David has nearly two decades of experience as a technology entrepreneur. After graduating with a masters degree from MIT’s Media Lab in 1995, David co-founded Firefly, an early pioneer in personalization and privacy technology. Firefly was acquired by Microsoft in 1998 where the company’s flagship product became the Microsoft Passport, the web’s first unified authentication and identity platform. After Firefly, David co-founded PeoplePC, a company dedicated to simplifying the process of joining the online world. PeoplePC served over 600,000 individual subscribers as well as Fortune 100 corporations such as Ford Motor Company, Vivendi Universal and Delta Air Lines. PeoplePC went public in 2001 and was acquired by Earthlink in 2002. In 2005, David co-founded SpotRunner, a Los Angeles-based technology company that worked to revolutionize the way advertising was created, planned, bought and sold. Since leaving Spot Runner, David has dedicated his time to helping entrepreneurs realize their goals. He is an active mentor, speaker and investor.
Born in Santa Monica. Grew up in Berkeley. Undergrad: Berkeley, Grad: MIT (Medialab)
HealthTech, IoT, AI, Future of work
Founder of Firefly Network (acquired by Microsoft), PeoplePC (IPO) and SpotRunner
My lemonade was underpriced
I was the co-president of the Fibonacci society at my high school
Surfing with the TenOneTen team
Born here, came back to start my 3rd company in 2005
Computer vision
The web browser
Founders who don’t know their market
Whenever employees go on to start their own companies
Ambition, perseverance
A ludicrous number
I didn't know how to get a VC job so I started a fund