Twitter co-founders Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and longtime sidekick Jason Goldman, recently shifted their focus away from the micro-sharing service provider to reboot Obvious, the company that originally incubated Twitter.
Yesterday, Stone announced Obvious’ first project: incubating an app development company called Lift, created by Tony Stubblebine and Jon Crosby. Obvious says it will assist Lift with “strategy, design, funding and recruiting”.
What Lift is building remains unclear, but Stone writes:
“Tony Stubblebine and Jon Crosby have created an interesting new application for unlocking human potential through positive reinforcement. We love this software for what it does, and because we’ve tried it and it works.”
Crosby says more will be shared “in the coming months”. If you’re interested in learning more now: Marshall Kirkpatrick has been sleuthing and writes about what he found on ReadWriteWeb.
Stubblebine previously worked at Wesabe, Odeo (where he worked with the Obvious trio) and O’Reilly Media and also founded CrowdVine. Crosby boasts gigs at Path, Engine Yard and Songbird on his résumé.
Lift will be billed as an ‘Obvious Company’, although the Obvious team clearly sees this more as a partnership, wherein Lift gets to follow its own path under the leadership of Stubblebine and Crosby.
Disrupt 2026: The tech ecosystem, all in one room
Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register now to save up to $400.
Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit
1,000+ founders and investors come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately
Offer ends March 13.
Its service is currently in private alpha, but the website lets people sign up to receive more information when it’s available. Oh, and you’ll be able to log in through Twitter and Facebook.
As an amusing aside: entrepreneur and hacker Connor Montgomery, and/or Stubblebine, appear to have added some humor to the Lift website code:
(meta name=”description” content=”Lift. Achieve anything (assuming we finish building this app).”)
I assume they will. Can’t wait to finally be able to achieve anything!
