TJ Marbois
We caught up with VERO’s Chief Technical Officer TJ Marbois to chat about the ethos of VERO as a Social Network and his passion to help build a better online space.
Let’s get into it. What does it say on your business card?
TJ Marbois - CTO at VERO Labs Inc.
Technical and innovative product lead.
Where is home?
I’ve been a bit of a nomad throughout my life. Currently, I live with my wife and kids in Southwest Florida near a gator pond! Before this, we were in Nice, France with Head of Design - Alistair, and our awesome European design and engineering team. Before that, we lived in Portland, Oregon, and previous to that, San Francisco. The longest I’ve ever lived in one place was the SF Bay Area (Silicon Valley), so I consider myself a San Franciscan. Home is wherever you are with the people you love.
How would you describe your job to someone you just met who didn’t work in tech?
Herding cats is the best description I have - but cool cats… I love the people on our team, they are all wonderfully talented and smart. Everything is new and software is quickly evolving so we are constantly problem-solving. Because of our remote work and global citizen setup - we have a nearly 24/7 flow as the sun moves through the time zones. Having a global team also makes for a very interesting culture. There’s always something new to learn and varied points of view that you might not get from a single office in a major metropolitan city. I much prefer this to my previous corporate life long ago...
“This is not about stealing users’ data or hijacking people’s dopamine to bait them with advertising. This is more akin to building a city online.”
You were one of the very first hires at VERO - what was (VERO CEO) Ayman’s pitch?
There was no “pitch” per se. We spoke of the current state of social & chat apps and Ayman had a focused desire to take on this space and make it better. He already had a clear feeling that something needed to be done.
Alistair and I had come out of building a number of social apps already and had some tools and team players to get started fast. The thing I liked most about it all was the common vision that felt in place from that first meet-up. Ayman is a true visionary.
Having previously worked for Steve Jobs and Tony Fadell, I’m now able to recognize visionary folks who can look past the typical framing of businesses. There is no way to overstate how important vision is - you have to invent the future - you can’t sit around waiting for others to tell you. You don’t easily find visionaries like this. They are a rare and brave type who are willing to go against all odds to change the world. Lots of people talk as if they know, but only a rare few actually go out to build such a thing without asking. This felt more like the start of an adventure when mountain climbers prepare their packs for something challenging.
“Having previously worked for Steve Jobs and Tony Fadell, I’m now able to recognize visionary folks who can look past the typical framing of businesses”
What’s your vision for VERO?
To create real value in social application between people. This is not about stealing users’ data or hijacking people’s dopamine to bait them with advertising. This is more akin to building a city online.
When you look back at how real society works it took generations of trial and error, progress, and knowledge sharing to arrive at the modern cities we have today (not that they are without their problems!) In the beginning, cities couldn’t even take the garbage out and they didn’t even have plumbing. They were nasty places that were hard to survive in. I feel like that’s the current state of other social apps. Their focus on ads or addiction metrics does not let them focus on the actual value that interconnection between people can bring. To me, interconnected people who may have never met - can lead to the discovery of grand new things. That’s the outcome we’re shooting for and the value we seek to unlock for our Members!
A man of many talents, TJ directed VERO Music label artist Thunder Jackson’s video for 2020 hit ‘Institution’.
How big is the development team?
We’re just about 30 engineers right now.
What do you look for in an engineer?
A great person first. A great engineer next. A great team player, with a ‘can do’ learning attitude! Someone who’s not afraid of the hard stuff knows how to self-motivate, and is always on the lookout for better ways to do anything.
What’s the technical achievement you’re most proud of at VERO so far?
All of it. I feel strongly that few companies could build what we have with the size of the team we have. Our feature set is beyond more regular ‘chat apps’ and we have this application running on Android, iOS, Mac, PC (Desktop beta dropping imminently), and we’re in a nonstop engineering flow towards way more new stuff.
Best advice you’ve ever been given?
‘Focus on the art… the rest will follow’ - From my mentor Nilo Rodis-Jamero (assistant art director of visual effects for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, and costume designer for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi), from my days working in the film industry.
All-time Tech hero?
Having worked for Steve Jobs on the original iPod team when there were only 30 of us there, I have to say meeting Steve, even for my short interaction with him, was amazing. His vision and intensity were infectious. You cant change the world unless you first believe it’s possible.
Favorite VERO feature?
I can’t tell you because we’re working on new ones and I always love all the new ones!
What do you like sharing on VERO?
I love sharing link-posts (websites) because one of my pastimes is nerding out on scientific discoveries. I love how fast humanity is figuring things out and it’s an explosion of information to get through, and I feel it’s my duty to help others see this information as it points to our Star Trek / Star Wars / Terminator / Matrix future. Which future we get is up to us to choose and build for. (Choose VERO! We are your benevolent technologists!)
You do a popular “CTO Tips” post series on VERO - what’s your top tip?
I am usually the guy people call when their computer has a problem - so CTO Tech Tips was an extension of my tech support wish to give everyone the best computing experience. I’ve always said this about tech “If grandma can’t use it? It’s not good enough…”
Where can we find you on VERO?
Here.
If you have any questions about VERO’s approach to tech and the rationale behind features the social network has or deliberately doesn’t have, please feel free to comment on any of TJ’s posts.
Road to Belonging