Testimonials

“I've had the pleasure and privilege to be a coaching client of Dave's for the past several years. Through our work, Dave has helped me achieve breakthroughs on many aspects of how I work with others, and how I face questions and challenges in my personal and work life. Beyond our coaching calls, he's given me a framework I apply regularly to how I'm relating to varied situations, so his impact goes far beyond the calls themselves.

If you're looking for a coach who bridges head and heart, personal & professional, and the everyday and the cosmic, you couldn't ask for a better partner than Dave.”

• Mike Krieger, co-founder & CTO, Instagram

“I can say, without hesitation, Dave's coaching has been the most impactful thing (outside of having kids) in my LIFE in the last 5 years. Both personally and professionally, he's helped me evolve tremendously as a leader/person.

When we were looking for a coach, we wanted someone who could understand us (and had been in our shoes). Dave has been an entrepreneur, investor and so many other things. What makes Dave unique is he can flex from spiritual to strategic to highly tactical behaviors/mindsets. Most of all, he cares deeply about helping others and his commitment to this purpose is remarkable.

In terms of "results," since he started working with us, our internal culture/engagement surveys have improved double digit percentages each year, our retention has improved each year, we get regular anecdotal feedback from employees that we have changed... and I just feel happier and present all the time.. Thank you Dave!”

• Jesse Pujji, co-founder, GatewayX

“Dave is one of the best CEO coaches in the world.”

• Matt Mochary, startup CEO coach & author of The Great CEO Within

“Dave is like Yoda, but for business and way better looking. He’s empathetic & strategic, has built successful businesses of his own, and cares deeply about helping founders see their greatness. I’ve spent the past 6 months working with him and it’s been transformative.”

• Alex Lieberman, co-founder, MorningBrew

“Dave has been a gamechanger in transforming how I view the world including entrepreneurship, my relationship with myself, my relationship with others, and my passion and purpose. I’m buzzing from how amazing this experience has been for me and everyone close to me. The fractal of my world/relationships is reverberating with these practices and reframes and stories. Highly recommend working with Dave for founders who want to be a better version of themselves and take their mindsets, companies, lives to the next level.”

• Catherine Dennig, co-founder & CEO, Fursure

“On a scale of 1-10, we're at 23 ... and 24 is in sight. To say Dave has had a huge and positive impact on my life would be an understatement.”

• John Donham, co-founder, Magic Soup

“Dave is a rare combination. He's got the intellect of a hedge fund manager, the real-world experience as a start-up founder, and the wisdom of a world-class coach.”

• Dan Debow, co-founder & CEO, Rypple (acquired by Salesforce)

”I've been working with Dave for 7+ years, including deep work using Conscious Leadership, and it's been nothing short of transformational. He is an absolute wizard.”

• Nick Shah, co-founder, Grapevine.ai

”It’s impossible to exaggerate the impact Dave has had on me and my life. If you’re eager to grow as a leader or just want to experience a fuller, more joyful life, I encourage you to get in touch with Dave.”

• Steve Vassallo, GP, Foundation Capital

“Dave is an extraordinary CEO coach. I reached out to him because I was stuck with a situation that felt intractable. Despite 20+ years of venture-backed company leadership across 5 startups, and a lot of leadership training, reflection, and coaching, and a great support network, I couldn't figure out how to move things forward. I, like most CEOs, had no one to talk with who didn't have a vested interest in the outcome.

In one of our earliest sessions, Dave helped me transform in a way I can't describe, beyond saying it was one of the most powerful experiences I've had. I was then able to unstick the situation and produce extraordinary, immediate impact. Our work continues, exploring unexpected heights and depths. I cannot recommend Dave highly enough, he's a miracle for me.”

• Lucinda Duncalfe, co-founder & CEO, AboveBoard

“Dave's authenticity and wisdom has been absolutely profound to experience and I am deeply appreciative of the upgrades I have received from his work. I highly recommend every entrepreneur, leader, or anyone interested in upgrading their life to spend time and money with Dave.”

• Matt Ford, co-founder & CEO, Prism.fm

“Dave has a lot of rare talents that make the people around him to thrive. He led a startup roundtable I was in for over a year, and his experience and leadership helped shape it into an incredibly rich and meaningful experience for all of us. He is genuinely driven by the growth of others, and has a trove of tools that enable entrepreneurs and leaders to reframe their problems and focus on the long term vision of what they're building.”

• Ben Finkel, founder & CEO, Sesh

“Dave is an incredibly effective CEO coach and I would highly recommend him to anyone. First, he has hard-earned credibility as a talented entrepreneur with a great business mind. Second, he approaching coaching as a passion and a calling. He is constantly studying, learning and training and his coaching clients are the fortunate beneficiaries. Third, he is always there and in your corner - never second-guessing you but not afraid to challenge you to be better. He's got a real gift for this work, and I highly encourage anyone to work with him if you have the opportunity.”

• Xavier Helgesen, founder, Enduring Ventures

“By far, the single most important investment I've made in myself was to work with Dave as my first business went through an acquisition and second one was getting off the ground. In my position as CEO, I've always felt that the responsibility of dealing with the deepest darkest challenges alone, and I've tried to shield times of stress from employees, partners and family. When I started working with Dave, for the first time I had a sounding board, someone who'd listen to me with support and love, not judgement. By being able to truly open up to and share what I was experiencing, I was able to find solutions to the real problems that were underlying the surface level issues, and run my business in a way that felt much more true to who I am and what I want.”

• Ankush Gera, founder & CEO, Junglee

“Dave was my ceo coach for several years during the most critical stages of building Klout. I was a first time ceo (had never even managed anyone prior) and at around 30 people I was feeling totally overwhelmed. I had no idea there was such thing as a ceo coach but another entrepreneur introduced me to Dave. This was a total game changer for me.

Over several years we met once a week (the only meeting I never moved or bailed on) and worked on communication, leadership, or whatever I was totally freaking out about. As a company we more than tripled in size, raised tons of money and eventually had a really great exit. There were tons of ups and down and it was all super intense. I don't think I could have made it through without Dave's help.

I found Dave so helpful that I had him work with all of our up and coming leaders to help them grow their management skills. Any time we did an offsite or any other strategic meet up I would have Dave come and help facilitate the conversation.

I can't overstate how big of an impact Dave had on me personally and across our whole company.”

• Joe Fernandez, founder of Klout, Joymode; working on NewCo

Dave's coaching challenged me to stop listening to my inner critic and focus on self-acceptance while encouraging me to dream big and keep growing. I've learned a lot about how to treat myself and others, how to be a conscious leader, how to leverage my strengths and much more. In a world dominated by social media, where we often showcase only our successes and try to portray a perfect life, what we truly need are people we can deeply connect with. Dave creates an environment where we can all be vulnerable and trust that no one is judging us. It's authentic and refreshing.

• Mai Akiyoshi, co-founder & CEO, Curious Addys’ Trading Club

“I'm a huge fan of Dave's service to CEO's and Executives who are interested in improving themselves. Dave:
- Gets the dynamics of a startup having been there and worked with lots of startup CEOs
- Is pragmatic, providing real and immediately valuable, not BS theory
- Is excellent at helping you get to the heart of tough issues
- Builds a deep level of trust that makes the coaching work
- Is effective at helping you overcome obstacles and achieve stretch goals
- He really wants to help - not just sell services
- Is super-smart and accomplished; can command respect of CEOs”

• Gil Penchina, former CEO of Wikia, co-founder of Fastly, angel investor

“Dave specialty is in helping others achieve their full potential and be their authentic self. He is a master at guiding clients to identify what they truly want, and then coaching them on how to get to their goals. Dave has helped me achieve many of my dreams.”

• Nir Eyal, best-selling author of Hooked and Indistractable

For additional testimonials, please visit Dave’s profile on LinkedIn.