Early Life
Thomas Preston-Werner was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on May 27, 1979. He grew up in Dubuque, where he graduated from Dubuque Senior High School. His early interest in programming began at age 10 with a TRS-80 computer, teaching himself BASIC. He attended Harvey Mudd College for two years before dropping out to focus on his passion for programming.
Rise to Success
Preston-Werner's career took off with the founding of Gravatar in 2004, which he sold to Automattic in 2007. In 2005, he worked at Powerset, a natural language search engine later acquired by Microsoft. A pivotal moment arrived in 2008 when he co-founded GitHub with Chris Wanstrath, P. J. Hyett, and Scott Chacon. GitHub quickly became the leading platform for software development and collaboration, transforming the way developers work. GitHub was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion. Preston-Werner resigned from GitHub in 2014.
Key Business Strategies
Key to Preston-Werner's success has been his foresight in identifying and addressing the needs of developers. GitHub's success was based on providing an accessible and collaborative platform for code hosting and version control. He's also recognized for creating the TOML configuration file format and founding Preston-Werner Ventures, which invests in early-stage tech companies. Further, in 2022, he announced the Redwood Startup Fund, a $1M fund to invest in startups utilizing RedwoodJS.
Philanthropy
Preston-Werner and his wife Theresa have committed to The Giving Pledge. In 2023, their foundation, the 128 Collective Foundation made $9.9 million in grants. Preston-Werner Ventures focuses on helping organizations that support frontline workers and food security in San Francisco, and internationally, community health workers in Africa and Asia.
