Tony Conrad
Founder of about.me & Sphere. Partner at True Ventures
Discussion
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
Hi all, Tony here. I'm the founder of about.me, the easiest way to build a profile page that showcases your unique identity, and develop connections with others. In addition to founding about.me and blog search engine Sphere (acquired by Aol), I'm a member of the True Ventures founding team, leading investments in WordPress.com, Blue Bottle Coffee, MakerBot, Typekit, and High Fidelity. I'm also a personal investor in Slack. My interests include being a dad, traveling, architecture, the Cubs, scuba and IRONMAN triathlons. Originally from a small Indiana farming community, I've lived in Paris, Jakarta, New Dehli, New York and currently enjoying living in San Francisco. Happy to be answering your questions today - so please fire away!
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Melissa Joy Kong
@melissajoykong · Content, Product Hunt
(1) What do you know for sure about entrepreneurship and life in general, given your set of experiences thus far?
(2) What are you sure you DON'T KNOW about entrepreneurship/life in general?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@melissajoykong 1) founders are the key ingredient, without their genius, nothing materializes. 2) why investors meddle.
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Hey, Tony! I saw @veronica joined the About.me board (congrats! 🙌). What does About.me look like in 5 years?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@rrhoover @veronica is an amazing addition to our team! very special. our focus right now is to evolve about.me from a vanity based profile to an intent based profile. Jeff Veen joined us to lead product and I think everyone is going to love the evolution that we're live testing now. In 5 years, everyone active on the web should have an about.me personal page link in their email signature, on their twitter, instagram, etc bio's as the starting point for people to learn more about them but also to support the thing they're most passionate about.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Tony!
One of your superpowers seems to be discovering talent before they've hit it big and helping them do so. To what do you attribute to that? What do you look for and how do you evaluate?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@eriktorenberg GREAT Q (& a long answer) Why are you doing this? We want to understand what is driving a Founder. We want to dig into the emotional need of a Founder(s) to see their idea come to life – it’s essential to determine if they have the motivation to build a great company, and more importantly, do they have the magic to spark a movement. As an example, it’s why we invested in James Freeman, Founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, one of the founders of the coffee artisanal movement. When we met James, it was instantly clear that Blue Bottle Coffee wasn’t just about coffee drinks, it’s so much more than that. What we saw and why we got involved, is that James and his team are founding a movement. It’s not just the very specific experience around the coffee Blue Bottle roasts and serves, what we see is his core beliefs in the way he sources ingredients, supports farmers in developing regions of the world to grow the purest, highest quality organic beans that promote sustainability, the way he chooses his store locations that often acts a vote of confidence for a developing neighborhood, how he obsesses over small architectural details that make each cafe unique, how they serve the product [what cup, what glass, what temperature, single origin versus blended bean mixes, espresso drinks only on premise….] – thinking through every detail to offer something beautiful in our daily lives – it’s a philosophy/ an approach that has led to a movement around the integrity of experience around coffee.
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
Hey Russ - early product traction is the best indicator - do people care about the idea you're passionate about.
Melissa Joy Kong
@melissajoykong · Content, Product Hunt
Tony! It's so great to see you here. I remember several years ago, we talked about the startup founders who most impressed you, and you mentioned @photomatt as being at the top of that list for you.
Are there others who have left a strong impression on you in the last few years? Who and why?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@melissajoykong @photomatt is very special! at this point, i've been blown away by so many founders that it's hard to name just a few. there are people like Evan Williams (whom I don't work with) and then people like Ayah Bdeir (LittleBits), James Freeman (Blue Bottle Coffee), etc who all have that amazing quality of being a founder of a movement more so than just building a company.
Corley
@corleyh · COO @ Product Hunt
@tonysphere thanks for joining us! how do you think growing up in a small Indiana farming community contributed to who you are today?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@corleyh everything. I was one of 9 kids out of 122 in my graduating class to go on to college. I learned empathy, work ethic and an ability to say yes to a wide range of work that taught me how to move forward. I've been a janitor at the local pharmacy, bailed hay, been a basketball coach, little league umpire, factory worker all by the time I was 18.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What's something you used to fervently believe that you now see as misguided?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@eriktorenberg i've never been wrong in my beliefs.......oh sure, hahahahaha
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What are your favorite books and why? (ok i'll stop...:)
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@eriktorenberg Shackleton's Journey - incredible story of leadership. Just incredible.
Raghav Haran
@raghavharan
@tonysphere Hey Tony - great to see you here! I know you focus more on founders than anything else at True when making investments, but is there any particular industry you're super excited about right now?
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Tony Conrad
@tonysphere · Founder, about.me
@raghavharan I'm not industry focused to be honest. I love consumer. I love stuff that's a bit weird on the surface (MakerBot, Glowforge, Blue Bottle Coffee, High Fidelity, HODINKEE, etc are good examples). I really over index on the founder and why they're pursuing a specific market. That's what gets me excited.