Carmel, New York, United States
I have successfully created and led innovative Internet start-ups in Silicon Valley, Beijing and NYC over the past 30 years. Most recently, I was the Chief Product Officer for Local Commerce at Hearst, one of the world's leading media and information companies. After deciding to retire from business, I became a Certified Biofield Tuner (www.tuningbytom.com). After graduating from Yale and the Harvard Business School, I worked for years at IBM and McKinsey. In 1992, I leveraged my technical and business skills as a principal executive at five high-profile and successful Silicon Valley internet start-ups. I moved to Beijing in 2004, where I co-founded and then sold two successful Internet media companies over the next 9 years. In 2013, I moved to NYC and was hired as the interim Chief Marketing Officer for MongoDB, before founding Show-Score, which is now the leading online community for theater. I promoted my Show-Score co-founder to be a first-time CEO, as I became a part-time Chairman. We eventually sold the company to TodayTix, which continues to expand the Show-Score brand. I then joined Hearst, which created a role for me to lead their local commerce product efforts across 76 newspaper and 35 TV sites within the US. I am very good at: - Crafting strategies based on rigorous analysis and creative thinking - Building diverse teams across all functional areas, and ensuring that everyone stays aligned - Designing and product managing innovative internet applications that consumers love to use - Crafting and closing a wide range of strategic deals with business partners - Communicating with investors, the media, and business partners, especially about innovative technologies - Using biofield tuning to help people relax and feel better about their physical and emotional issues.
Biofeld tuning is a form of sound therapy. I experienced biofield tuning as a client, and was so astonished by the positive and lasting changes in me that when I decided to retire from business, I became a Certified Biofield Tuner. Learn more: www.tuningbytom.com. Along the way, I dove into research, exploring how recent “hard science” discoveries might help to explain what many dismiss as “woo-woo.” I document key things I'm learning on Substack: tuningbytom.substack.com.
Provide high-level strategic input for this innovative new media business.
Created and led an “internal startup” that invented a new way to connect local consumers with nearby merchants, for Hearst’s 76 local newspapers and 35 TV stations. Proved the concept in Houston, demonstrated attractive margins in CT, secured approval for national rollout, and successfully trained the operational team. Built this new business using off-the-shelf technologies and “lean startup” methodologies while complying with strict Hearst security and privacy requirements. Drove successful change across hundreds of stakeholders in corporate, divisional, and local business units.
Turned a life-long passion for theater into the leading online community for theater, often described as "Rotten Tomatoes meets Fandango for theater". In less than 4 years, built a community of 300,000 theaters who had written 6 times more reviews of NYC theater than on Facebook TripAdvisor and Yelp combined during the same period. Successfully sold the company to TodayTix, which is continuing to expand Show-Score.