# Twitter, Medium and Blogger: Ev Williams

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2024-05-06
- Length: 1h 14m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams

## Summary

Ev Williams, founder of Blogger and Medium and co-founder of Twitter, recounts his journey from a Nebraska farm boy to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, detailing the creation of Pyra Labs, the pivot to Blogger, and the accidental birth of Twitter from the failed podcasting company Odeo. He explains how Twitter’s real-time SMS-based status updates gained traction at South by Southwest, leading to rapid growth and his eventual tenure as CEO, which ended in his ouster due to poor conflict management and scaling challenges. After being fired, Williams returned to his roots by founding Medium, a platform designed for longer-form writing with social connectivity, applying lessons learned about simplicity and user experience from his previous ventures.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=0) Introduction: Ev Williams and the cost of failure
- [4:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=244) Nebraska upbringing and early business failures
- [19:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=1159) Founding Pyra Labs and pivoting to Blogger
- [35:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=2132) Odeo, Jack Dorsey, and the birth of Twitter
- [48:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=2904) Twitter’s growth at South by Southwest and scaling issues
- [56:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=3411) Conflict with Jack Dorsey and Williams becoming CEO
- [1:07:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=4065) Williams' ouster as Twitter CEO and emotional fallout
- [1:10:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams#t=4231) Founding Medium and applying lessons from Twitter

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Twitter (product)
- Blogger (product)
- Medium (product)
- Odeo (product)
- Pyra Labs (company)
- Jack Dorsey (other)
- Biz Stone (other)
- Noah Glass (other)
- Google (company)
- Facebook (company)
- South by Southwest (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Fail Whaling](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-26-fail-whaling) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Technical Blogging](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-11-21-technical-blogging) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Leaving Twitter with Tim Bray](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-29-leaving-twitter-with-tim-bray) (Oxide and Friends)
- [050 - "When No One is Listening" with James Somauroo](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-09-14-050-when-no-one-is-listening-with-james-somauroo) (Let's Combinate)
- [Reflecting on Founder Mode](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-09-20-reflecting-on-founder-mode) (Oxide and Friends)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-06-twitter-medium-and-blogger-ev-williams. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.