Tom Karels — building AI-powered digital commerce

Senior Director · Digital & AI

Building DigitalExperiences

Full-stack developer and designer crafting modern web applications, stunning designs, and innovative digital solutions.

Trusted by leaders at

Staples
Bunzl
American Hotel Register
Reader's Digest
Levata
Atlantic Records
Overland
Bloomberg
International Truck
FedEx
Cineplex
Staples
Bunzl
American Hotel Register
Reader's Digest
Levata
Atlantic Records
Overland
Bloomberg
International Truck
FedEx
Cineplex

My Approach

Strategy that ships, execution that proves it.

Three things I optimise for in every engagement. They are deliberately ordered: get the bet right before you start building, and instrument it before you call it done.

Strategy

Bet on the right problem.

I read the org, the data, and the market — then write the brief that gets aligned. No theatre, no slideware: a sharp problem statement and a sequenced bet.

Execution

Ship something that runs.

Working software in production beats consensus on a Miro board. I lead small senior teams from prototype to launch, with a bias for measurable customer-facing wins.

Measurement

Prove the dollars moved.

Every initiative gets an instrumented metric and a horizon. If the number does not move, we cut it; if it does, we double down. The scoreboard is the deliverable.

How we work

Four steps. Repeated until the number moves.

  1. Step 1

    Discover

    Sit with the data, the team, and the customer. Identify the constraint that actually moves the number — not the one that sounds best in the deck.

  2. Step 2

    Design

    Sketch the smallest end-to-end shape of the solution. Architecture, UX, and instrumentation written in the same brief, so trade-offs are explicit.

  3. Step 3

    Build

    Ship to a real environment in weeks, not quarters. Tight feedback loops, working software, and a senior engineer on every important problem.

  4. Step 4

    Measure

    Wire the metric in before launch, then make decisions on the live signal. If it works, we scale; if it does not, we kill it without ego.