Experience earned
the hard way.
Founder || Leader || Non-Executive Director || Board Advisor || Author
I'm Mark Thomas. I've spent much of my life building software and businesses.
I started with computers as a child, became fascinated by programming and technology, and found myself writing commercial software while still a teenager. My early experiences eventually led me into the emerging world of the internet, where I helped businesses build some of their first websites.
In 1998 I started the business that would become the defining chapter of my entrepreneurial career. For the next 17 years I built and ran a web software company through the rise of the internet, e-commerce, social media and mobile. We remained profitable every year and ultimately sold the business in 2015.
That experience taught me that the strongest businesses are not simply the ones with the best ideas. They are the ones that repeatedly get the important things right.
FROM FOUNDER TO ADVISOR
Sometimes you need to be inside the machine.
After the sale, I became a board advisor, consultant and Non-Executive Director with a variety of companies. One engagement began as an Non-Executive Director role to help teh CEO and Founder with succession planning and the launch of a SaaS product, then evolved into me leading the business.
After 14 months of understanding the staff, product and operation, I agreed to become Managing Director with a fixed three-year plan to grow, exit and find my replacement. Revenue grew by 80%, increasing profitability more than 400%, while adding more staff to build out the product portfolio, introduce new licencing, and new customer portal. Finally we transitioned the business to an Employee Ownership Trust.
WHY I WROTE MARKONOMICS
A book about the people actually running businesses.
There are plenty of books about entrepreneurship, but I wanted to write something for founders and SMEs leaders dealing with the reality of customers, people, technology, cash, risk, operations and responsibility.
It is deliberately unvarnished. Some lessons came from success. Others came from being given a different perspective. A few came from truly bizzare moments.
Explore the book