David is called the “guru of the DTC movement” by Inc. Magazine and the “man who kick started the direct brand economy” by IAB. He is co-founder and President at Idea Farm Ventures (IFV), a consumer and retail investment company based in New York City. David was also an early investor in several iconic new economy brands including Diapers.com (acquired by Amazon for $545m), Jet.com (acquired by Walmart for $3.3b), Bonobos (acquired by Walmart for $310m), Burrow (private) Cotopaxi, (private), Harry’s (private), and Warby Parker (WRBY), among many others.
Before IFV, David had a 20-year academic career at Wharton where he was a Chaired Professor, award-winning teacher and researcher, and originator of the school’s courses on digital marketing and e-commerce. His research awards from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) include the Frank M. Bass Outstanding Dissertation Award, John D.C. Little Best Paper Finalist Award (three), Marketing Science Long Term Impact Finalist Award (two), and Best Operations Management Paper in Management Science Finalist Award (two). In addition, he received the First Place Award for the Production and Operations Management Society Applied Research Challenge, Workshop in Information Systems and Economics Overall Best Paper Award, among others.
David speaks globally on digital marketing and e-commerce for clients including Alibaba, Google, Haier, Mastercard, Nike, and Ralph Lauren. His first book, Location is (Still) Everything: The Surprising Influence of the Real World on How We Search, Shop, and Sell in the Virtual One, provides a framework for how to win in the digital economy. Two recent MIT Sloan Management articles “How to Win in an Omnichannel World” and “The Store is Dead—Long Live the Store” are bestsellers at Harvard Business School Publishing. He has published peer-reviewed articles in all premier academic journals in the marketing field.
