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Andrew Goldner is the co-founder of GrowthX, and while he had a passion for technology very early on in life, it wasn’t until later in his career that he decided to pursue his first love.
After initially studying law with the idea of going into politics, Andrew was able to use his technical knowledge to his advantage and build a brand for himself in Internet-based law. Eventually, Andrew gave up life at the law firm and, after a quick detour in the restaurant business, he landed in the world of technology.
He initially worked at DoubleClick, helping salespeople and operations close deals with new partners and customers. In doing so, he learned that making deals was all about personal relationships and finding congruity, two lessons he brought with him to GrowthX.
“When I was doing deals, I would encourage the salesperson, no, put down the keyboard,” Andrew says. “Put down the phone. Let’s get on a plane, and yes, it’s going to cost us a little money and time. Let’s go and meet those people in their hometowns. Let’s get there the night before. Let’s take them out to dinner. Let’s start building relationships with them, human interactions, because we’re going to build up political points from that, so the next day when I am negotiating with the lawyer I can be more casual. I can be more human.”
On Part 1 of his interview with Mission Daily, Andrew talks about his journey from law to tech, entrepreneurship and venture capital, and everything he went through in between.
P.S. Check out GrowthX blog series, #gxmxp, which provides tons of information on their step by step market development process!
Quotes by Andrew:
6:35 – “When I graduated law school in 1998, this was obviously a time when the internet was first commercializing, and I discovered that I was able to have an outside impact on my career and the firm I was working at by leveraging the fact that I knew how the internet worked, when just about every partner at this big firm, some of the top practitioners in the world, did not know how the internet worked. The challenges that were creating that were yet unknown, and provided an opportunity for me to step in and start creating a brand for myself.”
23:30 – “I learned early on that I am a deal maker. So when I’m doing deals I would encourage the salesperson, no, put down the keyboard. Put down the phone. Let’s get on a plane, and yes, it’s going to cost us a little money and time. Let’s go and meet those people in their hometowns. Let’s get there the night before. Let’s take them out to dinner. Let’s start building relationships with them, human interactions, because we’re going to build up political points from that, so the next day when I am negotiating with the lawyer I can be more casual. I can be more human.”
29:25 – “A core value of mine, and certainly one that I think we all share at GrowthX is about congruity. Our only objective is to live congruously with our world, and that includes the planet itself, every person that populates that planet, and every other creature that’s on it, not living violently, seeking long term healthy sustainable relationships. And that comes from being transparent and seeking fit.”
39:02 – “Legal code is very similar to computer code. The logic behind drafting a contract is very similar to the logic behind coding.”
