What a fabulous interview with Jack Dorsey, inventor of Twitter and co-founder of Square, by Kevin Rose, creator of Digg. There’s so much here, but a couple points that particularly grabbed me:
- In true Gary North spirit, he quit school to start a company. He clearly has a tremendous curiosity and passion for learning, but his focus is on understanding how the real world works rather than collecting diplomas (and debt).
- My favorite bits are his comments on starting a new company in a recession: “The end of 2008, the entire market was crashing down…Suddenly we’re getting back to basics, back to fundamentals…People were clarifying around ‘We need to be innovative. We need to stop treating our customers so poorly.’ Anytime there is a recession or depression, that’s a great time to innovate. Start a company. Start a project.” (This is around the 15 minute mark.)
- In contrast to some people’s stereotypes of the “businessman” (but in keeping with studies of actual entrepreneurs), Jack Dorsey is clearly driven by ideas and serving people. Money is an enabler and an important bit of feedback, but not a prime motivator of his entrepreneurial passion.
