Sydney Thomas

Sydney works at Precursor Ventures where she has check-writing abilities and focuses her time on investing in and supporting Pre-Seed companies that democratize access to products and services for the mass market economy. To increase knowledge of these types of companies, she founded and hosts the Be About It podcast, where she profiles companies that fit this thesis. She also participates in several extracurricular activities to increase diversity in tech and level the playing field more broadly. She is the creator of The Interrupters – a list that highlights investors committed to investing in black and LatinX founders. She serves on the Advisory Board of Invanti – a startup generator in the midwest. She is deeply involved in her community, Longfellow Oakland. In 2020, she was honored to receive the Champion of Justice Award from Esq. Apprentice, an Oakland-based nonprofit she supports that creates alternative pathways to the legal career. She was also appointed by the Mayor to serve as a Commissioner for the City of Oakland’s Public Safety and Services Commission. She is also a member of the 4.0 Angel Syndicate – a community of Black philanthropists. Sydney joined Precursor 4+ years ago and built the software and systems that grew the firm from a Solo Operating GP with 10 investments to a 3-person team with 100+ investments. Before joining Precursor, Sydney gained experience working in technology startups in business development and product marketing. She has done everything from writing federal SBIR grants to managing customer success teams. Prior to her work in tech, she served in the Bloomberg Administration in NYC. Over the course of her tenure, she drafted federal legislation, negotiated a multi-million dollar contract and received a full-ride scholarship to her business school of choice. Sydney graduated from Berkeley with her MBA and Duke with her BA.

Website: http://www.sydneypaigethomas.com