Jack Dorsey’s name is synonymous with entrepreneurship and innovation. He co-founded Twitter (now X) and co-founded and CEO of Square, a financial services and mobile payments company. Dorsey is recognized as one of the most influential people in technology and business. His journey to success is an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs around the world.
Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). His parents divorced when he was young. He lives with his mother in the suburbs of St. Louis. Dorsey showed an early interest in computer programming and began teaching himself how to code when he was 13 years old.
Jack Dorsey is the man behind two famous American technology companies in the fields of social networks and fintech. (Photo: Reuters)
Dorsey attended Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis, where he continued to develop his programming skills. He was also interested in punk rock music and began playing in local bands. After graduating from high school, he studied at the University of Missouri-Rolla, majoring in computer science and economics.
In 2006, Dorsey founded Twitter with Biz Stone and Evan Williams. The idea for Twitter came to him while he was working on a project that would allow dispatchers to communicate with delivery people using text messages. He realized that the same concept could be applied to a social media platform, where people could share short real-time updates with their friends and followers.
On February 21, 2006, he posted his first tweet: “Just opened a Twitter account.” The first public version aired in June 2006. At first, Americans said Twitter was useless. Even Evan Williams compared the project to an ice cream that tastes good but is useless. However, with the development of smartphones, sending messages via the Internet has become easier than SMS.
Twitter quickly became one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, and Dorsey became known as a technology visionary. However, in October 2008, he was forced to leave the company by Williams himself. In 2010, unable to manage Twitter, Williams assigned the position to another senior manager, Dick Costolo, who then decided to invite Dorsey back to become Executive Chairman. In June 2015, Costolo resigned as CEO of Twitter and on October 5, 2015, Dorsey was appointed head of “blue bird”.
During his time away from Twitter, Dorsey founded Square in 2009. The company’s first product was a small, square device that plugged into a smartphone or tablet to process credit card payments. use. Square was an instant success and has since gradually expanded to offer a range of financial services for small businesses.
In August 2012, Starbuck invested 25 million USD in Square. Not only that, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also joined the company’s board of directors. For Square, partnering with America’s largest coffee chain is worth much more than money because it helps introduce new services to many Americans. On December 1, 2021, Dorsey changed Square’s name to Block to express his passion for blockchain technology.
Dorsey’s success with Block has made him one of the most influential people in the world of financial technology. In addition to his work at Block, he has also invested in several other startups, including Uber and Airbnb.