Featuring: Doug Bloom, Principal, DAB Ventures
January 9, 2026
Organizations rarely fail because they lack plans, tools, or well-known frameworks. Many of the most celebrated companies had all of those and still collapsed. This presentation explores deeper forces that quietly undermine execution, strategic clarity, and organizational speed, revealing why even the best frameworks cannot overcome the human and structural dynamics that actually determine success. Attendees will be challenged to rethink where strategy truly begins, why traditional fixes fall short, and what must shift before any system or methodology can meaningfully change outcomes.
Doug Bloom was the CEO of a VC-backed, early-stage, B2B energy-services company that served more than 125 national-brand, Fortune-500, multi-site retail and retail-service companies across the United States and Canada. From 2006 to 2016, Doug grew the company from ten employees to more than forty, and from losses to sustainability and an eventual sale.
Doug has held executive level sales management positions in the Telecom/Internet industry. Doug’s broader corporate background includes successful start-up leadership, fundraising, growth management, with corporate acquisition, investment and exit experiences. Doug’s sector experience spans energy-efficiency, business software and services, internet services, collectibles, drug discovery, and telecom. Doug’s Board experience includes private and non-profit Boards, representing investor groups, and serving as an executive reporting to the Board.
Doug has consulted with early-stage, privately-held business owners, investors and executives off-and-on for roughly one-third of his career. Doug’s advisory work spans the full range of culture and growth challenges faced by emerging growth companies — from the boardroom to the shop floor. Doug has partnered with leadership teams on culture (values, vision, and mission), strategy, business planning and development, fundraising, investment assessment and management, and software design and development.
Doug’s early career includes software development supporting Pharmaceutical Research, Venture Capital, and internships on Wall Street and in London with a premier investment bank. Doug holds an MBA from the Wharton School, an MSE from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA degree from Colgate University.