Elon's War Room Strategy

A look at how Elon Musk took control of Twitter and implemented immediate changes through a war room approach with trusted advisors.

Initial Takeover Strategy

• Took control through direct presence rather than formal process
• Simply walked into Twitter office and assumed control
• Created immediate presence with symbolic gestures (walking in with a sink)

War Room Structure

• Assembled trusted team including:
  • His chief legal counsel
  • Jason Calacanis
  • Sriram from a16z (former Twitter PM)
  • Engineers from his other companies (Boring Company, Neuralink)
  • Family members (his cousin)

Implementation Approach

• Set aggressive timelines
  • Gave teams one week deadlines for specific features
  • Focused on immediate action items
  • Required code reviews from all engineers
    • Initially requested printed code (later reversed)
    • Asked for review of past 3-6 months of work

Focus Areas

• Immediate product changes:
  • Verification program implementation
  • Logged-out page experience
  • User signup flow modifications

Challenges Identified

• Core product issues:
  • Platform mainly serves power users
  • Limited mass market appeal compared to other social platforms
  • Growth limitations (5x smaller than other major social services)
  • Lack of clear value proposition for casual users
    • Unlike Instagram, WhatsApp, or Snapchat, Twitter doesn't solve an obvious need for average users
    • Only addresses needs for specific user segments