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Dom Sagolla        

Co-Creator of Twitter; Author of "140 Characters"

A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard University, Dr. Sagolla earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a minor in Computer Science, a Master of Education in Cognitive Science, as well as a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Becker College.

Co-creator of Twitter, Dom has also contributed to Macromedia Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, and many influential apps such as the Official Obama '08 iPhone App. Co-founder of the world's most prolific hackathon, iOSDevCamp, Dom has advised mega-hits like GetAround, FoodSpotting, Tapulous (now Disney), Small Society (now Wal-Mart Labs), and Square.

Dr. Sagolla was first recognized as an International Genius by the City of Amsterdam for his career and leadership in the technology industry. Based in San Francisco, he operates the agile software studio DollarApp and advises businesses of all sizes on product development, marketing, and launch strategy.

Dom's first book, 140 CHARACTERS, includes a foreword by Jack Dorsey, Creator and Chairman of Twitter, Inc. The book was released simultaneously as an interactive iPhone application (with full text) and in print & e-book form by John Wiley & Sons. For more information, follow @dom or visit http://140characters.com.

Speech Topics


Culture of Innovation: Creating a Marketplace of Ideas

Twitter started out as a podcasting company but is now the world's fastesttext communications channel. Blogger began as project management software and is now one of the most popular publication tools in history. Google began with a search box, and is now the world's largest advertising network, changing its identity almost yearly. Adobe started out shipping printer drivers, and is now producing the standard in professional content creation tools.

Dom Sagolla has been a part of some of the world's most renown innovation pipelines. From HP Laboratories to the MIT Media Lab, from Harvard Law, Medical, and Education schools to Adobe Labs, Sagolla noticed some common patterns. When absent these patterns and processes, innovation fails to emerge and ideas are squandered. Sagolla believes that any company, no matter what size, can foster the kind of innovation that drives the most aggressive startup.

Sagolla maintains that innovation lives in small teams operating as independently as possible, listening to customers, providing a unique experience, and actually creating demand where there was none.

Using case studies from Apple and other American companies –both large and small- Sagolla explores the truth behind Brian K. Smith’s famous quotation,"On a good day, we fail in a really interesting way."

Success Through Simplicity: Apps For Everyone

What does the phenomenal success of the iPhone and iPad and their Apps tellus about what consumers want? Dom Sagolla knows. After his success withTwitter, he founded DollarApp, an iPhone development company, and helped build the official Obama ’08 iPhone Application. Dom has spent the last four years building the world’s largest independent developer community for the iOS, iPhone Developer’s Camp. He is uniquely positioned to explain the explosion of Apps, and what this says about technology culture and how we live today.

Twitter: Changing the World With 140 Characters

With over 200 million users worldwide, Twitter has become an instant part of our culture. Not only is it changing the way we communicate, but it has proven to be a tool for social and political change. In this presentation, Dom tells the story of Twitter and introduces the concept of “tweets per capita,” giving us a snapshot of our current status as a planet. He’ll also provide a glimpse into the future of writing and journalism, as well as information and social networks, concluding with a lively Q&A session.

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