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Before Jack Dorsey became known as the co-founder of Twitter, he worked for a podcasting company called Odeo, and his experience there shaped his view on building meaningful products. The key takeaway from Dorsey's journey with Odeo is a valuable lesson for any entrepreneur: build something you love, not something you think others want.
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Odeo’s Misstep: Building for Others, Not Themselves
Dorsey candidly admits that neither he nor his colleagues at Odeo were passionate about podcasting, the very focus of the company. He reflects on the company's failure, explaining that they were "building tools for other people" instead of building something they were personally invested in. While they liked consuming podcasts, creating podcasting tools didn’t excite them. This lack of personal connection was a big reason for Odeo’s struggles.
Creating Twitter: An Idea Born from Passion
Despite Odeo’s eventual failure, Dorsey highlights how the environment of the company still fostered creativity. Surrounded by great people, new ideas could thrive. One of those ideas was Twitter. Unlike Odeo’s podcasting tools, Twitter wasn’t solving any particular problem, but it was something the team wanted to use themselves. Dorsey admits, "Twitter solves no one's problem at all," but its simplicity and personal resonance made it powerful. It was something the team was excited about, something they wanted to interact with daily.
The Power of Passion-Driven Creation
Dorsey’s experience shows the importance of creating products that you, as the creator, are passionate about. Twitter’s success came from the fact that it was something they wanted to use, not something they felt they had to build for others. That genuine passion made the product meaningful to them, which in turn resonated with other people.
The lesson from Dorsey’s story? When you build something you love, others are likely to love it too. Passion fuels purpose, and that’s what leads to truly innovative creations.
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