Biz Stone
Born 1974 · Age 51
American entrepreneur, co‑founder of Twitter, cofounder/CEO of Jelly, author, investor and advisor in multiple tech startups; creative director and product/brand leader in early blogging and social media.
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Life & Career Timeline
Early IT work at Wellesley College
Worked in IT at Wellesley College where he collaborated with Jack Dorsey and early ideas for micro‑status updates were discussed (source: Wellesley library summary).
Designer at Little, Brown and Co. (early career)
Worked as a designer at the publisher Little, Brown and Company before joining Xanga (approximate mid‑1990s role noted in Britannica and biographies).
Enrolled at Northeastern University (one year)
Attended Northeastern University for about one year; did not complete a degree.
Graduated Wellesley High School (approx.)
Completed secondary education at Wellesley High School (source indicates class reference 'Biz Stone (1992)').
Attended University of Massachusetts Boston (one year)
Attended UMass Boston for about one year; did not graduate.
Became Creative Director at Xanga
Served as creative director at Xanga, a blogging community he helped form, marking his prominent early role in social blogging (tenure 1999–2001).
Left Creative Director role at Xanga
End of documented Xanga creative director role (Xanga tenure 1999–2001).
Published 'Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content'
Published his first book about blogging and online content (New Riders, 2002).
Joined Google (Blogger team) as Senior Specialist
Hired to work on Blogger after its acquisition by Google; worked on product development and product marketing management for Blogger/Google.
Published 'Who Let The Blogs Out?'
Published a second book on blogging and the web (St Martins, 2004).
Left Google to join Odeo / Evan Williams
Left Google (Blogger) to work with Evan Williams at Odeo (podcasting company) — a move later tied to joining the team that created Twitter.
Opportunity cost: walked away from ~$2M in Google stock
Reportedly forfeited roughly $2 million in Google stock when leaving to join the startup that became Twitter (Business Insider report).
Co‑holder of Twitter patent (with Jack Dorsey)
Listed as co‑holder (with Jack Dorsey) of a patent for inventing Twitter / device‑independent message distribution platform (patent referenced in public records).
Co‑founded Twitter
Co‑founded Twitter with Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey; served as the company's creative director as the service launched and scaled.
Twitter launched publicly
Twitter went live as a microblogging service enabling 140‑character updates ('tweets'), eventually becoming a major global platform.
Early angel investments in startups (ongoing)
Became an active angel investor backing startups including Square, Slack, Medium (as investor/cofounder), Nest, Beyond Meat, Pinterest, Intercom, Faraday (timing varied; investments took place across late 2000s–2010s).
Marriage to Livia (reported in some bios circa 2007)
Public sources reference Biz Stone's marriage to Livia; a 2007 marriage date is reported in some profiles (exact date often cited as June 30, 2007 in secondary sources).
Birth of son Jacob (public biography reference)
Public bios reference a son, Jacob; specific birth date not publicly specified in source material reviewed.
Founded Biz & Livia Stone Foundation (approx.)
Biz and Livia Stone Foundation established to support education and conservation in California (founding date commonly referenced but not precisely dated in provided sources).
Named GQ 'Nerd of the Year' (with Evan Williams)
Honored by GQ alongside Evan Williams for their role in social media innovation.
Named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People
Time magazine listed Biz Stone among the 100 most influential people (coverage and mentions around 2009).
International Center for Journalists Innovation Award (honored)
Reported recipient of the International Center for Journalists Innovation Award (date not always specified in summary bios; placed here as circa 2010–2011 in many profiles).
Co‑founded The Obvious Company
Co‑founded The Obvious Corporation (also commonly referenced as The Obvious Company), a holding/venture entity tied to projects like Medium.
Co‑founded Medium
Co‑founded Medium, a publishing platform, as part of post‑Twitter ventures (co‑founder activity in/around 2011).
Twitter user milestone: >100M monthly active users (company milestone)
By 2011 Twitter had surpassed 100 million monthly active users and was reporting roughly 1 billion tweets per week (Britannica reporting of platform growth).
Stepped down / left Twitter (creative director)
Announced departure from day‑to‑day role at Twitter (reported 2011).
Commencement speaker & Honorary Doctor of Laws, Babson College
Delivered Babson College commencement and was awarded the institution's highest honorary degree, Doctor of Laws (Babson College commencement, April 2011).
Appointed Executive Fellow at UC Berkeley (Haas)
Named an Executive Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley (announcement reported September 2011).
Started work on Jelly (with Ben Finkel)
Began work with Ben Finkel on Jelly — a visual, social search app where users posted questions answered by their network; work began in 2012 and development continued into launch.
Advisor to Zoic Studios; advisory roles
Served as an advisor to Zoic Studios and various startups; began broad advising and angel investing activity around this period.
Directorial debut: short film 'Evermore'
Made his directorial debut working with Ron Howard and Canon USA on the short film 'Evermore' as part of Project Imaginat10n.
Published Atlantic op‑ed about Twitter and activism
Authored an op‑ed for The Atlantic (October 19, 2012) discussing Twitter and activism.
Visiting fellow / Senior Common Room membership at Oxford (Saïd / Exeter College)
Listed as a visiting fellow at Oxford University and a member of the Senior Common Room at Exeter College (dates noted in bios around 2013 onward).
Published 'Things a Little Bird Told Me'
Published 'Things A Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind' (Grand Central, 2014).
Launched Jelly (public launch)
Jelly launched as a search app driven by visual imagery and social discovery (public launch and press around 2014).
Award: The Economist Innovation Award
Recognized by The Economist with an Innovation Award in 2014.
Named Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Decade (reported honor)
Listed in major press bios as having been named Entrepreneur of the Decade by Inc. magazine (public biographical claims; exact year attribution varies in sources).
Twitter wins an Emmy; Stone receives CIPR leadership accolade
Twitter (the company) won an Emmy in 2015 and Biz Stone received CIPR's leadership award for work developing new forms of media.
Chairman role at Polaroid Swing
Publicly threw support behind and served as Chairman of the Polaroid Swing motion photo app (TechCrunch coverage July 12, 2016).
Executive Producer credit for film 'Eating Animals' (documentary release)
Credited as an Executive Producer for the documentary 'Eating Animals' (film released 2017; activism on animal welfare and veganism noted).
Executive Producer on 'Eating Animals' documentary
Served as Executive Producer on the documentary 'Eating Animals' (listed in film credits; film released in 2017).
Jelly CEO until acquisition
Served as CEO of Jelly from launch through its acquisition by Pinterest in March 2017.
Pinterest acquires Jelly
Pinterest acquired Jelly; Biz Stone was CEO of Jelly up until the acquisition (announcement March 8, 2017). Purchase amount not publicly disclosed in source.
Returned to Twitter (rejoined company)
Announced return to Twitter in May 2017 and rejoined the company (remained on staff through 2021).
Named board director at Beyond Meat (public reporting of board involvement)
Listed as a board director at Beyond Meat in publicly available bios and press (exact appointment date not always specified in sources).
Left Twitter (second departure)
Reported to have remained at Twitter until 2021 before leaving again (Wikipedia summary).
Continued board and advisory roles (Polaroid Swing, Medium, Workpop, Jelly Industries)
Listed in bios as board director at Medium, Beyond Meat, Polaroid Swing, Workpop and Jelly Industries and as Chairman of Polaroid Swing (appointments spanned 2015–2023 in public reporting).
Personal: married Livia (public biographical data)
Married to Livia Stone (public bios list spouse Livia; some sources give a marriage date of June 30, 2007—see supplementary bios; date varies by source).
Joined board of audiovisual startup Chroma
Joined the board of Chroma (reported January 27, 2023 by TechCrunch).
Joined Mastodon's US nonprofit board of directors
Joined the board of directors of Mastodon's US nonprofit entity (reported April 29, 2024 by TechCrunch/Wikipedia).
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