Experienced Social Web Entrepreneur
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Co-founder at Twitter, Inc
- Past
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- Director of Community at Odeo Inc
- Senior Specialist at Google Inc
- Creative Director at Xanga Inc
- Designer at Little, Brown and Co.
- Education
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- Northeastern University
- University of Massachusetts Boston
- Connections
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192
connections
- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Biz Stone’s Summary
Biz Stone is co-founder of Twitter, a real-time, one-to-many network that is changing the way people communicate around the world. Previously, Biz helped build other popular social media services Xanga, Blogger, and Odeo. After launching the journalling service Xanga in 2000, Biz went on to publish two books about the origins and social significance of blogging.
In 2003, Google invited Biz to join a recently acquired Blogger.com team at its Silicon Valley headquarters in a full-time, senior role. Biz helped relaunch the service and grow Blogger significantly worldwide. He left Google in 2005 to rejoin the startup world.
Stone, 34, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts and teaches an annual master class at Oxford's Saïd Business School. In the fall of 2008, Stone debated and won at Oxford Union against the proposition, "The Problems of Tomorrow Are Bigger Than The Entrepreneurs of Today" along with his esteemed teammates including Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn.
Serving as an advisor to startups such as answer community Fluther.com, travel service Trazzler.com which he co-founded, content encouragement service Plinky.com, and the non-profit organization Justgive.org, among others allows Biz to share much of what he has learned over the past decade. Biz lives in Berkeley, CA with his wife, Livia.
Biz Stone’s Specialties:
Social Software Product Development, Art Direction and Design, Writing, Communications, Entrepreneurial Advice
Biz Stone’s Experience
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Co-founder
Twitter, Inc
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
April 2006 — Present (3 years 4 months)
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Director of Community
Odeo Inc
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
September 2005 — October 2006 (1 year 2 months)
Left the Blogger team at Google to help shape Odeo.
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Senior Specialist
Google Inc
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; GOOG; Internet industry)
November 2003 — September 2005 (1 year 11 months)
Recruited to work on the Blogger team after it's acquisition by Google in 2003. My duties included product development, community outreach, and product marketing management.
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Creative Director
Xanga Inc
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
January 1999 — April 2001 (2 years 4 months)
Helped create and launch Xanga.com. My product management and design work helped steer us toward a strong weblogging and social networking community.
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Designer
Little, Brown and Co.
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; TWX; Graphic Design industry)
1994 — 1997 (3 years)
Dropped out of an arts scholarship to accept a position as a designer at Little Brown and Company in Boston. Cranked out lots of cool covers and had a blast!
Biz Stone’s Education
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Northeastern University
Writing
Community scholarships sent me to Northeastern after high school. The classes and professors were great but I didn't love the culture so I only studied for one year.
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University of Massachusetts Boston
Arts
I took a full four-year scholarship to this school but it didn't keep me there. I left after a year.
- Activities and Societies:
- Chancellor's Scholarship for Excellence in The Arts
Additional Information
Biz Stone’s Websites:
Biz Stone’s Groups:
Advisor, Trazzler, Inc.
Advisor, Fluther, Inc.
Advisor, JustGive.org
Advisor, Plinky, Inc.
Member, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
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Harvard Business School Technology Alumni -
Googlers & Xooglers
Biz Stone’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
