. I would recommend this book even though the ending is a little flat. (I am sure they will fix that in tens years when they write an update.)

Photo of Adam
Adam@adam
5 stars
Aug 17, 2021

Hatching Twitter follows the rise of Twitter through the lives of its founders and initial employees. As someone how has followed twitter since the beginning, I thought I knew the story but wow was I wrong. It turns out that there was far more power jockeying and boardroom backstabbing than I ever thought. The way this story is told is also rather impressive. Rather than just being a telling of facts, you feel like you’re there with the characters in the rooms as ideas are brainstormed or things go right (or more often wrong). Twitter has played an outsized role in my life. The first startup I worked at where I felt true ownership of my work was a platform to connect Twitter users with advertisers to make money (before promoted Tweets were a thing). I remember going to Twitters first (and only) conference, Chirp, right around when Twitter hit 140 employees. I remember sending out a sponsored tweet manually from a Rails console that someone paid $20k to send. I remember having lunch with coworkers and friends on the floor at a Twitter event while Will.i.am had discussions over us. Twitter holds a number of great memories for me. While this book shed light on some of the darker sides of the company, it also left me feeling how important a part it was (is) for the founders - a feeling I could easily identify with.

Photo of Manuel Steinberg
Manuel Steinberg@manuelsteinberg
2.5 stars
Mar 25, 2023
Photo of Erich W
Erich W@erich
4 stars
Mar 15, 2023
Photo of Joe Woods
Joe Woods@woods
4 stars
Jan 14, 2023
Photo of Daniel Klopper
Daniel Klopper@betraydan
4 stars
Apr 2, 2022
Photo of Luca Conti
Luca Conti@lucaconti
5 stars
Sep 10, 2021
+7
Photo of Kattia
Kattia@kattia
4 stars
May 27, 2024
Photo of Niels Andersen
Niels Andersen@nielsandersen
5 stars
Apr 30, 2024
Photo of Chris Andersson
Chris Andersson@candersson
5 stars
Apr 5, 2024

This book appears on the shelf Non usa

Station Eleven
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Three-Body Problem
The Three-Body Problem by Ken Liu
The Tea Dragon Society
The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Lost Man
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
The Giver of Stars
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

This book appears on the shelf 2015

We Should All Be Feminists
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Total Money Makeover
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Armada
Armada by Ernest Cline
Annihilation
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Paper Towns
Paper Towns by John Green
Authority
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

This book appears on the shelf Series

Die Känguru-Chroniken
Die Känguru-Chroniken by Marc-Uwe Kling
Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch by J. K. Rowling
Die Foundation-Trilogie
Die Foundation-Trilogie by Isaac Asimov
Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling