From Zero to 1, and 1 to N, How to Effectively Transition Corporate Leadership, with Dave Zinman

There are business leaders that take a company from zero to one – your classic out of the garage story. But the person who gets from zero to one isn’t necessarily the same person who can take that company from one to one million and beyond. 

Transitioning between those two phases can be tricky, and as our guest, veteran tech exec Dave Zinman, explains, there’s a lot of time care and effort that goes into any hand off between a Founder and a new CEO. 

In this chat he talks about:

• Determining if and when to bring in a new CEO
• Why he refuses direct reports and decision making in the first 30 days when he comes in as a CEO
• How both the company and the new leader can lay the groundwork for a successful transition

Whether you’re building or scaling a startup, Dave’s advice will help guide you through your next phase of growth. 

Listen to Wise Up!, the OpenWater Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

About the Speaker:

Dave is a proven, entrepreneurial leader with multiple, successful outcomes at emerging growth and at scale enterprises. Most recently, he was Chief Operating Officer at TextNow, the world’s leading free talk and text mobile service. He has a deep well of experience in data-driven businesses, and prior to TextNow, was Global President for Deputy. Deputy simplifies shift work with the leading SaaS platform of record for time, used by over 300,000 workplaces worldwide. Dave is also a board member of InMarket, a leader in real time, data-driven marketing.

Prior to Deputy, he was COO at Drawbridge, a leading digital identity resolution company. LinkedIn acquired Drawbridge in June 2019, yielding high multiple returns for investors, including Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. Following the acquisition, Dave completed a transition role as Senior Advisor at LinkedIn, and actively advises many growth scale software ventures today.

Dave is credited by Wikipedia as co-inventor of the ad server, and co-founded AdKnowledge the same year. As CEO, and in several key leadership roles in the company, he pioneered ad serving and data-driven marketing. The company was sold for nearly $200M, representing a 10X return for investors.

About OpenWater:

OpenWater is building a community and platform designed for midlife professionals to expand their networks, boost their talent discovery, and connect with new opportunities. For more information, visit OpenWater.group.