Mark Achler
Adjunct Lecturer of Management and Organizations
Mark is the Managing Director of Math Venture Partners - www.mathventurepartners.com - an early to mid-stage technology venture capital fund and an Adjunct Lecturer of Marketing at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Mark teaches two courses integral to the Entrepreneurship Pathway: Launching and Leading Startups and Entrepreneurship: Building Innovation, Teams, and Cultures.
He is a serial entrepreneur who started four companies, managed three venture funds, and was head of Innovation for Redbox as well as an early employee of Apple. He is the co-author of Exit Right - how to sell your startup, and has a popular podcast on the Noteworthy network: The Real Work with Mark Achler.
Achler is a frequent speaker, resource and ardent champion for the entrepreneurial community; where he is a mentor for TechStars and several other entrepreneurial organizations. He thinks he has had a fun and eclectic career and his wife thinks he can’t hold a job - all a matter of perspective.
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BA, 1980, Social Studies Education, Minor in Economics, Purdue University
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SVP Innovation, New Business and Strategy, Redbox, 2009-present
Board member, President/CEO, Emmi Solutions, 2002-2007
Founding Partner, Kettle Partners, 1997-2002
Co-founder and President, Kinesoft Development, 1994-1996
Co-founder and CEO, Imagination Pilots, 1993
Co-founder and CEO, The Whitewater Group, 1986-1992
PC Product Manager, SPSS, 1984-1986
Apple //c Introduction Manager, Apple Computer, 1983-1984
Co-founder, Computers Etc., 1981-1983
Entrepreneurship: Building Innovation, Teams, and Cultures (MORS-952-5)
**This course was formerly known as MORS 952-A/MORS 952-B**
Most venture capitalists will agree that the key determinant of success in an early stage company is the management team. In an environment where formal business plans are of little help and ideation continues around the development of the right business model, management teams must be innovative, resourceful and adaptive. People, not plans, define outcomes. But attracting, coordinating, and encouraging the right co-founders and employees is incredibly tricky, even when you're not faced with scarce resources and deep uncertainty.
This five-week course explores the factors that define high-functioning teams, and offers frameworks and approaches to assembling, motivating, and coordinating effective teams in highly fluid and challenging contexts. Topics include the psychology of teams, legal aspects of team building, and how to divide responsibility, compensation, and equity among the founders.
Culture is key to sustainable success in the face of evolving needs, crises, and opportunities. We leverage a powerful intent-driven framework designed to define and grow corporate cultures to create lasting value. The goal is a repeatable methodology for achieving a "flow state" of innovation bringing together founders, employees, customers, and investors to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
Field Study (ENTR-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Launching and Scaling Startups (ENTR-470-0)
Launching and Scaling Startups is a broad, case-driven survey course that examines what it's like to be in the shoes of an entrepreneurial CEO, launching and scaling a startup in its early stages. It is a highly collaborative course (active student participation is critical!) that explores some of the biggest and most challenging topics facing entrepreneurial CEOs, such as: reducing the risks that are inherent in starting a new business, determining go-to-market and operational strategies to gain customer adoption and deliver a great customer experience, and managing and leading a new venture as it goes through its early growth stages. The course targets not only entrepreneurs who want to start or buy their own businesses, but also entrepreneurially minded students who, in short order, will be seeking to work within scaling startups. The course is also beneficial for "intrepreneurs" who will be innovating inside larger firms. In terms of course deliverables, Launching and Scaling Startups requires students to answer questions on nine cases, six of which are pass-fail and three of which are graded.
