I'm curious about the hidden bottlenecks that hold back progress, and the prosperity that's unlocked when they're removed
ABOUT
Thomas uses data science to find patterns that hide in plain sight, or just beneath the surface
Whether it's a manufacturer trying to scale production or doctors trying to reach rural communities, no matter how big the challenge, the root cause is almost always a relatively small number of top constraints
Commercial success and social impact follow a similar principle:
No system moves faster than its slowest parts, but if you loosen key bottlenecks, more progress can flow
Professional Background
I serve as Chief Technologist at Ducera, an investment bank that has advised on more than $850 billion in transactions since its founding less than a decade ago. I'm also Chief Technology Officer and a Partner at WR Hambrecht + Co, whose venture capital and investment banking legacy includes early-stage financings for companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Nvidia. In addition, I'm Managing Partner of Growth Science Ventures, which conducts primary data science research and manages several venture capital funds, including one for a large healthcare company and another for a large agriculture company, both of which are in the S&P 500.
It may look like a lot of jobs, but at its core it's about just one thing: using data science and quantitative tools to uncover hidden patterns in markets and human behavior, to see where progress gets stuck, and to open the way for more growth and shared prosperity.
The Journey Here
Earlier in my career at Intel, I helped pioneer the use of quantitative pattern recognition to guide the company’s innovation and growth efforts, and I also helped launch a high-performance computing business that was later acquired. At Harvard Business School, I collaborated with Professor Clayton Christensen to develop predictive models for disruptive innovation. I hold a BA, MBA and JD, was a fellow at Harvard, and have served on boards in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
I've lived in Australia, Bolivia, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand and Panama, as well as in six different states across the US. Each place has shaped how I think about value in both economic and human terms. I'm fascinated by the quiet mechanisms that govern progress and by the data that can reveal them.
SPEAKING
Sharing and learning with global innovators
The toughest problems in companies and nonprofits often feel one of a kind, when in fact they’re often governed by more universal patterns. To address these challenges, Thomas uses data to bring the outside view, showing where hidden patterns play out across markets and over time. This can help pinpoint the few actions that make the biggest difference and avoid wasting effort on what won't.
As Featured In
