Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Stephan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was in high school. I dabbled in a lot of things. Bringing that to College I did a lot there resulting in essentially to five majors and three minors. After university I took a job with Trilogy Software, one of the Austin companies of legend in the late 1990’s early 2000’s. At Trilogy I worked with amazing people. They best at everything they did. It was a humbling time because we all were amazed we got hired there and couldn’t believe we got to work with so many other brilliant people. Like many things in the early 2000s, that time came to an end with the Dot.com implosion. After massive layoff’s I did something completely unexpected by many and moved to Istanbul, Turkey. I went to help out some charities teach entrepreneurism to persecuted minorities. In Turkey I attended Istanbul University, learned Turkish, and ultimately started a company back-sourcing to the United Sates. I became very active in the business community and worked to promote ethics in the marketplace while helping persecuted minors find opportunity. I grew the company and lived in Turkey for about seven years. In 2008, I moved my company back to the Austin, Tx while keeping some employee there and turned it into a boutique web development shop. I grew that and sold it in 2012.
Between 2010 and 2015 I had several start-ups which, frankly didn’t end well. That happens sometimes and you learn from it. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that I shouldn’t be the sole leader, as you start to question if your decisions are right if everyone you pay agrees with you. In 2015, under this new realization, I shut-down most of my side companies and decided to enter back into the corporate world. After discussing with many of my friends at other companies I determined the best fit for me would be to become a Product Manager. I got my first opportunity at a company called Handsome which is a design-first user-focused product design company. I learned a lot at handsome, and it solidified many of the things I had learned over the years, i.e. be user focused, delight the customer, stretch the realms of possibility, and be an artist. After a stint at Handsome I started new side hustles and decided on a strategy of having side hustles to keep my mind sharp and working on interesting things, while working at companies that exercised different parts of my brain. I found this to be a great balance for me to keep me always working on something interesting, and the two sides my private hustles and my corporate jobs benefited each other. Over the next years I was a Sr Product Manager at Toptal, a human capital freelancing company, then I became Head of Product and User Experience at BoomWriter Media and Edtech, and today I am Director of the Knowledge Program at Barracuda FX a Fintech. I run three start-ups, Kredya a Fintech in Turkey helping people find the best loan, ProductHired a company here in Austin helping people in a non-technical product role find a job and grow their careers, and Community Raiser, my skunk-works for products I make to help nonprofits. I am Director of Product Development for a Non-profit called Horizons International as a volunteer and am Director of Radical Advocacy another non-profit. I love to give back and often coach and mentor individuals in start-ups and those moving into product management. I also am an organizer for the Austin Meet-up ProductTank, run another meet-up ProductHired Job Club and am very active in the Austin product community. I love to see people succeed and do what I can to help them do that.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’m a mountain climber, and there are no roads where I go. No, it’s not smooth. Being an entrepreneur is hard, and you often find the problems before you get to answers. There’s a bit of luck needed, and yes, you need to fail to learn. Failure is great if you learn from it. I’ve had businesses fail because of the product. I’ve had businesses fail because of lack of funds. I’ve had businesses fail because of bad partnerships. I’ve had success, but they are always lined with a graveyard of failures.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So, I’m a Jack of all Trades, or so I’m told. I love to dabble in everything and frankly I’m proud of being a problem solver. That’s one thing I’m trying to do with my start-up ProductHired. I’m trying to take what I learned through the years of career growth and help others do likewise, and even help people who have their own lessons to share it with others. ProductHired isn’t just a place to find your next job, it’s the place to find a mentor, a coach, to grow your skills, and to learn from others who learned before you. I’m really trying to build a community that helps others learn.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Austin is such a great city, and it is changing fast. I came to Austin in 1999, and while I left for a while to live in Turkey I returned in 2008 because it’s so great. I can go on and on about the nature, trails, small-town feel, etc.. but these things are changing. I see a lot of potential in Austin and hope we don’t lose some of our values. Being involved in so many Meetups, I often get to welcome people to Austin and I always give them the same speech. You found Austin to be friendly and welcoming. You found Austin to be a place where people help each other. We happily invite you to Austin, and only ask, be friendly, share the love, help others, and be part of the community.
Contact Info:
- Email: mark@producthired.com
- Website: http://producthired.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/producthired/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/producthired
- Twitter: twitter.com/producthired
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ProductHired
Image Credits
https://candidly.com
