Alexandre Mars started his first business at the age of 17 by organizing concerts at his high school. He then bought two computers and started a web agency before moving on to found several different companies, including PhoneValley (sold to Publicis) and Scrun (sold to Blackberry).
The French entrepreneur is now the founder and CEO of both the Epic Foundation and Bliss. At Epic, he created a new model for philanthropy that includes supporting a portfolio of highly-observed nonprofits, providing new ways for donors to support them, and guaranteeing impact through data analysis and reports . Bliss, meanwhile, is the first B Corp certified growth-stage transatlantic VC fund.
He says entrepreneurship in the US was strong for two main reasons over the years: more capital to invest in startups and bankruptcy laws that made it easier to fail and bounce back. This made it easy for American entrepreneurs to adopt the late South African leader Nelson Mandela’s mindset of always feeling like a winner because you are either winning or learning. In contrast, Europe-based entrepreneurs had to fight hard for funding and deal with laws that made the consequences of failure disastrous. It’s changing – as is the definition of success and how you achieve it.
In Mission Possible, the serial entrepreneur writes about his experience and offers advice to others who want to start a company. Check out our conversation by clicking on the link above.
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