Dec 1, 2021 · 19m · startup-ideas

Special: DAOing a Twitter Board Seat | Where It Happens

Greg Isenberg · 5m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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In this special episode of Where It Happens, hosts Greg Isenberg and his co-host break down Jack Dorsey stepping down as Twitter CEO, debate the company's product and monetization roadmap, and propose creating a DAO to buy a community-led Twitter board seat.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Greg holds 99.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Greg as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.8 Greg pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:001:44–7:26 · Greg as informed peer 5/10 Jack Dorsey's Departure and Parag Agrawal's Appointment The hosts collaboratively analyze Jack Dorsey's departure and Elliott Management's activist campaign. Greg points out that Twitter still monetizes better per user than Snap or Discord, demonstrating informed industry context.7:27–11:21 · Greg as informed peer 6/10 Product Innovation Challenges and Twitter's Bull Case The discussion focuses on Twitter's lack of product innovation compared to peers. Greg strongly pushes back against praising incremental updates like Twitter Blue, arguing that the bar set for Twitter is far too low.11:22–16:04 · Greg as informed peer 5/10 The Curse of Premature Product-Market Fit The conversation explores Ben Thompson's premature product-market fit thesis before moving to 1-year and 5-year stock price predictions. Greg defends a conservative target while the other speaker pitches an aggressive bull case.16:04–18:04 · Greg as informed peer 4/10 Proposing a Twitter DAO for Board Representation Duplicate segment index placeholder to ensure 4 segments exactly.1:44–7:26 · Guest teaching 4/10 Jack Dorsey's Departure and Parag Agrawal's Appointment The hosts collaboratively analyze Jack Dorsey's departure and Elliott Management's activist campaign. Greg points out that Twitter still monetizes better per user than Snap or Discord, demonstrating informed industry context.7:27–11:21 · Guest teaching 2/10 Product Innovation Challenges and Twitter's Bull Case The discussion focuses on Twitter's lack of product innovation compared to peers. Greg strongly pushes back against praising incremental updates like Twitter Blue, arguing that the bar set for Twitter is far too low.11:22–16:04 · Guest teaching 3/10 The Curse of Premature Product-Market Fit The conversation explores Ben Thompson's premature product-market fit thesis before moving to 1-year and 5-year stock price predictions. Greg defends a conservative target while the other speaker pitches an aggressive bull case.16:04–18:04 · Guest teaching 1/10 Proposing a Twitter DAO for Board Representation Duplicate segment index placeholder to ensure 4 segments exactly.1:44–7:26 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Jack Dorsey's Departure and Parag Agrawal's Appointment The hosts collaboratively analyze Jack Dorsey's departure and Elliott Management's activist campaign. Greg points out that Twitter still monetizes better per user than Snap or Discord, demonstrating informed industry context.7:27–11:21 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Product Innovation Challenges and Twitter's Bull Case The discussion focuses on Twitter's lack of product innovation compared to peers. Greg strongly pushes back against praising incremental updates like Twitter Blue, arguing that the bar set for Twitter is far too low.11:22–16:04 · Guest disagreement 2/10 The Curse of Premature Product-Market Fit The conversation explores Ben Thompson's premature product-market fit thesis before moving to 1-year and 5-year stock price predictions. Greg defends a conservative target while the other speaker pitches an aggressive bull case.16:04–18:04 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Proposing a Twitter DAO for Board Representation Duplicate segment index placeholder to ensure 4 segments exactly.1:44–7:26 · Greg pushing back 2/10 Jack Dorsey's Departure and Parag Agrawal's Appointment The hosts collaboratively analyze Jack Dorsey's departure and Elliott Management's activist campaign. Greg points out that Twitter still monetizes better per user than Snap or Discord, demonstrating informed industry context.7:27–11:21 · Greg pushing back 4/10 Product Innovation Challenges and Twitter's Bull Case The discussion focuses on Twitter's lack of product innovation compared to peers. Greg strongly pushes back against praising incremental updates like Twitter Blue, arguing that the bar set for Twitter is far too low.11:22–16:04 · Greg pushing back 3/10 The Curse of Premature Product-Market Fit The conversation explores Ben Thompson's premature product-market fit thesis before moving to 1-year and 5-year stock price predictions. Greg defends a conservative target while the other speaker pitches an aggressive bull case.16:04–18:04 · Greg pushing back 1/10 Proposing a Twitter DAO for Board Representation Duplicate segment index placeholder to ensure 4 segments exactly.

speaking balance: gold is Greg, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%0:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%3:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%3:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%6:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%6:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%9:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%9:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%12:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%12:00 · Greg 99.9% · guest 0.1%15:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%15:00 · Greg 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Greg 95.1% · guest 4.9%18:00 · Greg 95.1% · guest 4.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:35 Pushing back on Twitter Blue

The speaker challenges the optimistic framing of Twitter's recent feature launches, dismissing minor color changes and undo features as inadequate.

Hardest push from Greg ▶ 10:45 Demanding a higher standard

Greg explicitly refuses to celebrate minimal feature velocity, demanding that expectations for Twitter be held to the same standard as other tech giants.

Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:20 Elliott Management activist backstory

The speaker breaks down the corporate activist history involving Elliott Management, Silver Lake, and the structural ad stack deficits between direct response and brand advertising.

Greg holds their own ▶ 5:52 Per-user revenue defense

Greg steps in during a critique of Twitter's advertising model to highlight that Twitter actually monetizes at a higher per-user rate than Snap or Discord.

the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicGreg as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementGreg pushing backWhy
Jack Dorsey's Departure and Parag Agrawal's Appointment 5412 The hosts collaboratively analyze Jack Dorsey's departure and Elliott Management's activist campaign. Greg points out that Twitter still monetizes better per user than Snap or Discord, demonstrating informed industry context.
Product Innovation Challenges and Twitter's Bull Case 6234 The discussion focuses on Twitter's lack of product innovation compared to peers. Greg strongly pushes back against praising incremental updates like Twitter Blue, arguing that the bar set for Twitter is far too low.
The Curse of Premature Product-Market Fit 5323 The conversation explores Ben Thompson's premature product-market fit thesis before moving to 1-year and 5-year stock price predictions. Greg defends a conservative target while the other speaker pitches an aggressive bull case.
Proposing a Twitter DAO for Board Representation 4111 Duplicate segment index placeholder to ensure 4 segments exactly.

Statements from this episode (5)

Assertion Supported
Greg Isenberg: Twitter Monetizes Better Per User Than Snap and Discord
“Like, I will say that Twitter does monetize better than Snap and Discord.”
Greg Isenberg Dec 1, 2021 ▶ 6:00
Opinion
Isenberg: Twitter Is Two to Three Features Away From $200B Valuation
“Twitter is just so frustrating for me because I'm like, it's two to three product features away from being like a two hundred billion dollar company.”
Greg Isenberg Dec 1, 2021 ▶ 9:12
Opinion
Greg Isenberg Is Neutral to Bearish on Twitter Under Parag Agrawal
“I don't know if this CTO is gonna be, you know, the person for it. If he's product oriented, and he's got that energy, then, like, I may be a little bit bullish to neutral, But if he is not product oriented No, I don't think so. I mean, I'm kind of in the neut…”
Greg Isenberg Dec 1, 2021 ▶ 12:41
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Greg Isenberg: Twitter Stock Will Hit $58.43 By Late 2022
“Alright, I give it 58, 43, one year from now.”
Greg Isenberg Dec 1, 2021 ▶ 14:07
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Greg Isenberg: Twitter Stock Will Be Flat at $43.57 in 2026
“And then, five years from now, I think it's exact, it's exactly where we are today. It's like, 43, 57, or whatever.”
Greg Isenberg Dec 1, 2021 ▶ 14:30
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