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Dave Gilboa

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Warby Parker · 3 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveinvestor@davegilboa ↗LinkedIn ↗warbyparker.com ↗

Dave Gilboa co-founded Warby Parker in 2010 while attending The Wharton School, helping scale the direct-to-consumer eyewear brand into a publicly traded company on the NYSE. Prior to Warby Parker, he worked in consulting at Bain & Company and in merchant banking at Allen & Company.

19statements → 15claims → 6claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 1.47/5average debate potential → ≈5.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 13said about them ↓

3 supported 0 partly supported 3 contradicted 9 not checkable as stated how the 15 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

15 assertions · 1 insight · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 15 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, and 9 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Dave argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Gilboa: Warby Parker was eliminated in Wharton's business plan semifinals
“We entered the Wharton Business Plan Competition. And we got eliminated in the semifinal round.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 6:44 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Gilboa: Optometry is the only medical field where doctors sell prescribed products
“Optometry is interesting. It's the only part of human medicine where A doctor can prescribe something to their patient and then sell them that product and make margin on it.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 14, 2023 ▶ 19:58 Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
25% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Dave Gilboa on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Dave Gilboa said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Gilboa: Social missions benefit talent recruitment more than direct consumer sales
“The biggest impact is in our ability to attract and retain some of the most talented, passionate, Driven people in the world who want to work for a mission driven organization. And so that's where we tend to see kind of the biggest benefit from a business stan…”
Dave Gilboa Dec 14, 2023 ▶ 9:29 Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker
Disclosure
Gilboa: Warby Parker unit economics are comparable across retail and e-commerce
“We find that the economics for us are pretty comparable regardless of channel that, that customers are shopping in.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 14, 2023 ▶ 16:44 Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker
Assertion Contradicted
Gilboa: Optometry is the only medical field where doctors sell prescribed products
“Optometry is interesting. It's the only part of human medicine where A doctor can prescribe something to their patient and then sell them that product and make margin on it.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 14, 2023 ▶ 19:58 Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker
Disclosure
Gilboa: Warby Parker executives report to only one co-CEO
“So every department, every executive only reports into one of us. And that allows us to kind of spend more time in those parts of the business.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 14, 2023 ▶ 2:33 Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker
Assertion Contradicted
Gilboa: No company offered a home try-on program before Warby Parker
“And that's when kind of this light bulb went off for the home try-on program, which really no, no company was offering until that time”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 9:12 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Warby Parker Amassed 20,000-Customer Waitlist in Four Weeks
“Within a four-week period, we'd sold out of Our best-selling styles. We had a wait list of 20,000 customers.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 18:53 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Contradicted
Gilboa: No company offered home try-on before Warby Parker
“And that's when kind of this light bulb went off for the home try-on program, which really no, no company was offering until that time”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 8:44 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilboa: Warby Parker reached a 20,000-customer waitlist within four weeks
“And so we place an emergency call to our developer, and miraculously was able to build in this waitlist functionality on the fly, and within a four-week period, we'd sold out of Our best-selling styles. We had a wait list of 20,000 customers.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 18:13 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Assertion Supported
Gilboa: Warby Parker was eliminated in Wharton's business plan semifinals
“We entered the Wharton Business Plan Competition. And we got eliminated in the semifinal round.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 6:44 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilboa: Warby Parker founders invested $120,000 and took no salary for 18 months
“We invested a 120,000 dollars between the four of us to get the business off the ground, and, you know, we worked for a year and a half with Outpaying ourselves a salary. We didn't have an office. We did win a couple of grants from Wharton, so that, that helpe…”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 12:53 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Warby Parker Took Nine Months to Clear Initial Waitlist
“For a lot of those customers, it took us upwards of nine months to get through the wait list.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 20:11 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Supported
Gilboa: Warby Parker eliminated in Wharton business plan semifinals
“We entered the Wharton business plan competition and we got eliminated in the semifinal round.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 6:16 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Founders bootstrapped Warby Parker with $120,000 and took no early salary
“We invested a 120,000 dollars between the four of us to get the business off the ground, and, you know, we worked for a year and a half without paying ourselves a salary.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 12:14 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilboa: Warby Parker took upwards of nine months to clear launch waitlist
“And for a lot of those customers, it took us upwards of nine months to get through the wait list.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 19:32 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Warby Parker co-founders tested over 2,000 candidate names before launching
“I think we still have our spreadsheet of over 2000 names that we tested on our very patient friends.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 11:05 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilboa: Warby Parker met with almost 50 PR firms before launch
“We had meetings with almost 50 PR firms, and part of it was us evaluating them, but at the same time, we had to sell ourselves to those PR firms, and, right, there's nothing less sexy in the fashion world than four MBAs from Wharton.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 14:50 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Supported
Gilboa: Warby Parker secured a $200,000 SBA loan to fund inventory
“We ended up getting a 200,000 dollar SBA loan.”
Dave Gilboa Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 24:00 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Warby Parker founders tested over 2,000 names before launching
“I think we still have our spreadsheet of over 2000 names that we tested on our very patient friends.”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 10:37 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal
Disclosure
Gilboa: Warby Parker secured a $200,000 SBA loan to finance inventory
“We ended up getting a 200,000 dollar SBA loan”
Dave Gilboa Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 23:21 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal

The other half of the tape: Dave Gilboa's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 12 times in 3 episodes on How I Built This. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Guy Raz 10Jeff Raider 1Adam Grant 1

Statements about Dave Gilboa, by other people (1)

Assertion Supported
Warby Parker name originates from two Jack Kerouac characters
“Two early Jack Kerouac characters that Dave actually discovered when he went to the New York Public Library exhibit on Kerouac, and two of the characters were Warby Pepper and Zag Parker.”
Neil Blumenthal Dec 26, 2016 ▶ 10:44 Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0081152202120222023episodesmentions
012202120222023episodes it came up in
003162202120222023episodesmentions per episode
2023 11 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode
2021 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (3)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker Dec 14, 2023 11m
Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal (2016) Feb 19, 2018 9m
Warby Parker: Dave Gilboa & Neil Blumenthal Dec 26, 2016 9m

Played on the show (1)

Episodes where a recording of Dave Gilboa was played rather than Dave taking part, or where the tape carries an address with nobody putting questions to them. Listed because the words are on the record, kept out of every score on this page because they were not said on this show. We read this off the tape: who was spoken to, who was asked something, who answered whom.

EpisodeDateOn tapeWhat it is
Advice Line with Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker Jan 15, 2026 19s clip played
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