Volume 1 · Issue ∞
Howdy.
I’m Dan Golden.
A man of many nouns.
Marketer. Builder. Conscious Capitalist. Dad of Four. Musician. Extraordinaire.
plus a few more nouns
TheOrangeGuy
Marketer. Builder. Conscious Capitalist. Dad of Four. Musician. Extraordinaire.
I spent twenty years in digital marketing — co-founded an agency, grew it, took it international, and exited. These days I build things: a software company called Pandotic, and a portfolio of apps and sites that solve problems I’ve bumped into as a parent, a caregiver, and a homeowner.
At my core I’m a conscious capitalist. I believe businesses have a responsibility to serve every stakeholder — and I think the best way to prove it is to build products that actually help people, then run them well.
I’m in the middle of writing the biggest chapter of my story. The ‘why’ hasn’t changed: my purpose on this earth is to spread joy and prosperity.
If you’d like to learn more about where I’ve been, there’s an orange button I made just for you.
More Words →I’ve been lucky to surround myself with amazing communities of humans and entrepreneurs. Friends, advisors, co-founders — all elevating humanity through business.
I believe business can be a force for good — and the easiest way to prove it is to build something useful and run it well. The things I’m building get top billing; a growing number run on Pandotic, my software company, and the agency years sit at the bottom, tagged Legacy, still loved. Pick a lens to see how I’m actually involved.
40 ventures across six families of work. Below are the ones I’d lead with — use a lens above or open the full directory to see all of them.
The home for Pandotic's AI tools — practical apps that do real work, not just chat.
The core AI engine for hard calls — weigh the options, see the tradeoffs, land on a decision you can defend. Several verticals are built on top of it.
The Decision Engine pointed at special education — automating the IEP compliance paperwork schools drown in, so staff spend time with kids instead of forms. The big one.
One risk score across every part of your life — home, products, privacy, health, money. How exposed you are, how sure we are, and the single best next thing to do.
The business side of the skilled trades, made navigable — software research, ownership and succession, labor data, and a verified contractor network.
Protecting homes from real-world risk — starting with wildfire defense in the Bay Area, expanding into flood and storm hardening.
The manual nobody hands you for helping aging parents — the tech, the care, and the everyday logistics. (Yes, I'm in the trenches too.)
The leading platform for aligning your spending with your values. I invested early and rode it all the way to an acquisition by Climate First Bank.
One of the world's leading HubSpot agencies — London, Singapore, Cape Town, Chicago. The international evolution of BFO, now 150+ people strong. I'm a founding investor, not an operator.
The climate-focused bank that acquired Ecountabl — which is how I ended up an investor in a bank. Sustainability-first lending and deposits, doing what most banks only put in a report.
The award-winning performance marketing agency I co-founded in 2009 and helped build into an Ad Age #1 Best Place to Work. Exited — still rooting for them.
Showing 11 of 40.
Big stages, small stages, classrooms, zoom rooms — I love teaching and talking. These days I mostly talk about building with AI, marketing that doesn’t suck, and running a business like a human.
Dan Golden is one of the few individuals that ticks all the boxes. He is an expert in his industry, an employee-centric leader, and, more importantly, does a phenomenal job educating others on how to combine the two.
We hosted Dan for a discussion — Search marketing trends: What's now, what's new, what's next. Feedback from our members was overwhelmingly positive; his insights resulted in actionable items.
Dan inspires his audience; he builds a foundation of knowledge then takes us into the future. I always hear great feedback after his presentations.
The presenter and his content were EXCELLENT. One of the best webinars I've attended (and I've been attending A LOT of them during the pandemic!).
The stuff I’ve written, been quoted in, or appeared on. The full vault has all of it.
Before I was a “business guy” I was a touring musician — three bands, one Chicago Music Awards nomination, and a basement I still play in.