Evan Williams says he was “sad” when Elon Musk bought Twitter after thinking the idea was “interesting and fun” and Musk hasn't “dialed it in quite right yet”
“Hasn't quite dialed it in yet” is definitely one way to put it. @darthbluesky.bsky.social : yes it is just not dialed in quite right that is the issue — jfc Tweets: Carl Quintanilla / @carlquintanilla : EV WILLIAMS: As for Musk, “I don't think he's dialed it in quite right yet. .. I think he's brilliant. But no one's brilliant on everything.” @business @emilychangtv #Twitter @ev https://www.bloomberg.com/... Emily Chang / @emilychangtv : My first guests on “The Circuit” tonight are Twitter Co-founder @ev — who opens up publicly about @elonmusk for the first time — and one of its most critical founding members @goldman. They join me along with former employees @sferik @helensagelee @sheonhan @lmanul. Here's some... https://twitter.com/... [image]
Context & Ripple Effects
Evan Williams has mostly stayed quiet since leaving Twitter, but his history with the company runs deep: back when Jack Dorsey returned, Williams was pitching Medium to Twitter for $500M while the company wrestled with growth stalls and churn. He watched from outside as Musk spent spring 2022 negotiating the price down before buying.
What followed is the backdrop for this verdict: a chaotic first week under Musk framed as a poker player trying to win his money back at once, then reported attempts at an equity raise at a valuation analysts called absurd. Williams' first public comments land against that arc — not as a takedown, but as a builder's assessment that execution, not vision, is what's missing.
First-order effects
- Williams' 'hasn't dialed it in quite right yet' framing gives Musk's critics a founder-sanctioned narrative — the problem is operational tuning by a brilliant outsider, not the platform itself — while letting Williams re-engage with the company he co-founded without attacking Musk personally.
Second-order effects
- A co-founder's measured skepticism hands advertisers and users already wary after the takeover chaos a credible reference point, and nudges conversation toward alternatives — the description itself routes readers toward a Bluesky account, showing where that audience drifts.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — founder-built social platforms changing hands and being judged publicly by their creators — platform legacies become part of the M&A calculus: acquirers inherit not just the asset but the original builders' standing verdicts on whether they're running it right.
The trend: As founder-era social platforms get acquired and restructured, their original builders are becoming public scorekeepers whose assessments shape how each owner's tenure is read.