My journey started in Queens, New York, but my formative years were shaped in Mastic-Shirley, Long Island a community that taught me grit and gave me perspective. My mother's determination to build a better life for us was extraordinary. While working as a teacher, she managed to get a house built from the ground up, showing me early on what's possible with resourcefulness and drive.

Growing up, I worked for a property management company in the Hamptons, which opened my eyes to a different world. Walking through those oceanfront estates, I'd ask the owners what they did for a living. Those conversations planted seeds that would shape my path forward. Even as a kid collecting Pokemon cards, meticulously organizing complete sets in binders, I was developing an eye for value and curation that would later translate into investing and business.

After earning my BS in Management with a concentration in Finance from Long Island University, I faced an uncertain path. The career fair was sparse, and the traditional route didn't resonate. So I did something unconventional: I wrote letters to most of the Forbes 400. That bold move led to a phone call from John Paul Mitchell Systems founder John Paul DeJoria, whose advice stuck with me: "Successful people do what unsuccessful people don't want to do." More importantly, it earned me a summer internship at Estée Lauder Companies where I quickly realized I was the exception among children of executives. I was there because I had asked.

That internship launched a decade-long career in the beauty and fashion industry, where I climbed from global business planning coordinator to head of planning at AS Beauty Group, a private equity-backed company acquiring and growing beauty brands. Throughout those ten years, I was always entrepreneurial, moonlighting on side ventures, including a two-year all-in attempt in the wine and spirits industry that ultimately didn't pan out but taught me invaluable lessons about business and myself.

In 2018-2019, a longtime friend invited me to co-found a decentralized finance software company. I had dabbled in Bitcoin since 2013 and Ethereum since 2017, but this was my deep dive into blockchain technology and DeFi. The experience transformed me. I wasn't just building a business, I was becoming part of an ecosystem built on values I deeply believe in: freedom, decentralization, permissionlessness, and accessibility. It's one of the few industries where anyone with vision and determination can make a real impact.

The past five years in blockchain have been a grind with significant ups and downs, but they've given me a unique vantage point. I've experienced companies from inception through to maturity, understanding the full lifecycle from scrappy startup to multi-billion dollar organizations. This perspective has made me both a better operator and a more informed investor.

Today, I operate at the intersection of blockchain and traditional markets. I'm actively building in the DeFi space while participating in venture-style investments and public market opportunities across emerging technologies. I've learned to see patterns others might miss, connecting dots between early-stage innovation and established market dynamics.

This is what I've always wanted to do. It took a decade of learning and mastering skills to get here, but I feel like I'm just getting started. I continue to operate blockchain businesses, invest across the technology spectrum, and learn every day. The journey has been anything but linear, but every experience, from collecting Pokemon cards to building in DeFi, has been essential to molding me into who I am today.

Hello there, I'm Thomas Matzner

After 15+ years climbing the corporate ladder and building my own businesses, I now invest in companies advancing human potential.

Hello there, I'm
Thomas Matzner