The Two Founders Building a Company They Almost Didn't Start

Before David Black and Heather Townsend became co-founders, they were people who almost did something — and didn't. Dave passed on buying a DC bar for $150,000 because he didn't know where to get financing. Heather built an earmuff company, had 500 pairs manufactured in China, and watched them arrive at her apartment. Years later, they met at UVA's Darden School of Business, reconnected during the pandemic, and built Cabana (yourcabana.com), a mental health platform designed to close the 11-year gap between when people start struggling and when they finally ask for help. In this episode, they talk about the scar tissue that prepared them for real entrepreneurship and the personal loss that made Dave obsessed with that statistic.