In November 2021, Jack Dorsey made news by announcing his resignation from Twitter, the organisation he created and served as CEO for 15 years.
Jack, a college dropout, showed extraordinary creativity from an early age, creating software that is still in use today. He was only 29 years old when he co-founded Twitter. Let’s now dive straight into 10 interesting facts about Jack Dorsey that you probably didn’t know.
1. Jack’s initial years were marred by speech impairment
He supposedly felt so awful that he refused to even talk to his family. He received speech treatment for a few years, and while things improved with time, he was still reluctant to speak.
What did young Jack do then? He joined his junior high school’s speech team.
He claims that despite this, he is still not very communicative and that conversing with him is frequently draining.
2. He enrolled at two universities and dropped out of both of them
Jack Dorsey twice dropped out of college, ending his schooling quickly, much like many of his fellow IT entrepreneurs.
He enrolled in Missouri University of Science and Technology initially in 1995 before relocating to New York City and switching to New York University in 1997.
He dropped out once more two years later, one semester away from graduating.
3. He was into botanical illustrations
His focus was split between several areas in the early 2000s, including botanical illustration. Despite not having any artistic training, Jack Dorsey reportedly went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to study a banyan tree.
Additionally, he was drawn to massage therapy.
4. In his teens, he developed software that’s still used today
Although he was just 15 years old at the time, he had always been interested in maps and the logistics of dispatching. Even if Google maps may have surpassed his programme in popularity two decades later, taxicab businesses still heavily rely on it.
5. His hacking skills landed him his first job
Jack Dorsey, a software aficionado since an early age, was looking for a job with a New York dispatch business but couldn’t discover any contact information on the website.
He discovered a security gap in the company’s web server and sent the boss a direct email rather than hunting for a suitable opportunity elsewhere.
A week after that, he was hired.
6. He co-founded Square (now Block) with Jim McKelvey
Jim would go to Dorsey’s mother’s coffee shop with his coworkers.
He first met his future business partner in this manner. Jack worked for Jim’s company for three summers after his mother secured him an interview. He was so skilled at his work that Jim would refer to him as “Jack the Genius.”
Years later, Dorsey persuaded Jim to join him at Square, his new business.
7. Dorsey’s net worth is 9.86 billion dollars
He is now the 247th richest person in the world.
But he has seen some highs and lows. His wealth peaked in 2018 at $6.3 billion, but because of the pandemic’s impact on financial markets, it fell by three times to $2.6 billion in April 2020. Jack Dorsey’s net worth reached a high of $14.9 billion in October 2021 but has since dropped.
8. Jack Dorsey was twice awarded the worst CEO of the year
In 2016 and 2017, he was ranked #4 and #7 respectively. His lack of dedication to Twitter was cited as the primary factor by both media. He was the CEO of two illustrious publicly traded firms, so he was unable to devote enough attention to rescuing the social media platform from its rut. This resulted in declining stock values and, if any, slow growth.
9. He doesn’t work from office
Instead, the former Twitter CEO uses an iPad for work purposes. That’s because working in an office makes him conscious of the fact that several employees are grinding to give their best.
10. In October 2019, he donated 350,000 dollars to #TeamTrees
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) and Mark Rober, two YouTubers, are hosting a fundraiser called #TeamTrees. Prior to 2020, it aimed to gather $20 million to plant 20 million trees.
Late in 2019, several prominent billionaires made donations to the project, including Dorsey, who assisted in planting 350,000 trees.
