The companies that won't do well will be the me-too companies: the fifth, sixth, seventh version of Twitter, etc.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As an investor, I'm always looking for the next great American company. Who will create tomorrow's Twitter, Facebook, or Google?
We actually tried to invest in Twitter in April 2007, right when it launched. At the time, the company was wary of having a classic, tier-one traditional venture firm involved.
Twitter has always been that refreshing place where I can quickly find out what is going on in my tech world. I follow mostly entrepreneurs and VCs - some who I know and some who I don't know. I have a few companies in my feed. But no newspapers, no magazines, and no mainstream media.
Eventually, all companies are replaced.
I would say the consumer Internet companies - in a lot of ways, if you go inside the consumer Internet companies and you see how they run, it's how all their businesses are going to run.
I think Twitter is the future of communications and Square will be the payment network.
The rise of Twitter defined 2011. Once every 5-7 years, a company emerges that changes not just the technology industry, but the world... after what some viewed as a rocky start, in 2011 Twitter broke through into the elite group of companies that profoundly shape our world.
I believe that all brands will become storytellers, editors and publishers, all stores will become magazines, and all media companies will become stores. There will be too many of all of them. The strongest ones, the ones who offer the best customer experience, will survive.
If we don't build a company as influential as Google or Facebook, then we failed. I'm, like, perpetually stressed, honestly.
Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo - there's a common theme. None of these companies ever sold. By staying independent, they were able to build a great company.