Groom Dinkneh

Boston-born, raised by Ethiopian immigrant parents, I’ve always been grounded by purpose and community. I was shaped by a strong New England education at Belmont Hill and later at Tufts University, where I studied Economics and discovered a deep passion for financial markets and entrepreneurship.

Wall Street was my first chapter, learning from leaders like Chris Williams, who taught me the power of relationships and the importance of a growth mindset in business. But I was always drawn to building. In 2014, I co-founded Anchor Your Bike with a college friend—an early push for safer bike parking in NYC before micro-mobility hit the mainstream. Though I eventually stepped away, it’s rewarding to see the mission live on as Oonee.

That experience led me to GoLocker, where I dove deep into last-mile logistics. We built a network of carrier-agnostic parcel lockers and launched NYC’s first fully autonomous parcel return store. Finding product-market fit there was the hardest—and most fulfilling—work I’ve done, including the work we did with local partners. We pitched marquee brands like Macy’s and Rent the Runway, proving that small teams can solve big-city problems (this is a great example of the future of retail we aspired to build).

Next came Thrasio. I joined as employee #195, leading $1M+ Amazon brands during a pandemic-fueled ecommerce surge. It was a crash course in blitzscaling, operational excellence, and what it takes to raise $3B+ at breakneck speed.

Most recently, I helped build a membership platform at the Institute for Experiential AI, connecting companies and nonprofits to ethical, responsible AI solutions.

I remain deeply committed to paying it forward—mentoring young men at my alma mater, advising consumer brands on Amazon growth, and angel investing in startups solving meaningful problems in logistics, supply chain, fintech, and ecommerce.

Find me on Twitter or Linkedin—I’m always up for a conversation with builders.