Jack Dorsey

Jack Dorsey co-founded two era-defining companies: Twitter, which became the world's real-time public conversation platform, and Square (now Block), which democratized payment processing for small businesses. The first tweet — 'just setting up my twttr' — launched a platform that would shape global politics, break news, and give a voice to movements from the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter.

Dorsey's journey at Twitter was turbulent. He was ousted as CEO in 2008, returned in 2015, and resigned again in 2021. But while Twitter's corporate drama made headlines, Square quietly became one of the most important fintech companies in the world. The Square Reader — a tiny white cube that plugged into a phone's headphone jack — let any small business accept credit cards. Block now processes hundreds of billions in payments annually, owns Cash App (80M+ users), and has expanded into Bitcoin, buy-now-pay-later, and music streaming (TIDAL).

Dorsey is a paradox — a billionaire who practices extreme fasting, meditates for hours, and has walked away from the CEO role at both companies he founded. His vision for decentralized social media (Bluesky) and his embrace of Bitcoin as 'the internet's native currency' continue to influence tech's future direction.