Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Ross Armstrongis an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known as the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup the Transplants. Prior to forming Rancid, Armstrong was in the influential ska punk band Operation Ivy. In 1997, along with Brett Gurewitz of the band Bad Religion and owner of Epitaph Records, Armstrong founded Hellcat Records. In 2012, through his website, Armstrong started releasing music that influenced him, along with stripped-down...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth25 November 1966
CityAlbany, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Think of any news site on the web that sells subscriptions; AOL has four times as many people as the largest subscription service. We have people who pay to use our products and services, and they are heavily engaged in our content.
AOL, I think, represented an opportunity for a few things. One is I'm a big believer in the AOL brand, and I think AOL as a brand has touched hundreds of millions of people around the world. Reigniting that brand is a very exciting challenge and a big opportunity.
A picture of me as this super affable sales guy gets painted, but in actuality, I'm pretty driven by hard work and love working with teams. What people discount is, I grew up in a very small blue-collar town in Massachusetts and have basically scrapped my way career wise.
We have people who pay to use our products and services, and they are heavily engaged in our content. If you erase the brand perceptions of AOL, and consider that people pay to use our properties, you would probably consider this one of the most valuable audiences on the Internet.
One of AOL's biggest assets is its brand. For people over 30 and, due to AOL Instant Messenger, even a lot of people under 30, AOL was their first real interaction with technology in a positive way.
Anytime you make big plans, you have people questioning what you're doing.
I'm used to being in creative environments where people throw out a lot of ideas.
Most retailers only advertise 5 percent of their products. We can let them advertise all of them.
We were the first relief effort that made their way there.
The overall radio space looks similar to the way the Internet did five or six years ago.
I'm a person who likes to tackle challenges. Google was a challenge when I got there. I think AOL's a challenge. The way we run the company is a very team-focused environment.
What's happening internally is eventually what will take AOL back to being a growth company.
The reality is, I've started multiple companies, so actually I'm probably more of a product/creative person than I am sales. Although I can do both.
I'm a massive believer in brands. Silicon Valley has tried to reprogram everybody to think brands aren't valuable. Or theirs are, but yours aren't.