Real Life Superpowers
David Siegel: Remembering the power of community
In a conversation with Noa Eshed and Ronen Menipaz on the podcast Real Life Superpowers, David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, discusses the significance of community and the power of the storytelling
Would you agree that we become better people when we’re around other people, and ideally, meeting in person?
Today’s guest on the Real Life Superpowers podcast certainly does.
David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup – the largest platform in the world for finding and building a local community for people with similar interests.
Meetup was acquired by WeWork in 2017, a year later David was selected by both WeWork and Meetup’s founder to succeed him as CEO.
That move proved itself. Nowadays under David’s leadership Meetup flourishes with over 40 million members, 320,000 Meetup groups and facilitates, and around 12,000 Meetups around the world daily.
David is also the author of a new book called ‘Decide and Conquer: 44 Decisions that will Make or Break All Leaders’, where he outlines the challenges leaders face when starting a new position, and then presents a decision framework he applied to overcome challenges in his own career.
He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he teaches strategic planning and entrepreneurship. He hosts the podcast ‘Keep Connected’, dedicated – you’ve guessed it – to the power of community. Prior to joining Meetup, David was the CEO of Investopedia where he tripled its revenue over a three-year period. He also served as the President of SeekingAlpha, a technology company focused on startups seeking financing, and as Senior Vice President for 1-800 Flowers.
Noa Eshed: recognized as a thought leader by the Daily Telegraph. Her book "The Smart Marketer's Guide to Google Adwords” was an Amazon no.1 bestseller. Her digital marketing agency Bold Digital Architects has acclaimed several industry awards. She previously co-founded and distributed Israel’s only national magazine for students, and is a certified lawyer (Hebrew U grad) and journalist.
Ronen Menipaz: an Israeli investor, entrepreneur, tech advisor, and founder of numerous business ventures in the entertainment, adtech, and fintech space. During his 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, Ronen has been involved with over 100 startups in Israel, 30 of which he founded or co-founded. Two of those startups went public, while five were sold and four more are currently privately profitable companies.
