INTERVIEW | Make Money by Building Relationships That Create Long-Term Value with David Homan

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Travis Makes Money

Episode: "INTERVIEW | Make Money by Building Relationships That Create Long-Term Value with David Homan"

Host: Travis Chappell
Guest: David Homan
Date: August 10, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on how intentional relationships can be the most valuable asset in building both personal wealth and long-term value. Host Travis Chappell interviews David Homan, founder and CEO of Orchestrated Connecting and Soar Connect, a renowned community-builder and advisor who’s made a career out of leveraging authentic connections. Throughout the discussion, David shares how his nonprofit roots, setbacks, and learned habits led to a globally respected network and business focused on purposeful relationships—not transactional exchanges—showing listeners how “making more money” and enjoying life is rooted in serving others and building trust, not in cutting corners or being a “collector.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Career and Nonprofit Lessons

• David’s Start: David began in the nonprofit world, motivated by his family’s values and personal experiences with arts organizations.
• Key Moment: Economic crises (e.g., Madoff scandal, housing bubble) forced him to rethink fundraising—not just as a task, but as a relationship-building process.
• Performance as Proof: "If we had 1100 donors and over 912 were attributed as I brought them in, it's really hard to say what I'm doing isn't working." (David, 03:31)
• Shift in Value: Relationships, not just performance metrics, drive long-term impact in philanthropy and business alike.

2. Building an Ethical, ‘Orchestrated’ Network

• Non-Traditional Approach: David intentionally built a 3,000+ member global community with “no membership fees, no event sponsorships—just trust.” (07:12)
• Why Exclude Fees: "What that gives me is the trust of the people most trusted on this planet. And this network grows several hundred a year where I can pick up a phone and everyone takes the call—not for me, but for somebody else I trust that they can help." (David, 07:12)
• Business Model: Revenue comes through a hybrid model—advising, coaching, and facilitating connections for high-integrity clients on reasonable retainers, not commissions or exclusivity fees.
• Core Rule: Only invite people you’d “leave your kids with.” This ensures the network retains its reputation and collective value.

3. Navigating Personal Obstacles & Vulnerability

• Overcoming Shyness: David was "a shy, pudgy kid who got sick at 12," never naturally “good at networking.” (05:33)
• Building Community: He explains how anxiety, criticism, and setbacks like the Madoff scandal and personal trauma gave him empathy and resilience.
• On Giving: "The world is full of people who have all these desires and all these wants and don't balance with how much they give." (David, 06:10)
• Accepting Human Imperfection: Even at his level, fear of rejection and not being able to give enough back is always present.

4. The Real Skills of Successful Connectors

• Introverts vs. Extroverts: 70% of David’s “top connectors” are introverts—being an active listener is more important than being the “star quarterback.” (14:50)
• Essential Skills:
  • Curiosity about others
  • Willingness to be genuinely vulnerable
  • Building “relationship value” through authenticity—not surface-level exchanges
• Memorable Story: At a celebrity event, his introverted friend made meaningful connections not by posturing, but by being present and genuine (15:00–16:45).
• Quote: “We forget that what we crave is that humanity... if you exhibit it... you end up with a better return and a better result. It just doesn't feel transactional.” (David, 17:39)

5. Value Vacuums, Collectors, and Givers

• Identity of ‘Takers’ and ‘Collectors’: The difference between someone who adds value and “Networking Ned” types, who extract and move on (18:19).
• Filtering for Quality:
  • Action-oriented, natural givers are the gold standard.
  • Simple way to gauge intent: Ask for a specific, reciprocal action or check for discomfort when offering help without an ask.
• Natural Givers: “A natural giver is uncomfortable being given to.” (David, 25:29)

6. Blurring the Lines: Friends vs. Professional Contacts

• No “Work/Life” Divider: “Through all the research that I did over the years... it's the same thing. It's just making friends in a professional context.” (Travis, 19:13)
• Authenticity Over Posturing: High-powered networks value those who help without expectation, especially in elite circles where posturing is the default.
• Breaking In: The secret to reaching influential groups (like family office networks) is simply to “offer actual help with no expectation in return.” (David, 23:41)

7. Building and Sustaining Trust at Scale

• Scalability: AI and automation can’t replace the trust generated by authentic human connection—David sees his life’s work as reinforcing this fundamental.
• Final Principle: “To have created the system where the best can actually rise. Because... AI and everything else did a lot of the work for us, but it never can build trust." (David, 27:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Nonprofit Networks:

  "It was difficult, it maintained its difficulty... until the data couldn't lie." – David Homan (03:31)

• On Permissionless, Impactful Connecting:

  “I have nearly 3,000 members of a community who I take no membership fees from. I do my events at cost, and I do not allow sponsorship. But what that gives me is the trust of the people most trusted on this planet.” – David Homan (07:11)

• On Authenticity and Vulnerability:

  "You have to be more curious to others than they are to you, and you have to be willing to be vulnerable." – David Homan (16:57)

• On “Natural Givers”:

  “A natural giver is uncomfortable being given to... just see if they’re going to put their actions above your words.” – David Homan (25:29)

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Important Timestamps

• David’s nonprofit roots & first fundraising lessons: [01:28]–[03:31]
• Building his network and ethical rules: [07:12]–[08:59]
• Monetizing authenticity & business model: [12:04]–[14:25]
• Core connector skillsets & introversion: [14:50]–[18:19]
• Filtering for real givers: [24:51]–[26:27]
• Role of trust in an AI-centric world: [27:45]–[28:12]
• David’s book and where to connect: [26:48]–[28:12]

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Resources & Next Steps

• Book Recommendation: Orchestrating: How to Build Purposeful Community in a Tribal World by David Homan & Noah Askin (USA Today bestseller, playbook format)
• Connect with David: davidhoman.com – all projects, podcast, writings, advisory services, and more.

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Final Thoughts

David Homan’s journey from nonprofit arts to global connector highlights that “making more money” in the modern world is about playing the long game, delivering value without expectation, and embracing vulnerability. Relationships are a currency more powerful—and longer lasting—than any financial asset. As Travis put it:

“Money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there.”

Listen for actionable advice and concrete examples that will completely reshape your approach to networking, connecting, and wealth-building.

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Transcript

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Travis]

Travis Makes Money podcast.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

What's going on, everybody?

[Travis]

Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast where it's our mission to help you make more money. On this episode of the show, I have a new friend, David Homan. David is the founder and CEO of Orchestrated Connecting, a global community of connectors, Orchestrated opportunities and impact focused advisory firm and Soar Connect, a startup focused on the strength of authentic relationships. He hosts a podcast called Orchestrated Focused on developing developing relationship value, is an active classical composer, and is a proud father of two. From middle class beginnings, as the son of a college professor father and non profit focused mother, he's built a network reaching into the most private and incredible circles globally while maintaining a code of purposeful community building called Orchestrated Connecting. Just a thing or two that I think David and I might be able to chat about some things that I think we might maybe potentially have in common. So David, I appreciate you taking the time to come on the show, my man.

[David Homan]

I'm grateful. Appreciate you having me.

[Travis]

So let's go back in time. First of all, tell me the first time, the first time you started thinking along this path, like the first dollar that you ever made that you were like, I can't believe somebody just paid me to do this. This is crazy.

[David Homan]

My entire career was in nonprofits until I moved into my own business and family office and everything else. Okay. And so in a nonprofit you get a salary, you never get rewarded for doing better. You're just keeping the lights on.

[Travis]

Yep.

[David Homan]

And I was faced during Bernie Madoff ponce scheme and the housing bubble recession with this unique thing where now unless I raised enough to keep the organization going, I didn't have a salary, I didn't have a job. And the priority was the programming. But I had to be able to function to do it. And when I realized that what I was doing worked was this backwards way of making introductions or people with no expectation of return, but because they were grateful to me, eventually they would feed me all the leads I needed until I was responsible for 85% of the fundraising of the non profit I ran globally.

[Travis]

Wow. What did, what did they do at that point?

[David Homan]

Well, they wanted to keep me, so there were some incentives, but again, it's a nonprofit. You do it for the good and the cause.

[Travis]

That's right.

[David Homan]

What I was able to do was expand our footprint and maintain while running a nonprofit with a single mission, which was arts and culture and young kids. I was able to go to impact investing conferences and family office conferences and tech conferences and things that were antithetical to my day to day because I could prove that within two years, something of relationship value would materialize. It's just, it took several years for that to happen. Not the instant did you make the sale this quarter that most people operate on?

[Travis]

So was it basically sort of like you raised the money that you raised and then they were just kind of like, doesn't make sense to us, but we trust you. Or like, you know, tell me that process. Because it's sometimes difficult to convince, like a board of directors to be like, hey, I'm gonna go to this tech conference. I'm like, what are you talking about? This has nothing to do with what we do.

[David Homan]

It was difficult, it maintained its difficulty. Especially when you're dealing with people who networked in a different age, often without technology. That itself is a generational change. Yeah. Have anyone listening, try and telling their grandmom how their job works and just wonder how you get through the conversation. So I met resistance and resistance and resistance until the data couldn't lie. If we had 1100 donors and over 912 were attributed as I brought them in, it's really hard to say what I'm doing isn't working. And so the two year phase to get there was a moment of crisis, crisis in the world of philanthropy. Then bigger gifts started coming in. Consistent gifts, multi year gifts, new board members. It was all in the actions that I was eventually judged.

[Travis]

Were you in the nonprofit space just because that was an influence on you

[David Homan]

growing up or what?

[Travis]

What exactly caused you to move that direction? I assume this was like sort of like first career.

[David Homan]

Yeah, first career. So my, my mother ran a regional writers workshop that she co founded. She ran an after school arts program. She was the treasurer for the local theater where my dad directed multiple plays. And my entire life started in nonprofits and philanthropy. I maintain that I'm a sit in, a founding advisor to a group focused on AI, mental health and trauma called My what if? And I chair a group called the Arthur Miller foundation focused on bringing public education and theater more integrated into New York City, Connecticut, and hopefully then national Public schools. So it's always been in my blood. But when you raise money for. For a living, I was the CEO, not the head of development. But when you're the CEO, all you do is raise money, essentially. I realized really quickly that there were two sources of power. Where all the money is, and then the people who have the trust of where the money is. And that network, the ethical network I built, is my global network of connectors.

[Travis]

Were relationships something that came easy to you growing up? Is this something that you had to work on?

[David Homan]

I was a shy, pudgy kid who got sick when I was 12. Everyone tells me I could, like, talk and walk into any room, but I never felt accepted anywhere I went until I built my own community. Yeah, 11 years ago. So, no, this is not easy. Even though I'm trained as an actor and as a musician and all. Do you have all those arts and soft skills? Putting yourself out there with the fear of somebody who might reject you or deject you is a constant worry, even at the level of success I've achieved.

[Travis]

Now, what did you do to begin to work on that?

[David Homan]

So when you've undergone anxiety attacks, you've undergone severe criticism, you've undergone a major Ponzi scheme like Bernie and Adolf, you start to see really quickly two things. One, most people talk to hear themselves speak. And two, everything they do is based on justifying their actions. So when I get criticized for investing money with Bernie Madoff, which I would have had to be 13 years old, never having been in New York, to deal with that and make that choice for the charity I ran, started to laugh about it in the end because people's emotions trump the reality of it. Yeah, there are left and right people who criticize me today because I wasn't helpful enough to them. An offer of help with no expectation of return. And people criticize me because they need more than I can give them. So the world is full of people who have all these desires and all these wants and don't balance with how much they give. And so the only time I ever feel really bad is when there's somebody who's a giver I can't give enough back to.

[Travis]

Sure.

[David Homan]

But it's why I built a global system, which is in the world of your podcast, world's stupidest business. I have nearly 3,000 members of a community who I take no membership fees from. I do my events at cost, and I do not allow sponsorship. But what that gives me is the trust of the people most trusted on this planet. And this network Grows several hundred a year where I can pick up a phone and everyone takes the call. Not for me, but for somebody else. I trust that they can help.

[Travis]

So where did this idea come from? Was this directly related to your work in the nonprofit world? And then you were like, I need to like what was there? Was there something that was making you dissatisfied in that line of work that caused you to move this direction? Or was it sort of like an inner calling? How would you describe it?

[David Homan]

Yeah, it was partly the line of work, but partly right for you. Right. With the thousands of people you've interviewed, your own business. Right. How much do you. Did you plan earlier on in your career for the karma to come back to you? Yeah. And when you're in a place of abundance, it feels great. And then when you need something like Covid, divorce, death, job loss, suddenly everyone you helped find a job can't help you find a job. The person you introduced to an investor and their startup went to an IPO and then they won't return your call. The world was full of people who believed because they were doing great that they deserved your introduction. And I realized that I had met at this point a couple hundred people that were great at that, all who had what I call their shit story, the thing that could have made them successful and stable and somebody else took advantage of it. So I built a network and a community deeply in these well connected, often affluent or influential spaces to solve the problem of relationship value not being value.

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[Travis]

So tell me a little bit about the network. Can you. Can you. As much as you can go into, like, the business model or how you make money? Obviously, like, most people go like, well, you have a membership fee and you have sponsorships on events and you have all. And you unequivocally denied all of those things right off the bat. So tell us exactly, like, what, what does this do for you. How do you exactly like monetize this. This career path?

[David Homan]

So when. When you build what I would call. And this was part of my book called Orchestrating Connection. When you have an intentional and purposeful community, if you put enough energy in and you're intentional about what you need from it. The karma isn't one to one me to you, Travis. But it's gonna be at some point somebody you know to help me. Cause I helped your friend. You couldn't help. You just have to take that long game. It takes a minimum of two years. I've studied the data science of this now, so I am sure you have to. You cannot look for a quick return.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[David Homan]

If 85% of the donations from my charity come from my network, then I am feeding the charity and keeping my job. When I was asked to build a film company, incubate it for the financier and billionaire Ray Dalio, for one of his kids and his son Paul's wife Christina, who are both incredible filmmakers and artists, it wasn't a surprise. In my contract it said connector as part of the responsibility, nor that I was able to reach out organically to hundreds of people because of the network that I've built. So I built a business model and a non business model from that. The community is opt in action focused. The integrity is you have to be somebody I would leave my children with or you cannot be invited in. So you cannot pay to be in this network. What that does is protect everyone in it from all the takers. Or as my kids love to say when they hear me on social media, the selfish of this world that I work to filter out. And so if that is pure and you have an endless infinite resource to tap into, as long as you are generous. My advisory firm, which has been a focus the last seven years, is modeled from the work with Dalio. I'm a coach, strategist and connector. I get paid on retainer, no upside. To demonstrate that I can build value, but also teach it. So a lot of people take the model of charging a membership. Others are just a coach. Some are strategist. I take the hybrid. Let me help you understand how you pitch yourself, what your network looks like. Let me help guide you in those conversations and let me make them with you. And let's share on the success of growth together. Not a commission, which is not a way to make a living as a networker or connector or on a such a high retainer that I might as well have built the company myself.

[Travis]

Can you tell me about some of the skill sets that are required here. I think a lot of people discount their natural ability to talk to people because they say, like, oh, I'm not an extrovert, or I'm no fill in the blank. Everybody's got somebody in mind that they're like, oh, that person. They. They're. They're the networker. Like me. I'm. I'm shy. I keep to myself, have you, with all the people you've talked to and seen, I mean, tell me your breakdown of what you've seen.

[David Homan]

So when we think of the Networker, we think of the star quarterback walking in a room. Tall, chiseled jaw, chiseled every part of their body, even, like, their ankles. And like, everyone thinks, well, that person knows how to work a room. Those people are mostly. And again, I have friends who are those star quarterbacks and are amazing people. But mostly that is a superficiality. So I'll give a quick story of how incredible one of my friends as a connector is with this stat for everyone to think about. Of all the thousands of people in my network, the absolute top of the top 70% of them are introverts. They're great listeners. They're much more vulnerable. And I went to some event at this fancy place called Core Club in New York years ago. The only best part about it is you don't have to wear a tie. Especially in summer when the event was and Santana was hawking some tequila that he had launched as a celebrity. I didn't really drink tequila. I went for my friend Sophia. And everyone's trying to meet Santana, talk to him, and she just stands on the side with me and watches this room all trying to position and posture, and starts talking to somebody who's about her height, which was like, four, eight on a good day. And the three of us have the most beautiful, organic, friendly conversation. And then when everyone else leaves, this woman looks up and she's like, well, are you coming to our table? It's like, whose table? She's like, well, we're done selling this tequila thing. Come sit down with Santana in our group. And so we often look at, like, that North Star as the thing that's bright and shiny. It's all about building authenticity and doing it in a way that actually makes the person feel heard and trusted. So the number one skills, and this is the. There are five principles in my book I wrote with my co author Noah Askin. The first two are the key. You have to be more curious to others than they are to you, and you have to Be willing to be vulnerable. And if you're willing to do both of those. And people might think this is woo, but I closed my first round for my startup in a matter of weeks because of the relationship value that I built. I closed my second round in less than 11 weeks for the same thing, direct cash in investment at a startup that had 2 1/2 x the value. By the time I got to that second round, because I told people that I wasn't able to take a call because my dad was in hospice. I told people that my daughter was having a some sort of nosebleed thing, which was constant and I had to cancel the call. And by being human, which is not what you're taught in networking, one of my largest investors called me back up and they're like, have you tried this thing for nosebleeds? It worked for my daughter. So we forget that when what we crave is that humanity.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[David Homan]

So if you exhibit it, if you worked on it and it's a lot of work, you end up with a better return and a better result. It just doesn't feel transactional. Yeah.

[Travis]

You've used a couple of terms that I, that I refer to a lot. One of them is the takers. Right. The value vacuums in the room that just suck all the value from everybody. And they're the leeches. And they tend to be the people who we would traditionally categorize as good networkers. They're the people who go a mile wide, an inch deep. They pretend like they know everybody really well, but really, they just shook their hand one time at a cocktail party and got their LinkedIn and they call them their best friend now.

[David Homan]

And then there's. So that, that term in my book, by the way, is called the collector. My friend Michael Roderick coined it. And that. That's that type of taker.

[Travis]

Yeah, I like that a lot. I call them networking Ned, just like the stereotypical person that you're trying to avoid while you're at the event. You know what I mean? You see him come around the corner with a thousand hot off the press business cards just like ready to take names down and try to sell something. And it like, like you said, it just, it's the, it's the antithesis of what genuine networking is really about, which ultimately, which is why we ended up rebranding the show and, and spun it off. And now that that show is now called Travis Makes Friends because through all the research that I did over the years, it was like, this is, it's the same thing. It's just making friends in a professional context. It's like the same exact process of making friends personally at a bar with some buddies that you just met playing in the softball league or whatever. Like, the activities are the same. You know what I mean? It's just a com. It's just a different context. You can't. You can't over contextualize to the point where you are treating this like a cold calling in person opportunity. And then this over here, like this is my friend building time and this is my network building time. It's like they're the same thing. They're just done in different content.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[David Homan]

Yeah, so can I comment on that real quick, please? So the thing people fail to understand is in one context you believe you have every right to approach somebody in a certain way, but in another context you balk being approached the same way you're approaching other people. And that idea of a work contact or a friend contact or like some of my investors are my friends, some of my investors are not my friends. But we have a relationship regardless of the designation. Which means when my father passed last December, I didn't not tell my investors that are not my friends about it. I told the people who were invested in me because I wanted to share it. And we seem to bifurcate this as if there's a double standard that only applies to us because what we desire has to happen. Yeah. And we forget everyone has a need, everyone needs to be asked for help. Like, the biggest secret I uncovered getting into this family office space, which now I'm deeply entrenched in, is I would meet very, very wealthy people, the patriarchs, the matriarchs, the next gens, and I would get to know them and I would ask if they needed help and then I would help them.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[David Homan]

People like, how do you get into the family office world? I was like, I don't know, meet somebody and offer actual just help with no expectation in return.

[Travis]

Which is so unique because anybody in that position is used to having everybody come to them and ask for things. Anybody who has any sort of extraordinary success in life, they are the person in their friend group, they're the person in their family that everybody comes to with all their problems, that they're hoping they can get a slice of the pie. They're hoping they can get something from them. And so it's, it sounds so simple, but it's just the truth. It's just the thing that's most unique to that individual is somebody that's coming in and just offering help rather than coming in and saying, what can I get from this person? It's the whole, you know, dig your well before you're thirsty concept. But I really quick though, I want to talk, I want to touch on the positioning and posturing thing that you mentioned before. The, the volume of times that I use this when I'm describing people. When I talk to, like my inner circle, like my wife or whatever, I'm just like, oh, they're, you know, they're a cool person, but they're just constantly posturing. And I, and I can't, I can't stand that. Can you, can you dissect that a little bit more and tell us what to look out for here?

[David Homan]

So the rule I built for my network was you had to be an action oriented natural giver that I would leave my kids with. And that's a rule for anyone introduced to me. It's the standard I hold people to. And so I look for all of the red flags to see if somebody is posturing, trying to figure out, because I sit on a board for which Bradley Cooper was an emcee that can I get them to Bradley Cooper for their film? The answer is, of course not. But everyone's looking for something and I found that best filters, right? If you offer help, ask somebody to respond back to you with A written note for what they need. And 90% of people are unwilling to do that work because they think they deserve being mentioned without giving you the frame of reference. And then that last 10%, I say to them, listen, Travis, like, I'd love to help you. Would you be willing to honor anything that came out of this, to let me know, to let me understand if this had value to you? This is somebody valuable to me. And based on the tone of that response, I wait for one thing, which is not an acceptance that they'd honor it. I wait for a discomfort that in offering something with no ask back, I wait for the person to go, well, okay, but how can I help you? Or is there somebody else that you know because a natural giver is uncomfortable being given to? And if you want to filter out to the 5% of people that in your world you want to engage with, just see if they're gonna put their actions above your words and then see if you offer generosity, what they do, and you can tell if they're generous or not.

[Travis]

David, I really appreciate this conversation, man. I appreciate the work that you're doing in the world. I think it's much, very, very much needed at this point. I think there's like a big change and shift that's happening in that sort of networking culture. So I appreciate people like you stepping into that, stepping into that gap. Tell us where we can get a copy of the book and then where else people can go connect with you online.

[David Homan]

Sure. So the book is called Orchestrating how to Build Purposeful Community in a Tribal World. It is now a USA Today bestseller. My co author and I achieved that last year, so we did something right. But the book is an evergreen resource. It's a playbook. It's not some esoteric, dry, academic thing, nor what my co author, Noah had to call out of me, which was this manifesto, passion. It's meant to be practical and actionable, and everything that I do is based on the same things that are in the book. So to find out about my startup, Soar Connect, my orchestrated opportunities, all of it. I made it simple. After building five businesses, the caveat is they don't all work, but I do have five businesses is to go to davidhoman.com, h O M A N is the last name. I put everything there. My own podcast, all the great podcasts like yours that I'm featured on, my writings, my advisory firm. I wanted to put it there because I believe, Believe that there's. I have a greater calling. And it's not to be the best at this. It's to have created the system where the best can actually rise. Because there will come a time where people realize AI and everything else did a lot of the work for us, but it never can build trust. And the work that I'm doing is to ensure that we still have and focus more on what it takes to build trust, even at a very large scale.

[Travis]

Davidhoman.com Is that right? Davidhoman.com, that's right. H O M A N Davidhoman as well as Orchestrated Connection is the name of the book. Go pick up a copy of that. David I appreciate you taking the time to come on the show. Everybody else tuning in. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there. Here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you guys next time. Peace.

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