Dave Jenkins
Vice President
Innovation Platform and AI | Strategy & Curation
Dave has worked on almost all sides of ecommerce: technology, marketing, business development, consulting, and deployment. He ran his own studio, was CTO at Backcountry.com just prior to their acquisition, managed professional services and consulting for Red Hat in EMEA and then APAC, directed online strategy for Caleres, and most recently grew a data visualization platform for Vision.Space. Dave is passionate about finding new technology and the unconventional solutions that technology can bring to business. Dave speaks several languages, including fluent Japanese and conversational Korean, Chinese, and Spanish.
Work With Startups
Pushed new markets at Red Hat when they were still just 500 people. Ran Backcountry.com technology up through their acquisition by Liberty Media. Worked at Living Direct just before their acquisition. Went through my own failed consumer goods startup (long story).
More About Dave Jenkins
My most successful innovation work ...
I helped introduce Red Hat Enterprise Linux to EMEA and APAC, with it's revolutionary 'subscription support' business model that allowed the company to generate ongoing revenue from open source software.
My second most successful innovation project was ...
I helped launch steepandcheap.com from scratch which is a thriving deal-of-the-day site (almost immediately after the first woot.com)
An a-ha moment that changed my way of innovating was ...
The moment I realized that some factors are essentially free (digital storage, CPU power), and others are very valuable (customer focus, developer time, team culture).
My most inspiring project at Iterate ...
I'm still new, but every idea that I've dreamed up so far is already being done by this team in some form or another.
Qualities of an innovator
- Vision
- Communication
- Commitment
Fun Tidbits
Why work with Iterate?
The constant search for new technology and guiding the impact that tech can have for our clients is adictive.
You may not know about me ...
I own a rare 1977 Vespa Rally200, and can play the guitar backwards.
Most inspiring Leader-Innovator(s) ...
Elon Musk
What school did NOT teach me ...
Practical economics for making a deal.
Free Time
An ever-expanding garden/orchard in the backyard.
Favorite Books About Innovation and Why
One Favorite Book
by Erich and Edgar P. Slack Hausmann
Dave's thoughts: My father's Physics book, which had all the original long equations. From this I wrote my first primitive games on an Apple II knock-off in high school.
Another Favorite Book
by Takuan Soho
Dave's thoughts: This book taught me how to take away the unnecessary parts of a given challenge. More often than not, many factors are noise or friction. Take away these empty motions, and what remains is the work to be done.
Favorite Quotes About Innovation
“The safe way is actually the risky way; what appears risky now is actually the safe way”
~ John BresseFavorite Music and Movie?
Punk Rock, Surf, Jazz
Repo Man (1984)