20VC: How Roam Research Analyse Product Design, Team-Building, The Future of Collaboration Tools & Applying Tesla Go-To-Market To Roam with Conor White-Sullivan, Founder & CEO @ Roam Research
May 8, 2020
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Conor White-Sullivan, Founder & CEO of Roam Research, shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting how high school wrestling shaped his resilience. He discusses Roam's unique product philosophy, emphasizing that it’s not just about taking better notes but fostering deeper connections. Conor also reveals his hiring criteria centered on grit and self-directed learning, explaining the benefits of living with his team. Finally, he analyzes the trends in collaboration tools, pondering whether the future lies in bundling or unbundling these essential resources.
Persistence and adapting strategies are crucial for success
Roam Research facilitates collaboration and efficient problem-solving through interconnected thoughts
Deep dives
The Power of Persistence and Vision
Conner White Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Rome Research, shares his personal story of persistence and how it shaped his mindset. He recounts his experience as a high school wrestler and the challenges he faced before finally winning his first match after two and a half years. This story emphasizes the importance of perseverance and not giving up, even when faced with self-doubt. Conner also highlights the significance of maintaining a long-term vision while being open to adapting strategies and paths along the way.
Building a Tool for Thinking
Conner discusses the founding moment of Rome Research and its objective of creating a tool for thinking. He explains the importance of writing as a tool for clear thinking and the need to build a thought structure that can be revisited and revised over time. Rome aims to enable collaboration with one's past and future self, allowing for the effective articulation and organization of thoughts. By making connections between different ideas and reusing thoughts in various contexts, Rome empowers users to build upon their knowledge and solve complex problems more efficiently.
Go-to-Market Strategy and User Adoption
Conner shares insights into Rome's go-to-market strategy and how it has evolved over time. The company initially focused on targeting organizations and researchers in fields related to collective intelligence, knowledge management, and AI risk. By working closely with these early users and addressing their pain points, Rome gained traction and built a strong foundation. Success stories and testimonials from these users played a crucial role in driving adoption and attracting the next wave of users who aspire to think and work like experts in their fields.
The Ambitious Vision of Rome
Conner outlines the ambitious vision for Rome Research, envisioning a future where individuals can learn and contribute to the global knowledge graph without traditional schooling. He believes in empowering individuals to chart efficient paths to knowledge frontiers, enabling them to make significant contributions and achieve success based on merit. Rome aims to revolutionize research, challenging the outdated methods of storing and accessing information, and facilitating collaboration and collective intelligence on a global scale.
Conor White-Sullivan is the Founder & CEO @ Roam Research, the tool taking over our industry providing a seamless note-taking tool for networked thought. Prior to founding Roam, Conor founded 2 prior businesses and also worked at HuffPost as a Co-Founder of HuffPost Labs where he reported directly to Arianna Huffington and HuffPost CTO.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Conor's high school wrestling career taught him "how to win"? What was the founding story with Roam? How does Conor think about when to stay true to the vision and persist vs when to give up?
2.) How does Conor think about the product design philosophy they have @ Roam? Conor has said before, "Roam is not about taking better notes", what is Roam about then? How does Conor think about the importance of adding challenge to a product? What does he mean when he discusses the importance of "low floors and high ceilings" with regards to product design?
3.) How would Conor analyse his own hiring and team-building philosophy? Why are the two most important traits, "girt and autodidacts"?How does Conor really stress these two characteristics in an interview process? Why does Conor choose to live with the team? What are the benefits of this?
4.) Does Conor believe we are in a phase of bundling or unbundling when it comes to collaboration tools? Does Conor believe we will see large players acquire and consolidate over the coming months? Why does Conor compare Roam more to Google than other collaboration tools?
5.) How does Conor think about go-to-market today? What were some of Conor's biggest takeaways for bootstrapping for years with revenue from customers? Why is Conor borrowing from the Tesla GTM? What does that really mean in practice?