What it takes to make a product: twttr story
i just spent the last several months working on a product that i am very excited about: twttr. This will be my 3rd product in 3 years. Starting from scratch every time. tackling problems that had never been solved before.
twttr started to form for me during a conversation with my friend jack in a car parked on Valencia and 14 in san francisco, california. we had been out at club 6 with adam, ray and crystal-- I had too many shots of vodka so of course I decide to give jack a ride home. we sat in the car for many hours as rain fell on the windshield. we talked about life, love, music, travel, plans for the future, and, well....status. jack told me that he was interested in the idea of status. jack said things this like this often--like he once told me that he was very into scheduling. scheduling? i asked. yes. he had actually written scheduling software for bike messengers. see, when you add the bike messengers to the equation it starts to get interesting. It's that raw, real world gritty dynamic element that pulls you into the idea. as the hours passed, we created a story for status--a way to make it real and exciting for people. It was at that time that i decided that i was going to do everything i could to make sure that the ideas we were talking about would become something. i remember the exact moment when i committed myself to the existence of twttr. it wasn't called that then. it had no name. just the beginning of an idea.
that moment of commitment is the most important step toward making a product. it is at that point when every problem you encounter on your way to completion becomes solvable and every mountain movable. Because from that moment on you have only one choice: to keep going no matter what.
i am not implying that you have all of the answers from the beginning. but, you know that they exist, and you know you will find them. it is amazing to see the possibilities open up after you make that commitment to something.
twttr is just beginning. i am committed to it's existence and am pleased that we made to this point.