Dave Ness

Dave has a colorful history in business primarily focused in the start-up world. Dave’s startup ventures began with Fortis Riders in 2000 where he served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and helped grow the new company to over a million dollars in revenue. Today, Fortis Riders is one of the largest companies of its kind and has debuted on the INC 500 list several times. Dave remains one of its largest shareholders.

Dave left Fortis Riders in 2004 to help start Modern Downtown Developers, Inc. in Denver, Colorado. “Modo” quickly became one of the largest and most active condo conversion companies in Denver with over 40 investors and over 130 units developed and sold. With the real estate market downturn in 2008, Dave began to explore the residential brokerage industry. After 3 years of licensure, Dave made the move to start Thrive Real Estate Group. 

In 2011 Dave founded Thrive Real Estate Group. Since then, Thrive has sold over 1000 properties for approximately 1 billion in sales. Thrive currently employs over 30 incredible brokers and support staff and has offices in Cherry Creek North and South Broadway. 

In 2020 Dave co-founded Thrive Commercial Group with RC Myles, citing that he and RC would get “further faster” if they joined forces to replicate “the Thrive way” in the commercial real estate industry. 

Dave is married to Megan, his beautiful and ever-talented wife and is father to 3 amazing children. In his non-real estate hours Dave sits on the Board of Advisors for 4 companies: Zillow (the world’s most popular real estate platform), Thrive Workspaces (Denver’s premier co-working company), Empact Bars (a high-end, nutritional snack bar) and Earnnest (an app that facilitate earnest money). In his off-hours, Dave loves exploring Denver on bikes with his family, resting in Steamboat Springs, skiing and climbing Colorado’s peaks, camping, reading leadership books, and drinking good whiskey with good friends.