ThePort helps clients, users interact on Web

Bob Cramer’s first job out of college was at CNN. Though he liked his job, he decided that he’d rather be like Ted Turner than work for him. An entrepreneurial career was born.

Cramer went on to form A.D.A.M., now a publicly traded firm that provides companies with online health information and benefits management services for employees.

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ALISON CHURCH/Special

ThePort Network Inc., which Bob Cramer started in 1999, helps media companies and nonprofits interact with consumers much as Facebook and MySpace.

THE BOB CRAMER FILE

• Home: Chastain Park
• Age: 48
• Family: Wife, Sally; children: Ben, 17; Sara, 14; Jack, 11
• Education: B.A. political science, Tufts University, 1982
• Favorite movie (recent): "Iron Man"
• Last book read: "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford
• Favorite Quote: "Not to be served, but to serve," Taft School, Watertown, Conn., motto

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While still running A.D.A.M., Cramer founded a second company called ThePort Network in 1999. The company, which survived what Cramer calls “the very dark days” of the dot-com bust, has evolved into a cousin of social media providers such as Facebook or MySpace. It helps nonprofits, associations and media companies use the Web to interact with consumers, members and others. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was a customer at one point, but no longer is.)

Two years ago, Cramer handed over the reins at A.D.A.M. and became full-time CEO of ThePort, which has 25 employees.

When he’s not starting and running companies, he spends a lot of time working on behalf of Atlanta’s homeless. He has been involved with the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless for more than 20 years and is board chairman.

Q: Tell us more about ThePort and what it offers customers.

A: ThePort has very quietly built one of the most powerful social media platforms in the industry today. What we do is we help brands bring social elements, social capabilities, by leveraging their existing Web assets. The future of the Internet will be moving from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, which is all about connecting people and engaging them and letting them participate in the discussion. This has very important business goals and opportunities to start to leverage the Internet in new ways that were never available before.

Q: Your customers are media companies and associations, including nonprofits. Why have you focused on these markets?

A: We think those are two very large markets where there is tremendous need to use the Web in all its capacity. People are generally in an association because they share a passion or a commitment to the subject matter or to the cause. We are letting them participate in the discussion and be part of a steady stream of information about whatever that cause or subject might be, to share and participate and use the knowledge that they have to create new content and new discussions and also to social network, to meet other members of that same organization. That can lead to all kinds of new stuff. Generally, an association will have an annual meeting once a year where a lot of networking takes place. Now they can use the Web to do this 365 days a year.

Q: What about the media? Why does that make sense?

A: In many respects, a newspaper or a magazine, a newspaper in particular, is sort of an association of people who live in a particular geography. We have also seen, as traditional media companies are moving more to the Web, particularly as newspapers struggle for circulation and people are getting their information online, to have the tools and technology to effectively compete online is of para-amount importance. … One product we are just introducing is called Social Market 2.0, and it really lets a traditional newspaper company or a broadcast television station or a radio station let local merchants get very engaged with a growing online user base. Social Market 2.0 is really a new form of advertising. It gives a business a presence, a socially enabled presence, in a traditional sort-of-business-directory mode, where they control a profile page very much like a person would control their own profile in a social network. By giving them that dynamic page, where all their prospective users are, the business can have a blog, can have video and photos, a map, times when they are open, specials, and people can “friend” the business just like they would “friend” a person.

Q: What are your goals for ThePort?

A: Our goal is to build a $100 million-plus company.

Q: Where are you now, in terms of reaching that goal?

A: We have laid the foundation for reaching that goal. Now it is really about sales and marketing and distribution. We spent an inordinate amount of time building our platform, building our client services team, deploying with marquee customers. In fact in Atlanta we have a number of high-profile nonprofits that are our customers. We work with CARE, with a community called CARE Connect, and we have built a dynamic community for the Arthritis Foundation. These are two large nonprofits based here in Atlanta. We also run a community for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. So we have very good reach here in Atlanta, but we are looking to take this company to all different levels.

Q: How much is revenue now?

A: Over $1 million, going toward $5 million to $6 million in 2009.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about your work with the homeless?

A: I’ve tried to be not only a technology entrepreneur; I’ve tried to be a social entrepreneur, too. I’ve been involved with the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless now for coming on 23 years. There are so many similarities between a technology startup and a nonprofit. People invest in a technology company for a return, and people contribute to a nonprofit for a different kind of return. I’ve learned a great deal by being in both worlds. I think there is a tremendous education there, and it is nice to give back to the community as well.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about this particular cause?

A: [W]e are helping thousands of people, and it is literally thousands over the years, really transform their lives, from going from the streets to going into a place where they receive care and services, and plenty of them come out the other end where they are living on their own. They get jobs and live lives just like the rest of us.