Jack Dorsey is the Creator of Twitter and the Co-Founder of Square. He is arguably one of the most iconic tech entrepreneurs of our age.
He’s one of the few people I look up to, so I reached out to him and had the opportunity to speak with him on the phone for 15 minutes. I wanted to learn more about the guy behind Twitter and Square.
I was pretty nervous at first. I mean c’mon, who wouldn’t be? It’s the guy who invented Twitter, a service that hundreds of millions of people use everyday.
I wanted to know who the people that inspired Jack were. He told me that he looked up to JFK, different artists and jazz musicians. He described his idols as people that saw the world differently. He also added that he didn’t necessarily look up to many business entrepreneurs because he is more concerned about the art, product and design.
I then asked him how he’s able to work and execute so well while working on both Square and Twitter. His answer had to do with working with some of the smartest and most talented people inside both companies. Dealing with as few blockers as possible is also a key factor. It enables him to focus just on the product without having to worry about other things.
Jack used to be enrolled in NYU before he dropped out to start a dispatch software company. I wanted to know how at that time his parents felt about him dropping out. He told me that they weren’t very happy with his decision but they trusted him and knew that he would be OK.
Simplicity and luck were the next two topics we talked about. “Make every detail perfect, but limit the amount details to perfect.” Jack Dorsey is well known for his love and quest for simplicity and order. If everything at its best is simple, why isn’t this philosophy more widely practiced?
His answer was quite simple - because it’s a lot of hard work.
I wanted to know what Jack thought about the role of luck during his past and current endeavours. He doesn’t think it’s luck but rather he said, “I think you learn how to recognize fortunate situations and act fast.” He also added, “if you’re waiting for luck then nothing is going to happen.”
I concluded by asking him if he were to start a company today which area(s) would he focus on. He answered with education and health.
I also pitched him Knok.Me and the best advice he gave was simply to put it in the hands of people.
Until next time,
Dami