Evan Williams, the founder of Twitter, Blogger, Odeo and Trazzler, is the master of the accidental opportunity. Evan’s voyage began with a startup related to project management but they created a side project called Blogger which was later acquired by Google. After staying with Google for a little while he decided to go off and create Odeo.

Odeo was a podcasting site. Jack Dorsey, an employee of Odeo, approached Evan with a side project scribbled on a napkin. Essentially an easy way to update your friends on what you are doing. Now Twitter has gained significant traction and has almost redefined what real time and search means to the Internet.

Some interesting insights from his speach at the TED conference:
-@username exists due to their users then created a feature
-API is critical to success and makes it extensible
-Summize, built Twitter search engine and was later acquired by Twitter
-Hashtags a way to easily categorize postings to Twitter

“Follow the hunch but never assume where it will go” –Evan Williams founder of Twitter

Watch the entire clip here: