Hello
Hi! My name is Michael Thomas. I tell stories, start companies, and fund social impact projects. Also I like seeing the world like a fox.
Sign up for my newsletter to stay in touch.
Hi! My name is Michael Thomas. I tell stories, start companies, and fund social impact projects. Also I like seeing the world like a fox.
Sign up for my newsletter to stay in touch.
In 2015 I started a company that sold widgets to tech companies. The product wasn’t that glamorous, but I pledged 25% of the equity and profits to charity and that gave me the resources to do some cool stuff like start a code school for refugees (more on that below).
I wrote about the process of starting and selling the business here:
How I Built A $5,000 Per Month Side Project
What I Learned Scaling From $5k to $25k Per Month
How I Built and Sold My Company in 18 Months
After I sold SimpleData I volunteered at a refugee camp for three months. A lot of the refugees that I met told me they wanted to learn to be developers. So in 2017 I co-founded a code school to teach refugees how to code. I donated $15,000 of seed money and found other donors to match me. As of 2019 the school has helped 25 people find jobs as developers and taught more than 100 refugees technical skills.
The original idea and pilot project at Oinofyta Refugee Camp
My current company helps brands like Dropbox, Stripe, and Asana produce content. 50% of our profits and equity go to non-profit projects aimed at preventing the climate crisis.
The Atlantic
SpaceX Is Cribbing From Boeing's 1920s Playbook
FastCompany
Why Kickstarter Decided To Radically Transform Its Business Model
Low Fares And Snack Fees—How No-Frills Favorite Norwegian Air Went Global
A Plane Crash, A Glacier, And An Entrepreneur: How Icelandair Opened Up Air Travel For Everyone
Quartz
Ditching the office to work in paradise as a “digital nomad” has a hidden dark side
How My Plastic Gets In The Ocean (7,000 miles away)
Is China Destroying the Recycling Industry?
Should We Even Recycle Plastic?
How to Build a Better Refugee Camp
Now Is the Best Time to Help Puerto Rico
Christopher McCandless Is No Longer My Hero