Hatching Twitter

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

By: Nick Bilton

Narrated by: Daniel May

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.

Critic reviews

“Fast-paced and perceptive.”

--The New York Times Book Review

"Exhaustively researched...extensively detailed...unexpectedly addictive."

--The Wall Street Journal

"#Backstabbing, power struggles and profanity laid bare"– "It is breathless storytelling"

--The New York Times

"Deeply reported and deliciously written."

--The Verge

"A compelling read, more like espionage than a corporate history."

--Fortune Magazine

“With a cinematic approach befitting its eclectic cast of characters, the perceptive read…is rife with Byzantine-like intrigue, character clashes and broken dreams.”

--USA Today

“Nick Bilton’s impressively detailed fly-on-the-wall exposé of the micro-blogging site’s birth and evolution evokes all the titillating elements of a soap opera.”

-Success Magazine

A look behind the scenes of a tech startup

You really don't want to know how the sausage is made. But Bilton gives an intriguing look behind the curtain at the iconic Twitter's gestation, birth and early years. Egos abound in this well told tale. You won't think of Twitter the same way again.

Great but sad story

I had no idea that the history of the Twitter was so twisted. The story is sad but very interesting.

This should be a movie

Thats it. The book is like a movie. I wish there was an update from 2012 to now. That sounds way more interesting

Great insight on Twitter and Sillicon Valley

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, certainly. If you want to have a scoop on the start up scene in Silicon Valley this book gives you a true insight on how a multi-billion dollar company was created from scratch

What did you like best about this story?

All the personal relationships between the co-founders of twitter. The importance of personal Ego above other rational issues when managing a business.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Frantic.

Great read

my eyes have opened to see that the tech industry isn't all that Easy but it's survivable