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Joe Thomas

Co-Founder and CEO, Loom · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveinvestor@yoyo_thomas ↗LinkedIn ↗loom.com ↗

Joe Thomas co-founded Loom in 2015, pioneering asynchronous video communication for workplace productivity. He served as CEO through several rounds of venture funding, leading up to the company's acquisition by Atlassian in 2023.

12statements → 4claims → 1claims resolved → 4.33/5average certainty → 1.75/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 4said about them ↓

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 3 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 assertions · 6 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 3 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Joe argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Loom holds a patent for instantaneous video rendering technology
“The most important thing, and this is Vinay's technical wizardry that we now have a patent on, is that he was able to make videos render instantaneously, which was the most important component of building a day-to-day communication tool.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 6:34 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully

How they sound: speaking style how? →

227 words/min while actually speaking · 1 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Joe Thomas: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 28 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 6,071 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Joe Thomas is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 4/10
pushed back at the host 2/10
setup questions received 60%

Everything Joe Thomas said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thomas: Remote-first policy was essential for hiring Loom's leadership team
“Six of our 11 members of our leadership team, which is VPs or directors, are remote, and five of six of those would not be at Loom if we didn't have remote first as part of our DNA as a company.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 9:36 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Disclosure
Point Nine issued Loom a seed term sheet after one 45-minute call
“Our seed round that was co-led by .9 Capital, Christoph and the .9 team, Had a ton of conviction around Loom after only meeting one of the co-founders, Shahid, and after 1:45 minute conversation, they put a term sheet on the table, and we ended up working toge…”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 21:41 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Disclosure
Loom raised Series A from Kleiner after Index rejected their seed
“Now, we ended up fundraising from Ilya, who had moved over to Kleiner at that point from Index, but we were worried, even though he individually had a ton of conviction about Loom, we weren't able to get the seed round done with Index, and so there was no guar…”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 25:38 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: Co-leading venture rounds reduces individual investor involvement
“Co-leads are tough because there isn't the clear incentive for one individual to kind of like be that, that guiding hand and be super involved.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 29:33 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Assertion Supported
Loom holds a patent for instantaneous video rendering technology
“The most important thing, and this is Vinay's technical wizardry that we now have a patent on, is that he was able to make videos render instantaneously, which was the most important component of building a day-to-day communication tool.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 6:34 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: The best board members ask questions instead of mandating solutions
“I've found that the best board members just very simply ask the best questions. They obviously have opinions about where it is that the company should go. But they don't mandate solutions. They don't mandate their thinking because the thing is that founders an…”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 15:11 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: Investor advice is just one data point for founders
“Your investor's perspective is an important data point, but fundamentally, you're never going to have Perfect information to make a perfect decision. And so it boils down to, of all the data that you've collected, including an investor opinion or advice, what …”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 17:08 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: Early-stage startups need former founders and operators on their cap table
“I'm not saying to exclusively fundraise from former operators or funders, but certainly have them on the cap table because you want your earliest investors to be those who have been on the other side of the table. They will have deep empathy for the early jour…”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 23:28 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: VCs aim to maximize ownership without hurting startup trajectory
“All investors, you have to, as a founder, see this with eyes wide open because while your partners in the business, their business model is to maximize their ownership in your company while not harming the trajectory of it.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 26:27 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sequoia partners recorded 20 Loom videos to win Loom's Series B
“He sent an email that had 20 Sequoia partners and team members, including Rulof, Doug Leone, Michael Morwitz, who all recorded a Loom talking about why they were so excited to join Loom on our journey.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 31:48 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Thomas: 80% of early Loom power users used it for remote work
“When we were five people in an SF office slash apartment, We ran a survey that found that 80% of our professional power users were using it to communicate with folks that they weren't sitting right next to, aka remote communication.”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 8:23 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully
Insight
Thomas: Executive long-form writing creates multi-purpose organizational value
“You can take a weekly CEO note and share it with a VIP candidate to give a true lens into how you think and what's going on in the company. You can share a letter to the board with the broader investor base to get help with the key issue. When you do long-form…”
Joe Thomas Aug 7, 2020 ▶ 12:11 20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stage Founders Should Select Their VC, How Sequoia Won The Loom Deal & The 3 Rules To Operate Remote Teams Successfully

The other half of the tape: Joe Thomas's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 4 times in 3 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 4

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Loom Founder Joe Thomas on Whether To Take Multi-Stage Money at Seed, How Early Stag Aug 7, 2020 30m
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