# Tom Harari

> Tom Harari is the co-founder and former CEO of Cleanly, the New York laundry delivery startup in Y Combinator’s Winter 2015 batch. Cleanly merged with NextCleaners in 2020, when Harari became executive chairman of the combined company. He later joined REGENT’s founding team, co-created bookmarking service dewey, and turned toward writing, including a debut techno-thriller manuscript and a newsletter on art, creativity and books.

- **Role:** Founder at OUIJA; co-founder at dewey; writer
- **Organizations:** Cleanly, ByNext, dewey, REGENT, OUIJA, iAcquire, Omnicom Media Group
- **Education:** Master of Business Administration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Government, Temple University, Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Co-founded Cleanly and led it through Y Combinator Winter 2015., Led Cleanly before its 2020 merger with NextCleaners., Co-created dewey; its free version reached over 20,000 users according to his March 2024 account.

## Career timeline

- **2011-2012** — Worked in marketing at Omnicom Media Group.
- **2012-2014** — Held a digital marketing leadership role at iAcquire.
- **2013** — Cleanly began testing an early product in October.
- **2014** — Cleanly’s iOS app entered the App Store in March; Harari led the business with co-founders Itay Forer and Chen Atlas.
- **2015** — Cleanly participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2015 batch.
- **2017** — Cleanly announced acquisitions of The Dhobi and Do Laundry for Me and a $5 million Series A.
- **2020** — Cleanly merged with NextCleaners; Kam Saifi became CEO and Harari executive chairman.
- **2021-2022** — Served on REGENT’s founding team in strategy roles.
- **2021** — Co-created dewey, initially a free bookmarking product.
- **2022** — Left startup operating life in December, as described in a subsequent public post.
- **2023** — Dewey introduced a paid model in January.
- **2024** — Published an essay explaining dewey’s bootstrapping approach.
- **2026** — Shared progress on a debut techno-thriller and published a Spinoza Ethics read-along.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Cleanly and led it through Y Combinator Winter 2015.
- Led Cleanly before its 2020 merger with NextCleaners.
- Co-created dewey; its free version reached over 20,000 users according to his March 2024 account.
- Joined the founding team at REGENT.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — On August 19, completed his public Spinoza Ethics read-along with Part V.
- **2026-08** — On August 14, described a debut techno-thriller manuscript, its fathers-and-sons theme, and his study of thriller pacing.
- **2026-03** — Announced a Spinoza Ethics reading series using George Eliot’s translation, following an earlier Montaigne read-along.
- **2025-01** — Dewey introduced TikTok favorites backups.

## Links

- Website: https://tomharari.substack.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomharari
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/tomharari

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-harari
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26