Hi Mohammad — thanks for your excellent summary. I really appreciate how well you articulated what we’re trying to do with this modernized versionof about.me.

At it’s core, I believe that representation with a minimum of other obligations required (friend requests, constant content creation, work networking requests, etc.) is the basic foundation of a personal page on the web. In the past few years, we got away from our unique brand of simplicity, adding lots of “engagement” features, as we chased metrics. While we generated millions and millions of compliments & collections, we cannot honestly say that either of those features created enough meaningful value for our users. In hindsight, it was like a sugar fix, great engagement but ultimately, not as meaningful as it should be.

In addition, the world has changed. A lot.

1. First impressions now happen at scale online and increasingly on mobile devices;
2. The workforce is shifting from full-time employees to independent, “part-time” contractors, also known as 1099 contractors (1 in 3 of all professionals in the Bay Area & New York are 1099’ers, 40% of all professionals nationwide will be 1099’ers in the next 4 years); and
3. The next generation desires to turn their hobbies into businesses, 76% of college students today think they’ll turn their hobby into a source of income.

These trends underscore how everyone will increasingly need a personal page with a purpose. It’s even more important for people working for themselves and anyone who has a passion based side project. We’re betting the company on this thesis and “Spotlight” is a direct result of our strategy.

It will become more interesting, increasingly tied to new premium templates that focus on “more signal”, “less noise”. Already, we love the early results: users are showcasing a specific Spotlight on their page to get jobs or consulting gigs; drive people to their website, blog, articles or social media pages; sell their products; support their charities; download their apps/ videos/ music; support their college application; get speaking gigs; support their Kickstarter crowd funding campaign; sign up people to their newsletters, etc.

Thanks again for your patience and support.