Jeffrey Tinsley

Jeffrey Tinsley, Founder and CEO of MyLife.com, is a serial Internet entrepreneur. Through his direction MyLife.com has grown to over 60 million members and become one of the most visited sites on the web. Make sure you tune in to hear his story on how a rare blend of strategic vision in the Internet space coupled with technology and marketing savvy, named him Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Jeff started his first business at the age of 17. He has created created new markets through innovation.
Inspiration:
Originally this company was founded as reunion.com and the service has changed so much since then. Jeff started out by signing up for something like the Classmates.com site and was amazed by the ability to re-connect with old friends. Since the appearance and success of sites like Facebook Classmates.com evolved to manage information about online privacy and identity.
Challenge:
People are extremely concerned about how they look online about their privacy. Many people just dont realize how much information is out there from so many sites. Half of the population knows this, but the other half has no idea. The set of information that is exposed is so shocking. There are over 100 different sites to find out where somebody lives, their address, and even run a background check on yourself or others. People use this information to stalk, harass, and even market to. Personal safety is even on the line. and all of that is MyLife.com
Obstacles
one of the biggest really was the launch of facebook. internally part of the culture of mylife.com is to always evolve and shift and go after new opportunities. we have a splendid culture that attempts to shift and move to where our customers are. Internally there were still the occasional road bumps that would allow a company that is not insignificant in size to see the changes and follow that path as it shifts and moves along the horizon.
Lessons
One thing is that Jeff has to be sure he is completely crystal clear to his staff on the paths that they are going down to be sure that they are going in the right direction and even just to have weekly meetings to keep the mission and clarity on track.
Passion:
Jeff finds most of his passion and is fortunate to have a fantastic family. Right now he finds that everything he is doing right now is just so unique and he can find great pleasure in what he does in his day-to-day life.
Vision
there is so much more to do with the core service that mylife.com is providing. We're so focused on what the needs of our customers are and will be and be sure that we can keep up with the demand of evolution and shifting things around as they need to change. Even as much to look to taking the company public.
Advice:
"One thing that someone once told me never give away what you are in the business of making money from." Many companies undervalue what they are providing to their customer and at the end of the day you really do need to stay in service. you shouldn't be ashamed to sell your product rather than give it away.
Personal Growth
Running a company is more challenging that it might seem. Jeff says its important to keep you head on straight and look to the future and keep believing in the ability to make things better than they were before.
Tools and Resources
The Mylife mobile application is actually a useful way to bring all of your social media and emails and chats into one place. messagehubapp.com thats out right now and more is coming soon.

Skype is turning out to be pretty good!
Blogs, Books & Podcasts:
The Stanford Tech Venture Program articles are wonderful to read.

Peter Thiel has a great amount of information about focusing on markets where you could be a virtual monopoly. As well as many other great books and resources.
Looking Back:
Jeff says that he would tell his younger self very lit...