David Edelman

(Photo Credit: David Edelman)

Name: David Edelman​ (twitter)

Occupation: Founder and CEO of Thrivable

Favorite Restaurant in Town? I really miss Ginko's sushi tasting menu - one of Cleveland's best-kept secrets! For now, Gigi's is few steps away from our house and has provided many fantastic date night meals.

What's something useful, magical, or wonderful about Cleveland? We are lucky to have the Metroparks! The sections of the Buckeye Trail between Blue Hen Falls and Bedford Reservation are spectacular. If you have never hiked that area, I highly recommend starting at Jaite and doing the 4 miles North or South of there. (Note that the parking near Blue Hen Falls has been closed due to Covid).

Q: David, you are the founder of Thrivable, what do you all do and why'd you start it?

Thrivable is a real-time market research platform. We help patients and solution-makers work together to create the next generation of products and services. We believe that companies that build what people want will win -- and patients will get the tools that genuinely make their lives better.

This is personal for me. Back in 2005, I co-created the Diabetes Daily online community after a loved one was diagnosed. Over time it has grown into a leading destination for people who want to thrive with diabetes. Along the way, I started working with companies that wanted to genuinely engage with patients. The more patient-centric companies dominated the market over time. So this is both a real business opportunity and a chance to help bend health care towards patient needs.

I also started it because I wanted to work with smart, driven people who like to cultivate joy in their lives. Building a company from scratch gives me a chance to build the kind of place that I want to work. We are extremely values-centric.

Q: What's one of Cleveland's best-kept secrets?

There is 117-year-old organization that does zero-interest loans to people in need. It makes the difference for so many: repairing a car so someone can keep their job, financing a startup, helping people escape payday loans, going to college, and so much more. Over 97% of the loans are repaid - so that donations there reverberate across the decades. It's this incredible cycle of getting help and paying it forward.

Everyone should know that HFLA of Northeast Ohio is there as a lifeline to people in need.

Q: You are about to finish a round of funding, can you share some information on that and what the funds will be used for?

This is a very exciting moment for us as an organization. We have traction with some of the biggest companies in the world and need to increase our speed of innovation to win in the marketplace. This capital will be used to find some great new team members (who live our values!) and create the #1 platform for real-time insights.

That's the glamorous framing. :) On the other hand, building something from nothing for quality-conscious customers is really hard. So we spend a lot of time taking a product that is promising but incomplete and performing magic tricks to deliver an outstanding customer experience. Now we need good people who can help us operationalize and automate everything so that we can continue to scale.

Q: What have been some of the benefits of having your startup located in Cleveland?

Cleveland is a great place for a startup. The downsides of Cleveland, which are gaps in certain startup skillsets and more conservative approaches to capital, are easily remedied in this remote work environment. The benefits of Cleveland are huge: lower cost of living, good people who will help you out, easy access to leaders, strong corporate partners.

I think Cleveland's cultural trajectory is positive. There seems to be an increasing number of people who have a more optimistic, coastal attitude towards innovation and investment in startups. I want to see some billion-dollar exits that flood the market with experienced startup talent and optimistic angels to accelerate these cultural changes. I don't know who will succeed, but let's plant a lot of seeds, nurture them, and see what happens.

Q: When COVID ends, where is your first vacation and why?

I would love to go back to Burning Man! Not sure how that works with a baby, though. :)