Twitter Founder Biz Stone Quotes: London Business Forum June 2014

This morning I was fortunate enough to attend a talk by Twitter co-founder (and as he pointed out, patent holder), and the current co-founder / CEO of Jelly Industries, Biz Stone. Having met with and seen live a number of the startup world’s ‘rockstars’, Biz was absolutely one of the most engaging, entertaining, insightful and inspirational that I’ve had the pleasure to witness. There were many nuggets, but I’ve selected a few here that I found particularly resonant.

Biz Stone quotes at the London Business Forum “Tweet Dreams” – Thursday 19th June 2014:

1. “Start from a high altitude view, look for patterns and see what people want to do.”

2. “Creativity is a renewable resource; problems can be approached multiple times.”

3. “If you build something because you think it’s a good idea but don’t use it yourself then you don’t have emotional investment, which you need.”

4. “Watch for patterns of what people are trying to do and make it better.”

5. “Constraint inspires creativity. When our backs are against the wall we come up with some amazing things.”

6. “Startups are uniquely positioned to do well by doing good, right from the beginning.”

7. “The future of Marketing is philanthropy; people are looking for meaning.”

8. “I was motivated to hustle, trusted my gut and kept trying, trying, trying until something caught.”

9. “The product should be so good that it markets itself at first; it needs to be so great that people start talking about it.”

10. “The best way to market is to show how people are using it and how much value they’re getting out of it.”

11. “Be authentic – there’s value in vulnerability. Show yourself as human and authentic, and you’ll build goodwill.”

12. “(As an artist) when I paint something I have empathy for the people who’ll look at the picture. Knowing how to empathize is the key to building anything.”