Luke Thomas

About me

I grew up on a dirt road in Maine in a blue-collar family. My dad worked at General Electric for 30 years. I spent summers pushing a lawn mower, digging holes, and visiting job sites. I was home schooled, got a GED, then worked my way through the University of Maine.

Now I live in Middle Tennessee with my wife and four kids — Benjamin, Sunny, August, and Levi. I build products and businesses, and I think AI is pretty great.

Location
Middle Tennessee
DISC Type
Id (Influencer)
Family
Father of 4
Education
B.A. Marketing, UMaine

What I've done

Most recently, I was Director of New Products at Zapier (2022–2025), where I led the 0-to-1 zone for Interfaces, Tables, Canvas, and Chatbots. We took multiple products from zero to seven figures of revenue. I built the initial AI Chatbot feature as a PM — it's now a standalone product and Zapier's fastest-growing new offering.

Before that, I was Founder and CEO of Friday (2016–2022), a remote work operating system for distributed teams. We raised $2.5M from Bessemer Venture Partners, Underscore VC, Active Capital, and El Cap. I ran the company for six years before shutting it down.

I spent three and a half years at Crystal Knows (2015–2018) as Head of Product and Head of Growth, working on the personality platform behind DISC-based communication insights. That's where I became a startup generalist — wearing every hat across product, growth, analytics, and revenue.

At Safari Books Online (2014–2015), I built growth campaigns that drove record B2C bookings, including a single campaign that generated seven figures of ARR and broke the company's 10-year booking record.

What I've written

I wrote The Anywhere Operating System, a free book on how to run your business from anywhere. It covers leadership, hiring, onboarding, culture, and productivity for remote teams. You can also buy it on Amazon.

Interests

Building early-stage products. Product-led growth. AI. Working remotely. Building GTM into early-stage products. Startup cities. And hanging out with my family.