Elon Musk Ropes in a16z’s Sriram Krishnan Ahead of Plans to Revamp Twitter

Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American technology executive, is “helping out” Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk as he revamps the social media giant following its acquisition by the billionaire entrepreneur.

Krishnan is a general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

“Now that the word is out: I’m helping out @elonmusk with Twitter temporarily with some other great people. I (and a16z) believe this is a hugely important company and can have a great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen,” Krishnan tweeted.

Krishnan added that he is “still very much in my day job” at @a16zcrypto. “If you’re a crypto founder, you know how to find me!.” According to his profile on Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Krishnan invests in early-stage consumer startups and serves on the boards of companies Bitski, Hopin, and Polywork.

Prior to joining a16z, Chennai-born Krishnan held numerous senior product roles and most recently, he “led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth”, his profile said.

Previously, he created and oversaw various mobile ad products for Snap and Facebook, including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising, his profile said.

Krishnan started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure.

Author of “Programming Windows Azure” published by O’Reilly, he also co-hosts with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy ‘The Good Time Show’ on Clubhouse, a nightly show through which they interview innovators around tech and culture.

He is an alumnus of SRM Engineering College, Anna University where he did his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Information Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Last week, Musk completed the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,63,090 crore) acquisition of Twitter and ousted chief executive Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.

Musk, according to reports, plans to rethink the company’s content moderation policies and permanent bans for users who previously violated the platform’s policies, including former President Donald Trump, although he said over the weekend that no major decisions have been made yet. He also is reported to be planning large layoffs at the company.

Musk has said the process of gaining a prestigious “blue tick” will be revised. Reports said the firm could start charging $20 (roughly Rs. 1,650) per month to be verified.

Many of Twitter’s most prominent verified users said they would leave if it tried to implement the plan.

Stephen King, an American author, tweeted: “$20 (roughly Rs. 1,650) a month to keep my blue check? F– that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” Hours later, Musk replied to King: “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?” A blue tick is currently free and a way of signalling an account is authentic.

While there has been no official confirmation of the plan, on Monday Musk appeared to acknowledge the speculation in a new tweet which said: “On no, all our diabolical plans have been revealed!!” In a separate development, Musk has denied a New York Times report that he plans to lay off Twitter workers before the start of next month to avoid having to make payouts.

The New York Times reported that Musk had ordered major job cuts across Twitter’s workforce.

Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to “draw up lists of employees to cut.” The newspaper said the layoffs would take place before November 1, when workers were due to receive grants of shares in the company as a major part of their pay deals.

But replying to a Twitter user asking about the report, he said: “This is false.” The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Musk’s ownership, the BBC said.

Some have voiced concerns that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be allowed back to the platform.