Mitch Thrower

Mitch Thrower

Founder & Chairman, Events.com | Founder, La Jolla Foundation | Co-Founder, Active.com (Active Network) | Chairman & Owner, Triathlete Magazine | Chief Interactive Officer, Competitor Group | Author, Attention Deficit Workplace | 22X Ironman

Website: http://mitchthrower.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mitchthrower/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mitchthrower
Others: https://www.facebook.com/mitch.thrower
La Jolla, California, United States
Accredited investor
Member since August 16, 2010
Quote
Author, financier, entrepreneur and 22X Ironman triathlete. Quote_down
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Angel
Typical investment size $100k - $250k
Typical investments in a year 3
Categories of interest
Locations of interest
Credentials Accredited Investor, Qualified Purchaser
Activity
Investments made Events.com, Active Network, Active Network, Mission AthleteCare, ATDynamics, Triathlete Magazine
Board seats Events.com, Active Network, La Jolla Foundation
Education
2001 University of San Diego , MBA
University of California, San Diego
Yale
1990 Saint Lawrence Univeristy , BA
2014 Stanford University Technology Ventures & Entrepreneurship

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Events.com, Active Network, La Jolla Foundation, active.com, La Jolla Holding Co, RailConnection
Companies I work or worked for:
Events.com, Active Network, active.com, Disney, La Jolla Holding Co
If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

BUMP.com, Groupon, Airbnb, Vator.tv, Adapar

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Frustrating: finding great talent
Rewarding: finding great talent

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Giving up control.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

http://www.mitchthrower.com/lessons.html

You are an entrepreneur. What lessons from triathlons have you brought into your profession as an entrepreneur and self-directed leader?

If you model your business career after the sport of triathlon, there really are four critical things you should think about. The first is preparation - in a business situation you need to be able to pull a file, work with information, and know how to use the data. Getting organized in life is worth a solid 10% gain in what you can achieve.

The second is transitions - you need to know when to make the transition from something that didn't work and wasn't generating revenue to creating something that does. Too many times people throw good money after bad, or chase losses with time and resources.

The third is training and learning - You have to stay on the cutting edge of technology, in sport and in business. With the knowledge base for almost anything becoming deeper and more universally available, staying on the cutting edge becomes more important.

Number four is networking - You become like the people you surround yourself with. We need to align ourselves with people who have sought success, made mistakes along the way and learned from them. Hang out with triathletes who know how to set goals and achieve them, and voila! You will too.

Any final advice for entrepreneurs and athletes?

Align what you love with your work. That makes a dynamic difference. A successful career comes from a mindset where you don't want work to be something you have to do. You want work to be something you want to do because it's your passion. It’s your life; it’s your career. Just as Henry David Thoreau wrote, many people live lives of quiet desperation and don’t know what to do about it. I lecture at the University of San Diego, Stanford University and UCLA and I often encounter students and recent graduates who say, "Hey, I'm bored working in a cubicle."

I'll then ask them how many people work in their organization. And they'll say, "Oh, there's about 200." And I'll say, "How many do you know?" And they'll say, "Three." And so, my challenge to them is this: “Have a breakfast, a lunch, or a coffee five days a week minimum with someone new. Even if you just meet one different person in that organization every day – you can cycle through the lessons and the lifestyles and the connectivity with the 200 or 300 people that work there in a year.”

The value in a business isn't typically putting something in an envelope and mailing it to someone so they pay you something for it. The diamonds we all seek are buried in the relationships we build. Too many people go to work and simply do whatever they're told. As opposed to going to work to build connections with people that they're going to end up spending 30 percent of their day with. Interacting with others and learning the life intelligence they have garnered over the years is essential for success.

Full bio

Mitch Thrower is a financier, entrepreneur, author and a 22X Ironman triathlete.


He is the Founder and Chairman of Events.com, an innovative cloud-based Event Management Platform provider that provides a state of the art mobile-first SaaS application that enables the full event lifecycle, connecting event organizers and event goers.

Events.com enables event organizers to plan, promote, and ticket their events while also providing event goers the tools to discover, register, collaborate, share, and celebrate their experiences.

Thrower also serves as Chairman of The La Jolla Foundation, a 501c3 foundation whose primary initiative is Project Active, providing funding, mentoring, encouragement and education to areas of world tension. Specifically — sending sports equipment to children in war zones.

Thrower Co-Founded of active.com (The Active Network, Inc.). He also launched ActiveEurope.com (Active Europe Network) as Co-Founder and CEO. Active went public before selling to Vista for 1.05 billion.

Thrower was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Triathlete Magazine, the world's largest triathlon magazine where he also served as Chairman. He has also served as the Chief Interactive Officer, Strategist & Senior Correspondent for the Competitor Group (CGI), the active lifestyle industry's leading media and event entertainment company.

Thrower spoke at his university graduation at St. Lawrence University and has lectured at many colleges such as Stanford University, Anderson School at UCLA, UCSD and the University of San Diego where he served as the "Entrepreneur in Residence" teaching Entrepreneurship.

Thrower is an active member of TED.com and the Executive Producer of TEDxLaJolla, an independently organized TED event. He is the Author of "The Attention Deficit Workplace: Winning Strategies for Success in Today's Fast-Paced Business Environment," published by Lyons Press and he was author of the popular monthly column, "Starting Lines" in Triathlete Magazine for more than a decade. He was also co-author of the travel guide "The Passport" which, for several years was distributed to 50,000 college students before traveling abroad each year.

In 1990, Thrower co-founded his first company and served as CEO of The College/Rail Connection, Inc., serving American Express, AT&T, and Eurail until he sold the venture in 1997.


Thrower graduated from the Executive Institute at Stanford University. He holds a MBA from the University of San Diego and a bachelor's degree from Saint Lawrence University. He has competed in 22 Ironman Triathlons, including 13 World Championships. He is the only photo journalist to ever photograph and film the Ironman Triathlon World Championships while competing in the event.

Thrower is an East Coast native whose father, Fred Thrower was a television pioneer as Vice President of NBC, and also as president of WPIX-TV in New York City and is known for his holiday creation of the televised "Yule Log." Thrower's mother, Lori, worked as an assistant for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in NYC. Thrower is happily married to his lovely wife Amanda and lives in La Jolla, California.