Before he ever founded Sphere or About.me, Tony Conrad worked some crazy jobs. But however ridiculous these jobs may have been, they taught him invaluable lessons about life.
For example, as a yogurt merchandiser in France Conrad had to speak French – a language he didn’t know – with the people in his day to day. To succeed, Conrad would have to take control of his situation and fully depend on himself; that’s not a lesson easily forgotten.
This mentality was with him through all of his ventures, slowly building momentum as he went from Odd Post to Sphere and through True Ventures to About.me. Life, according to Conrad, is a contact sport. It’s absolutely crucial that you put yourself into the community, mix it up with new people, and firmly establish yourself as part of it: that’s how you learn new things.
Admittedly there was always a little bit of dumb luck involved for Conrad with his projects, especially with About.me. However, if you pay attention to dumb luck sometimes you can find your way to fortunate luck.
Conrad joined Frank Gruber on stage for a fireside chat during the Startup Mixology launch to talk about his journey and how it affected his experiences launching new product.
Here’s the video: