Friday, September 24, 2010
There can be a new definition of success for startups of all shapes and sizes. Ev and I spend an hour with every new Twitter employee as part of the orientation process and during this hour we cover quite a bit of material—including our mistakes and our aspirations. New team members learn that with their help we will make a positive global impact, we will build a successful business, and we will have fun along the way. Ev often punctuates this point emphatically stating that success is only defined by all three of these goals.
Young companies like ours are particularly well positioned to build altruism into the corporate culture from an early stage and that is something we have made central to our work at Twitter. Our Hope 140 site highlights some of the work we have done in this area but I'd like to call attention to a specific project that has been maturing for about a year. A world in which all children can pursue a quality education is something worth celebrating. This weekend, our Fledgling Initiative has finally ripened and we want you to join the cause.
The Fledgling Initiative was hatched to craft awesome wine for the benefit of Room to Read, a non-profit organization extending literacy and educational opportunities to children worldwide. Every bottle and every case of Fledgling wine sold will help promote literacy in Uttarakhand, India. These wines are being made using some of the best vineyards in California by the acclaimed winemaking team at Crushpad. Incidentally, 2009 appears to be an excellent vintage in California, potentially one of the best of the decade.
Twitter employees have been involved in every aspect of the wine making process from harvesting to crushing to bottling. We put effort into this because we believe in the cause and because it has been a fun and rewarding experience. We hope you will order and enjoy some our Fledgling wine. Twitter and Room to Read believe that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education. By empowering children through this lifelong gift, we envision a world in which people are able to realize their full potential.
