This is the direction.’ Good or bad, a lot of people were saying, 'Yes! Just tell us what to do,'' one former Twitter engineer recalls.īy nearly all accounts, Noto is the driving force behind Twitter's strategy these days. “At least Noto was standing up and saying, ‘This is what we're going to do. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and COO Anthony Noto speak at the company's 2017 shareholder's meeting Still, Noto’s take-charge style was exactly what the troops needed. In an industry where engineers and product gurus are revered, a Wall Street banker doesn't have the street cred among the rank and file. They weren't convinced that this New York ex-banker was the tech visionary that could cure the company's ills. But what we can control is how hard we work and how many times we get back up when we get knocked down.'

His attitude was, 'We can't control a lot of things. If they wanted their company to survive and thrive, they needed to knuckle up and do it themselves, he said. 'No one is going to save us,' he told them. Salesforce, their last hope of a buyer, even publicly dissed the company when it walked away.Īnthony Noto, the company's notoriously forceful finance chief, stood up at a company all-hands meeting and, in answering employees' questions, delivered what was described as a tough but inspiring call-to-arms. They'd been through constant leadership changes, two rounds of layoffs, slowing growth, a languishing stock price and endless news reports that Twitter was trying to sell itself but no one wanted it. It was the fall of 2016 and Twitter's employees were worn out. But Noto, a Silicon Valley outsider known for his hard-charging style, has struggled to convince investors or Valley insiders that his plan can really fix the company.His plans are showing early signs of progress: 'I’m beyond happy with how things are going,' Twitter video partner and Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg says. 'It is the most important social platform for us, far and away.'.He's betting the company on a risky strategy: to turn the social network, famous for celebrity feuds, trolls and Donald Trump, into a destination for live video - from sports to financial news to political debates.Anthony Noto, COO of Twitter, and former Goldman Sachs banker, is leading the company through challenging times.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Anthony noto