what past experiences led to your success? Question everything. Asking questions to world leaders in art, business, music, and technology. T.A.'s bio: I am a founder of Rival IQ - the best way to analyze and monitor your competitive landscape. Focused on active online marketers who want to get ahead, Rival IQ saves you time and delivers key insights about your competitors across their key marketing channels (web, search, social…). Try a sample “landscape” here for major car brands. I was previously VP of Product Strategy at Blackberry (formally Research in Motion), focused on BBM (Blackberry Messenger), social applications (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare…) as well as the native Contacts apps after Blackberry bought my last company, Gist. I was the founder of Gist.com, a social address book sold to Blackberry in February 2011, as well as Jump2Go and 3 other web based companies. I am on the board of Full Contact and Guidant. I am an active advisor to startup companies including Creative Live, Zooppa and EveryMove. I also spent 4 years at Microsoft in various roles on Exchange and Mobile Service Delivery Platforms. I like B2B and mobile stuff! I am a new, but active angel investor and have made investments in Creative Live, Inside Social, Everpath, Heapsylon, Skedadle as well as Founders Co-op, FG Angels and SKV. I am looking to do more so connect with me here. I like sharing my experience and ideas, so I spend lots of time at Startup Weekend (on the board) and Techstars (active mentor), Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington (on the board) as well as Lake Washington Girls Middle School. I learn by mentoring, coaching and teaching. Prior to my startup activity, I was a professional sailor and competed in 2 America’s Cups (won one, lost one) and the Whitbread Round the World race (now called the Volvo Ocean Race). I am married to Teresa, a wonderful and creative woman and father of Ray, a smart, caring and active daughter! When I am not working, I like to run and bike long distances and swim at 1/2 the pace I did in college.