As a serial entrepreneur, Alex Mashinsky raised over $1 Billion in financing across his eight startups, generating over $3 Billion in exits and authored over 35 patents that cover aspects of Smart Grid, Ad Exchanges, Twitter, Skype, and Netflix. But his journey was everything but easy. Raised in the USSR -- Ukraine, a communist country at the time, he saw first hand the struggle his parents went through. They both had jobs and incoming money but the lack of food was a constant worry. On many occasions, his family would wait in line for whatever food was available and by the time they got to the front, there would be nothing left. A common occurrence in communist countries. That was his first seven years of life.
Then his parents decided to migrate to Isreal, where the political environment continued to be tumultuous. Within the first six months, the Yom Kippur War (also known as the Arab-Israel War) was in full swing and the country was nearly overtaken by the opposition. To intensify things, national military service is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over the age of 18, and when the time came, Alex was called to duty. The things he saw and experienced were unimaginable, but he credits much of his perseverance and winning mindset to his early year experiences. He learned to trust himself-- to figure things out and survive -- two foundational skill sets you need as an entrepreneur.
At some point in his young life, he decided to come to New York, with just a few dollars in his pocket and never left. Since entering the US, he founded a total of eight startups including Groundlink, Transit Wireless (a $1 billion business that powers the wireless system in New York City’s 300 subway stations, bringing 4G and WiFi coverage to 8.5 million daily commuters), Governing Dynamics (a venture fund that invests in promising tech companies), and his current venture Celsius Network -- a crypto wallet which pays interest on the top 20 blockchain coins.
Tune in to listen to Alex Mashinksy's incredible entrepreneurial journey.
In this episode you will learn about:
Resilience Leadership Leadership mistakes Building a company Exiting a company Managing and scaling a team Raising capital Failing Entrepreneurship
Alex is one of the inventors of VOIP (Voice Over IP) with a foundational patent dating back to 1994 and is now working on MOIP (Money Over IP) technology. Alex is a serial entrepreneur and founder of seven startups, raising more than $1 billion and exiting over $3 billion.
Alex founded two of New York City’s top 10 venture-backed exits since 2000: Arbinet, with a 2004 IPO that had a market capitalization of over $750 million; and Transit Wireless, valued at $1.2 billion.
Alex has received numerous awards for innovation, including being nominated twice by E&Y as ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’, in 2002 & 2011; Crain’s 2010 Top Entrepreneur; the prestigious 2000 Albert Einstein Technology medal; and the Technology Foresight Award for Innovation (presented in Geneva at Telecom 99).
As one of the pioneers of web-based exchanges, Alex authored over 35 patents that cover aspects of the Smart Grid, ad exchanges, Twitter, Skype, App Store, Netflix and many other popular web companies.
Connect with Alex Mashinsky:
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Full Transcription:
Alex Mashinsky: I think part of the secret for the disruption and the innovation that I’ve experienced my entire life is being – behaving like a kid, asking a lot of questions, and challenging all the perceived realities that most adults get used to pretty quickly. Growing up, I was born in communism in the Ukraine, was part of the USSR, going back to the USSR. My parents struggled. It was a very difficult environment in the late 60s, early 70s. Basically, we were worried about are we going to have any food to eat.
It wasn’t so much just because we weren’t making money; both of my ...