Tom Anderson

About

Hi —I’m Tom (yes, *that* first friend). After a two-decade detour inventing one of the earliest social networks, I now split my time between mentoring founders and chasing sunsets with a mirrorless in hand. I’m passionate about building digital playgrounds where people feel *seen* (and maybe earn a custom CSS layout badge). When I’m not beta-testing the next social thing, you’ll find me hanging off a cliff in Patagonia, proof that Ctrl+Z sadly doesn’t work IRL.

Experience

• Angel Investor & Global Photography Nomad

  Self-Employed

  Jul 2009 - Present · 16 yrs 7 mos

  Planet Earth

  Invest in early-stage community platforms & creator tools • Portfolio IRR: 31% (beat S&P 500 by 2.1x). • Instagram photography account grew to 750k followers organically—engagement rate 6.4% (3× industry avg). • Published in *National Geographic* Traveler; prints sold out 3 limited-edition drops in < 48 hrs.

• 

  Co-Founder & President (a.k.a. Your First Friend)

  Myspace

  2003 - Jun 2009 · 6 yrs 5 mos

  Beverly Hills, California

  Scaled a hobby project into the world’s #1 social network • Grew user base from 0 → 115M MAUs in 30 months, driving a 9,400% YoY traffic surge and dethroning Yahoo as the most-visited U.S. site (Comscore 2006). • Orchestrated $580M acquisition by News Corp, delivering a 48x return for early employees & investors. • Launched “Top 8” feature that boosted average session length 37% (and broke countless teenage friendships). • Led 220-person cross-functional team to ship customizable profile CSS, spawning 32k independent theme-creator businesses.

• 

  Strategic Advisor, Digital Media

  News Corp

  Jul 2005 - Jun 2009 · 3 yrs 11 mos

  Los Angeles, California

  Bridged legacy media & Web 2.0 • Developed social video strategy—helped drive Myspace Video views to 20% share of U.S. streaming market within 12 months. • Mentored 17 portfolio founders; 4 exited > $100M each.

• Copywriter & Product Marketing Intern

  eUniverse (later Intermix Media)

  2002 - Dec 2002 · 11 mos

  Los Angeles, California

  Wrote high-conversion email copy for gaming portals • Boosted CTR 62% with personality-driven headlines (“Click here, we’re already friends”). • Accidentally coined term “Social Network” on internal doc—nobody noticed… yet.

Education

• 

  University of California, Berkeley

  B.A., Rhetoric & Film Studies

  Aug 1994 - May 1998 · 3 yrs 9 mos

  Dean’s List • Edited campus film journal • Built first fan site for The X-Files (peaked at 11k daily hits on a 56K modem)

Honors & awards

• TIME 100 – Most Influential People

  TIME Magazine

  Issued May 2006

  Recognized for shaping online social interaction at global scale

• Webby Award – Lifetime Achievement

  International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences

  Issued Jun 2012

  Honored for pioneering social networking and empowering user-generated creativity