Meet PEM: Tom Solleveld
In the Meet PEM series we introduce the brand builders & capital raisers across our community.
Director of Communications and Marketing
White Star Capital
Soon to be based in Montreal, Canada
How did you get into marketing in the private markets?
My path wasn’t linear. I started on the operational side at WorldRemit, helping launch its remittance service across Asia, Africa, and South America. That gave me a crash course in the communication challenges startups face when scaling and operating globally. I then moved into communications and marketing, working for five years with a range of VCs and high-growth tech companies like Cloudflare and ClassPass. Eventually, I wanted to move back "in-house" but with the variety of agency life. Joining White Star Capital was the perfect middle ground, providing an opportunity to work with a global firm and portfolio of 100+ exciting startups.
What’s a piece of advice you wish you’d learned earlier in your career?
Context is everything. I find communication professionals often focus too much on the content of a message rather than the context in which it's received. In private markets, where relationships are long-term and trust is paramount, understanding your audience's current reality, whether it’s a founder in crunch time, or an LP analysing macro trends, is just as important as the message you’re trying to land.
What are you currently learning or experimenting with?
We all know LLMs can write a decent first draft, but what I’m really interested in as a next step is their ability to capture an individual’s true tone of voice. Recently, I’ve been playing around with Lightfern, which provides auto-complete suggestions based on your historical writing style. It’s an interesting tool with a lot of potential.
What tool or workflow upgrade has had the biggest impact on your day-to-day?
Not the most revelatory, but Mixmax has been a game-changer for us. We use it for important mass communications, event invitations, and email personalisation. It has some pretty intelligent functions that are extremely helpful when dealing with a large number of LPs or founders.
If you weren’t in marketing, what do you think you’d be doing?
It’s a world apart from private markets, but I like to think I'd be a mountain guide somewhere in Scotland. When you’re out in the hills, there’s no choice but to be completely present with zero distractions - and the added bonus of non-existent phone signal.