# Jeff Lawson

> Jeff Lawson is the co-founder and CEO of Inertia, a commercial fusion energy company he started with Annie Kritcher and Mike Dunne. He previously co-founded and led Twilio from its 2008 launch through its 2016 IPO, wrote Ask Your Developer, and became the majority owner and chairperson of The Onion through Global Tetrahedron in 2024. His career began with event video production at age 12 and includes Versity, StubHub, NineStar and Amazon Web Services.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Inertia
- **Organizations:** Inertia, Twilio, Global Tetrahedron, The Onion, Amazon Web Services, StubHub, NineStar, Versity
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS in Computer Science, University of Michigan
- **Known for:** Co-founded Twilio and led it through its 2016 public listing., At his January 2024 departure, Twilio reported over $4 billion in annualized revenue, more than 306,000 customers and over 1.7 trillion annual interactions., Authored Ask Your Developer, published in January 2021.

## Career timeline

- **Age 12** — Started an event video production business in the Detroit area.
- **While at university** — Founded Versity, a student-notes website; also worked as a DJ.
- **Before 2008** — Served as StubHub’s founding CTO, co-founded NineStar, and worked as an early product manager at Amazon Web Services.
- **2008** — Co-founded Twilio with Evan Cooke and John Wolthuis.
- **2016** — Led Twilio through its IPO.
- **2019** — Joined the Giving Pledge with Erica Lawson.
- **2021** — Published Ask Your Developer.
- **2024-01** — Stepped down as Twilio CEO and left its board on January 8.
- **2024-04** — Became The Onion’s majority owner and chairperson through Global Tetrahedron.
- **2024** — Co-founded Inertia with Annie Kritcher and Mike Dunne; the company publicly launched in August 2025.
- **2026-02** — Inertia announced a $450 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Twilio and led it through its 2016 public listing.
- At his January 2024 departure, Twilio reported over $4 billion in annualized revenue, more than 306,000 customers and over 1.7 trillion annual interactions.
- Authored Ask Your Developer, published in January 2021.
- Co-founded Inertia, which announced a $450 million Series A in February 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Appeared on Grit on October 19 to discuss Twilio’s sales lessons and his move into fusion.
- **2026-10** — Discussed Inertia’s approach to factory economics on the Inevitable podcast, published October 15.
- **2026-09** — Inertia announced semiconductor laser collaborations with Coherent, Laserline and Leonardo on September 22.
- **2026-09** — Inertia reported a simulated target gain above 25 using ignition-benchmarked codes on September 18; this was a design simulation rather than a commercial electricity demonstration.
- **2026-07** — Inertia opened its 50,000-square-foot Livermore headquarters on July 10.
- **2026-04** — Inertia and LLNL announced research agreements and a license covering nearly 200 patents.

## Links

- Website: https://inertia.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffiel
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jeffiel

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jeff-lawson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22