Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
Full method →
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q I want to know for you, though, because you're unique. You have your own unique story. For you, how did you handle risk?
A Sure. Well, for me, I had always separated my personal, uh, assets from my work. Um, and even when I'd done early stage startups, uh, previously, which I built and sold a couple of businesses, uh, my, my goal was always to try not to impact, you know, my personal situation. So if I had a house or an apartment, whatever it was, I try to keep those separate. So for me, that was the first criteria. Um, but when we were doing this business over the course of time, we bought a couple of businesses and we've expanded in different ways. And so that it was quite a capital intensive first couple of years, um, Um, so I, I was fortunate to have had some success earlier, as you mentioned, both at Edelman and prior startups and stuff, and then, and as also I'd been doing some real estate investing, so I'd built up, you know, some personal assets that I was able to put to work, and then friends and family came in and also invested in the business, and that's how we kind of really got going in the early stage capitalizing. It was not just my own effort this time around, but with others.
AI assessment note: “for me, I had always separated my personal, uh, assets from my work.”
Answered produced feed
D 4 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q That's so funny. And why, I mean, that sounds like a pretty sweet gig at Edelman. What was the final plug for you? Why give all that up?
A Good question. I get asked that quite a lot. Uh, yeah, it was a great gig. I loved it. I was there for 11 years. Um, that, that was, uh, then and continues to be their fastest growing business. Um, and, and, you know, it was a, it was a role in which I probably reinvented myself every couple of years. Um, what, what was fascinating to me, however, was, um, the way technology was going to change the way we conduct marketing, and I, you know, felt at the time I'd helped a lot of young technology startup companies, uh, by being their first customer there, and companies like Buzz Metrics, uh, Radiant Six, Buddy Media, others, we were literally among their first customers.
AI assessment note: “what was fascinating to me, however, was, um, the way technology was going to change”
Answered produced feed
D 4 · C 4 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.60
Q David, you obviously have cohort analysis going on, which is, I mean, every, every SaaS company has different cohorts that perform very, very differently, right? In each cohort, I imagine you have some ratios you like to live by, so let's maybe talk about those instead of definitive numbers. Is there an LTV to CAC ratio you like to live by, no matter what cohort you're looking at?
A Um, you know, again, I'm not totally comfortable to just, like, blurt out the numbers that we live by, but, um, generally speaking, um, you know, when we're, when we're looking at our business, we're, we're trying to compare ourselves to some of the classic businesses out there. You know, we live in an era where there's no RFPs for the work that we do, so we're still very much charting a course, so the kind of analysis that you're describing would make sense if I had a very high volume of customers or I had You know, global footprint, or I was able to say to myself, hey, I got a hundred customers in these five major geographic areas, and what's my, you know, cost of acquisition in each of those areas, and how does that compare and contrast, and what's my media mix, but we're not at that level.
AI assessment note: “the kind of analysis that you're describing would make sense... but we're not at that level”
Redirected produced feed
D 2 · C 4 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.00
Q You like to try and stick Buy or that you use like a gauge, just like an airplane pilot would use their tools to fly the plane properly. Um, don't tell me your numbers. I mean, they don't have to be your numbers. Exactly. I'm just curious for you. Like, what do you, what feels good for you? It doesn't have to be the actual number in your business currently.
A Yeah. Um, you know, I, I think what I would say to you is, um, We, we, we look at our, we look at the first, first things we're trying to deliver for our customers is, is what's the value to them as opposed to the customer lifetime value to us. You know, so, so I think a lot of entrepreneurs focus on what they're getting, but if we first focus on what we're delivering to our customers, and that's true of all of our upcoming products you mentioned are AI product. You know, so for example, if I was to say to you, you know, that, that our product pays for itself in the first month, we derive those kinds of analyses with our customers where we actually work with their, Analysts say, okay, you know, what level of efficiency can we help you achieve in your first month, your second month, your third month? And so, for example, can, how much of your time can we give you back so you can spend that time on other tasks? Or how much of your time can be spent deriving insights which lead to optimization, which leads to, you know, better performing media, and what's the value of that to you and to your customer? Um, so those are, that's where we begin, um, in terms of the customer lifetime value for ourselves, You know, when we deliver those kinds of metrics to our customers, that makes us very sticky, right? So, so we think about ourselves.
AI assessment note: “what's the value to them as opposed to the customer lifetime value to us.”
