About the author: Gerard Ramos is the founder of Revelry Labs, a custom software and digital product studio based in New Orleans.
There are clutch hitters in baseball. There are clutch players in business. When you can add clutch players to your team, and the timing is right, you do whatever you can to get them. Even better when they are a player-coach.
Thomas is both a clutch player and seasoned in founder coaching: he’s built and sold several companies, advised countless other startups, and helped inspire and guide founders of teams all across the country.
I first met Thomas in ’08 over a keg of beer the day after he landed in San Francisco. Over the years our conversations have expanded from topics like: How do stock options work and how much equity should I get as an early employee in a startup? To, hey man, can you come speak at this conference about building companies and community? To, hey man, I have an acquisition offer on the table, should I sell the company or raise a growth round or focus on profitability? And so many in between.
Last year, Thomas switched gears to follow his passion for helping entrepreneurs and started a business around coaching startup founders and executives. He pitched me on this new endeavor and without hesitation, I was his first customer.
The Player-Coach: Founder Coaching Comes to Revelry
I met with Thomas for 1:1 coaching for several months as Revelry continued to scale. His coaching was clutch as I worked through my own growing pains as CEO. As great of a coach Thomas is, like Ty Cobb, he’s an even better player-coach.
It’s time now to share his knowledge with the rest of my team: I’m bringing him out of the dugout and onto the field. Thomas is now in charge of people and growth operations at Revelry.
In this role, he’ll be heavily involved and working with our Revelry Ventures and startup studio partners, leading our founder and executive coaching services and managing all social and community initiatives. Most importantly, he’ll be working with everyone on the team by helping them establish key objectives for both their personal growth and leveling up within the Revelry organization as we continue to scale.
The growth we’ve experienced over the years at Revelry wouldn’t be possible without our amazing team, partners, and customers. The commitments we make to ourselves and each other have shaped our culture and are impacting the communities we work in. Thomas is a pro at all of this and will help us continue to deliver amazingness.