David Geisert

I have experience on live games and in development games at Zynga, as well as working on their mobile marketing strategy. I have learned a lot about analysis from my time as a Zynga product manager, as well as being a financial analyst at Chegg.

Website: geisert.me
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=131305793
Palo Alto, California, United States
Member since April 14, 2014

I am a product focused CEO with experience in games and analysis at Zynga and Chegg Quote_down

About

Education

2011 Stanford , MS , Civil and Environmental Engineering

2010 Georgia Tech , BS , Polymer Fiber Engineering

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

Cat Duo

Companies I work or worked for:

Zynga, Chegg

Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

Winner of Mega Startup Weekend in the Gaming vertical.

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Coursera, ZipCar

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Being able to develop your own ideas is amazing, and when they come to life they are spectacular to behold. However, when they don't come together it is frustrating and there is only yourselves to blame.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Assuming that someone is going to steal your idea and then being overly protective and cautious because of that.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Networking events only work well if you go there with a purpose that you've worked on beforehand. Get help and give help as often as you can. Keep contingency plans in the back of your mind at all times, even in conversations.

Full bio

I have a varied past, that has led me to understand complicated systems and be able to quatify how to improve them. That understanding has led to a lot of what I am doing with Cat Duo. The knowledge I gained from Zynga and Chegg has been an integral part in the direction We are taking the company.

I am an avid listener of audiobooks including many about startups and business in general. This gives me the base I start from when looking at business issues, and has been a guiding force in the way we've structured Cat Duo.

I think that the composition of the team in a startup is very important, and my short bio tells most of what you need to know about me. I like working with good people, who are good at things I am not. This has led me to work with Candice, Stephanie, and Jeff.

Candice is one of the most sociable people I've known and she has the ability to get people to do things for her. The people enjoy it as well, making her able to quickly do the work of three. She is also very good at understanding the needs of the startup as they change moment to moment.

Stephanie has a focus on form, while I focus on function. She is able to understand a typical user and make an interface that any use could easily grasp. We have gone through many changes and revisions in the interface with Stephanie improving it greatly every time.

Jeff is a business master, and able to do better developer relations that anyone else I know. He spent many years at IBM working on their developer relations, and he is bringing that skill to our platform so that we can quicly grow our developer base.