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Mark Goldston is the chairman and CEO of the Goldston Group, a Venture Capital and Strategic Advisory firm located in Los Angeles focused on emerging growth companies.  In his career, Mark Goldston has taken two different companies public as CEO and run 4 different public companies. He was the original Chairman and CEO of both United Online (NetZero, Juno, FTD Flowers, Interflora, Classmates, MyPoints, Stayfriends, etc) and held Chairman, CEO,President or top exec roles at Revlon, Faberge/Elizabeth Arden, Reebok, LA Gear, and Einstein Noah Bagel Corp.

Let’s start these notes off with a few questions...who remembers Reebok pumps?

Did you own (or wish and wish and wish) for light up LA Gears?

Have you ever been to an Einstein Bros. Bagels?

Joel’s guest on this episode of Rounding the Bases created, had his hand in, invented all three of the aforementioned items.

The inventor of Reebok pumps?! It’s almost too much for me to handle.

His name is Mark Goldston, he is an inventor, an entrepreneur, a marketer, an innovator, a business executive, currently he is the President and CEO of Goldston Ventures. Oh, and in 1986 at the age of 31, he became the youngest President of a Fortune 500 consumer products company division in the United States. Mark considers himself a maverick in the business world. He is an incredible businessman with unbelievable advice and Joel untackles it all in his conversation with Mark Goldston.

Maverick, a description Mark uses for himself, and after listening to his conversation with Joel, it’s one we find extremely fitting. At a very young age, he was determined to succeed and prove people wrong and, wow, did he ever! By nature, Mark sought out corporate marketing experiences perceived by others to be high-risk, he always took an aggressive path. He doesn’t consider himself to be a risk-taker, he doesn’t just fly by the seat of his pants, but he does take on projects that seem intimidating or far-fetched, and he takes them head on, but only if they make sense to him. Mark believes in what he does, he thinks big, he’s never afraid to fail, and he surrounds himself with incredible people.

“The hardest thing for people to do when they become a CEO or an entrepreneur is to defer to someone else in your go-to-war skill area. So if you were a Chief Marketing Officer, you were fortunate enough to become a President, when you started your background is marketing. If you have a CFO that works for you, you have to let that man or woman do that job….and if you can’t make that break, you can never be a CEO.”- Mark Goldston

People...he surrounds himself with incredible people. When Mark took over as President of a Fortune 500 company at the age of 31, he hired talented people and let them do their jobs. This in turn creates a renowned culture which in turn creates business success, but it all starts with people, something he learned very young. 

For a list of Mark’s remarkable accomplishments check out his bio 

Besides people, Mark stresses the importance of creating an experience for the consumer. With everything at the tip of your fingertips (literally), it is important to establish a retail environment that leaves a lasting impression on people. He claims that the entire experience of a brand, service, or company is what makes it succeed. 

So many lessons can be learned from Mark’s conversation with Joel. Surround yourself with amazing people who are good at their job, create an experience, don’t be afraid of failure. And if you’re so inclined, go ahead and create 83 patents...that will help you succeed as well ;) 

A huge thanks to Mark Goldston for taking the time to share his story and his knowledge, we hope you learned as much as we did on this episode of Rounding the Bases. As always, we thank you for listening and continuing to share our message. Please leave a comment, subscribe, and let us know how we’re doing. We appreciate you all.

Rounding the Bases with Joel Goldberg Podcast was created to share the stories of men and women in business and entrepreneurship that are both well knowing and or hidden gems. Joel believes that everyone has a story and their story matters which is why Joel is eager to connect with individuals that are bringing value to their community through innovation, leadership, entrepreneurial journeys, and developing company culture. If you would like to be a guest on Joel's podcast please email us at joel@joelgoldbergmedia.com.

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