I’m your human copilot 👨🏻‍✈️ for 0 → 1 product dev and GTM in education 🎒 workforce 💼 and beyond ✨

Are you a leader who could use someone whose lived experience can help your team, social enterprise or nonprofit:

• 🚀 productize or GTM for new products, services and business units

• 🦋 support leadership and change management,

  • especially in helping impact-driven orgs shift toward lean startups, agile/sprint 0 → 1 product development to test and validate hypotheses

• 🧧 secure or unlock atypical strategic funding, revenue or resources needed to do so

  • RFPs, government contracts, fellowships, R&D, grants, and more
  • hiring PT/FT + upskilling/development

  I do consulting under my business Meta By Design LLC, DBA as LXD (Learning By Design). More legal stuff at the bottom.

<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/1403c017-1c58-4a27-9924-711af2e8e7b2/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/1403c017-1c58-4a27-9924-711af2e8e7b2/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" width="40px" /> Let’s Chat!

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<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/789c363f-7ea9-4aa9-9b78-bf9ed2c98696/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/789c363f-7ea9-4aa9-9b78-bf9ed2c98696/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" width="40px" /> About

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<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/789c363f-7ea9-4aa9-9b78-bf9ed2c98696/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/83d7a681-6807-4bfd-be05-d7e004275533/789c363f-7ea9-4aa9-9b78-bf9ed2c98696/Screen_Shot_2024-01-09_at_10.09.18_PM.png" width="40px" /> For deeper engagements you get equal parts: 👨🏻‍✈️ strategic co-pilot 🧑🏻‍🔧 hands-on doer (+ coach, active listener)

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1. 💼 Helped JFF map GenAI use cases and tools in workforce development. 🥽 Helped a major workforce org map value chain in XR/AR/VR as part of an effort to formalize and productize their offerings.
2. 👨🏻‍🔬 Helping two venture studios do 0 → 1 problem validation and product discovery for business ideas (real estate x microschools and in nondegree credentials).
3. 💰 **Helped a founder submit an $850,000 RFP and negotiate a state government grant to survive, grow team, and drive outbound sales + GTM strategy.
4. 🚦 **Conducted layoffs and strategic financial/cash management to keep the lights on in my own startup while navigating leadership and strategic transitions.
5. 🧭 Within another org, navigated and observed success 🤩 and failure 😣 modes for change management, strategic shifts, and reorganizations while helping a Series B org (100 → 200 employees) transition from an education to a talent business.

Who Is David?

Education and edtech is my homebase and where I’ve dedicated the last decade (and am excited to continue supporting leaders), but at the heart of it, I’m all about working with values-aligned leaders on impactful and profitable products, and organizations!

Startups / Scaleups

Impact Driven Orgs

Product Dev Teams

Organizations I’ve worked for, consulted with or coached have been backed by:

• Investors like: Tiger Global, a16z, NFX, On Deck, Reach Capital, Transcend, Techstars, YCombinator, Stand Together Ventures Lab, etc
• Foundations like: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Rippleworks, Jacobs Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Charter School Growth Fund, Oppenheimer Memorial Trust

I also scout for: Laconia Capital, Reach Capital, Hustle Fund Angel Squad, The MBA Fund

How I Can Help You

<aside> 🎯 Strategy is more about what you say ‘no’ to than what you say ‘yes’ to. In other words, excellent strategy helps you hone in on priorities that are in scope vs. out of scope. I help connect strategy with grounded advice and implementation on where to focus across product, growth, finance, funding, business model, BD, data, team and more.

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🧐 Product Strategy = Focus

• I help you make tough decisions about what core aspects of your product drive growth, how to focus, and whether to prioritize profitability or growth.

📲 Growth & GTM w/o a Playbook

• I help with strategic go-to-market w B2B and B2C prosumers (e.g., teachers, developers, and other functional experts) to help get your first ‘1,000 true fans’

📊 Financial Savvy

• I build financial models, projections, and budgets and empower you to run your business with financial savvy.

💰 Unlock Atypical Funding

• I help founders unlock strategic funding through your usual suspects and nontraditional sources.

🤝 Relationship-First Business Dev

I can be your first nonfounder sales hire and build the engine so your team builds human-first relationships that help customers solve problems and you close deals.

📓 SOPs for Operational Efficiency

I systematically define needs, requirements, scope and executing on project needs and build SOPs (along with training/onboarding) so your company can execute without me going forward.

• I’ve also helped with leadership succession planning, both as the one taking over as CEO and helping another founder scope the requirements for, run a hiring process, and source their replacement!