David Charles is an experienced growth hacker, storyteller, and serial entrepreneur.
He serves as the Co-Founder, CEO, and COO of MOOD, a surging e-trade dispensary that produces criminal, high-quality THC merchandise tailored to set your mood.
David’s marketing career began as a media buyer at MuteSix (received using Dentsu Inc.) in Los Angeles, becoming employee #14 on the venerable social media marketing enterprise.
What followed turned into a series of entrepreneurial e-trade ventures in numerous categories, including a business in human pheromones and nutraceuticals.
Following this era, he entered Telehealth, serving in an executive function at YC-subsidized Fella Health and as a marketing consultant to AI Healthtech startup mEMR.
In April 2022, David changed into approached with the help of buddy/marketing colleague Jake Antifaev to start an internet hashish dispensary.
The prospect of building and scaling this vertical appealed to him, and by using that August, they launched MOOD.
The enterprise has grown exponentially over the past eight months and has served over 15,000 customers to date.
As CEO and COO, David’s duties include navigating complicated delivery chains, sourcing reliable developing experts, imposing meticulous warranty requirements, and growing and gaining knowledge of new SKUs.
“While we’re a hashish company, we operate with the precision and efficiency of a tech business enterprise,” David states.
MOOD excels by presenting exceptional-in-magnificence THC products, offering its customers free comfort, the opportunity to find new merchandise, and personalization – frequently exceeding the experience at most brick-and-mortar dispensaries.
Over the next few years, MOOD plans to amplify its footprint in global markets, even staying authentic to its emblem pillars of making brilliant THC products handy to the hundreds.
MOOD’s most laudable traits are the superior product pride and logo loyalty they’ve garnered thus far —the copious waft of high-quality consumer opinions on their e-commerce site is evidence of the young emblem’s thrilling ability and staying strength.
Now 32, David is based in Austin, TX. Amidst the all-encompassing duties of guiding MOOD’s success, he enjoys playing chess, cooking, studying, and going out with his canine Stanley.
What’s your typical day like, and how do you stay productive?
Extremely eclectic. There are many conferences, numerous chunks of deep paintings, and areas ranging from product improvement, advertising and marketing, data analytics, tech, logistics, supply chain, and hiring.
On a few uncommon days, I’m performed in 6 hours and take the afternoon off, but more commonly, I’ll paint two shifts: 6-nine hours beginning in the morning, then taking an hour or, and then I’m usually back to the computer for another three-4.
I like fasting earlier in the day and, after I eat – retaining carbs low so I don’t get a massive glycemic spike + ensuing crash.
When I’m home in Austin, I take 2-three walks with my canine Stanley to think about something paintings-related and meta.
Or proper now, even as I’m in Madrid workshopping with our CTO, I stroll the streets and drink coffee.
I also like taking note of songs: classical allows me to track in, and faster stuff with vocals gets me pumped up if I’m fatigued.
How do you bring ideas to life?
First, I think broadly: exhaustive, considerate, and pass-purposeful. What are the myriad effects (exact/ terrible) of the concept?
Then narrow, breaking down regions of opportunity and obligation, getting granular on what desires to take place and the way – the use of discretion at this level to wave an “I don’t know how this could occur, but individual X gets it finished” wand.
I like the use of Notion to combine those thoughts in digestible form and proportion them with applicable human beings on Slack, requesting remarks with the aid of Y date.
Then, formalize into DRIs/ Stakeholders for constituent pieces and log in to a challenge control software (we use Clickup).
It’s best when something can only appear async, but conferences are typically wished. We have a rule about conferences: if you’re not supplying price, depart. It’s worse to live in a meeting and waste some time than to excuse yourself.
What trend excites you?
The pass closer to personalization in health/ well-being verticals.
What habit boosts your productivity?
Silence all notifications (Slack/ iMessage) all through centered work. I don’t have social media apps on my phone – that stuff is this kind of drug, and 10s effortlessly will become 10m of wasted time.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The most effective way to construct true shallowness is to work arduously and always put your whole being into tough things.
What’s an unpopular belief you hold?
The classical song is a cosmic reflection of our molecular fact.
What do you recommend doing repeatedly?
Make the entirety an impeccable settlement. If a favored thing doesn’t have a DRI (at once responsible character), a defined motion, and a due date – it’s simply complex airflow; it doesn’t exist.
What do you do when overwhelmed?
Organize into chew-sized pieces and buckle down. Coffee helps to a quantity.
What strategy helped your business grow?
Tactical empathy: The more excellent value you provide, the bigger you win.
So it’s all about understanding whom you’re selling to: what they care about, what they worry about, and what would assist them that they still want to be informed about.
These hypotheses are the basis of the first concepts: a rock splashing and emanating subculture and tactics like ripples in a virtuous pond.
Again, that is a no-brainer, but the meat of it means an enormous determination to patronize obsession and continuous discovery processes.
What have you learned from a failure?
I was in a role wherein I was below-resourced and regularly overruled by people I didn’t accept as accurate to be qualified to disagree with me.
It become frustrating now that I am not on the way to executing rational initiatives I had high confidence would result in wins.
I couldn’t convince management to resource me, and ultimately, I didn’t reap my dreams. I learned the significance of working with individuals who’d unblock me to do what I do well and that I’m now not cut out to paint for someone else.
I made my company and tribe individuals who beat back and mission me mightily; however, they ultimately trusted my discretion as CEO.
What business idea can you share?
Functional gummies. Gummies are the next blue ocean of nutraceuticals. Make a practical gummy that’s legitimately efficacious for 70%+ of folks who strive for it — this may require heavy exploration, resourcefulness, and R/D.
Make a logo around it. Start stacking subscriptions and construct a collection of comparable SKUs around it.
Telehealth partnered with compounding pharma to produce novel therapeutics. Iterate rapidly with the compounders, check social media frequently, and scale the wins.
If done nicely, this would likely result in multi-6-fig MRR inside the first three months, and nobody in telehealth gets the numbers that fast.
What software enhances your productivity?
Miro is an excellent mind map/ continuous discovery/collaboration device. We use it for workshops, and it has all the functions and extras that a faraway crew needs to explore possibilities and answers.
What was your best recent purchase under $100?
New socks. I’m a cheapskate approximately weird things, and I lately stocked up on relaxed socks – wonderful self-gift
What’s your favorite book or podcast?
The Gulag Archipelago – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. On the significance of talking up for what to be actual
What movie or series did you enjoy recently and why?
Succession keeps getting better and better. It’s more raw and human than anything I’ve seen in years.
David Charles Key learnings:
- How to reduce the noise and prioritize meaningful actions
- Thinking seriously and systematically
- Standardizing techniques that pressure an org toward achievements
