Tom Chavez is a hi-tech entrepreneur,[1] author and co-founder of super{set},[2] a startup studio that builds and funds software companies.[3]
Chavez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is one of five children from a working-class family[4] of Spanish and Mexican descent, and his paternal side traces its roots back to one of the original settlers of Santa Fe, Don Pedro Duran y Chavez.[5]
Chavez graduated from Albuquerque Academy in 1986.[6] He earned a B.A. in 1990[7] in computer science and philosophy magna cum laude from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems and operations research from Stanford University,[8] where he was a NASA doctoral fellow.[9][4]
Before starting Rapt, he worked for Sun Microsystems and at a think tank called Rockwell.[10] Chavez launched his first startup, Rapt, a company that creates software for Web publishers, in 1998.[11][4] As CEO and co-founder, Chavez led the company for 10 years until its acquisition by Microsoft for $180 million in 2008.[8] In 2010, Chavez launched his second venture, Krux, which scanned devices for information.[12] The analytics company was bought by Salesforce in 2016.[13] In 2018, Chavez launched San Francisco-based venture studio super{set} which forms software startups and supports them from its own venture capital fund.[1] As of 2019, companies led by Chavez have generated a 17.5x return for investors.[1]
Chavez is the co-author of Data Driven: Harnessing Data and AI to Reinvent Customer Engagement, and winner of the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medalist in Business Technology.[14]
Chavez co-founded the Chavez Family Foundation. The Foundation invests in non-profit projects in education, immigration, and entrepreneurship. Organizations they support include Immigrants Rising, Mission Asset Fund, and Immigrant Legal Resource Center.[15]
The Chavez Family Foundation was a founding investor in the California Campus Catalyst Fund, an initiative that works to expand support to undocumented students and their families across the state's three public higher education systems: California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California.[16]
Chavez sits on the non-profit boards of KQED (public media for the Bay Area)[17] and VH1's Save the Music Foundation.[18]