I'm David Elikwu

To be brutally honest, I'm just a nerd with some fountain pens who hasn't stopped writing since he was five.

  • I started sharing everything I learned online and a few thousand people signed up to come along for the ride.
  • This is the place where you'll find everything you'll need to know about thinking deeper, working smarter, and making better decisions.
  • 'The Knowledge' is named after one of the hardest exams in the world - an infamously gruelling test for taxi drivers in London. London 'cabbies' study the Knowledge to memorise the 25,000 roads, alleys, nooks and crannies spread across a sprawling city. Likewise, this platform maps data points for navigating the world around us. I'm building a cognitive compass. A place you go to figure things out.
  • In addition to my newsletter and podcast, I run a course helping people like you build kick-ass careers, and coach driven operators!
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Keep reading for an introduction to my professional life!


My career journey

As a more professional introduction, I started my career early, working on marketing campaigns for companies like Amazon, Krispy Kreme, and Credit Suisse.

I interned at Google, moved to Shanghai, came back when I ran out of money and nabbed a grad job in consulting. I hadn't graduated but I brought on four Tier-1 clients in 6 months before being offered my 'dream job' working on billion dollar deals in Corporate Law.

It took half a decade to realise I had bigger dreams. At some point I'd picked up photography as a hobby, was shooting New York and London fashion weeks within two years, and turned the side gig into a brand strategy consulting practice.

After consulting for a bunch of startups I pivoted to technology full-time, joining a startup as Chief of Staff and then transitioning to Product Strategy and Operations.

I built a few businesses along the way including:

  • Skytribe (Baba's Flight Club), a global collective of +2000 millennial travellers;
  • The Knowledge, a media platform helping +15,000 curious professionals think deeper and work smarter;
  • Democratic Republic, a value-led brand supporting global artisanship through African coffee and biodynamic wine, and;
  • Jendaya (co-founder), an Africa-first luxury e-commerce platform.

That's the boring stuff out of the way! If you want brutally honest accounts of my early career experiences, go here and here.

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If you want to learn how to build a career you can be proud of, join the next cohort of my course, Career Hyperdrive!
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If you're a founder, exec or driven operator looking to find your best form and make peak performance effortless, work with me.

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Why subscribe?

Because none of us know everything about what it takes to navigate this spinning blue marble, but by communicating ideas and learnings we can have a bloody good crack at it. I’m addicted to learning. The things I study are consolidated here for you to read and share.

Subscribe for frank, oft sarcastic, and generally humorous thoughts on things I’m exploring and ideas that matter.