# Tom Preston-Werner

> Tom Preston-Werner co-founded GitHub in 2008 and turned it into the world's largest developer platform before Microsoft acquired it for $7.5 billion. Beyond GitHub, he created Gravatar, Jekyll, TOML, and the Semantic Versioning spec — tools used by tens of millions of developers daily. He dropped out of Harvey Mudd College, declined a $300,000 Microsoft bonus to bet on GitHub, angel-invested in over 175 startups including early checks in Stripe and Cursor, and in 2025 launched Preston-Werner Ventures (PWV) targeting a $100M fund. He and his wife signed The Giving Pledge in 2023.

- **Role:** Cofounder & General Partner at Preston-Werner Ventures
- **Organizations:** Preston-Werner Ventures (PWV), GitHub (co-founded), Chatterbug (co-founded), RedwoodJS
- **From:** Dubuque, Iowa, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Computer Science (did not complete), Harvey Mudd College
- **Known for:** Co-founded GitHub, acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion, Built GitHub into the world's largest developer platform, Created Gravatar (globally recognized avatar service used by millions)

## Career timeline

- **1979** — Born in Dubuque, Iowa
- **2004** — Founded Gravatar, a globally unique avatar service
- **2005** — Moved to San Francisco; joined Powerset, a natural language search startup
- **2007** — Sold Gravatar to Automattic
- **2007** — Declined a $300,000 Microsoft bonus and stock options to focus on GitHub
- **2008** — Co-founded GitHub with Chris Wanstrath, P.J. Hyett, and Scott Chacon
- **2008** — Created Jekyll static site generator
- **2010** — Published Semantic Versioning (SemVer) specification
- **2012** — Became CEO of GitHub
- **2013** — Created TOML configuration file format
- **2014** — Resigned from GitHub following internal harassment investigation
- **2017** — Co-founded Chatterbug, a language-learning platform
- **2018** — Chatterbug raised $8M Series A
- **2020** — Began actively building RedwoodJS full-stack JavaScript framework
- **2022** — Launched RedwoodJS 1.0 and Redwood Startup Fund ($1M)
- **2023** — Signed The Giving Pledge with wife Theresa
- **2025** — Announced PWV Fund I targeting $100M for pre-seed and seed investments
- **2026** — Hosted AgentCribs — private community event for founders and hackers in San Francisco

## Achievements

- Co-founded GitHub, acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion
- Built GitHub into the world's largest developer platform
- Created Gravatar (globally recognized avatar service used by millions)
- Invented the Jekyll static site generator
- Authored the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) specification
- Created TOML configuration file format
- Angel-invested in 175+ startups including early checks in Stripe, Cursor, Netlify, Snyk, Supabase, PlanetScale, and Retool
- Launched Preston-Werner Ventures (PWV) Fund I targeting $100M
- Co-founded Chatterbug language-learning platform
- Signed The Giving Pledge in 2023
- Co-created RedwoodJS full-stack JavaScript framework

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Hosted AgentCribs, a private founder and hacker community event in San Francisco
- **2025-10** — Announced PWV Fund I, targeting $100M for pre-seed and seed technology investments
- **2023-01** — Signed The Giving Pledge with wife Theresa, committing to donate the majority of their wealth

## Links

- Website: https://tom.preston-werner.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mojombo/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mojombo
- GitHub: https://github.com/mojombo

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-preston-werner
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-06