Meet the Mind Behind GrowthMine
As an executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Mark Otto has provided management insight to organizations for more than 20 years. He is the founder of GrowthMine, which provides strategic advisory services to growth companies to help them navigate the management challenges they will face as they grow and scale. Differentiated by his experience in building and leading high-growth businesses, Mark has guided companies through every stage of growth from new venture to market leader.
He is the architect of a successful career that spans senior-level executive roles, Fortune 500 and midmarket companies, private firms, and entrepreneurial ventures. In these roles, he was directly responsible for over $4 billion in growth. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in capital, founded three successful companies, structured countless high-profile partnerships, managed numerous mergers and acquisitions, and prepared a company for an IPO. The growth Mark generated resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs and resulted in every growing pain imaginable.
Mark started GrowthMine as a result of his own professional struggles and leadership experiences with companies pushed to the brink by explosive growth. Now, as a consultant, he is focused on issues related to business growth and the challenges faced by leaders of high-growth companies as they seek to expand and scale. Through his work with high-growth CEOs, executives, and their teams, he has developed a deep understanding of the personal, strategic, operational, and organizational challenges growth companies face as they target the next stage of growth.
Mark is a frequently requested keynote speaker to executive groups and business organizations. He developed the Stages of Business Growth and the Growth Problems Index to help companies identify and solve their most pressing growth-related problems. He is the author of several eBooks and white papers, which are required reading on the subject of entrepreneurial leadership and business growth. Mark also shares advice, insights, and inspiration for dealing with the challenges of growing companies on his blog. When he’s not traveling the world working with fast-growing companies, Mark lives in Dallas, Texas.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Throughout his professional life, Mark has enjoyed the upside of business growth and also endured its destructive nature. Early in his career, Mark was part of a classic entrepreneurial dream come true, which turned into the classic entrepreneurial nightmare. In the dream, the firm experienced rapid growth – $3 billion in sales – and hired over 1200 people in less than three years. The management team made millions. There were preparations for an IPO and the firm received recognition all the way to Wall Street. In the nightmare, the business failed almost overnight as it imploded under the weight of its own growth. Ending in a $1 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy and with those 1200 people losing their jobs. This fast rise, followed by an equally rapid fall, is what he calls “The Empire Syndrome.”
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