About Dave Linhardt

Dave Linhardt is a serial entrepreneur with a strong history of launching successful startups. He has been the founder and CEO of eight separate high-growth technology startups. Despite unlikely odds, Dave’s last seven startups have been profitable. These businesses have created millions of dollars in value, generating a 1,460 times cash-over-cash return and were over 50 times more capital efficient than the average venture-backed exit. 

Dave Linhardt attributes his entrepreneurial success to his ability to identify significant customer problems. Once he has pinpointed a customer problem, he solves that problem with technology and builds a business around that tech. After years of working through the startup lifecycle, Dave now can intuitively understand what customers want and create products or services that will scale quickly. Most of his companies have been in direct or performance marketing, online marketing, or data and analytics market segments. 

Dave Linhardt uses his unique skill set to work as a corporate innovator and intrapreneur in product, marketing, and general management roles. For example, he spent much of 2019 working as a General Manager and Head of Product at Amazon. In his role at Amazon, Dave worked on launching a new business venture in a $52 billion market. He has also helped other major corporations like AT&T Wireless by “re-inventing wireless service” in the United States, resulting in $1.5 billion in additional enterprise value. 

Dave Linhardt was also instrumental in turning Yesmail around. Yesmail was the first publicly-traded email marketing company, but it struggled to achieve profitability. By developing breakthrough products, Dave helped the business to become profitable for the first time in their company history, creating $30 million in enterprise value in 18 months.  

Dave Linhardt attended Purdue University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. He later earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

When he is not working on one of his companies, Dave Linhardt spends time mentoring startup entrepreneurs. His goal is to help them discover the truth about themselves and the business they hope to create. He has also volunteered as a guest lecturer and motivational speaker at the University of Illinois at Chicago.