Look Up: Tech titans advise reconnecting with the sacred in candlelit Oxford talk

Biz talked about his difficult childhood and starting work at eight years’ old. His academic career did not seem to get off to a very good start. When he was in high school, he told his teachers he could not do homework, because of the job and because he was busy playing lacrosse. It was, though, he said, an early indication of his reluctance to do what others said.

‘It planted in me an entrepreneurial spirit,’ he smiled. The Twitter founder later dropped out of college to take a job as a designer. It was to be a pivotal moment, which led him eventually to start his own business. Then, when someone asked him if he could design websites, he just said ‘yes’. His route to the Valley had been set – although it took some time before he got there.

Meanwhile, Evan explained he had a very stable, loving family but had spent many hours on his computer – ‘now a rite of passage’ for young people, he said. Evan too would become an ‘accidental entrepreneur’, after first studying history and then architecture at college. It was clear from their talk, they both took chances and said yes to opportunities.

Biz dropped out of college to take a job, and then set up his own business; then worked in tech alongside Jack Dorsey and together they came up with a ‘cool’ idea, which was to become Twitter. Separately, Evan set up Pinterest, while he was an architecture student, because the library was closed and he and his friends wanted to share information and images of staircases. He had not seen it as a business. But his long-term interest in tech led him to work for Facebook, rather than pursuing architecture. But then he came back to Pinterest again, and it took off. 

Soumitra added: ‘This is a special moment for us: Biz, an Oxford Saïd visiting fellow and member of the School’s Global Leadership Council, and Evan are uniquely qualified…and we are grateful to have them with us today.’

Some 800 people applied for the free tickets to attend the lecture, which was open to members of the public. The audience included Oxford Saïd alumni as well as current students from across Oxford and the local community. The event was hosted by Professor Dutta, who was joined by Professor James Naismith, Head of the University of Oxford’s Mathematical, Physical, Life Sciences division and other leading members of faculty, including Deputy Dean Jonathan Reynolds and Assistant Dean Kathy Harvey. Afterwards, there was a dinner in honour of the two lecturers.