Shownotes
BIO: Mark McNally is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience scaling companies from startups to multinational establishments. A passionate product and marketing strategist, Mark is one of the original innovators in the e-commerce space, rapidly expanding online buying internationally since the ’90s.
STORY: Mark lost almost his entire net worth when a startup he had invested in his mid-twenties experienced a 94% stock price drop.
LEARNING: Don’t confuse a person’s financial scorecard for who they are as a human being. Trust only happens over time as you see people’s reactions to serious adverse events.
“Upside return is only realized investment if you take money off the table.”
Mark McNally
Guest profile
Mark McNally is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience scaling companies from startups to multinational establishments. A passionate product and marketing strategist, Mark is one of the original innovators in the e-commerce space, rapidly expanding online buying internationally since the ’90s.
Mark’s journey has crossed 14 startups that have raised over $300 million and have seen over $5 billion in exits. These startups pioneered their days from machine learning and e-commerce to healthcare and consumer products.
He continues in that spirit as the Founder and Chief Nobody at Nobody Studios, founded in 2020.
Worst investment ever
Mark got involved in his first startup when he came out of the military. A couple of guys had this idea that they could connect buyers and suppliers on this new thing called the internet. This was back in 1996. Mark was in the upper five executives of the company when it went public on the NASDAQ in 1999.
The startup got to almost a $5 billion market cap, and Mark was living his dreams. A couple of years later, the market corrected itself, and the company’s stock fell 94%. Mark lost almost his entire net worth, which was at eight figures.
Lessons learned
- Be very careful of dealing with manipulative type personalities.
- Don’t confuse a person’s financial scorecard for who they are as a human being.
- The sky is the limit if you get the why and the execution right.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Trust only happens over time as you see people’s reactions to serious adverse events.
- Don’t think that the people behind the scenes are wise guys thinking things through. They’re going on a roller coaster ride and often believe that they’re doing the right thing by bringing you along.
Actionable advice
When running a business, put rules in place to take the emotions out of it as much as possible.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Mark’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue building his core team and getting funding to launch 15 companies.
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