Dave Blakely has seen every trend in tech: the dot-com boom, the rise of mobile, the AI explosion. But he never chases shiny objects. He watches for what lasts.

Dave spent 25+ years at IDEO helping companies like Cisco and Johns Hopkins turn ideas into real businesses. For 10 years, he served as Executive VP at Mach49, where he helped Fortune 1000 companies build and launch startups from within. Now, he’s using his decades of experience to help the next generation of founders.

In this conversation, Dave lays out the exact framework he uses to evaluate new ideas (whether it’s a startup pitch or a corporate venture) and shares why the best innovators study people (not tech).

If you’re tired of playing trend roulette, this one’s for you.

What we cover:

00:00 – The risk Dave regrets not taking

04:00 – Why most career mistakes are “errors of conservatism”

06:40 – What Dave learned being in Palo Alto during the dot-com boom

07:30 – The real pattern behind every major tech wave

09:00 – The danger of cynicism in innovation

10:30 – Why we’re in another hype cycle and what to do about it

12:00 – The #1 question Dave asks about any trend

13:10 – The role of human nature in evaluating new ideas

14:45 – Shakespeare, product-market fit, and timeless psychology

17:00 – Why business and life values should never be separate

18:00 – How to teach emotional intelligence inside big companies

20:00 – How to find direction using synthesis

23:00 – Navigating marketing in a post-cancel culture world

24:30 – Dave’s take on pluralism and intellectual diversity

27:00 – How to take a stand in your work (and why it matters)

28:45 – The unexpected impact of fatherhood on leadership

30:00 – Why parenting made Dave a better manager

33:30 – Why presence is a business skill

34:45 – How Monique thinks about gratitude and career alignment

38:00 – Dave’s 4-part framework for evaluating new ventures

41:00 – The fifth bonus filter: Mothership Fit

43:30 – What makes a pitch deck actually compelling

45:00 – Why revenue is the wrong place to start

47:00 – The trap of skipping customer desirability

48:30 – Why “move fast and break things” is incomplete advice

50:00 – The tension every good leader should hold

51:15 – How to build smarter, not faster

53:00 – Dave’s book and podcast recs (they’re surprising)

🎙 Listen or watch this full episode of Creative Got Me wherever you get your podcasts!