Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Twitter Bashing, Is Ev Williams a Jerk?

Last week Twitter was getting a good amount of negative press:

"Trouble @Twitter" Fortune

"The Real History Of Twitter" Business Insider

"EXCLUSIVE: An Interview With Twitter's Forgotten Founder, Noah Glass" Business Insider

After reading these articles, Ev Williams comes off as a power-hungry, ego-maniac that is a bit shady. At a minimum a selfish jerk. You're left wondering if he did really screw over Blogger employees before Google acquired the company, and you're wondering why did he screw over Noah Glass? Also why didn't he and others give credit to Noah Glass? Sadly, he only does so after these articles placed him under the fire.

I've heard from people at Twitter that many like him, but wonder if that's simply a limited sample set or if he's selectively shady. Whatever the truth is, this is just a reminder that you have to be cautious when starting a company with others. Trust is essential and knowing their character is critical too. During the first sign of a fire or potential success, is your co-founder going to throw you under the bus or backstab you? Drink the water before you pour in the Kool-Aid mix.

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