There Is Compound Interest in Altruism

Startups have a unique opportunity to build the concept of "giving back" into the company culture from the very beginning. This is core to Twitter and other startups I'm involved with such as Trazzler and Square where I am a director and investor, respectively. Entrepreneurs are realizing that they don't need to wait until they have big piles of money to start helping others in need. In fact, the earlier you align your company with social causes, the better. With an early start, the results can have more impact over time.

On a personal level, my wife and I have found ways give even when we were in debt through volunteering. We found this work to be rewarding on many levels—helping others really does work both ways. When we started earning more substantive amounts of money, we were able to put more funding toward charitable causes each year. These days, as previous investments begin to pay off and new opportunities present themselves, Livia and myself find ourselves in the fortunate position to contribute even more significantly.

Our modest work with the charitable organizations we have been involved with over the years has been incredibly rewarding and we're excited to start something that we hope will grow more powerful in this space over time. The Biz and Livia Stone Foundation will be a private, hands-on organization which we will fund personally. We're just getting it started with help from lawyers and it will take a while to get non-profit status but our charitable mission in general will be supporting the arts, education, health, and environmental issues.

Whether it's tied to an entrepreneurial vision or simply made part of your every day life, giving pays back in ways you might not anticipate. Whether you're helping a teacher and classroom in need, donating clothes or canned foods to a local shelter, volunteering for disaster relief, or giving up your birthday to help others get clean water, you're doing something that makes a difference in the world. Don't think you have to wait to do these things—get started right away because here's the secret: there is compound interest in altruism.

The Startup Time Machine

What if you could go back in time with your current experience for a second chance at solving problems or making decisions? Everybody has this daydream at some point or another but few of us actually get close to the opportunity. As an advisor to startups, I often get the chance to view problems and opportunities that I've faced in the past all over again. This time around, I can bring the perspective of having already made lots of mistakes. Advising is an extremely rewarding experience if you can add value.

When my friend and colleague Abdur Chowdhury asked me if I would be an advisor to something he was working on, I leaned forward, eager to hear more. "Hold on," he told me. "You don't know what you're getting into just yet." Well, now I was very interested. That's when he told me, "I want to start an elementary school in San Francisco." He went on to explain that the school would emphasize science, math, and technology with small class sizes. Oh, and we had two months before his daughter starts first grade.

Abdur was right, I didn't know what I was getting into—that's why I said yes. Too often we refuse to stray from what we know. New experiences help us abandon a linear way of thinking and enable us to draw unexpected connections from variety. Suddenly, I found myself along for the ride with seven founding families. We were able to secure an amazing Head of School in Ed Walters and took over the space formerly occupied by the Waldorf School classrooms at the Greek Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral in San Francisco's Mission District.

The big questions where whether or not the families would be able to raise the money, whether they'd be able to stick together as a group considering the aggressive timetable, and most importantly, would more families bring their kids? The key was to stay focused. It was important to get a stellar faculty in place and design the classrooms, the library, the play areas, and other spots to really look like the school the families envisioned. Once these pieces of the puzzle came together, The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story and word got out.

The Alta Vista School opens in three days! There are sixteen children enrolled (up from the original seven from the founding families). Classes will be small and range from Jr Kindergarten to Kindergarten and first grade. Each year as the current first graders move forward, new grades will be added. Classes are conducted in English and playtime is conducted entirely in Spanish—a fun way for the kids to grow up bilingual. Alta Vista is community oriented so it will be connected to surrounding public schools and community projects.

My experience with Alta Vista has me time traveling a bit. When my mom tried to drop me off for my first day of preschool, I clung to her leg. Later, they couldn't get me to leave. The public school system in my home town was awesome. When I dropped out of college, it was to immerse myself in learning as an apprentice. These days, there are opportunities for me teach as well as learn and places dedicated to learning inspire reverence. I'm always open to learning because, as the old proverb goes, "When the student is ready, the master appears."

In this case, I suppose Abdur is the master. Please don't tell him that.

Timing Lessons

Some friends and I started talking about creating an "internet company" in 1999. We considered social bookmarking and consumer reviews but finally launched a social blogging network called Xanga in 2000. Back then, I didn't have a mobile phone.

After leaving that job, a Canadian developer and I collaborated via Internet in 2003 and put together a microblogging service called Sideblogger. Many blog posts were so short, they didn't seem like full posts. "Sideblogging," I declared, "wave of the future."

Along with some new friends at Google in 2004, we launched Blogger Mobile. We had a comic strip description and our very own jingle. The idea was simple blogging "on-the-go" from your mobile device. By this point in my life, I had a mobile phone.

In 2006, I collaborated with another friend to build something that blended mobile, blogging, and social. At first, nobody cared but we kept at it and in 2007, we founded Twitter, Inc. It's September 2010 now and more than 145 million people have accounts.

Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success. Surrounding yourself with smart people you like to work with helps immeasurably. We've got a long road ahead and I'm looking forward to another ten years.