About

About this Blog

The focus of this blog is varied. One of my favorite bloggers counsels that you should “have a schtick”, but I’m going to keep it pretty wide open. Topics I write about include (roughly in this order):

The startup where I work (I’m founder and CEO)
My experiences transitioning from owning a consulting business to working on web products
My thoughts on design and usability
My thoughts on running a sustainable web business
An occasional post about travel destinations (I’m a rabid traveler)
My experience as a YCombinator Founder

About the Author (Tony Wright)

Me and my Wife Fuzzy Skills: Web product strategy, user interface design, visual design, project management, usability analysis, SEO, SEM, guerrilla marketing, sales, process engineering, web analytics

Technical Skills: HTML/CSS2, JavaScript, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver/Notepad, Drupal, a smattering of server-side programming (Ruby on Rails, PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, PERL, etc), Adsense/Adwords

(I’m punting on the actual paragraph-style biography in favor of a reverse chronological mashup of professional and personal accomplishments and events)

Nov 2007 - Launched RescueTime public beta. Got our second bit of coverage on TechCrunch, coverage on Lifehacker, and a happy, happy long tail of bloggers– all glowingly positive.
April 2007 - Launched RescueTime splash site. RescueTime is an “off-hours” project (i.e. Not my day job). I’m acting as UX designer, front-end geek (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and marketeer. The site gets covered on TechCrunch. Thousands of people sign up to hear about the launch, with approximately 25% of visitors converting. (
Jan 2007 - Jobster (who purchased my previous startup) lays of 40% of the workforce. I make the cut.
June 2006 - My tenure begins as Director, Product Development at Jobster.
May 2006 - Alex and I move to Seattle.
April 2006 - Brian Fioca and I sell Jobby, a web 2.0 resume posting/search site, to Jobster (note: The site is now a redirect to Jobster, but you can see a demo video here and here.)
Feb 2006 - Launch of GoJobby.com. Press and traffic are pretty overwhelming, but the site holds up to being TechCrunched, Dugg, etc. Attention and accolades are pretty overwhelming. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com states that “The results are quite stunning and I can easily see other services (not necessarily in the job space) copying some of these features.” (full article).
Nov 2005 - The idea for Jobby comes up at a dinner party and I decide to move forward with it as an experiment.
March 2005 - I sell my shares of the web app consulting firm that I started. They’ve since continued to grow, despite the fact that I’m not there. What the hell?!
Feb 2005 - I act as a “blogger on the trail” for one of the Iditarod Mushers for about 8 days of adventure. Amazing!
November 2004 - I step down from my role as CEO of PangoMedia after 7 great years.
July 2002 - Alex and I get hitched.
March 1997 - Don’t like Chicago. Alex and I move back north to Alaska. I found my first company, which survives (and grows) to this day!
July 1996 - Move down to Chicago with my then-girlfriend (now wife!) Alex for her PhD. My first foray into self-employment, consulting with companies like Monsanto, TrueValue Hardware, Jockey Underwear, and more.
August 1994 - Tired of Maryland. Begin Driving west. It’s hot, so we turn north. End up in Anchorage, Alaska and settle there.
May 1994 - Graduate with a BA in Psychology from Washington College in Chestertown, MD.
May 1990 - Graduate with a HS Diploma from St. Andrews Episcopal School.
Feb 1972 - Exit the womb.