Twitter gets Quip CEO and co-founder Bret Taylor on board

Quip CEO and co-founder Bret Taylor has been appointed by Micro-blogging platform Twitter as a new advisory board member, effective immediately. He will work with the class of directors whose term will expire at the next annual shareholders meeting in 2017.

The move is part of Twitter’s efforts of bulking up on experience and expertise to revive the platform and add latest technologies to attract users. In a bid to have a stronger foothold among the current social media generation Twitter has been making multiple changes to its coveted social media platform. And top management changes and reaching out for advisory help, even from the arch-enemy Facebook seems to be one of them.

Taylor expressed his view on joining the board and added that “Twitter is the fastest way to find out what’s happening, and beneath its simplicity lies a very sophisticated set of technology. I hope to bring my knowledge and experiences to bear to help Jack and the Board push Twitter and its services forward.”

Taylor will be compensated with a mix of cash and equity for his service on the management board. Twitter’s executive chairman Omid Kordestani believes that Taylor’s knowledge of consumer products and technologies will be an invaluable resource for the company. His expertise matches with those members added to the board recently, including PepsiCo’s Hugh Johnston, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, among others.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and current CEO of the micro-blogging platform also welcomed Taylor to the board with a tweet. Dorsey has been heading Twitter since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down from the board.

News!:@btaylor is joining the Twitter Board! Bret brings world class experience, insight, & thoughtfulness around building social services.

— Jack (@jack) July 5, 2016

Excited to join @twitter's board. Twitter is one of the most important services in the world, and I'm thrilled to be able to work with @jack

— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 5, 2016

Prior to starting up his own productivity software company, Quip, Taylor was involved with some of the biggest Silicon Valley tech giants. Until June 2007, Taylor worked as a Group Product Manager at Google Inc., where he co-created Google Maps and the Google Maps API from scratch. He then moved on to join a VC firm, BenchMark as an entrepreneur-in-residence and co-founded the social network, Friendfeed Inc., which was later acquired by Facebook in 2009. He served as the CTO of Facebook for three years, before exiting and starting Quip.