David Cancel

David Cancel is the Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Drift, a conversational marketing software platform based in Boston, Massachusetts. Before transitioning to his current leadership role in 2022, he served as the company's Chief Executive Officer, guiding the enterprise to a valuation exceeding $1 billion prior to its official acquisition by Salesloft in February 2024. As a five-time software founder with multiple successful exits, Cancel previously held the position of Chief Product Officer at HubSpot following the acquisition of his former startup, Performable. His extensive entrepreneurial background also includes founding early technology firms such as Ghostery, Lookery, and Compete, alongside serving as a guest lecturer at both Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan. Cancel maintains a primary professional focus on product management, B2B software development, and advancing sales technology across the global enterprise sector.