David Jacoby

David Jacoby

Seasoned executive; grew a startup as EVP of Biz Dev, and then COO, overseeing successful exit. I'm a world traveler, having staying in 37 homes in 27 countries. We are also home sharing hosts here in San Francisco and now the space well.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjacoby
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidjacoby
San Francisco, California, United States
Member since April 02, 2016
Quote
Seasoned executive; grew a startup as EVP of Biz Dev, and also as COO. World traveler, having staying in 37 homes in 27 countries. Also a host myself. Quote_down
  • About
Investor interests
Locations of interest
Credentials None
Education
2001 Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania , BS , Economics, Concentration in Entrepreneurial Management & Legal Studies
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Hostfully
Companies I work or worked for:
WellCall, Health Advocate
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

Oversaw sales and account management strategy for WellCall, a corporate wellness startup. Promoted to COO. Architect of Salesforce CRM and grew it from 2 users to over 50 users.

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

I'm passionate about our idea specifically and the home sharing industry in general

My favorite startups:

Airbnb, Vayable, Properly

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

We love seeing changes to our product on a daily basis. As a resource-limited early stage startup, we move slower than we oftentimes want; however, we are testing and iterating much faster than most impartial outside observers would think. We have big plans and are excited to keep plugging away at our roadmap!

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

Don't let "perfect" be the enemy of "good". Don't spend too much time perfecting and fine tuning everything. Work as hard as you can to get a product out there, so you can test and iterate.

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

1) There will be many "down" days in the early stages. Try not to get too down on yourself if you go a few weeks without a "big win" (which can mean many things)

2) Everyone is rooting for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help and introductions.

3) Everything takes longer than you expect (whether it's product development or fundraising), so make sure to plan for that!

Full bio

David Jacoby is a seasoned entrepreneur and business executive.  Having graduated Wharton, Mr. Jacoby joined WellCall, a healthcare startup.  He grew to EVP of Business Development, overseeing sales, account management, and marketing.  He then became Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all aspects of operations and finances.  WellCall was sold to HealthAdvocate, and Mr. Jacoby stayed on board to integrate services and scale the WellCall division among a larger client base.

Mr. Jacoby is also an active home-sharing / short term rental host, having hosted over 80 guests in the past two years.  He has also traveled the world staying in people's homes in 27 countries, including Peru, Israel, Egypt, Rwanda, and Thailand.