The Man Behind Kadavy.net
David Kadavy is a Designer, Product Manager, and Entrepreneur. He’s also an actor, comedian, entertainer, artist, friend, lover, etc. – just like you.
The blog on kadavy.net was born on May 31, 2004, when David didn’t have a clue what he was getting into. David’s birthday is May 4th, and while he’s glad you’re getting him a gift, don’t get him “stuff.”
David currently lives in Chicago. Before that, he lived in San Francisco (he still visits often). Before that, he lived in San Jose. Before that, he lived in the town he proudly hails from: Omaha, Nebraska. David has also lived in Kearney, NE; Ames, IA; and Rome, Italy.
Creations/Inventions
David loves to think up new things. Here’s some of the stuff he’s masterminded:
- Nom.ms: a site that helps foodies “Tweet what [they] eat.”
- Flatmate Meetup: A recurring event in San Francisco, and Chicago, that lets people meet their new roommates in physical space. Like speed-dating, but if things go well, you sleep in separate beds.
- Through a Friend: A classified ad system on the Facebook Platform that uses your social connections.
- 4sli.de: a (now defunct) hosted slide presentation for designers to present to clients.
- SustainablePrint.org: a wiki knowledge base of information to help print designers make more ecologically sound decisions.
- TwitBlog: A script that allows Twitter users to publish their Tweets to their blogs. Superseded by Twitter’s expanded syndication options.
- A Mood-Based iTunes Star Rating System: If you rate a song, chances are you like it. Use those stars to categorize your favorite songs by mood.
- The Carpet-Tile Sample Area Rug: Originally conceptualized to reuse old carpet samples, some companies caught on and sell carpet tiles for this purpose now.
- The Hipster PDA Keychain: This variation on Merlin Mann’s original fits in your pocket a little easier.
Kadavy.net Spin-offs
One day David found a lump in his mouth. He freaked out and thought he was going to die of mouth cancer. When he found out he wasn’t dying, he wrote a post about the mucocele that he actually had. There were so many other people who had a similarly terrifying experience that LumpInMouth.com was born.
Kadavy in the Press
Every once in awhile, David gets quoted in a publication. Here’s a few examples. If you come over to his place, he’ll get out his scrapbook and show you the clippings.
- Chicago Tribune: Foursquare may bounce social media into money-making mode – November 29, 2009
- Chicago Tribune: ‘Coworking’ sites give self-employed, others on their own chance to connect, collaborate – August 16, 2009
- CNET: At SXSW, attendees confront Twitter saturation – March 14, 2009
- Chicago Tribune: Web networks add to neighborhood connections – November 9, 2008
Acting/Entertaining
Sometimes David acts like he’s an actor, but he’s starred in a movie before. He loves to hit an Improv class now and then, and posts videos on his YouTube channel.
Kadavy Around The Internets
The stuff on this site is just the tip of the David Kadavy iceberg. Here’s some other places you can get your kadavy on:
Contacting Kadavy
Get your people in contact with kadavy’s people through any of the above means, or by e-mailing david {at} kadavy {dot} net. Things you may want to talk to David about:
- You want to hire him for contract work. David can do pretty much anything, or find someone who can.
- You want David to speak at your event, be on your show, or you want to interview him for an article. It’ll be really great because David is super famous – or at least he will be after this gig.
- You have a cool idea and you just want to chat with him about it. David loves cool ideas.
- You look like Katie Holmes and want to date David Kadavy. If you are Katie Holmes, David’s sorry, but he doesn’t think it’s going to work out.
Saying “Kadavy”
Supposedly, it’s pronounced KAD-uh-VEE, but lots of people say “kuh-DA-vee” (yes, like “cadaver”), and David doesn’t tend to correct them, because that would be like Coca Cola telling you not to say “Coke.”
The Kadavy.net Behind The Man
Kadavy.net is where David Kadavy writes about Social Media, Productivity (Life Hacks), and himself.
Before the kadavy.net blog was born, David had some fun Flash/ActionScript experiments here.
The magic robot words behind kadavy.net
Kadavy.net’s content is managed by WordPress, and is served up on DreamHost – which are each blissfully awesome.
Before WordPress was pressing kadavy’s words, Movable Type was doing the job. Blogger made it easy for kadavy.net to get its start. David hopes he won’t have to switch platforms again, because doing so is frankly, a pain.
It pays to know David Kadavy
With DreamHost, David can host unlimited domains, install stuff like WordPress with just a click, and he supposedly gets tons of bandwidth – though he’s not sure he would know otherwise. It’s also super cheap; and because you know David Kadavy, it’s even cheaper for you. When you tell them kadavy sent you by using the promo code “KADAVY” when you sign up for DreamHost, you’ll get $50 off of your first year. This would bring your total to about 70 bones for a year, or one Tanqueray & Tonic a month.
Some people complain that DreamHost isn’t super reliable, but David thinks they are for the most part – and loves the price. “Just sign up with DreamHost, really, and save yourself some trouble” is what David says – and he would know, because before DreamHost, kadavy.net was hosted on MediaTemple, and before that, FatCow, and before that, GoDaddy. Switching hosts is also a pain, so get it right the first time.
