how this founder’s unlikely path to silicon valley could become an edge in industrial tech

An Unconventional Founder in Silicon Valley

Thomas Lee Young presents an atypical profile for a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

The 24-year-old CEO of Interface, a San Francisco-based startup leveraging AI to mitigate industrial accidents, possesses a unique background – a Caucasian appearance coupled with a Caribbean accent and a Chinese surname, a combination he readily shares with new business acquaintances. Having spent his formative years in Trinidad and Tobago, a region characterized by significant oil and gas exploration, Young’s upbringing was deeply intertwined with the energy sector, as his family boasted generations of engineers, tracing back to his great-grandfather’s immigration from China to the island nation.

A Unique Path to Innovation

This heritage now serves as a compelling introduction during pitches to oil and gas industry leaders, extending beyond mere conversation fodder. It highlights a journey far from conventional, one that Young believes provides Interface with a distinct advantage.

His ambition took root early. From the age of 11, Young harbored an intense fascination with Caltech, fueled by online exposure to Silicon Valley’s potential – the ability to “build anything and everything” within the United States. He dedicated himself to securing admission, even crafting his application essay around repurposing his family’s Roomba to generate 3D spatial maps of his home.

Overcoming Obstacles

His efforts proved successful, earning him acceptance to Caltech in 2020. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic introduced unforeseen challenges. Visa appointments were canceled, halting the processing of applications, and simultaneously, his college fund, accumulated over six to seven years to reach $350,000, suffered a substantial setback due to the abrupt market decline in March of that year.

Faced with limited time for deliberation, he opted for a more affordable three-year mechanical engineering program at the University of Bristol in the U.K., while maintaining his aspirations for a Silicon Valley career. “I was devastated,” he admits, “but I understood I could still make progress.”

Gaining Industry Insight

At Bristol, Young secured a position at Jaguar Land Rover, working in human factors engineering – a field focused on the user experience and safety design of industrial systems. “I hadn’t encountered this discipline before joining,” he confesses. His role centered on enhancing the safety of both vehicles and manufacturing processes, ensuring they were “foolproof” for efficient operation.

It was within this industrial environment that Young identified the core problem that would inspire Interface. He observed that many companies lacked effective safety documentation tools, relying on outdated methods like pen and paper, or utilizing siloed, poorly designed systems that workers actively avoided. Critically, the operating procedures themselves – the instruction manuals and checklists vital for worker safety – were often inaccurate, obsolete, and difficult to update.

From Idea to Incubation

Young proposed a solution to Jaguar, but the company declined to pursue it. This prompted him to plan his departure. Learning about Entrepreneur First (EF), a European talent incubator that recruits promising individuals even without a co-founder or defined idea, he applied despite its exceptionally low acceptance rate. He was accepted to present his potential.

He informed Jaguar he would be attending a wedding in Trinidad for a week. Instead, he participated in EF’s selection process, impressed the organizers, and resigned upon his return. “They quickly realized I hadn’t actually been to a wedding,” he recounts with a laugh.

Building the Team

At EF, Young connected with Aaryan Mehta, his future co-founder and CTO. Mehta, of Indian heritage but raised in Belgium, had also faced visa obstacles in pursuing his American ambitions, being accepted to both Georgia Tech and Penn but unable to secure a visa appointment during the pandemic. He ultimately studied mathematics and computer science at Imperial College London, specializing in AI for fault detection and machine learning pipeline development at Amazon.

“Our backgrounds were remarkably similar,” Young explains. “He’s incredibly international, fluent in five languages, highly skilled technically, and we connected well.” They were the sole team within their EF cohort to remain intact, according to Young.

Life in San Francisco

Currently, they share a residence in San Francisco’s SoMa district. However, when asked about the intensity of living and working together, Young emphasizes that their demanding workloads prevent it from being an issue. “Over the past week, I’ve seen Aaryan at home for perhaps a total of 30 minutes.”

Interface’s Core Offering

Interface’s core proposition is straightforward: to enhance safety within heavy industry through the application of AI. The company’s technology autonomously audits operating procedures using large language models, verifying their alignment with regulations, technical specifications, and internal policies to identify errors that could potentially endanger workers.

The results are significant. For a major Canadian energy company, where Interface is currently deployed across three sites (Young refrains from disclosing the brand name), the software identified 10,800 errors and potential improvements within the company’s standard operating procedures in just two and a half months. Young estimates that performing this same task manually would have cost over $35 million and taken two to three years.

Identifying Critical Errors

One particularly concerning error Young discovered involved a document circulating for a decade with an incorrect pressure range specified for a valve. “They were fortunate that an incident didn’t occur,” states Medha Agarwal, a partner at Defy.vc, which led Interface’s $3.5 million seed funding round, with participation from Precursor Ventures, Rock Yard Ventures, and angel investors, including Charlie Songhurst.

Growing Contracts and Market Potential

The contracts secured by Interface are substantial. After initially exploring outcome-based pricing (which the energy company rejected), Interface adopted a hybrid per-seat model with overage charges. A single contract with the Canadian energy company generates over $2.5 million in annual revenue, and Interface is onboarding additional customers in the fuel and oil services sectors in Houston, Guyana, and Brazil.

The total addressable market remains undefined, but it is considerable. In the U.S. alone, IBISWorld estimates there are approximately 27,000 oil and gas services companies, representing just the first target vertical for Interface.

The Advantage of an Outsider’s Perspective

Interestingly, Young’s age and background – factors that might be perceived as disadvantages in more established industries – have become his key strengths. When entering a room filled with executives two or three times his age, he acknowledges an initial degree of skepticism. “Who is this young man, and what expertise does he possess?”

However, he quickly dispels doubts by demonstrating a deep understanding of their operations, their workers’ daily routines, and the potential cost savings Interface can deliver. “Once you gain their confidence, they will become enthusiastic advocates,” he asserts. (He notes that after a recent site visit, five workers inquired about investment opportunities in Interface, a particularly gratifying response given the field workers’ general aversion to software providers.)

A Blend of Office and Field Work

Despite working from Interface’s San Francisco Financial District office, Young keeps his hard hat readily accessible, prepared for the next site visit. (Agarwal suggests Young could benefit from more downtime, recalling a recent conversation where he admitted to not having seen the sun all day.)

Building the Team and Facing Challenges

The company currently employs eight individuals – five in the office and three remotely – primarily engineers, along with a recently hired operations specialist. Interface’s primary challenge lies in accelerating its hiring pace to meet growing demand, requiring its small team to leverage networks across both Europe and the U.S.

Reflections on the Silicon Valley Experience

Regarding his life in San Francisco, Young is struck by the accuracy of the Silicon Valley stereotypes. “You hear stories about encountering individuals in parks who have raised $50 million for innovative AI projects. It’s remarkably true.” He contrasts this with his life in Trinidad, where sharing such ideas often elicits disbelief.

While he occasionally dedicates time to outdoor activities with friends – a recent trip to Tahoe, for example – and Interface hosts events like a hackathon, his focus remains primarily on work, mirroring the AI-driven environment of San Francisco.

The Appeal of Hands-On Work

This makes the trips to oil rigs particularly appealing.

Indeed, the hard hat in the office symbolizes more than just a practical necessity; it serves as an enticement, according to Young. For engineers seeking a departure from building “low-impact B2B sales or recruiting tools,” as Young describes them, the opportunity to occasionally leave the Bay Area and collaborate with field operators has become a valuable recruiting asset. He notes that less than 1% of San Francisco startups operate in heavy industry, contributing to the appeal for both him and his prospective employees.

This reality may differ from the Silicon Valley dream he pursued from Trinidad, characterized by long hours, intense pressure, and constant discussions about AI, punctuated by occasional visits to oil rigs.

However, for the present, he appears content. “Over the last month or two, I haven’t had much time for activities outside the office, due to the intense focus on building, hiring, and selling.” But “I feel confident,” he adds.