# David Oates

> David Oates is the San Francisco-based CEO and co-founder of Curtsy, a fashion resale marketplace that grew out of a campus dress-rental experiment. A designer and developer who left Northeastern University, helped design HubSpot's early CRM, and briefly became DoorDash's top-rated, highest-volume driver, Oates has built his career around removing small but consequential points of friction. At Curtsy, that meant abandoning a seasonal rental model, embracing resale, and making listing, merchandising, and shipping easier for casual sellers.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Curtsy
- **Organizations:** Curtsy, HubSpot, Rough Draft Ventures, DoorDash, Y Combinator, Northeastern University
- **Education:** Coursework in computer science and philosophy; left without graduating, Northeastern University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Curtsy, which evolved from campus dress rentals into a nationwide fashion resale marketplace., Helped Curtsy reach a reported $25 million annual GMV with roughly six core team members., Raised an $11 million Series A led by Index Ventures in 2021; TechCrunch reported $14.5 million raised to date at that point.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2012** — Built websites for a Charlotte restaurant, lawyers and other small businesses; worked on the Myers Park High School newspaper and morning broadcast.
- **2012** — Entered Northeastern University and became active in its Entrepreneurs Club.
- **2013** — Won Best Visual Design at the Beanpot Hackathon with the Jobify team.
- **2014** — Won third place at Coinbase's BitHack for Coinery, a JavaScript payment library; participated in Rough Draft Ventures.
- **2014-2015** — Left Northeastern, joined HubSpot as an engineer, and became lead designer on the company's early CRM project.
- **2015** — Moved to San Francisco, worked as a DoorDash courier, and was recognized as the platform's top-rated, highest-volume driver for October.
- **2015** — Joined the campus dress-rental project that became Curtsy after reconnecting with high-school friend William Ault.
- **2016** — Moved to Oxford, Mississippi to work on Curtsy, then entered Y Combinator and relocated with the team to Mountain View.
- **2017** — Returned to San Francisco with Curtsy after experimenting with expansion across college campuses.
- **2018** — Led Curtsy's switch from peer-to-peer rentals to buying and selling secondhand clothing.
- **2020** — Curtsy reported roughly $25 million in annual GMV with a core team of about six and was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 Consumer Technology list as a founding team.
- **2021** — Curtsy announced an $11 million Series A led by Index Ventures.
- **2022** — Hosted the five-episode Something Like That podcast and Curtsy launched on Android.
- **2023** — Moderated a Curtsy founder panel at the University of Mississippi's REDe Entrepreneurship Summit; the university reported projected 2023 revenue of $30 million for Curtsy.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Curtsy, which evolved from campus dress rentals into a nationwide fashion resale marketplace.
- Helped Curtsy reach a reported $25 million annual GMV with roughly six core team members.
- Raised an $11 million Series A led by Index Ventures in 2021; TechCrunch reported $14.5 million raised to date at that point.
- Was part of Curtsy's founding team recognized on Forbes' 2021 30 Under 30 Consumer Technology list.
- Designed HubSpot's early CRM after initially joining the company as an engineer.
- Earned third place at Coinbase's 2014 BitHack and Best Visual Design at the 2013 Beanpot Hackathon.
- Authored a first-person Vox essay about becoming DoorDash's top-rated, highest-volume driver for October 2015.

## Latest updates

- **2023-11** — Moderated a Curtsy co-founder panel for more than 250 students at the University of Mississippi's REDe Entrepreneurship Summit.
- **2023-11** — University of Mississippi coverage reported that Curtsy had raised more than $15 million and projected 2023 revenue of $30 million.
- **2022-09** — Published the fifth episode of his Something Like That podcast, focused on pivots and Curtsy's early encounter with failure.
- **2022-02** — Curtsy launched its Android app, expanding beyond its earlier iOS-only availability.

## Links

- Website: https://curtsyapp.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deoates
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/deoates
- GitHub: https://github.com/deoates
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/Curtsy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtsy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtsyapp
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@curtsyapp

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-oates
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18