Learning from the Mistakes of Successful Entrepreneurs

An experience they say is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones and it’s always good to learn all you can from the mistakes of others because you won’t have time to make them all yourself.

Having gone through the basics and introduction of how to become a successful entrepreneur, I would like us to learn from the experience of others. We’ve arranged interviews with some successful serial entrepreneurs so as to learn from their mistakes and develop a good perspective about entrepreneurship.

The first person on our list is Mitch Thrower.

Who Is Mitch Thrower?

Mitch Thrower is an entrepreneur, financier, business strategist, author, and triathlete.

Thrower is currently serving as founder and CEO of BUMP.com, a safety, marketing, membership, and communications platform that allows users to connect online and offline via unique identifiers, including license plates, mobile phones, and online profiles.

Thrower also serves as Chairman of The La Jolla Foundation, a 501c3 foundation whose primary initiative is Project Active, providing money, mentoring, encouragement, and education to areas of world tension. Specifically – sending sports equipment to children in war zones.

Thrower spoke at his university graduation at Saint Lawrence University and has lectured at many colleges such as Stanford University, Anderson School at UCLA, UCSD, and the University of San Diego where he served as the “Entrepreneur in Residence” teaching Entrepreneurship.

Thrower is the Co-Founder of one of the fastest-growing companies in the US. In 1997, he co-founded Active.com – a software, marketing, and registration powerhouse that delivers integrated technology solutions, marketing services, and online media properties that encourage and enable participation in activities and events.

In 2001 he left Active.com to launch ActiveEurope.com (Active Europe Network) as Co-Founder and CEO. This company licensed and operated Active’s business model in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa until 2005.

Thrower was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Triathlete Magazine, the world’s largest triathlon magazine where he also served as Chairman. He has also served as the New Media Officer, Strategist & Senior Correspondent for the Competitor Group, a media and event entertainment company serving the endurance sports industry including events such as marathons, running, cycling, mountain biking, rock ‘n’ roll marathons, and triathlons.

Competitor owns and operates 33 nationally-branded endurance events with over 500,000 participants. Competitor publishes four magazine titles: VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and its namesake publication, Competitor, delivering a combined monthly circulation of almost 1 million readers. Its website platform, Competitor.com, produces and distributes content on radio, television, and wireless platforms.

Thrower is an active member of TED.com and the Executive Producer of TEDxLaJolla, an independently organized TED event. He is the author of “The Attention Deficit Workplace: Winning Strategies for Success in Today’s Fast-Paced Business Environment,” published by Lyons Press and he has authored the popular monthly column, “Starting Lines” in Triathlete Magazine for more than a decade.

He was also the co-author of the travel guide The Passport which, for several years was distributed to 50,000 college students before traveling abroad each year.

In 1990, Thrower co-founded his first company and served as CEO of The College/Rail Connection, Inc., serving American Express, AT&T, and Eurail until he sold the venture in 1997.

Thrower holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Lawrence University and an MBA from the University of San Diego. He has competed in 20 Ironman Triathlons, including 11 World Championships. He is the only photojournalist to ever photograph and video the Ironman Triathlon World Championships while competing in the event.

Currently a resident of La Jolla, CA. Thrower is an East Coast native whose father, Fred Thrower was a television pioneer as Vice President of NBC, and also as president of WPIX-TV in New York City and is known for his holiday creation of the televised “Yule Log.” Thrower’s mother, Lori, worked as an assistant for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Mitch Thrower speaks worldwide to corporations, universities, CEOs, and management teams. He has presented at Stanford University, UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, the University of San Diego, and the University of California San Diego LIFE institute. He is also on the board and has presented at Forum 21.

You can book Mitch Thrower for a speaking engagement by sending an e-mail to mitchthrower@yahoo.com, or by calling (858)926-5837

EXTRA VALUE: When you book Mitch Thrower for any of the presentations below, or for a custom presentation, Mr. Thrower will spend time, at no extra cost, with a smaller session of VIPs or executives to interact and engage in an interactive discussion. This allows for a second question and answers session in a more intimate setting.

The Attention Deficit Workplace

In this Presentation, Mitch Thrower provides the audience with an interactive presentation designed to dissect their attention-deficit workplace symptoms. Following an entertaining look at the current workplace, Mitch outlines 20 essential strategies and tactics to become more successful in today’s workplace.

Sample topics:

• • the office romance
  • the toggler
  • email efficiency
  • how to interact successfully, quickly.
  • the attention management game of twister

Ten Essential Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur
Sample topics:

• • beware of terminal creativity
  • understand how passion and profit interact
  • how to survive the “killer factors.”

How to Buy and Turn Around a Magazine or Business in 12 Months.
Sample topics:

• • understanding the cap table & a leveraged buyout
  • publishing valuation models
  • the essential keys to turning a business around
  • understanding and increasing revenue sources

The Entrepreneurial Life
Sample topics:

• • enrolling and enlisting others
  • writing the business plan
  • the investor pitch – the vision of racegate.com/active.com
  • the product
  • Ticketmaster – corner your competitors and partners
  • the boom
  • the bust
  • roles and responsibilities – stepping out of the spotlight.
  • how to avoid “the founder’s dilemma

How to Launch or Expand Your Business in Europe
Sample topics:

• • how to open up new markets
  • how to cut through any red tape QUICKLY – even in France.
  • license 101
  • understanding organic, partnership, and acquisition growth strategies
  • successful SHAREHOLDER NAVIGATION to liquidity events

Managing Yourself as a Global Brand
Sample topics:

• • branding defined
  • opportunities lost and found
  • CEO and president of “your life, incorporated.”
  • guerrilla public relations

Managing Expectations and Commitments
Sample topics:

• • expectations defined
  • roles and responsibilities
  • to do or not to do – that is your career question
  • over promise and under deliver
  • adjusting expectations
  • avoiding the sand traps of entrepreneurial expectations.

The Ego Battlefield of the Entrepreneur
Sample Topics

• • the conflict of the creative and the financial
  • the secret questions of the venture capitalist and angel investors
  • managing egos – the desire to create, the desire to destroy
  • how to survive blame placing and credit taking corporate cultures
  • the compensation committee

Passion Autopsy & Workshop
Sample topics:

• • passion defined and adjusted
  • marry your work to your passion
  • contagious excellence – sports and people
  • identify what you are passionate about
  • how to fill out your passion discrepancy scorecard

Financing Your Venture
Sample topics:

• • angels and angles
  • defining legal structures (international tax implications)
  • liquidation preferences
  • term sheets and definitive docs
  • due diligence
  • the difference between “smart & helpful”
    money and “dumb & high maintenance” money.
  • tips and techniques to get your business
    funded intelligently

Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels