Tony was born in Beirut, Lebanon, during a violent civil war, and was lucky enough to travel to France at the age of seventeen to study for a computer sciences degree, then attended the IMD Business School in Switzerland.
After graduating, Tony founded Nexmo, a pioneer in the Communications Platform as a Service (“CPaaS”) category. Nexmo made it easy for software developers to add essential communications capabilities (like sending messages between ride-sharing drivers and passengers) to their applications, on a global scale. Nexmo went public via a merger with Vonage in 2016.
After the Nexmo exit, Tony took some time off to consider what to do next. He began to invest in “platform models that can change the world”, Tony’s investments include Pento, Truelayer, Dialpad, Hopin, and Claap.
That other talented individual in emerging economies should enjoy similar career opportunities, without the need for geographic displacement, is a persona, passion and the ideological cornerstone of Tony’s career. It is where the idea of Oyster was born.
For most people in emerging economies, career fulfilment means moving to another country. Tony believes this necessity to be in the office sets up unassailable inequalities for many people in emerging economies. Why should they have to move halfway around the world, away from their community and support system, to have a successful career?
Tony created Oyster to remove the remaining barriers to successful remote work, including hiring, compensating and managing team members who are physically far away from the office.
In this episode, Tony reveals the secrets that helped him scale Oyster to 1$ Billion valuations, as well as his unique journey to success. Simon and Tony also go deep on how to get investment, purpose and Web3.
Topics
- How Tony Became An Entrepreneur
- Getting Investment
- Choosing The Right Investor
- How Tony Came Up With The Idea Of Oyster
- Building Oyster From Scratch
- Connecting World Labour
- Being Purpose-Driven
