Welcoming GBx’s new Executive Director, Mark Charkin

Mark Charkin is a GTM revenue start-up executive who has worked at cutting edge B2C and B2B companies, in full-time operational roles and on a fractional basis.

To date he has been part of the early teams of 8 start-ups that were acquired/IPO’ed at over $10bn of aggregate value to shareholders, such as Bebo, Snap, King Digital, Jaunt VR, Onfido, The ExchangeLab, Deep Forest Media and Brightroll. In addition to this he has been a very active mentor and advisor to close to a hundred start-ups over the past 20 years

More recently, he has been working heavily in mixed realities and AI, principally in the virtual being space on projects such as ABBA Voyage and working with Simon Fuller and his company XIX Entertainment on the release of new IP, such as AltaB (a virtual popstar).

Mark is married to Lucie and has 3 teenage daughters. They moved to the Bay in 2012 and live in Marin. Outside of work Mark loves traveling, hiking, biking, and spending time with friends and family. He is an active community builder, having set up the Commonwealth Curry Club that has been running for 8 years now, and has nearly 400 members.

 

What excites you most about joining GBx and working with British entrepreneurs in the Bay Area?

Since I was very young, I am and have always been naturally drawn to meeting new people, bringing them together, making things happen, and seeing where the magic takes things. I’ve even been labelled a super mensch before (something I had to google when I was told I was it!)

I’d say I’m particularly drawn to smart, driven people who sit a little outside the “norm” or status quo. The reality is nearly anyone who decides to build a business, uproot everything and try and make it in this unique place by the Bay, falls in that category.

It can be a hard transition though and the fact I’ve now been voted in to help drive this forward, to work with so many incredibly smart, driven and interesting people, to build on the great work of Amber (and her predecessor Kate) supporting Brit’ish types get more swiftly and rapidly integrated into the Bay and try and give them a leg up in making it here, is like a dream come true.

 

You’ve been part of building numerous startups that have gone onto become household names. What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned about scaling companies?

Take your time to hire the very best people. Don’t cut corners or try and make rapid decisions when you’re not 100% sure. Ensure everyone in the Executive team understands hiring is a core part of their actual job. Be thinking about the people you will need at least 3-6 months or more before you actually need them and start laying foundations/networking with the people you think you’d like to join you on the journey.

Focus clearly on what you have decided you think you want to the company to be when it grows up. Ensure all the executive team are fully aligned and bought into that and be absolutely ruthless in saying no to things that don’t fit in or align to this. Revenue is clearly important for any business, but be bold and try not to be tempted to chasing easy $$ that draws you away from what you’re ultimately trying to build.

Ensure you are not building something technical that you think is important, but that actually few want and/or are willing to pay for. Basically, ensure you listen to customers and spend time finding actual product market fit and then execute like crazy against this.

Culture doesn’t build itself or just happen. Spend time thinking how/what you want this to be and be mindful that you and the executive team, need to be living and breathing this authentically for this to trickle down and develop.

 

You’ve launched companies like King Digital (Candy Crush), Snap and Onfido into new markets, both sides of the pond. What advice do you have for GBx members looking to expand globally?

It takes longer than you imagine, it’ll cost more than you imagine and will be harder than you imagine. A part-time strategy to launch and build a big presence in the US is very unlikely to succeed. Usually, a founder will need to commit to move or spend a decent chunk of time in the US to make it work.

Chose which market within the US market to launch into and to focus on starting in and building from. I.e. the US although one country, has many markets that are very different. Local incumbents, may have an initial advantage or prior traction to you and so consider targeting under-served markets or trying a different strategy than just going head-to-head straight away.

If you can win some reference clients prior to you actually moving to the US, it’ll help a lot. i.e. Tesco might be the biggest supermarket in the UK and an incredible client to have as a start up there, but in the US people will care less. Win a Walmart and shout no end about that!!

Don’t under-estimate how much support a new market will need, particularly as large and important as the US. Regular, consistent communication is key to ensure that the new market isn’t a disconnected outpost and the people here are properly connected to the core business. This is critical.

 

How do you see the role of GBx evolving in supporting British tech talent and fostering connections between the UK and the Bay Area?

I would love for GBx to tap more deeply into the next wave of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds and sectors, making sure we are on the radar of all the UK VC’s and anyone graduating from college or UK University with aspirations to start and build a truly massive global business.

Ideally anyone coming to the Bay, should already know about us and ideally join, so they can tap quickly into the incredible community we have here, helping these founders save time on the basics and more time on building truly massive businesses

I’d love for GBx to be in some small way responsible for helping the UK grow its first trillion $ tech company. A big hairy goal, but I think ultimately achievable.

In addition to all of the above, I’d love to find ways to do more community events of a social nature focused on family too, such as the GBx picnic we did recently. It can be isolating being the partner of a founder, who moves here and so supporting them also find their networks and build community is also important to ensuring the best overall transition into the Bay.