Yes, Inc. was a Palo Alto-based startup founded in 2014 by Keith Coleman. The company developed social mobile apps including Frenzy (for planning meetups) and WYD (What You Doing) for real-time social coordination.

Yes Inc Acquisition by Twitter: The Full Story (2016)

Q: Who is Keith Coleman?

Keith Coleman is the founder and CEO of Yes, Inc. Before founding the company, he was a Product Director at Google where he worked on Gmail, Inbox, Calendar, and other products. After the Twitter acquisition, he became VP of Product at Twitter.

You're Reading This On The Acquired Domain

This article is hosted on yesitsyes.com - the actual website that was part of the Yes, Inc. acquisition by Twitter in 2016. We've repurposed this domain to track and analyze tech acquisitions, including our own story.

On December 1, 2016, Twitter announced the acquisition of Yes, Inc., a small Palo Alto-based startup that had developed social mobile applications. While the deal's financial terms were never disclosed, the acquisition would prove significant for Twitter's product direction - Yes, Inc. founder Keith Coleman became Twitter's new VP of Product.

This is the complete story of Yes, Inc.: what the company built, why Twitter wanted it, and what happened after the acquisition.

What Was Yes, Inc.?

Yes, Inc. was founded in 2014 by Keith Coleman, a former Google product director who had worked on Gmail, Google Inbox, Google Chat, Calendar, and Android. The company was backed by Felicis Ventures and operated out of Palo Alto, California.

The startup developed two main products:

Frenzy (2015)

Frenzy was Yes, Inc.'s first app, designed to help friends quickly organize real-world meetups. The app aimed to reduce the friction of coordinating plans by making it easy to broadcast your availability and see when friends were free. Think of it as a "status" indicator for real-life availability.

WYD - What You Doing (2016)

WYD (pronounced "what you doing") was the company's second app, launched in 2016. It took a slightly different approach to social coordination, focusing on real-time sharing of what you're currently doing and discovering what friends are up to. The concept was to spark spontaneous connections.

Both apps operated in the competitive "social discovery" and "location-based social" space, competing against apps like Swarm (from Foursquare), Facebook Events, and various ephemeral messaging apps.

The Team Behind Yes, Inc.

Yes, Inc. was a small but experienced team of approximately 7 people. What made the company attractive to Twitter wasn't the apps themselves, but the talent:

Name	Role at Yes, Inc.	Background	Role at Twitter
Keith Coleman	Founder & CEO	Google (Gmail, Inbox, Calendar)	VP of Product
Tamara Fleisher	Co-Founder	Various startups	Product Team
Engineering Team (5)	Engineers	Google, PayPal, Android	Twitter Engineering

The team had impressive pedigrees from Google, PayPal, Android development, and other major tech companies. This made Yes, Inc. a classic "acqui-hire" target - a company worth acquiring primarily for its talent rather than its products.

Why Twitter Acquired Yes, Inc.

By late 2016, Twitter was facing significant challenges:

User growth had stagnated - the platform was stuck around 300 million monthly active users
Product leadership was in flux - Twitter had cycled through multiple product heads
Competition was intensifying - Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook were all growing faster
The stock price had declined - from $69 at IPO to around $18

Twitter needed fresh product thinking, and Keith Coleman's background made him an attractive candidate:

Keith Coleman's Qualifications

Led Gmail product for 500M+ users at Google
Helped launch Google Inbox - praised for innovative design
Experience with consumer products at massive scale
Proven ability to iterate on established products
Mobile-first product development experience

The acquisition was announced through a blog post on yesitsyes.com (this domain) titled "Joining Twitter." In the post, Coleman wrote about the team's excitement to work on "the world's most important communication platform."

The Announcement

The acquisition was announced on December 1, 2016. Here's how major tech publications covered it:

TechCrunch: "Twitter buys startup Yes, Inc. and scores a new VP of product"
The Verge: "Twitter has a new head of product who barely uses the product"
Business Insider: "Twitter hires new VP of Product Keith Coleman and Yes Inc team"
Variety: "Twitter acquires Yes, Inc., makes its founder VP of product"
Fortune: "Twitter just acquired this startup and its CEO is now VP of product"

The Verge's headline was notable - it pointed out that Coleman's Twitter account was relatively inactive before the acquisition, a ironic detail given he was about to lead Twitter's product development.

What Happened After the Acquisition

Immediate Changes

Following the acquisition, the Yes, Inc. apps (Frenzy and WYD) were shut down within weeks. Users were notified that the services would be discontinued, and the team transitioned fully to Twitter.

Keith Coleman stepped into the VP of Product role at Twitter, becoming the company's sixth head of product since its founding. He reported to CEO Jack Dorsey.

Coleman's Impact at Twitter

During his time as VP of Product, Coleman oversaw several significant changes to Twitter:

280 Characters (2017): Perhaps the most visible change - Twitter doubled its character limit from 140 to 280 characters. This was controversial but ultimately adopted.
Threads: Improvements to Twitter's threading functionality for longer narratives
Safety Features: Enhanced tools for combating harassment and abuse
Timeline Algorithm: Refinements to the algorithmic timeline introduced earlier
Moments and Topics: Features to help users discover content

The 280-Character Decision

The expansion from 140 to 280 characters remains the most controversial product decision from Coleman's tenure. Twitter had long been defined by its 140-character constraint, which forced brevity and creativity. Many users and journalists criticized the change, arguing it diluted Twitter's unique identity.

Coleman defended the decision, noting that data showed only about 9% of tweets in English hit the 140-character limit, while the constraint was more problematic for languages like Japanese and Korean. The change was rolled out in November 2017.

Deal Terms and Valuation

The financial terms of the Yes, Inc. acquisition were never publicly disclosed. Based on comparable acqui-hire deals of the era, industry analysts estimated:

Factor	Analysis
Team Size	~7 people
Typical Acqui-Hire Rate (2016)	$1-3M per engineer
Executive Premium (Coleman)	Significant - given VP role
Estimated Range	$10-30M (unconfirmed)
Official Disclosure	Undisclosed

The lack of disclosure typically indicates either that the deal was relatively small (not material to Twitter's financials) or that non-standard terms were involved.

The Legacy of Yes, Inc.

While the Yes, Inc. apps (Frenzy and WYD) are long gone, the acquisition's impact on Twitter was significant:

Product Leadership: Coleman provided stability in a role that had seen frequent turnover
Google Influence: His Gmail/Inbox background brought consumer product discipline
280 Characters: A permanent change to Twitter's core product
This Domain: yesitsyes.com remained dormant after the acquisition until being repurposed for this project

What Happened to Keith Coleman?

Coleman served as VP of Product at Twitter through the Jack Dorsey era. Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, the leadership team was restructured. Coleman is no longer at the company now known as X.

Yes, Inc. Acquisition: Key Takeaways

The Yes, Inc. acquisition illustrates several important patterns in tech M&A:

Acqui-hires prioritize talent over product: Twitter shut down Yes, Inc.'s apps immediately - they wanted Coleman and his team, not Frenzy or WYD.
Small teams can have outsized impact: A 7-person startup's acquisition led to major product changes affecting hundreds of millions of users.
Google alumni are acquisition targets: Companies often acquire startups founded by ex-FAANG employees for their experience at scale.
Product leadership is critical: Twitter's willingness to acquire a company primarily to install its CEO as VP of Product shows how valuable strong product leaders are.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Yes, Inc. Acquisition

What was Yes, Inc.?

Yes, Inc. was a social mobile app startup founded in 2014 by Keith Coleman in Palo Alto, California. The company developed two apps: Frenzy (for organizing meetups with friends) and WYD (What You Doing - for real-time social coordination). The startup was backed by Felicis Ventures and had a team of about 7 people with backgrounds from Google, PayPal, and other major tech companies.

When did Twitter acquire Yes, Inc.?

Twitter acquired Yes, Inc. on December 1, 2016. The acquisition was announced through a blog post on yesitsyes.com titled "Joining Twitter." The deal terms were not disclosed publicly, but it was widely reported as an acqui-hire, meaning Twitter primarily wanted the team's talent rather than the company's products.

Who is Keith Coleman?

Keith Coleman is an entrepreneur and product executive who founded Yes, Inc. Before starting the company, he was a Product Director at Google where he led Gmail, Google Inbox, Google Chat, and Google Calendar. After Twitter's acquisition of Yes, Inc., Coleman became Twitter's VP of Product, where he oversaw major changes including the expansion from 140 to 280 characters. He is no longer at X (formerly Twitter) following the Elon Musk acquisition in 2022.

How much did Twitter pay for Yes, Inc.?

The acquisition price was never officially disclosed. Based on typical acqui-hire valuations of the time ($1-3M per engineer) and the executive role Coleman received, industry analysts estimated the deal was in the $10-30 million range, though this is speculation. The lack of disclosure typically indicates the deal was not material to Twitter's overall financials.

What happened to the Frenzy and WYD apps?

Both Frenzy and WYD were shut down shortly after Twitter's acquisition of Yes, Inc. Users were notified that the services would be discontinued within weeks of the deal closing. This is typical for acqui-hires, where the acquiring company is interested in the team rather than the products. The apps are no longer available on any app store.

Why did Twitter acquire Yes, Inc.?

Twitter acquired Yes, Inc. primarily to bring Keith Coleman on board as VP of Product. At the time, Twitter was facing stagnant user growth, product direction challenges, and had cycled through multiple product leaders. Coleman's experience leading consumer products at Google scale (Gmail with 500M+ users) made him an attractive candidate to lead Twitter's product development.

What did Keith Coleman do at Twitter?

As VP of Product, Keith Coleman oversaw several significant changes to Twitter: the expansion from 140 to 280 characters (the most controversial), improvements to threading functionality, enhanced safety features, timeline algorithm refinements, and the development of Moments and Topics features. He served throughout the Jack Dorsey era until the Elon Musk acquisition in 2022.

Was the 280-character limit Keith Coleman's decision?

Yes, the expansion from 140 to 280 characters was implemented under Keith Coleman's product leadership and rolled out in November 2017. Coleman defended the change by noting that only about 9% of English tweets hit the 140-character limit, while the constraint was more problematic for other languages. The decision was controversial but became permanent.

What is yesitsyes.com?

yesitsyes.com was the official website of Yes, Inc. The domain hosted the company's blog, including the post "Joining Twitter" that announced the acquisition. After the acquisition, the domain was dormant for years. It has since been repurposed as a tech acquisition database and analysis site - which is what you're reading now. We thought it fitting to use an acquired domain to track acquisitions.

Is Keith Coleman still at Twitter/X?

No, Keith Coleman is no longer at X (formerly Twitter). Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, the company underwent significant restructuring with approximately 80% of staff being let go or leaving. Coleman departed during this transition period. His current role has not been publicly announced.

What was Yes, Inc.'s funding?

Yes, Inc. received funding from Felicis Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The exact funding amount was not publicly disclosed, but as a small pre-acquisition startup with a team of about 7 people, it was likely a seed-stage investment. The company operated for approximately 2 years (2014-2016) before the Twitter acquisition.

What is an acqui-hire?

An acqui-hire (acquisition + hire) is when a company acquires another primarily to recruit its employees rather than to gain its products, services, or intellectual property. The Yes, Inc. acquisition is a textbook example: Twitter shut down the Frenzy and WYD apps immediately and integrated the team into Twitter's product organization. For more details, see our guide: What is an Acqui-Hire?

Yes Inc Acquisition by Twitter: The Full Story Behind This Website