Evan Williams
Born 1972 · Age 53
American Internet entrepreneur; co-founder of Twitter, founder of Blogger and Medium, and co-founder of Obvious Ventures. Longtime product and company builder in social publishing.
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Life & Career Timeline
Grew up on family farm (childhood influence)
Raised on a farm in Clarks, Nebraska; helped with crop irrigation in summers — formative experience referenced as shaping his work ethic.
Born in Clarks, Nebraska
Evan Clark Williams was born near Clarks, Nebraska, the third child of Laurie Howe and Monte Williams.
Attended University of Nebraska–Lincoln (left after 1.5 years)
Enrolled at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, joined FarmHouse fraternity, and left after about a year and a half to pursue technology career.
Ran a company with his father providing web instructional material
In the mid-1990s Williams briefly ran a company set up with his father to provide instructional material about the World Wide Web.
Moved to Sebastopol to join O'Reilly Media
Relocated to Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California to work for O'Reilly Media, starting in marketing and later doing contract programming.
Launched EvHead.com (early blogging)
Started EvHead.com while at O'Reilly, where he began blogging his thoughts — an early personal web publishing effort.
Co-founded Pyra Labs
Co-founded Pyra Labs with Meg Hourihan to build project-management software; the company later spun off a blogging tool.
Created Blogger (spun off from Pyra)
A note‑taking/project feature from Pyra evolved into Blogger, one of the first web apps for creating and managing weblogs.
Coined term 'blogger' and popularized 'blog'
Williams is credited with coining 'blogger' and helping popularize the term 'blog', an important cultural/technical contribution.
Named to MIT Technology Review TR100
Selected as one of Technology Review's TR100 (top 100 innovators under 35) in 2003.
Pyra Labs / Blogger acquired by Google
Google acquired Pyra Labs (Blogger) on February 13, 2003; Blogger became part of Google.
Named PC Magazine 'People of the Year' (with co-founders)
Along with Meg Hourihan and Paul Bausch, recognized by PC Magazine for work on Blogger.
Left Google; co-founded Odeo
Officially left Google on October 8, 2004 to co-found Odeo, a podcasting company.
Biz Stone joined Odeo
Biz Stone joined Odeo, bringing together a team that would later pivot to other projects.
Developed Twitter as an Odeo/Obvious project (project launched)
A project that became Twitter was developed out of Odeo/Obvious; the microblogging service concept originated in 2006.
Co-founded Obvious Corporation (late 2006)
Co-founded Obvious Corporation with Biz Stone and other former Odeo employees to manage and acquire properties.
Odeo acquired by Sonic Mountain
Odeo was acquired in April 2007 by Sonic Mountain; reports indicated the acquisition was for more than $1 million.
Twitter spun out as company; Williams co-founder & board member
In April 2007 Twitter was spun out as a separate company; Williams was a co-founder, investor, and board member.
Became CEO of Twitter
In October 2008 Jack Dorsey stepped down and Evan Williams became CEO of Twitter, succeeding Dorsey.
Twitter traffic milestone (Compete.com)
By February 2009 Compete.com ranked Twitter the third most-used social network with ~6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits.
Stepped down as Twitter CEO to focus on product
In October 2010 Williams stepped down as CEO and appointed Dick Costolo as CEO, stating he'd focus on product strategy.
Invested (through Obvious) in Beyond Meat
Williams invested via the Obvious Corporation in plant-based meat alternative company Beyond Meat (publicly discussed 2012).
Created Medium (launch announced)
On September 25, 2012 Williams created Medium, a new publishing platform aimed at longer-form content and stories.
Medium opened to public
After an initial early-adopter period, Medium opened broadly to the public in 2013.
Presented at XOXO Festival
Williams spoke at the 2013 XOXO Festival in Portland, explaining his views on internet commerce and society.
Twitter reached ~200 million registered users (Feb 2013)
By February 2013 Twitter reported approximately 200 million registered users and was growing rapidly (~300k new users/day).
Unwound Obvious Corporation to focus on startups
On April 5, 2013 Williams and Biz Stone announced winding down the Obvious Corp to concentrate on individual startups.
Sold/listed Noe Valley home in San Francisco
Reports in August 2013 indicated Williams sold his Noe Valley home in San Francisco.
Became a billionaire on paper (Forbes report)
Forbes reported on October 3, 2013 that Williams became a billionaire on paper after disclosure of his Twitter stake (reported ~12%).
Co-founded Obvious Ventures (VC firm)
In 2014 Williams co-founded Obvious Ventures with James Joaquin and Vishal Vasishth, focusing on 'world-positive' investing.
Obvious Ventures first fund ($123M)
Obvious Ventures raised about $123 million in its first fund (fund announced around firm formation).
Obvious Ventures second fund ($191M)
Obvious Ventures raised a second fund of approximately $191 million (reported as the firm's second round).
Sold 30% of his Twitter stock
An article on April 6, 2017 announced Williams would sell roughly 30% of his shares in Twitter for 'personal reasons.'
Public comments about internet & Trump's election (AP)
In May 2017 Williams said the internet is 'obviously broken' and expressed regret if Twitter helped elect Donald Trump.
Obvious Ventures third fund (~$271M) close
Obvious Ventures' latest reported fund was roughly $271 million (the firm has raised about $585M total across rounds).
Stepped down from Twitter board
In February 2019 Williams resigned his role as a board member of Twitter.
Obvious Ventures total capital raised reported (~$585M)
By reports the Obvious Ventures funds together had raised about $585 million across three funds.
Stepped down as Medium CEO; became Chairman
On July 12, 2022 Williams left the CEO role at Medium and transitioned to Chairman of the board.
Profiled in The New York Times (personal life disclosure)
A Dec 12, 2024 NYT profile discussed his divorce, loneliness, and moves before his 50th birthday (reported personal milestone).
Co-founded Mozi (private social network)
In 2024 Williams announced Mozi, a private social network co-founded with Molly DeWolf Swenson; reported seed funding.
Mozi raised $6M from investors including Obvious Ventures
Mozi secured about $6 million in funding from Obvious Ventures, WndrCo, BBG Ventures and others.
Forbes net worth estimate: US$2 billion
As of May 2025 Forbes estimated Evan Williams' net worth at approximately US$2.0 billion.
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