David Waxman is a three-time venture-backed founder turned investor at TenOneTen Ventures who brings hands-on operating experience from taking PeoplePC public and building data-driven companies like Firefly (collaborative filtering, acquired by Microsoft) and Spot Runner. He's been an early champion of LA's tech ecosystem beyond entertainment and is known for his transparent approach to VC mechanics, openly coaching founders on deal structures and investor dynamics that most VCs keep opaque.

• Enthusiasm for deep tech and specialized B2B solutions. He champions startups tackling complex technical challenges, such as safety protocols for autonomous robots or platforms that help open-source maintainers monetize their work through corporate subscriptions.
• Appreciation for math and intellectual culture. He actively celebrates numerical events like Pi Day and palindrome dates, and he welcomes being identified as a nerd, suggesting a rapport with founders who enjoy technical depth and geek culture.
• Pragmatic expectations for artificial intelligence. He looks for AI that solves actual friction points, such as improving airline customer support, but is critical of generic use cases like bland AI-generated cover letters or expensive mass-market ads for search tools that feel untargeted.
• Zero tolerance for unrealistic startup metrics. He has poked fun at founders who present pre-product decks with trillion-dollar market sizes and impossibly low customer acquisition costs, signaling that he values intellectual honesty and realistic financial modeling over hype.
• High standards for product user experience and reliability. He vocalizes frustration with software that feels cluttered or loses data, such as photo storage disasters or slow car navigation systems, while praising thoughtful design touches like the year-end wrap-ups found in music apps.
• Focus on team development and engineering leadership. He is interested in the human side of scaling technical teams, specifically seeking out books and courses designed to help individual engineers transition successfully into management roles.