Fred Wilson of AVC.com shared this four year old Jack Dorsey speech yesterday.

JackDorseyOriginalSketchesofTwitter

Dorsey's original Twitter sketch, circa 2000.

In it Dorsey says the first step to creating a new product or business is to draw your ideas down on paper and share them with others. The ideas for both Twitter and Square started on paper. In the case of Twitter, the sketch sat on the shelf for several years as technology caught up with the concept.

He also reveals that many of Twitter's core features, such as Retweets (RT), Hashtags (#), @ Usernames (@Jack), came from the product's users, rather than its management team. The lesson here is to listen.

Finally, Dorsey says iteration, or continuous improvement, was key to Twitter's success. The question the company asks users started out as "What's your status?" but evolved to the much broader, "What's happening?" and engagement grew.

Dorsey said draw your ideas down, listen to your users, and iterate four years ago. The message is just as strong today.