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Tom Patterson
Chairman and Founder, TInker
http://tpatterson.typepad.com/tp/
San Mateo, California, United States
Business owner, Investor
Member since July 02, 2007
VEQ: TM-TL-PM
"Developing your own self understanding is the greatest gift in life; entreprenurial challenges are a turbo booster to your own discovery"
Investor interests
| Type of investor | Angel |
| Investments made | iCurrent, Casual Collective, Backyard Monsters, greatnonprofits.org |
| Credentials | Accredited Investor, Qualified Purchaser |
I am a(n):
Entrepreneur
Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Wize.com
Startups I worked for:
Respond.com, Markettools Inc
If you are an entrepreneur, why?
I want to work with the best people on the planet to build something worthwhile and develop more internal wisdom about life through these experiences
My favorite startups:
vator.tv, casual collective, fixya, threadsy
What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
Frustration is the time between having an inspiring and motivating vision or idea and your ability to articulate it clearly and with conviction to compel those that matter. The most rewarding part of entrepreneur-ism is when you see an employee take flight and grow right before your very eyes.
What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
The number one mistake entrepreneurs make is to rely on of the opinion of people to guide their sense of self worth. Once an entrepreneur accepts himself for what he/she is good and bad, the real magic happens.. Once the inside has integrity, the entrepreneur will have rich and rewarding long term "life" success and sustainability.
What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?
1.) Partner or Team Selection is everything.
2.) Be transparent to yourself, your board, your employees and your customers
3.) Treat others with love and patience even if they don't deserve it. Good things will return to you.
Full bio
I am currently Chairman and Founder of Tinker. I most recently sold my company Wize.com to Nextag where I was CEO and President. At Wize, we built an extremely unique way to create meta reviews for all types of products by analyzing social media. Previously, I was an EIR with the Mayfield Fund. I've worked at Procter and Gamble making woman's hair shinier with Pantene Shampoo. I've worked at Peoplesoft making businesses more effective with great software. I was also at Markettools as the head of Operations and Technology where we made market research faster, cheaper and better with great on demand tools that we built such as www.zoomerang.com. I loved being a marketing executive with Respond.com during the late 90's. I earned a BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Chemical Engineering as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School. I love psychology, social networks (online and offline) and their impact on our lives, data and ways to use it more effectively, market research, and of course the evolving world of social media and communication. I am an advisor to Casual Collective(the makers of Backyard Monsters), Greatnonprofits.org(rating all the nonprofits worldwide) and Icurrent (changing media consumption, most recently sold to the washington post)
