Tom Anderson

About

I’m Tom Anderson, co-founder of Myspace and one of the earliest accidental faces of social networking. Since helping build one of the web’s first large-scale identity platforms, I’ve spent my time investing, traveling, and thinking about what digital spaces get right when they make people feel visible. I still care deeply about community products, creative self-expression, and giving users enough freedom to make the internet feel personal.

Experience

• Angel Investor & Global Photography Nomad

  Self-Employed

  Jul 2009 - Present · 16 yrs 10 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, with a 6.4% engagement rate, roughly 3x industry average.
  • Published in National Geographic Traveler; prints sold out across 3 limited-edition drops in under 48 hours.
• 

  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 to 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 and helped drive Myspace Video views to a 20% share of the 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 the term "Social Network" in an internal doc, and nobody noticed at the time.

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