Tom is a co-founder and managing partner at Heavybit who specializes in AI picks-and-shovels companies for the enterprise, focusing on the tooling and infrastructure that help developers build products rather than end-user applications. He brings a macro-aware perspective that considers cross-border trade risks for hardware and deep-tech investments, while maintaining a technically fluent communication style that translates between AI labs and application builders.

• Deep focus on developer tools and infrastructure software, specifically admiring products that abstract away complexity for engineers. He frequently champions the company Tailscale, jokingly expressing frustration that they made difficult corporate security problems look too simple.
• Hands-on technical proficiency with a preference for builders who understand the command line and automation. He shared a detailed workflow involving shell scripts, ffmpeg, and curl to create a custom text-to-speech tool on his Mac using OpenAI APIs, showing he is willing to get in the weeds with code.
• Satirical and self-aware perspective on the venture capital industry, often using humor to highlight the absurdities of fundraising and valuations. He composed a series of parody poems modifying classic verses from Shakespeare and Kipling to describe term sheets, gender bias in the industry, and the relationship between investors and limited partners.
• Pragmatic optimism regarding market cycles and the startup economy. He noted that despite fears of valuation drops or banking crises like the SVB collapse, the market bottom felt like it had passed and momentum was returning to the ecosystem earlier than expected.
• Strong skepticism toward crypto and web3 projects, often contrasting them with more tangible software engineering. He criticized the ecosystem during the FTX and BlockFi collapse, noting the brutal losses for investors who held on too long, and compared some web3 platforms to existing tools but on a smaller scale.