Tomi Antoljak: I am close to Bill Ackman, I plan to persuade him to come to Croatia this summer

From a promising young tennis player, through studies in America, an internship at one of the largest banks on Wall Street, to a personal and business relationship with Bill Ackman, one of the best and most renowned investors in history – this is the life path of 24-year-old Tomi Antoljak, a young Croatian entrepreneur who will soon launch his app for meeting people through voice messages, with which he aims to change the world of social media.

He describes himself as headstrong from a young age and that he has always worked on the things he set out to do. At 18, he was the third tennis junior in Croatia and the 565th junior in the world, which, along with good academic success, earned him a full scholarship worth $250,000 at the University of Nebraska.

Arriving in America was a turning point for Tomi Antoljak. In search of a better study program, in his second year of college, he transferred to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in New York, where he led the school investment fund and founded his first startup, while also continuing to play tennis as the top player of his college. Alongside his academic successes, he also completed an internship at one of the largest banks on Wall Street, the Royal Bank of Canada.

Upon arriving in New York, Tomi was determined to meet the people he admired. One of those people was Bill Ackman, one of the best and most renowned investors in the world, Tomi’s personal hero. They got in touch via email, and shortly after, they met in person – they played a tennis match. Impressed by Tomi’s presentation and analyses he provided, Bill decided to finance Tomi’s education at Columbia University. However, due to the rule that MBA students must have a minimum of four years of work experience, Tomi was not accepted, so he returned to Croatia.

‘It would be my honor to invest in you,’ were Bill’s last words to Tomi, and this could soon become a reality. Namely, Tomi was intrigued by social networks upon returning to Croatia during the pandemic, which had become the essence of life. Thus, the idea for Hangoo was born, an app for meeting people, but with a dose of real human interaction in the form of voice messages.

We contacted Tomi to tell us about his motivations for launching the app in Croatia, as well as about his life in America and his relationship with Bill Ackman.

How did you come up with the idea of creating an app for meeting people with an emphasis on sound and voice messages?

It is important to note that this is an app for meeting people with similar interests, which, besides dating, includes friendships and platonic relationships. Imagine a typical night out on a Friday. The truth is, you don’t know what awaits you that evening. Maybe a pleasant conversation with a stranger, maybe a good time with a friend, maybe a short night with someone you like, or maybe someone with whom you will spend the rest of your life. The beauty of that Friday is that you don’t know what will happen. That spontaneity is the most beautiful thing about human relationships, and our goal with Hangoo is to replicate that interaction as much as we can.

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Hangoo app

—Voice messages are a big trend in the world today. They simply give you much more information about how the other person feels – their tone, speech rate, pitch, depth, words, etc. Likewise, voice messages are much more spontaneous than text messages and are a step closer to the real conversation you have when you go for coffee with someone. As I followed this trend among all my friends, I wondered why there isn’t an app that connects people in this way. That’s how the vision for Hangoo was born.

Hangoo is a sort of combination of Clubhouse and Tinder where all communication takes place via voice. To move away from judging based on pictures and for additional security, users create their own 3D avatars and respond to deep life questions like ‘what do you want others to know about you without having to tell them’ and similar. Only after two people connect can they see each other’s photos and continue to communicate exclusively through voice messages that, for maximum spontaneity and privacy, are deleted immediately after listening.

What I want to achieve with my work is to eliminate the superficiality of social apps where people judge others based on photos. A virtual world where who you are as a person – your voice, your interests, your ‘self’ – has value.

When will Hangoo be available for use, and what do you expect from it?

We plan to launch the app in four weeks. Initially, we will have limited access only for friends and acquaintances. After that, at the beginning of September, when people return from the sea, we will hold a big launch party in Zagreb where we will give access to a much larger number of people. Anyone interested in using Hangoo can sign up for our waiting list at joinhangoo.com. After that, we are heading to New York to conduct a new investment round where we will bring more investors and partners into the story.

Hangoo is not your first entrepreneurial move. You founded and sold your first startup while you were still studying in America. What was that startup, and how did you manage to do that alongside your studies?

I started my first startup when I was 21 years old. Since I did a lot of internships, I realized how hard it is to get feedback from my bosses and colleagues and to store it somewhere so I can track my progress over time. Thus, my first startup apprais.ly was born.

And how did I really manage that alongside school and tennis? Well, let’s say I wasn’t exactly a model student when it came to attending classes. Although I had some of the best grades in my generation, when I showed up for exams, professors would often wonder who this guy was. Fortunately, I had phenomenal friends who were always ready to help me, so that wasn’t a problem. This gave me a lot of time to focus on something that, at least for me, made more sense at that moment than wasting it sitting in lectures. From what I gather from my friends’ stories, if I had done that in Zagreb, I would never have graduated.

Thanks to my own persistence, you managed to get close to your idol, Bill Ackman, and become very close with him. He helped you apply to Columbia University, where you ultimately did not get in. What is your current contact with Ackman?

I would say very close. Bill is first a friend to me, then a mentor, a hero, and an investor. He is a very busy man, so we don’t talk every day. However, whenever I need him, he is always available to me, which, as you can imagine, is very rare for people like him. It is a privilege that I appreciate and cherish. Well, I am planning to persuade him to come to Croatia this summer. I remember he told me he would love to come.

What is the most important lesson you learned by going to America?

Huh! There are too many. The most important lesson I learned is how powerful it is to have faith in yourself. That when people tell you that you can’t do something, that ‘you’re not the right one’, that ‘you don’t have enough experience’, you keep pushing forward. If you look at Forbes’ list of the richest people in America, you will notice that about 80 percent of the wealth is ‘self-made’. In 1982, 60 out of the 100 richest Americans inherited their wealth. Today, that number is 27.

So, that wealth is not inherited; it was created by people like me. People who came from small backgrounds (usually immigrants) and who are hungry to prove themselves. Those who are willing to do anything to achieve their goals and who will not give up when things go wrong. That was the biggest lesson for me in coming to America.

Do you plan to return to America again, or do you plan to continue applying your knowledge in Croatia?

Regarding Croatia, in the future, we plan to hire people for engineering positions here. Croats are a very, very intelligent nation. It’s enough for me to go for coffee with my friends and realize how much they ‘get’ things. There is a talent here that you rarely find in the world, and that is one of the reasons I started the whole story here.

As for America, we plan to go to New York soon. America is a market for which a story like Hangoo is made – a large number of users, high consumer power, faster social dynamics. For any social network that wants to become a global story, America is inevitable.

Given your experience, what would you advise young people who want to follow in similar footsteps and start something of their own?

Live life without regrets. Don’t think that just because you’re young, you have time for things. That girl you’ve always been shy to ask out or that person you’re embarrassed to ask for help – do it now! Don’t wait for anything. One of the most dangerous phrases you can say is ‘I’ll do it tomorrow or next time’. No, you have to do it now because if you don’t do it now, this time will pass and will never come back.

The people who are changing the world today are getting younger because that youth gives that ‘exploratory spirit’, which means you question conventions and are not afraid to try something new and fail. That path costs you short-term because you might look foolish or weird, but it’s the only way you will find your ‘self’, that something that makes you special and interesting. And then when you manage to find that, you get a chance to be authentic and change things just based on who you are. There is only one you, and it’s up to you to find it.

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