Entrepreneurs are like farmers, but instead of growing food, they grow ideas into businesses. Wonder CEO Marc Lore loves watching things grow and has a knack for it. He founded Jet.com, which sold to Walmart for $3 billion, and Quidsi.com, which sold to Amazon for $550 million. Learn more about the person behind these successes in this episode.
Marc Lore's grandmother pitched he should be a doctor or a lawyer, but Marc insisted he wanted to be a farmer. The working-class kid wasn't the best academic student, but his struggles to make acceptable grades gave him something better: resilience. Marc developed what he calls a small memory card, where he keeps the learning and deletes the failure, enabling him to move forward.
Besides farming, seventh-grade Marc developed an interest in stocks, going so far as to journal about stock options. That's why he initially went into banking, but he was disappointed when his first job placed him in the back office faxing trade confirmations. Marc kept moving forward, transitioning into a career in the emerging Financial Risk Management field. He had his first entrepreneurial experience when he founded the industry's professional board and certification exam.
Mark's next entrepreneurial ventures were all risks, but he always leaned into whatever it took to nurture the business and provide value. We discuss being motivated by money versus being motivated by the mission. For example, you'd expect to feel joy at the life-changing $550 million sale of Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com, but Marc describes a profound loss. Hear why selling Jet.com was different and the importance of the motivation-driven entrepreneurship.
With his latest venture, Wonder.com, Marc grows another mission-motivated business. Discover how Wonder.com is addressing the challenges the food industry presents while striving to provide value for others. Listen to the full episode here.