It is a little fun to read S-1s because companies have to talk about "Risk Factors" and "Critical Accounting Policies" and a bunch of other stuff people don't care about. But when a fancy tech company like Twitter releases an S-1 it's completely different because the financial media goes into a rabid lather over it. They just can't resist when tech people publicly reveal how they are going to make themselves filthy rich. Then the journalists and analysts get to poke through filings, point out obscure disclosures or write a superlative analysis in order to enjoy the 140-character ego-stroking they get from their colleagues. CHRIST, it's nauseating. But hey, we all love Twitter — despite all the racism! — so I guess we'll get into the act.
Personally, I like learning about the audit committee members. Twitter's AC isn't as shiny of as Facebook's roster of BSDs and if you like CPAs on your audit committee, you'll be disappointed, but I'm sure it's a capable group.
So, shall we get to know these guys? I mean, what else you gonna do?
Peter Currie — Mr. Currie is best known for being the CFO of Netscape. He's been described as one of the "Silicon Valley wise men" which I think means he gives frankincense to a chosen few. These days he's President of Currie Capital (clever name) and as well as the President of the board of trustees at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. He's a graduate of the Academy as well as Williams College where he earned a BA in Economics and French Lit. He also has an MBA from Stanford. VERY FANCY! Once upon a time he worked at Morgan Stanley.
Peter Fenton — Pedro numero dos is venture capitalist. Seriously, that's all he does. After getting both a BA in Philosophy and MBA from Stanford, he joined Accel Partners. He then had stints at a company called Virage and Bain & Co. before landing at Benchmark where he's a general partner. Forbes has him listed at #5 for the 2012 Midas Tech's Top Investors list where it says he "backed Twitter when it had 25 employees." He's been on the Midas list since 2007. He's a triathlete and has completed four half IronMan competitions, according to his Wikipedia page. Dude is 41 years old. Jesus.
David Rosenblatt — Despite his lack of Peter, Mr. Rosenblatt is no slouch. He was CEO of DoubleClick in 2008 when Google purchased the company for $3.2 billion and became President of Global Display Advertising for the company. Prior to that he was a co-founder of Group Commerce and is probably the reason the New York Times is still in business (I'm mostly joking). These days, aside from his duties with Twitter, he's on the board of IAC/InterActive Corp and is CEO of 1stdibs.com a "leading online, global marketplace for luxury, vintage products." He got a BA in East Asian Studies from Yale and an MBA from Stanford.
So there you have it. Three guys who could really use a break in life. Good luck, gents. Hopefully this one works out for you. And give PwC hell for us!
