David Linhardt · Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Built, not advised.

I'm an entrepreneur in residence. I find your next growth engine, build it and hand you a running business, the way I've done eight times with my own money.

8× founder (7 profitable, 3 exits) · Ex-Amazon L7 Entrepreneur-in-Residence · Created AT&T Digital One Rate · Purdue Engineer · Harvard MBA

Portrait of David Linhardt, Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
David Linhardt, EIR
01

An entrepreneur, not a consultant

EmployeeConsultantEntrepreneur in Residence
The jobRuns the existing business modelRecommends a strategy or a technologyCreates a new business or growth engine
DeliversExecution of today's planA strategy deck and a roadmapA working product, paying customers and a repeatable growth engine
Starts fromThe current businessA best-practice frameworkCustomer problems and evidence
BuildsNothing newNothing; hands off to othersThe product, business model and go-to-market, personally
Measured byHitting existing targetsDeliverables on timeNew revenue or EBITDA
When it's doneKeeps the lights onLeaves; implementation is your problemHands your team a running business
02

The method: Insight-Driven Iteration

Every engagement runs the same loop, with the customer at the center. I validate the problem first, then the solution, then the path to customers. Product-market fit is the right customer with a real problem and a solution they'll pay for. A scalable, repeatable business adds a profitable way to keep reaching them.

  • 01

    Find

    a meaningful customer problem worth solving

  • 02

    Define

    the product and the business model

  • 03

    Validate

    with real customers before building at scale

  • 04

    Build

    the product fast, with AI

  • 05

    Scale

    with a profitable, repeatable way to acquire customers

Insight-Driven Iteration: the customer at the center of Problem Validation (Scan, Focus), Solution Validation (MVP 1.0, Scalability, MVP 2.0, Engagement) and Path-to-Customers Validation (Channels, Scalability, Profitability).
03

Where I work

04

Track record

8
8 companies founded, 7 profitable, 3 exits; five profitable startups in a row from $5K, 1,460× cash-over-cash return
$1.5B
AT&T Wireless: created Digital One Rate; an estimated $1.5B added to market cap within 90 days
–15% → +12%
Experian: a $57MM division from −15% to +12% growth in under 10 months
$1.2MM
Yesmail: from a $6MM loss to $1.2MM EBITDA in 15 months with no new capital
$350MM
Amazon · plan for a new $350MM B2B business line
8
8 products designed and shipped with AI in 2026

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