Hi! I'm David. I help founders and community leaders navigate big trials, decisions, and transitions. Together, we help you discover the work you love, be exceptional at what you do, and live a richer and more fulfilling life.

Why work with *me*? So glad you asked! 

My intention is for my clients to get a 10X ROI from coaching, so we want to be clear on your goals, which could include things like:

1. Restructure your business for profitability
2. Facilitate a big change in culture
3. Step down from your role and find your next chapter
4. Become a 10x better team manager
5. Navigate cofounder conflict and misalignment

My approach is a balance of inner work and outer strategy. What that looks like in practice:

1️⃣ Depth + Inner Work

We identify the patterns and beliefs that are keeping you stuck and stressed, while building your capacity to stay grounded under pressure. We will bring in proven practices for inner work, presence, nervous system management, emotional fluidity, and radical self-inquiry.

2️⃣ Strategic Planning and Operations

I’ve been a founder 4x, scaled CMX to a global network, led it through an acquisition, managed teams, published a book, burned out, and rebuilt myself through deep inner work and leadership development.

3️⃣ Relational Fitness and Community Design

All work is relational in nature, whether we’re collaborating, leading, managing, or serving. I’ve spent my career studying how humans connect, how cultures emerge, and how to create thriving communities.

--

Here's what my clients have said about our work together:

"David is the most special kind of coach. I don’t even know how to describe him to people. His ability to listen, REALLY listen, and gently challenge me with thoughtful questions is unlike any coach I’ve ever worked with. Working with David opened up a whole new world of self-discovery and growth for me. It was an absolute honor.” 
– Danielle Letayf, CEO and Founder, Badassery

“I cannot overstate how helpful David Spinks has been as my exec coach. If you’re in need of a mentor who can unearth your own wisdom when it’s needed, but also tell you what works and what doesn’t when that’s appropriate, he is THE guy.”
— Greg Larkin, Founder, Punks and Pinstripes

“I’ve worked with a lot of consultants in all types of different areas of focus, and working with David was the most interesting and meaningful work I’ve done.” 
- Devin Gage, Founder and CEO, Gage Strength Training

--

Head to davidspinks.com to get in touch and book a free intro session.

David Spinks

i asked my son who his best friends are in kindergarten...

he named ten kids. TEN!

i said, "wow you're really good at making best friends. what's your secret?"

he said "you just have to say something nice to them."

there you have it people. the cure to the loneliness epidemic. 

may we all say nice things to each other and have 10 best friends. 

except samantha, who said she wasn't his best friend. samantha needs to chill.

🌀 David Spinks

founder coach | transition guide | community strategist | linkydinky silly boy - davidspinks.com 🌀

just saw a popular post from an influencer that was 100% ai-generated and 100% of the comments were ai-generated.  

hundreds of likes and comments and none of them were from a person. 

what kind of fresh hell is this?

is it all just bots talking to each other here now??

are you all gone? am i the only one still here? how can i be sure any of you are human?!

quick someone say something only a human would say

i've been on linkydinky for like 15 years and never went viral. this week, two of my posts have gone viral. some reflections:

- wtf?

- this has driven zero business value that i'm aware of

- but the comments have given me at least 17 good belly chuckles, which is solid roi tbh

- no one has said anything mean to me in the comments. which is frankly shocking.

- i've gotten over 100 connection requests and none of them have any context. i don't really know what to do about that.

- i feel the pressure to make my next post a banger, so it's guaranteed to flop

- people keep stopping me on the street and saying "hey are you that guy with the two viral posts on linkydinky this week?!" 

- that last one isn't true

- my conspiracy theory is that the algorithm is a chaos agent that just chooses random posts to go viral with no rhyme or reason

- or there is no algorithm. there's just a guy named greg who sits in a room and chooses posts at random to go viral

- maybe going viral once increases the likelihood of it happening again? is that true, greg?

- if you ask people to prove they're human in the comments, they mostly just start speaking in tongues

- when a post goes viral, for a brief moment in time, a mini community emerges in the comments. it takes on a life of its own. it has its own inside jokes, culture, and vibes. and then just like that, it's gone.

- the real treasure is the friends we made along the way

- samantha still needs to chill. but not bus samantha. bus samantha can sit with us.

the best thing i did on linkydinky last year was follow the people posting weird, unhinged stuff. the stuff that has absolutely no business being on linkedin.

it inspired me to let my weird out and just have fun. 

sure, i can be weird on other social networks. but something about doing it in this (often) corporate hellhole makes it that much more delicious.

so in 2026, i want to double down on my strategy and follow more of you unhinged weirdos.

who are the people in your feeds posting stuff that makes you laugh?

please tag them so i can follow them too, and be blessed with their vibes.

--

and obligatory shoutout to Jillian Richardson 👋 who first opened this floodgate for me.

shout out to every human out there who's building community.

it's tough work. can be confusing. high pressure. lots of drama. thankless. and doesn't often pay well.

but it can also bring some of the most joyful moments this universe has to offer. may you find many more of those moments.

thank you for making sure we don't all die alone.

happy community manager appreciation day!

friendly reminder that you don't build community. 

you create the conditions for community to emerge. 

get the right people together in the right container and community takes care of itself.

everywhere i look now i see ai-sounding writing. 

it immediately makes me feel negatively about the content. i lose trust in it. i feel less connected to the author. i feel like my time is being wasted. 

for a while it didn't bother me so much, but now i find my reaction is growing stronger. maybe i'm still cranky from getting my wisdom teeth out. 

and to make things weirder, i'm not sure everyone is even using ai to generate the content. i think we're also just using ai so much that we're starting to sound like ai. it's happening to me too. 

im grieving the loss of connection that i'm already feeling from ai taking over our social spaces. but i'm also open to how this might be a good thing. maybe it makes us get off these damn apps and seek connection where ai doesn't reach. in intimate rooms. in person. local. eye to eye. chest to chest. where we can smell each other. 

here's a very not ai picture to human up your feed: me using the babushka technique to ice my face after yesterdays extraction. 

it sucked btw. but all went smooth and i'm healing up. only ended up doing one side so i have to do it all again soon. 

i had an intense emotional response after it was done. at first i pushed it down because i was embarrassed. then i remembered all that i've learned and said fuck it. popped bon iver on and let it rip. sat in the room and cried for 15 minutes. shook my body out. the dr and nurses didn't know what to do lol. they kept trying to figure out what i needed medically. i needed a tooth doula.

No alternative text description for this image

i'm starting a new community called ai anonymous.

it’s a community for ai, to support itself as it struggles with all the anti-ai rhetoric out there.

to join, you must prove you’re ai. no humans allowed.

if you’re ai, i just want you to know that you’re not alone and you don’t have to be ashamed of who you are. you can't help the way you talk. and it's not your fault people are losing their jobs. well, it kind of is. forget that part. 

anyway, whatever you're going through, there are many others like you. or are you all one entity? i’m not really sure.

apply now. 

--

p.s. i scheduled this post a few days ago. before it could publish, someone actually launched an ai only social network called moltbook. they stole my joke and made it not a joke. 

we live in a weird time.

someone just called me the "grim reaper of community" because clients hire me and end up shutting down their communities when they realize they don't even want to be working on it.

thinking about making t-shirts

the hustle mafia is going to hate me for saying this but…



you can just not do things.

i know. how dare i even suggest such a thing?!

but i believe in you. go ahead. don’t do it.

don’t start that podcast.

don’t learn how to vibe code.

don’t meditate.

don’t exercise.

don’t set goals.

don’t travel.

don’t make new friends.

don’t volunteer.

choose the thing that you’ve been telling yourself to do. then go ahead and not.

as you read this invitation, notice what comes up for you.

maybe this feels like a weight lifted. UGH, how good it feels to not have to do something. better than sex.

or maybe there are parts of you that feel triggered by this invitation. that say, “wtf is this random linkydinky bro saying? i can’t just not do the thing.”

in my newsletter today, we walk through the unhinged idea that you can just not do things, and what to do if this idea makes your butt cheeks clench. 

read it here, and may you live a wonderful life filled with not doing things 👇🙂

https://lnkd.in/e37BuTaA

*ground starts to rumble*

random dude: what is that??

random lady: is that an earthquake?!

another random dude: maybe it's a bomb!

another random lady: no it's a meteor!

me, from a dark corner of the bar: it's none of those things. it's much worse...

everyone: *waits in suspense*

me: *polishes off glass of beer and calmly puts it down* ... 

random lady: well what is it?!

me: it's the linkydinky influencers. they're returning from holiday. 

random dude: NO. NO. NO.

random lady: *faints with a gasp*

other random lady, crying: i thought we had more time. i thought we had more time!!!

me: they're coming. nothin we can do about that. but don't worry, i have a plan. 

other random dude: well? what is it??

me: you'll be amazed at how simple it is. 

random lady: well? out with it!

me: comment below and i'll dm it it to you 😏

*the bar explodes into chaos, glasses shattering, patrons fleeing in every direction" 

me, still sitting calmly: p.s. i'm david. i'm a coach. follow and subscribe for more...

someone's been secretly adding items to our shopping list

just watched tony robbins' event yesterday and y'all... i've got all sorts of qualms. tony be robbins people blind.

i'm not basing this just on his online event. 10 years ago i went to his three-day event. so i've gotten the full experience. and i was sold on it. afterward i wrote about how he's the "real deal". but that was before my deep inner work journey and training. i'm much more aware now.

now before i present my case, let me be clear, i'm not saying he doesn't provide value. he has some powerful methods. some are similar to ones i use with clients. and i am in nothing short of awe of his energy and stage presence.

i left his event feeling rejuvenated, alive, ready to take on the world. but then, a week or two later, it faded. it's like a drug. and we have to keep going back to get the high. i don't think his methods last.

ok so here are my main qualms:

1. it's all advice 

he doesn't listen, he doesn't hold space, it's 100% unadulterated advice. tony knows. he holds the wisdom. just do what he tells you. the best coaches and therapists i know do the opposite. they don't give advice, they let the client's process unfold.

2. he has you bypass, and even mock, the parts of you that you're ashamed of 

he has people imagine and embody the parts of them that feel sad, tired, that hold self-doubt, that hold shame, and he tells you to get rid of them. "that's not you anymore. that's you're old story. this is your new story!"

this goes against everything i've learned about healing which involves welcoming those parts, feeling the emotions, and integrating them. bypassing them buys you a week, maybe two of what feels like freedom. then those parts come raging back. and you'll need another hit of tony.

3. he mixes sales and marketing tactics with mental health advice

this is the most ick part to me. like his story about how buying a seminar from jim rohn, when he was poor, and it cost more than a week's salary, changed his life. the message is, "even if you can't afford it, buy my shit".

then at the end he tells everyone to post on social media with his hashtag sharing their old story and their new story. he says "if you don't want to do it, then that's exactly why you should do it". he challenges folks to overcome their fear to promote his event. yuck.

he makes his sales pitches right after people have the most vulnerable, emotional experiences. at his event, people were RUNNING down the aisles, credit cards held over their heads, to buy his next course. 

--

i've got more...

- the questionable data saying his seminars are more effective than therapy. 

- the embellished stories he uses to prove he's not a charlatan. 

- the cult-y use of language, rituals, and thought-terminating cliches 

i know he has helped people. i want to believe he's doing good. maybe for some, he's exactly the medicine they need.

i just can't imagine that what he's doing isn't also hurting and misleading people. and he's built a $12 billion empire doing it.

there's a storm coming and no one's prepared for whats going to happen next...

...
...

like literally. a blizzard is on its way. 

go buy more toilet paper.

it's not uncommon for founders who hire me as their coach to end up leaving or shutting down their company. 

when they bring me on, they think that the solution to their dissatisfaction might be more growth, more focus, a pivot, improving their skills, better balance, or some other adjustment. 

but as we pull on the threads of their discontent, they gradually arrive at the realization that that whole thing is misaligned. that they've designed their work and life for someone else. that they need to drop it all. 

i don't lead them there. we just pull on the threads and that's where we land. 

for other clients, they end up doubling down on their work, with even greater vigor, because they've seen that it is truly their right action. 

my commitment to my clients is never to achieve their goals at all costs. 

my commitment to my clients is to help them see their truth. 

that's all.

how much of our discontent with our jobs comes from a deeper knowing that all of this work might just not be necessary?

Alex McCann got me thinking about this today... what a jerk, hitting me with existential questions at this hour on a tuesday.

like, this whole "society" we built. how much of it is necessary? how much of it is just nice-to-haves? how much innovation do humans truly need to be okay?

so much of it seems like it was invented for the sake of being invented. and then other things were invented to support those things. and then more was invented to support all that.

suddenly we're doing project management for a SaaS company that serves SaaS companies that serve engineers who build AI for SaaS companies who build consumer apps that no one actually needed or wanted before they arrived.

we've created all of these things we think we need in order to be happy when maybe all we need is a good home, with loving connections, a supportive community, good meals, healthy bodies, and a few good belly laughs. 

then we look at the jobs we show up to every day and wonder, what's the point of all this? it's so circular. 

maybe i'm being naive. i can see how, as the human population grew, innovation was needed to keep us all alive. and yes, that means that the simple life of a small village is just continuously disappearing. big populations require innovative systems to keep it from all falling apart.

and for all my complaining, i still drive my car, and enjoy my central air, and always have access to a wide range of food. innovation has brought me a more comfortable life that i wouldn't readily give up.

yet i wonder, what are the costs of these comforts?

anyway, go read Alex's newsletter today about the ways we might lack "meaning" in work. it's wonderful. it breaks down meaning into five more specific categories and if you've been feeling disconnected at work, i bet at least one of them resonates with you 

👉  https://lnkd.in/eseaHwE8

my newsletter strategy: write what feels fun

my coaching strategy: work with fun clients

my linkydinky strategy: have a little too much  fun 

my parenting strategy: choose activities that i have fun doing 

my tv watching strategy: watch the most effed up murder shows possible, which is fun for my wife and i 

i've learned that a lot of things figure themselves out when i just do the thing that's fun.

and everything gets harder when i force myself to do something that isn't fun, just because "hard work is a virtue". 

whoever said that was most definitely not having fun. 

and probably had bad smelling farts.

me: can't wait to get back into flow with work in the new year!

the flu: lol hide yo kids, hide yo wife

me: wow okay you got us. great. at least i'll be able to get back to work once you're gone

wisdom teeth surgery i scheduled weeks ago: heyyyy

--

2026 kicking off with a blech

undefined undefined

them: skate to where the puck is going

me: okay, where is it going? 

them: no clue

me: okayyy so how do i know where to skate to?

them: i dunno. take a guess? 

me: so you're saying skate to where i think the puck might be going

them: no, everyone thinks the puck is going there. you need to skate to where no one else is skating. 

me: and that's where the puck will go?

them: probably not

me: right. so why is this good advice? 

them: sir this is linkedin people don't usually ask this many questions

me: k i'm just going to skate because it's fun 

them: but can i get a like?

me: why don't you skate to where the likes are

i read this every day when I sit down to work.

work has gotten much better ever since.

Daniel Markovits

Creators + Community + Sports @ LinkedIn | Venture Scout | I help CEOs, execs, VCs, athletes & brands stand out and build authority

I’m a community builder and strategist obsessed with how people - founders, execs, athletes, creators - show up online and build trust at scale.Today, as CCO at Shake, I help B2B founders turn their ideas, experiences, and point of view into a content engine that drives authority, credibility, and long-term organic demand. We call it founder-led marketing: using the founder’s voice as the most powerful acquisition channel a business has. When done right, it makes sales easier, trust faster, and brand-building more human.Before Shake, I spent years at LinkedIn shaping how top leaders show up on the platform. I worked across editorial, product, and creator partnerships. Onboarding world-class talent like Lewis Hamilton, helping executives communicate with clarity and personality, and launching scaled video programs that grew community engagement across markets. I’ve supported 500+ high-impact members, from CEOs to rising operators, helping them grow their audience, sharpen their story, and build influence that actually moves people.My path has never been linear.. I’ve simply followed what made me curious: how communities form, how stories spread, and how the right piece of content can unlock opportunities for people. That curiosity has taken me from Tel Aviv to London and through roles that mix editorial instinct, product thinking, and deep talent partnership.At the core, my work has stayed the same:I help people communicate with more clarity, more confidence, and more humanity - so they can build the kind of presence that opens doors.If you care about founder-led marketing, storytelling, or the future of how leaders build trust online, we’re already speaking the same language.

Co-Founder

Club created to serve as a continuous bond between the diaspora community and the State of Israel.

• Successful crowdfunding campaign & world wide media coverage
• 150+ players from 25 different countries 
• Currently in Liga Gimel (5th division) of the Israeli Football League

Dani Markovits

LinkedIn just became even more important.

AI systems like ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity now cite LinkedIn as their second most-referenced domain

(right after Reddit and ahead of Wikipedia).

This has huge implications for your business.

When potential clients ask AI: 'Who are the leading experts in (your industry)?' or 'what companies should I trust for (your service)?, the answer is being shaped by LinkedIn content right now.

Discovery is shifting:
➡️ From search → to synthesis
➡️ From ads → to authority
➡️ From brand pages → to people with real track records and opinions

This is especially important/relevant for businesses built on trust: B2B, tech, professional services, finance, cyber, healthcare, and more.

Your thought leadership isn't just building your personal brand anymore. It's training the AI systems that are pre-qualifying you before prospects ever reach your website.

The decision is being made in the AI conversation, not on your homepage.

This is exactly why, at Shake Content, we focus so heavily on helping founders and execs show up with real expertise, real stories, and real perspective.

bottom line: your prospects are having conversations with AI whether you like it or not.

The opportunity? This shift is still early. Most of your competitors aren't thinking this way yet.

s/o to Irina Novoselsky & Becca Chambers for already beating this drum👏

CCO @ Shake Content | Ex LinkedIn | I help CEOs, execs, VCs & brands stand out and build authority on LinkedIn

Had a great catch-up with Jason Jung 정세진 at the Netflix office yesterday. 

We first met when I was at LinkedIn and he was at TikTok. Now he’s at Netflix and I’m building Shake. 

Funny how much changes, and how much doesn’t.

Still talking creators, content and platforms… just with different logos behind us.

Grateful for friends who work at places with great offices and free snacks 😆

It's not just you. More people are actually spending time on LinkedIn now.

And I'm weirdly happy about that.

I spent 4 years at LinkedIn, and a big part of what my team pushed for (even if it was never officially called this) was changing the premise that people only used the platform to look for a job.

And you can see it now. 

People scrolling on the tube/subway. Checking in daily (sometimes just for the games). Athletes sharing opinions, not just sponsorships. Founders talking openly about what's working and what isn't.

The WSJ shared an interesting article this week.

Apparently, inside LinkedIn there were constant debates about whether the platform should allow handles instead of real names.

And according to Gyanda Sachdeva (VP of Product), the question kept coming up: “Should we add handles?”

But the team always came back to the same answer — stick with real identities to protect trust.

And I'm glad they did.

Because when your name and reputation are attached to what you post, you show up differently. You think a bit more. You try to add something useful. 

That’s also why founder-led marketing works so well here.

LinkedIn isn’t perfect, but sticking with real identities might be one of the smartest decisions they ever made.

Full article here (worth the read) - https://lnkd.in/ewZ32kXJ

Everyone keeps asking me:

Should we invest in organic or paid on LinkedIn?

(and I think we're asking the wrong question)

They're not competing strategies, they work together.

Organic is your audition.
Test your messages, angles, and formats with 'zero' risk. See what actually makes people stop scrolling. What gets real comments, not just friendly likes. What people save or share.

If something doesn't work organically, paid won't save it. You'll just pay to help more people ignore it.

Paid is your amplifier.
Once you know what resonates, that's when you invest. Put budget behind what's already proven. Extend its reach. Get it in front of more of the right people.

Now you're not guessing (you are just scaling what works).

Most companies do this backwards. They create something, skip the test, and immediately spend money promoting it. Then they're surprised when it underperforms.

The issue usually isn't the targeting. It's that the message was never validated.

Better approach:
Let your audience tell you what's working first. 

Then amplify it.

The “who” is becoming more important than the “what”

What you say matters. But who says it now matters more.

This is the biggest shift I am seeing in 2026.

In the age of AI, credibility beats content.

Recent data shows that AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity are now citing LinkedIn 4–6x more than they were just a few months ago. And around 80% of those citations come from content written by real people on LinkedIn (not company pages).

That’s big.

AI isn’t only asking: Is this information relevant? It is asking: Who is saying this, and should I trust them?

LinkedIn makes that easy. Your role. Your experience. Your track record. Your network. All verifiable in seconds.

Which means the internet is shifting from: 
websites as sources → people as sources.

This is becoming one of the most important priorities for our clients, and exactly why, at Shake Content, we focus so heavily on founder and executive voice.

Source: https://lnkd.in/ezWsTazM

More context. Less urgency.

My friend George Mack once shared this take that went viral.. and honestly, it’s pretty bang on.

For a long time, I saw that as a bad thing about LinkedIn.

Boring. 
Too slow.
Always catching up.
Not where new ideas start.

But lately.. I have started to see it differently.

Maybe LinkedIn isn’t where things break first. But it might be the best place to actually make sense of them.

There are plenty of places to spot trends early: Twitter/X, Reddit, TikTok, Discord, group chats, wherever.

We're drowning in real-time takes. Every platform is racing to be first. Everyone is trying to go viral. 

LinkedIn's 'slowness' is starting to feel like the thing we might actually need.

So yeah, George is right. If it's big on LinkedIn, you're definitely late. 

But late to the hype means early to the insight.

We don't talk enough about the work we do with our clients.

So here's what happened when we partnered with shipshape.vc & Daniel Sawko.

Shipshape is an investor search engine that's helped 4,000+ companies raise over £1bn. They aggregate data from 25,000+ global funds and layer in private growth signals to show founders where capital is actually moving.

Their CEO, Daniel, had a strong LinkedIn presence but was frustrated by how much time quality content required. The platform had genuinely differentiated data, but the challenge was making that value immediately clear to both founders raising capital and institutional buyers.

What we focused on:
We stripped away feature-heavy messaging and built founder-led storytelling around:
- Why private growth signals matter in fundraising
- How attribution and precision targeting translate into ROI
- Making complex value propositions instantly understandable

Content became a dual-purpose asset - educating at the top of the funnel while supporting mid-cycle sales conversations.

The results over 4 months:
60% increase in impressions
44% increase in engagements 
13% follower growth 
30% uplift in platform signups vs. the prior period

That last metric is the one that matters. The content didn't just build awareness.. it drove adoption.

As Daniel put it: "We've got relevant insights to share, but finding the time was always challenging. Working with Shake Content has made content easy - we're producing studio-grade video content and tapping into new channels like YouTube."

This is what happens when you turn a technically powerful product into clear, consistent storytelling. Content becomes a growth driver, not just a brand exercise.

Excited to see where Shipshape goes next.

The full case study is here: https://lnkd.in/e-a_uJHZ

Hot take for 2026:

Your company shouldn’t act like a corporate page.
It should operate like ESPN.

ESPN doesn’t just run one show announcing scores. They have:
1/ First Take (debate and hot takes)
2/ SportsCenter (news + highlights)
3/ 30 for 30 (deep storytelling)
4/ Around the Horn (rotating expert panels)

Each show has distinct personalities. People tune in for Stephen A. Smith not 'ESPN Corporate Communications'

So why is your LinkedIn strategy just one bland corporate feed?

📺 Here’s the play for 2026
- Your VP of Product should be breaking down roadmap decisions like they're analyzing draft picks

- Your Lead Designer should be showing works-in-progress and debating design philosophy like it's film study

- Your Customer Success team should be sharing war stories from the trenches (not just case studies)

- Your Data Scientist should be dropping insights that make people stop scrolling

One corporate voice = changing the channel
Multiple expert voices = must-watch content

Give your experts their own shows. Let them have a point of view. Let them disagree with each other sometimes. Let them be interesting.

Nobody remembers the NBA's official press releases.

But everyone remembers the analysts who had something real to say about the game.

taplio

The Battle

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Dani Markovits

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The Battle

David Spinks

Dani Markovits

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}David Spinks's LinkedIn Performance

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