Tony Conrad

Partner at True Ventures

Partner
2005 - Current
True Ventures invests in promising entrepreneurs at the earliest stages in the highest-growth segments of the technology market. Because of our focus on companies in their infancy, I am able to combine my experience as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur with my sincere enthusiasm for discovering driven, talented people at the earliest stages of their formation. Working with the True Ventures team allows me to work alongside great people to invest in equally great talent and ideas--and learn a lot along the way.

Board Director
2005
Member of the Board of Directors of Automattic, parent company of WordPress, one of the largest platform companies on the web.

Board Director/ Investor
1998
I currently serve on the Board of Directors of Automattic (WordPress), Blue Bottle Coffee, appssavvy, KISSmetrics, Coffee&Power, StockTwits, Rescue Time, Qualaroo, GDGT, Trippy, 20x200 and led/ sourced True's investments in MakerBot, ToyTalk, Betable, 9GAG, Connectifier, Milk (acquired by Google), Typekit (acquired by Adobe), Assistly (acquired by Salesforce), On The Air (acquired by Yahoo!) and WeGame (acquired by TAGGED). I previously served on the Board of Directors for Oddpost (acquired by Yahoo), Iconoculture, MusicNow (acquired by Circuit City), and Centive (acquired by Xactly) and played an active role managing investments in Post Communications (NASDAQ: NTVS) and Stonyfield Farms (acquired by Groupe Danone).

Founder & CEO
2010 - 2017
about.me makes it easy for people to learn about you and find your content on the web. After being acquired by AOL in December 2010, we bought back the business in February 2013.

Founder/ CEO
2004 - 2009
With experience as a investor behind me, I started Sphere out of curiosity and a quest to "try it out for myself." I learned quickly to adjust my plans according to what made sense and the value of building a network. In just 5 years, our application was widely distributed among and used by many of the largest traditional media companies in the world. I entered this industry without a network or any industry expertise and quickly learned to build a network of relationships significantly contributing to the success of Sphere. I believe what helped me was that I engaged with each person not thinking about what they could do for us, but what we could do for them. Sphere was acquired by AOL in April 2008, a great outcome for all involved.

Board Director
2004 - 2004
Oddpost was one of my most rewarding experiences as an Investor. Through it I learned the value of investing small amounts of dollars early and the importance of building a good partnership between the investor and entrepreneurs. At this stage, I learned not to just invest in the business, but specifically in the people behind it. I found that investing in young companies was exciting and engaging; it allows me to be more hands-on.

Director Mergers & Acquisitions
1993 - 1997
Danone realized that although they were one of the largest Consumer Packaged Goods ("CPG") companies in the world, it lacked a strong presence in Southeast Asia, this led me to move there and help Danone start from the ground up. In four years, we built established a significant presence for our biscuit (a joint-venture with ABC Group) and bottled water operations (acquired AQUA, the world's largest bottled water). In this role, I developed many critical operational skills that I still leverage today.
Brand Management
1989 - 1993
Entrepreneurs believe, by their very nature, that they can control their destiny. I am no different. Upon arriving in France for this position, not speaking a single word of french, I asked to be placed in sales and moved to the farthest point from Paris. My intention was to interact with as many local people as I could on a daily basis and in the process, be forced to learn French (something difficult to do in cosmopolitan Paris, as I learned soon after arrival). With a bit of prodding, I was able to convince my superiors of my plan and in the experience that followed found professional and personal success. Here is where I learned to believe in myself and the ability to overcome adversity.