Hello, I'm Anthony, a creative technology executive who develops web apps and digital media products.

I am a hands-on entrepreneur and product management executive with strong curiosity, having founded several venture-backed startups. I lead development, product and creative teams to build a range of interactive digital media products, SaaS platforms, and web communities.  Currently, I am at Wevr, an interactive software company, and I am a co-founder of the AI community, CO/AI.  I am developing new AI automation agents using LangChain, prompt engineering various models as well as exploring  MidJourney, Stable Diffusion outputs. Using Hugging Face to fine-tune private data for RAG pipelines.  In my downtime, I enjoy reading books, playing pickleball and spending time with my family. I strive to see the best in others and am enthusiastic about creating products that positively impact people's lives.

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Background

I am the co-founder of CO/AI, a global AI community that guides and provides insights on AI technologies for creative and business professionals.  Additionally, I am the co-founder and part of the executive management team at Wevr, where we partner with creative individuals to develop immersive simulations. My latest project, Harry Potter VR, which I co-directed, is the result of a multi-year production partnership with Warner Bros and J.K. Rowling's Blair Partnership.

In 2021, I acted as the interim Chief Product Officer for Tempo, a SaaS plugin company holding the largest installed base within the Atlassian ecosystem, with an annual recurring revenue of $45 million. Throughout my time at Tempo, I contributed significantly to various key areas. These included the implementation of AI/ML optimized features, universal plugin embedding, internationalization, and the transition from time tracking to enterprise capacity planning. A major focus was the coordination of large product and development teams across multiple time zones during the implementation of a work-from-home policy due to COVID-19.

Before joining Wevr and Tempo, I served as the Head of Digital for Ashton Kutcher at Katalyst. I secured million-dollar partnerships with GE, Virgin Mobile, Intel, and a funded channel on Youtube. I increased social media revenue by 100% year over year and boosted engagement numbers tenfold through aggressive content programming. Additionally, my team supported dozens of Ashton's investment deals, including Airbnb, CitizenNet, and Uber. Collaborating with Ashton on his vision for his products, companies, and investments was a unique and unforgettable experience. For over two years, every moment was infused with the excitement and visionary perspective that Ashton brought to the table. It was a truly remarkable time..

I am the founder and former CEO/CCO of Buzzmedia, an innovative web publisher of social media communities. Supported by Jeff Clavier, Redpoint Ventures, NEA, and SutterHill, we pioneered influencer-created content. We launched top-100 internet digital music and celebrity web communities, striking business deals that directly launched pop culture influencers like the Kardashians and musicians such as Fallout Boy, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and Adele.

We developed pioneering big data algorithms and publishing systems that harnessed machine learning to deliver billions of images and stories every month. Our robust data engineering and science capabilities enabled us to create tools and systems that enhanced user engagement and increased revenue.

Over nearly a decade, we built and acquired over 30 web communities, reaching 110 million monthly active users according to ComScore. Our digital media portfolio included brands like Stereogum, Pure Volume, JustJared, Absolute Punk, and Celebuzz. We spearheaded modern social media models, growth hacking, creator-driven communities, and web 2.0 practices and advertising strategies that are now industry standard.Before starting Buzzmedia (SpinMedia),

I co-founded Metapa (Greenplum) with my long-time friend and co-founder, Scott Yara. We were supported by early VC, Ed Sim, who now runs BoldStart Ventures and has become a dear friend. Amid the dot-com failures, Yara and I pivoted Metapa from a content distribution platform to a big data company and managed to survive. Our story is one of determination, focus on pivoting to a product-market fit, and perseverance. Yara is also an investor and board member at Wevr, where we continue to collaborate on a weekly basis.

Moreover, I held product and system engineering roles at Ironport Systems, a Silicon Valley tech unicorn startup. There, I had the opportunity to help develop Ironport's C series product line and introduce it to worldwide markets. Experiencing Ironport’s go-to-market strategy firsthand was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The team at Ironport was like being part of a championship sports team.

My time at Metapa and Ironport were crucial learning experiences, and I cherished the teams I built and was part of.

I would like to acknowledge one of my earliest partners, Craig Newmark, with whom I had a rewarding collaboration. We co-founded a small tech consultancy, DigitalThreads, in San Francisco, where we developed some of the earliest websites on the Web. One of our projects was Craigslist, which Craig credits me with naming and helping to establish. These formative years of the Web in San Francisco marked the beginning of my Web tech career. What astonishes me is that the homepage markup on Craigslist that we created in the 90s is still present. Long live Craigslist!

Throughout my career, I have designed, developed, and implemented various projects, product strategies for brands such as Microsoft, Pa ul Allen, GE, Virgin, Absolut Vodka, Samsung, Universal, Warner Bros., Tempo, and other enterprise SaaS companies. I have had the privilege of working with talented people, including Reggie Watts, Kevin Kelly, Zoe Saldaña, David Choe, and Ashton Kutcher.

My work has been featured in The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Verge, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. I won a Communication Arts award for interface design and have been recognized as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in AR/VR. I have spoken at conferences around the world and have taken the time to mentor and support young teams.

Additionally, I invest in and advise interesting founders and early-stage SaaS startups that have a positive creator economy focus. 😀