RISING ICON #77: Tim Herby
What name do you prefer to be called?
Tim
What are your pronouns?
He/Him
Where did you grow up?
I feel like I’m not quite done growing up. Born in Macomb Illinois, Moved to Chanhassen at 4, Minneapolis for most of my 20s and 30s, and I’ve found my home in Saint Paul and love everything about it.
What city are you currently based in?
Saint Paul, and its splendid.
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
I’m Tim. I love big problems. What big problems are you working to solve?
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
I was a reluctant and non-traditional technologist and business leader. My dream job was always to work for the State department as a diplomat because I thought the thorniest, most human problems to solve were largely political. I’m a big policy nerd, but over the years I fell in love with technology as a problem solving tool kit and am deeply passionate about the impact technology can have on our lives when combined with a people first approach and smart policy.
Who do you help?
I believe that great, family sustaining jobs can give people the freedom they need to live lives with greater purpose and meaning and create their own impact. So I focus a lot on helping people find those jobs or create those jobs globally and locally. I help students who don’t have a path to a 4 year degree get into technology careers with the https://www.accesspointprogram.org/ that I support in the Twin Cities, and I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities for people across my network and sharing them wherever I can. I’m particularly passionate about helping anyone who has recently gone through a layoff find their next role because I’ve been through that and know how disruptive and scary it can be. “We all do better when we all do better.”
What are you building now?
Fountane. We’re a global team of entrepreneurs, designers, technologists, and engineers that are creating enterprise value through tech enabled services, products, and joint ventures. We believe that traditional businesses can use their unique distribution advantages to become a digitally enabled business and we bring capital and human capital to the table to help make it happen.
What were you building ten years ago today?
10 years ago, I was working at Target corporate headquarters, building my skills as a technology leader, building Big Data platforms.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
I believe we’re on the verge of some revolutionary improvements and I’m most hopeful that we can create a better incentive structure to ensure that the benefits of all of the great advances in medicine, technology, energy creation, and sustainability are shared by the many and not just the few. If we can get that right, we’ll be alright.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
10-20% of startups are deemed successes, while 60-70% of joint ventures are considered commercial successes. “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
Helping people is at the core of what I do. I love helping people succeed, get promoted, build the thing they always dreamed of building.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of great mentors throughout my career and the piece of advice that I use daily is to focus on building a bigger table wherever you are seated.
What piece of content about you or your company are you most proud of?
We’re redoing all of our content at the moment so I’m going to respectfully hold off until that is done in a few weeks 🙂
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
I am anxiously awaiting the Inc 5000 this year to find out where Fountane will rank.
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
I’d love to join the podcast that Bruce Springsteen did with Barack Obama just to listen to them and ask them questions, or talk Timberwolves with Minnpost’s legendary Britt Robson.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
Your work will never speak for itself, so get comfortable speaking for it.
What award would mean the most to win?
I’m focused on making Fountane a Best Place to Work at the moment, but long term I’d love to receive a UN Sustainable Development Goal Award because it would mean that the work we are doing is not only good work but doing good and helping to tackle some of humanity’s thorniest challenges.
What makes zero sense to you?
The US Tax Code and how little we pay teachers.
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
AI.
What game are you changing?
Making it easier for business leaders to become entrepreneurs and vice versa.
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
MINNESTAR! I recently joined the board and I LOVE the community based organization. Everyone should come to Minnestar events because they are free. AND every employer who benefits from the incredible tech community in Minnesota should be a sponsor so the events can stay free.
Where can we follow you online?
I write some things on LinkedIN here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-herby-b7156515/) , but look out for a podcast soon focused on joint ventures and creating enterprise value. Because what the world needs now is another middle aged white guy with a podcast.
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
Realizing that great leaders are the floor, not the ceiling for their teams.
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We’re grateful to each Rising ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Tim, for sharing your story!
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“I’m a big policy nerd, but over the years I fell in love with technology as a problem solving tool kit and am deeply passionate about the impact technology can have on our lives when combined with a people first approach and smart policy. ”
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