Thomas Reed leads data and research at Finzomo. He owns the part of the process that happens before a single word is written: gathering input from the people who use a category of software day to day, structuring it, and turning it into evidence the editorial team can rank against. When a Finzomo ranking rests on a number, it is Thomas who decided how it was measured and whether it holds up.

He has spent his career close to primary research, first in survey and market-intelligence work and later running research operations for teams that had to make defensible claims about fast-moving markets. He is careful about method to the point of stubbornness: how a question is worded, how a sample is drawn, and how a finding is caveated all matter to him, because he has seen how easily a sloppy number takes on a life of its own once it is published.

At Finzomo, Thomas designs the field research behind each category, runs the analysis, and turns it into the evidence behind each ranking. He also fact-checks figures across the site, since data is where he is hardest to fool. He holds a graduate degree in a quantitative field and has led research functions for more than a decade. He would rather publish one number he can defend than ten he cannot.