Damon Brown

Damon Brown helps side hustlers, solopreneurs, and other non-traditional creatives bloom. As a best-selling author, two-time startup founder, and four-time TED Speaker, Damon co-founded the popular platonic connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year, all while being the primary caretaker of his infant son. He now guides others through his one-on-one business coaching, Inc. Magazine column, and side hustle bootcamp.

Creatives often undervalue their services to the market, to their bank account, and to the world. In this inspirational and practical talk, Damon shares the best ways we can joyfully make a living off our craft, create business partnerships worthy of our skills, and truly be of service to others.

(Video courtesy of ASJA Austin: February 3, 2018)

What is the number one killer of innovation? Perfection. With perfection, the key motivation often isn’t having high standards, but being afraid of making a mistake. In this talk, I share the three powerful strengths you get when you let perfection go.

(Photo courtesy of TEDxToledo: September 20, 2018)

Believe it or not, we already have most of the skills we need to create our passion-driven business. So why aren’t most people pursuing their potentially profitable ideas? They are intimidated by the small gap in their skill set. In this immediately actionable talk, Damon shares how to easily traverse that gap and explains the three crucial strengths every successful entrepreneur possesses. It is an inspiring talk for both potential entrepreneurs and ambitious upstarts.

(Video from Bedroom Kandi V-Conference, August 2020)

Current Engagements

• Fireside Chat at McGill University's Speak to Lead: October 15th, Montreal, QC, Canada (Off-Site)
• Speaker at American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA) Conference: September 29th, New York, NY (Off-Site)
• Speaker at TEDxToledo: September 17th, Toledo, OH (Off-Site)
• Speaker at Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Conference: September 12th - 13th, Washington, DC (Off-Site)
• Keynote at Bedroom Kandi V-Conference: August 15th, Atlanta, GA (Off-Site)
• Moderator at Inc./Salesforce's The Big Shift: July 16th, New York, NY (Off-Site)

• Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Toledo Main Library: October 9th, 16th, 23rd & 29th, Toledo, OH
• Morning Keynote at Maumee High School (Maumee, OH)
• TED Active (TED Conference, Second Stage, Whistler, BC)
• TEDxToledo keynote (Toledo, OH)
• Colombia 4.0 (Bogota, Colombia)
• Authors! Keynote at Sylvania Library (Sylvania, OH)
• American Society of Journalists and Authors keynote (Austin, Texas)
• American University keynote (Washington, DC)
• Adult Entertainment Expo keynote (Las Vegas, NV)
• Crowdsourcing Week (Washington, D.C.)
• American Underground (Durham, NC)
• Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
• TEDxJackson keynote (Jackson, MS)
• University of California Santa Cruz keynote (Santa Cruz, CA)
• American Society of Journalists & Authors keynote (Austin, TX)