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Hi, I'm David

I’m a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of Alive Games, co-founder and ex-CEO of Chessable, and a part-time angel investor. Welcome to my homepage and blog.

My work:

Here is what I have been up to for a couple of decades:

  • Alive Games is a start up founded in April 2024, that is building easy-to-use tools to let anyone create and customise their 3D items for their favourite video games like Roblox, Fortnite, Counter Strike 2, GTA V and more. We are cooking up some big things, check it out at https://www.alivegames.io

  • Angel Investing Thanks to my modest Chessable exit, I was able to give back to the start up world by supporting a few bright entrepreneurs embarking on their journey. I really enjoy working with them as an advisor, to help them find their product market fit, growth, and make their mark. I’m always open to checking out a pitch deck, please reach out via LinkedIn

  • Chessable an ed-tech startup that revolutionised the way people learn chess, acquired by the World Champion’s company in 2019. At Chessable our goal was to help you acquire Chess mastery backed by the science of learning, while making it as fun as possible with the principles of gamification. Today, it is the clear market leader in online chess education

  • Sharkius Games An early player in the Facebook/social games, ecosystem, with the most popular games being Metropolis, Simmbook and Mafia Cities, reaching hundreds of thousands of daily active users

  • SoccerOD/VGCity Football and video game online communities I founded and managed for a few years. VGCity grew to tens of thousands of users very quickly and worked with some of the biggest game studios to review their games pre-launch

Popular Posts:

How I Flintstoned Chessable to Life: More of the Story Behind Our Early Days

As an entrepreneur, there’s a stage in building any startup that isn’t glamorous—it’s the part where you’re working late nights, manually doing things that don’t scale. This approach, known as “Flintstoning,” involves creating the illusion of a fully functional product while executing backend processes manually. At Chessable, we faced this challenge head-on, importing chess courses line by line, gaining invaluable insights into our users’ needs. Discover how this laborious journey laid the groundwork for our success and why embracing the grind can be the key to thriving in the startup world.

Competing for Attention in a Zero-Sum Game: Lessons from Chessable and the Attention Economy

In today’s digital landscape, capturing users’ attention is a fierce battle, akin to a zero-sum game. With countless apps vying for the same finite resource—our time—how can startups stand out? Discover the power of counter-positioning with unexpected ideas and the concept of the “empty home screen.” By exploring new environments like Web3, entrepreneurs can engage users without competing against hyper-addictive mainstream apps. Join me as I delve into strategies that not only capture attention but also foster genuine, long-lasting connections in an increasingly cluttered world.