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David S. Rose - The Pitch Coach

David S. Rose, described by BusinessWeek as a “world conquering entrepreneur” is a technology visionary and investor who has founded or funded over 75 pioneering companies that are helping to define the future. An Inc. 500 CEO heralded by Crain’s New York Business as a “Top Dog in Tech,” he is a dynamic keynote speaker on the topics of future technology, venture investing, entrepreneurship and presentation skills.
From his initial involvement with the first online communities in the 1970s, through founding one of the first personal computer training companies in the 1980s, one of the first wireless data information networks in the 1990s, and the first global angel investing platform in the 2000s, David has consistently been at the forefront of innovation in both business and technology.
Among the fields in which he has been actively involved as an executive, board member or investor are: wireless communications, technology-enhanced real estate, consumer electronics, international finance, social networking, space tourism, user-generated content, robotic pets, online video, mobile network security, biological testing, electronic music, citizen journalism, out-of-home advertising, fiber-optic networking, concierge medicine, online marketing, interactive voice response, and many others.
David is Founder and CEO of Gust, which operates the international standard collaboration platform for early stage angel investing; Managing Director of Rose Tech Ventures, one of the country’s leading seed stage investors; Chairman Emeritus of New York Angels, the largest and most active angel investment group on the East Coast; Chairman of private equity firm Egret Capital Partners; and Track Chair for Finance and Entrepreneurship at Singularity University, the Google/NASA-sponsored graduate program training the next generation of technology leaders.
He is a member of the boards of directors of KoolSpan, Inc., Pond5, Comixology, Magnify Networks, Social Bomb, TekServe and Por ti, Familia. He also serves as an active early stage investor in companies including Ambient Devices, BioScale, Mashery, Space Adventures, Say Media and over five dozen other early stage ventures.
A native New Yorker, David has a BA from Yale and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He is an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University, a member of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board of Columbia Business School, 2009 Mentor of the Year at NYU Stern Business School, and a Lifetime Professional Member of the World Future Society.


 

Keynote Speaking

DSRpitchcoachVert.jpgAs an entrepreneur himself, David has raised millions of dollars in venture and institutional capital for his own technology companies. Today, as an active venture capitalist and angel investor, he personally hears hundreds of fundraising pitches a year. In the early days of New York Angels, the investment consortium David founded, the group realized that its members were often passing on investments in otherwise good companies, simply because the entrepreneurs’ presentations were not effectively telling their story. As a result, New York Angels instituted mandatory “pitch training”, which is required of all presenting companies before they are invited to appear before the full angel group.

These sessions, offered by David on a pro bono basis, quickly developed a reputation as the financial industry’s “best presentation training that money can’t buy”, and have been profiled in BusinessWeek SmallBiz, Presentations magazine, and many other publications. Today, while David refers most requests for coaching to one of a number of respected presentation trainers around the country with whose work he is familiar, he personally undertakes a few limited engagements for major VC and corporate clients, and will consider invitations for significant keynote opportunities and workshops.

 

 
“David Rose is The Pitch Coach. He has seen thousands of presentations. He can fix yours.”
BusinessWeek

 
“David Rose is a master at turning presentations from “before” to “after.” I wish more of the start-ups I hear making presentations used his services!”

Esther Dyson
Editor at Large, CNET Networks
Founding Chairman, ICANN (the Internet domain name overseer)

 
“There is palpable improvement in presentation technique exhibited by young ventures after David Rose gets through with them.”

Gideon Gartner
Founder, Gartner Group
Founder, Giga Information Group

 
“Bad presentations kill great young companies. David has a knack for turning and tuning presentations and presenters to show them in the best light.”

Scott Kurnit
Founder, About.com
Active angel investor

 
“A presentation training session with David S. Rose might well be the difference between a million dollar investment and ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you.’”

Mike Zisman
Managing Director, Internet Capital Group
Former CEO, Lotus Development Corporation

 
“One of our companies had been through some prior presentation boot camps, but David Rose convinced them to make some major changes in their pitch. Since then they have gone on to attract significant investment interest, and along the way picked up many awards for their presentations. David’s input was definitely instrumental to this success!”

Stephanie Hanbury-Brown
Founder, Golden Seeds Angels
Former Head of E-Commerce, JP Morgan

 
“The pitches that I’ve seen at New York Angels are much more to the point and understandable because of David’s coaching. At the early screening sessions, I have to work hard to know what they’re saying. Once he’s finished with them, they know they’re trying to sell stock, not their product. This makes it better from an investor’s point of view…and the company’s.”

Howard L. Morgan
Vice Chairman, New York Angels
Partner, First Round Capital

 
Keynote Speakers of Palo Alto, California is David’s exclusive agent for all speaking engagements. Please send Keynote Speakers an email to arrange for David to speak for your group.