“Don’t Just Follow Up!”- FellowUp
Tomer Cohen is the Co-Founder and CEO of FellowUp, which is a mobile and web application to help people manage their unmanageably large network. You can think of it as your own Personal (executive) Assistant powered by an insight engine to help manage your interactions.
FellowUp offers professionals a private dashboard to easily interact with, maintain, and gain insights about their network.
Designed to be effortless, FellowUp automatically synchronizes and manages personal connections in one place from Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. Using FellowUp, professionals can save a lot of time and effort following-up with the contacts they value. Advanced personalized algorithms notify them of key events, and show them ways to leverage their social capital.
FellowUp is based in Palo Alto and was recently featured, among rest, on Mashable, Lifehacker, CNET, and GigaOM.
Do you think the education you’ve invested in helped you on the road to success?
Undoubtedly it was one of the building blocks of my career. My engineering degree (CS/EE) at Ben-Gurion University in Israel gave a great foundation in designing problems for complex situations. It completely changed the way I viewed technology. I was eager to use my knowledge and desire to innovate so I could build impactful products. My MBA degree at Stanford Business School gave me an incredible skill-set that went beyond finance and accounting into aspects of people management, leadership, empowerment and choosing my own path in my career. It was one of the drivers in my decision to start a company after school.
What was the “break point” or an AHA moment in your career that made you decide to build your own brand?
It was actually during my first days in silicon valley. When I arrived to Stanford, I was fortunate to meet amazing people and form great relationships with many of them. Very quickly I started building my network. With time my network got bigger and harder to manage and I started to lose track on connections I cared about.
I became very passionate about the space of networking and the science behind it (e.g. Dunbar’s number) and I started reading all the books and articles on the topic. I also researched others (across professions and ages) and I have noticed that they were facing the same frustration and difficulty I faced with managing their connections better.
Around the same time, facebook, linkedin, and google started opening their data through a structured API. This inflection point of accessible, personalized and structure social data was the trigger to my decision to try and build a solution.
As a young professional, what were some of the mistakes that you made and what did you learn?
In general, while annoying, mistakes are a great learning tool. Mistakes usually leave great impact on people and with that comes great learning.
I’ve used to think that the product is what matters most in a startup. While I knew that people are important, now I understand that they are the key ingredient. With a great team, you can build the greatest products. The focus is on the human capital. Having a great group of people who work hard and collaboratively to achieve a goal, is the heart of the product. And it’s also fun.
How do you measure success?
I try to measure success by my own definitions and not by others:
- Am I enjoying my life?
- Am I learning and growing?
- Was I able to make a positive impact on others?
What is one advice that you can offer to your readers?
Develop a growth mindset about your abilities. You can always learn and grow. Don’t stick to what comes “naturally” easy to you. Invest in yourself and learn and suddenly many things would become “naturally” easy.
What do you do for fun?
I enjoy sports (both playing and watching), mainly basketball, soccer, and snow-boarding. Recently I’ve started to “adopt” kiteboarding.
I very much enjoy travelling and have spent over a year backpacking around the world.
I love music (play guitar), movies, and occasionally a really good logic riddle.
What is your favorite gadget(s), software(s), website(s) that makes your life easier and more productive? Are you Mac or PC?
I am a big gadget lover and early adopter. I can spend hours downloading new apps and trying each one.
I like lifehacker.com – great source to discover cool and productive applications and tricks.
My favorite gadget is my iPad – simply a magical device. From reading a book, learning courses, playing games, viewing news, sheet music for my guitar, to demo-ing my product. I always find more and more utilities I can use it for. Great experience.
I was originally a strong PC user but now gradually shifting into becoming a Mac user.
Who would you like to see featured here and why?
I would like to see Mindset Works featured here. It is an e-learning company which is based on a very impactful research out of Stanford in the space of education and motivation. It is a special mix of a for-profit company with a very strong social mission. The CEO’s name is Ed Bericeno.
Ways to Connect with you:
Company: www.fellowup.com
Twitter: @cohentomer
LinkedIn: tomercohen
From: http://ping.fm/zMDcQ
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