#800: Ev Williams — The Art of Pivoting (e.g., Odeo to Twitter), Strategic Quitting, The Dangers of Premature Scaling, Must-Read Books, and More

Ev Williams is the co-founder of Mozi, a new social network that helps you connect in person with the people you care about. Over the past 25 years, Ev has co-founded several companies that have helped shape the modern internet—including Blogger, Medium, and Twitter. This episode was recorded live at Diggnation, where digg.com was relaunched. Go to digg.com and sign up to get early access when invites go out.

Sponsors:

David Protein Bars 28g of protein, 150 calories, and 0g of sugar: https://davidprotein.com/tim (Buy 4 cartons, get the 5th free.)

Sundays for Dogs ultra-high-quality dog food: https://sundaysfordogs.com/tim (save 50% on your first order)

Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (New clients get 3.75% base APY from program banks + additional 0.65% boost for 3 months on your uninvested cash (max $150k balance.) Terms apply. The Cash Account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC (“WFB”) member FINRA/SIPC, not a bank. The base APY as of 9/26/25 is representative, can change, and requires no minimum. Tim Ferriss, a non-client, receives compensation from WFB for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of WFB. Experiences will vary. Outcomes not guaranteed. Instant withdrawals may be limited by your receiving firm and other factors. Investment advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Securities investments: not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value.

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Start

[00:05:35] Kevin Rose starts the party like it's 2004.

[00:07:27] Ev's first internet product.

[00:08:54] How technology became social for Ev.

[00:10:52] The simple idea behind Mozi.

[00:12:05] Strategic quitting vs. sunk-cost perseverance.

[00:18:36] How Odeo begat Twitter.

[00:22:01] Twitter's $11,000 SXSW 2007 inflection point.

[00:23:45] Ev's hopes for Mozi's evolution.

[00:25:02] Favorite books and information inputs.

[00:30:45] Raising a generation to co-exist with AI.

[00:33:12] Ev's billboard.

[00:35:56] How Ev learned to manage his feelings.

[00:37:16] Facing strangers as an introvert with the Hoffman Process.

[00:39:57] Recently adopted habits that have galvanized positive change.

[00:42:44] The silver lining of being fired from Twitter.

[00:45:18] Contemplating how the universe works with The One by Heinrich Päs.

[00:47:04] How Ev stocks his reading list arsenal.

[00:50:26] Big thoughts on a Medium regret.

[00:52:47] Resisting the urge to bloat Mozi with superfluous features.

[00:55:40] How Mozi balances privacy with utility.

[00:57:40] Parting thoughts.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.