The character arc of Jack Dorsey
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 19 November 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri. Between then and now sit university from 1995, a transfer in 1997 and dropping out one semester short, a dispatch company in Oakland in 2000, the idea for a short message service in July 2000, Twitter founded in 2007, his removal as chief executive on 16 October 2008, a return as executive chairman in March 2011, the interim chief executive job in July 2015, the permanent one in October 2015 and his own published verdict in 2022. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Jack Dorsey?
One semester short.
He enrolled at the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1995 and attended for two and a bit years before transferring to New York University in 1997, and dropped out two years later, one semester short of graduating. In 2000 he started a company in Oakland to dispatch couriers, taxis and emergency services from the web.
In July 2000, building on that dispatching work and drawing on LiveJournal and AOL Instant Messenger, he had the idea for a web-based realtime status and short message service. It attracted interest at Odeo and investment from Evan Williams, a co-founder of that firm in 2005 who had left Google after selling Blogger. Dorsey became Twitter's chief executive when it was founded in 2007, and as the service grew he made uptime the top priority, even over revenue, which as of 2008 the service was not designed to earn.
He lost the chief executive role in 2008, reported at the time to be for leaving work early to pursue other interests. On 16 October 2008 Williams took over as chief executive and Dorsey became chairman of the board. He returned as executive chairman in March 2011, became interim chief executive in July 2015 and permanent chief executive in October 2015. In May 2016 he announced that photographs and links would no longer count against the character limit, at a point when daily posts had fallen from a peak of 661 million in August 2014 to about 300 million in January 2016. In 2022 he wrote that his biggest mistake was continuing to invest in tools for the company to manage the public conversation rather than tools for the people using it to manage it themselves.
The moments
Jack Dorsey's timeline.
The 1990s
A transfer to New York
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two universities, and neither one finished.
One semester short
Setback, and it changed everything. One semester short, which is the hardest place to stop.
The 2000s
A dispatch company
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Dispatching couriers and taxis over the web.
The idea, written down
Milestone, and it changed everything. The idea, seven years before the company.
Chief executive at the founding
Milestone, and it changed everything. Chief executive from the first day.
Uptime over revenue
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Keeping it working, ahead of making it pay.
He lost the job
Setback, and it changed everything. Removed from the company he had founded the year before.
The 2010s
Stay on the board, or leave
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: stay as chairman, taken, or walk away. He returned as executive chairman in March 2011 and was named permanent chief executive in October 2015.
Back as executive chairman
Milestone, and it changed everything. Back in the building, without the top job.
Interim chief executive
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Interim, which is the version they can take back.
Permanent, again
Milestone, and it changed everything. The same job, given back to him.
The character limit changed
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A product change, with the numbers going the wrong way.
The 2020s
His own verdict
Milestone, and it changed everything. His own account of what he got wrong, in his own words.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is the shape in the middle: he was removed from the company he had founded, stayed on its board for seven years, and was given the job back.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His was taken away from him in 2008 and handed back in 2015. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Jack Dorsey: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Jack Dorsey's character arc?
Why did Jack Dorsey lose the CEO job in 2008?
When did Jack Dorsey become CEO again?
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Did Jack Dorsey finish university?
What does Jack Dorsey say he got wrong?
Where does this timeline of Jack Dorsey's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Jack Dorsey, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Twitter leadership changes of 16 October 2008, March 2011, July 2015 and October 2015.
- His own published statement of 2022 on the biggest mistake he made.