261 His company was ACQUIRED for $16.7 MILLION DOLLARS! | Marc LaFleur

Entrepreneurship PodcastOnline Business PodcastMarketingInspired Living Podcast

Feb 7

Marc LaFleur co-founded truLOCAL, which was successfully acquired for $16.7 million in 2020.

Today, he is focused on life after such a major acquisition and on the publication of his brand new book called True Founder!

In this episode, we chat about:

The end of his time at truLOCAL and what it felt like to close that chapter of his journey
The real story behind the successful acquisition of truLOCAL in 2020 for $16.7 million.
What he believes it takes to succeed in business in 2023
The random email that (almost) got lost in his inbox that prompted him to write a book
His new passion for Race Car Driving
His routines or rituals that help him perform at such a high level

To connect with Marc

Access the transcript for this episode:

Hey Mark, welcome back to the visionary life podcast, we actually recorded our first episode back in April 2020.
So it's just so funny thinking back to that time started the pandemic, I remember vividly that you were actually supposed to come to our recording studio in the west end of Toronto. And then at the end of March, I was like, What am I doing with all my podcast recordings?
I guess we're going on Zoom. And so anyways, we had a great conversation, we talked about how true local came to be. We talked about advice for new entrepreneurs really navigating those first few years, but today's conversation is going to be a little bit different.
Because since that original conversation, you got married, you wrote a book, you found a passion for race cars, and you are officially done your time at true local. So I guess my first question is, how do you feel?
Yeah, it's crazy. All of the things you just described feel like an entire lifetime ago, but at the same time, they feel like just yesterday, like I still feel like we're still in the trenches of true local trying to, you know, jump from trade show to trade show and gym to gym. Like, I feel great. Like, what like, how else can I you know, describe it, we just, we sold through local, you know, it was an amazing win it gave the team and you know, myself and the family, you know, an opportunity that we never could have even imagined. And now I get to drive race cars and write a book, you know, life's good. I feel like if you're in a situation like this, and you're wanting anything more, you just don't appreciate, you know, and you gotta have some gratefulness in to where you're at.
What was the feeling of having the acquisition go through? Like, were you just ecstatic? Was it stressful? Was the whole journey worth it? Like, can you just describe a bit because you guys were acquired for something like $16 million? I can just imagine, like seeing all your hard work. That idea that hit you, many, many years ago, is now grown into this massive empire that just got acquired. So what were your like feelings? Or yeah, what was going through your head at that moment?
Yeah, it was a roller coaster. So like, even just like, you gotta get some context on like, how it all came about to understand the moment. You know, we went through almost like 10 months of back and forth with the acquisition process, just from the moment that we were, you know, soliciting elderlies from different acquirers all the way through to due diligence. And by the time it came down to like, the last month, it was almost falling apart every single day, like literally every single day was, okay, we've done so much work to get to this point. And there couldn't be an issue, you know, maybe it was, exclusivity was expiring. So for people that are selling their companies, once you go through a process of saying, yes, you know, we're going to accept your term sheet or your loi, or we're doing this, you typically enter this exclusivity period, which is really convenient for acquires because it means that, okay, we're doing this, you can no longer shop this deal. It makes sense from the idea that they're about to spend, you know, a couple of $100,000 doing due diligence on the business.
But from the founder and the business perspective, it's kind of like Okay, now we've given up all of our cards, all of the leverage, and that's where a lot of these deals fall apart. So we were getting near the end, and like every single day, it was like an argument every single day it was this need to be renegotiated that needs to be renegotiated.
And it wasn't that there was any bad blood during any of it, it was just the nature of so many documents need to get signed, so many pieces of data that need to be sent over so many approvals need to be dealt with, you know, even just getting all of the shareholders together to sign this over as this crazy thing.
And of course, we were doing it over the holidays. So by the time we got to you know, I don't know, the 23rd it was now okay, this is looks like it's going through but we need bank signatures and we need the accountants to sign off on it and we need all of these high ranking individuals like even WW right so we had to deal with weightwatchers and just the way that the contract was set up because we had a multi year deal with weightwatchers if there was ever a change of control which when you're doing these deals with these other companies you don't think that this is ever going to be something that comes up but it does and because there's a contract they need approvals but good luck trying to get you know the head of WWE Canada to sign a legal document over the holidays, let alone the banks.
So it was like so so so tight wrapped right down to the wire and it's crazy because now you're staring down the barrel of everything you've ever wanted. Like for me personally selling true local or selling my first business you know, before the age of 30 was the goal that I had set out from the age of I don't know like 20 I was like okay, I want to have a company be acquired by the age of 30. And to be so close after not only the journey of building true local, which was we did DTC food, right like the most competitive, difficult space you could possibly get into, and we somehow survived we somehow thrive in survived all of those bullets that were being sent our way to then get to that final boss battle of, okay, yep, we're gonna do this acquisition, going through all of those motions and then being right at the finish line and potentially watching it fall apart. It was insane.
But from an emotional roller coaster standpoint. So I'll never forget we finally every day we're inching forward, inching forward, inching forward. And the deal had to close in 2020. Because from our perspective, with what was happening with the pandemic, there were whispers that there was going to be changes in capital gains tax coming in, and 2021.
Now, that never happened, but the idea that they were going to raise capital gains, that would have had a huge impact on what everybody ended up taking home from the deal. So it was we're doing this and 2020, or we're not doing it at all, and it got to the December 30. And we finally felt were like,
Okay, we feel good. We've got the signatures, we've got XYZ, and I get a call from our lawyers. And there was this one thing that we were missing. And it was like, we don't even like this might not happen like this might because this came down to the wire. So December 31, we wake up and we're like, this is the day like if it doesn't happen today, all of this has been for nothing. Or at the end of the day, we might be millionaires.
So like, what is this gonna be? So it got to the point where the day and you're not really talking directly with your acquirer at this point. It's your lawyers talking to their lawyers kind of coming back to you. And nine o'clock came around, and me and Irma, so we were so my wife, Erma. We were like, God had just gotten to the point where we're like, you know what, like, just like, Screw it. Like, let's just go for dinner. Like, it's New Year's. Let's go for dinner. Whatever happens happens, we can deal with it after the fact.
Let's just go because we don't know what's going on. And so we were in Vancouver at the time. And this is actually when they had though, like, there were because the pandemic was happening. They were shutting down restaurants. I like some stupid hour and not serving booze. And we had to get our Uber driver height was selling the beers out of the back of Uber. So that was awesome. Paragon love that guy.
Yeah, so So we're at the restaurant and I get a text from my lawyer being like, Yo, can you hop on a call in 30 minutes. So you know, me and Irma, look at each other. We're all dressed up because we're like, you know what, like, we don't even care. We're just gonna have fun tonight. And of course, we deeply cared. So we were like, Okay, let's go back. And this could have been either we're selling the company, the deal is closing, or it's not happening. So we get back, we actually have the video of this, but we get back and we're in this like, awesome apartment in Vancouver, and it's 9pm. So like, maybe 8pm Vancouver times like 11. Eastern Time, and the deal has to close in Eastern time.
And the lawyer picks up the phone, we're on the phone, he's okay, I'm patching you in with, you know, the CFO from the company. And just immediately we knew like it was going through. And it was just like this super surreal moment, because it's so intense. And it's so wild, but it's also so anticlimactic. Because it's like, Okay, do you all agree? Everything's good? Do you want to close? Yeah, we're good. Let's close. And then okay, everyone have a great New Years, and you hang up the phone and you're like, a multimillionaire, and you're like, Wait, what just happened? So it was like, it was so crazy. That moment, because so much had built up to it. And during that time, I didn't actually tell my mom, I didn't tell anybody. I think I told my best friend, Jordan. He was the only one I didn't tell any of my other friends. What was going on? And because it was like, literally like such a long period of time.
So on New Year's I called pick up the phone call my mom, and she thought I was calling. She's like, Oh, you're early. And like, Yo got a surprise to tell you. And I was like, you know how we've been trying to sell to local. And she's like, burst into tears. She's like, Oh, my God, like what happened and didn't know the amount and all this. So it was just such an amazing experience. But to be honest, so that was like the actual moment like living in the moment and what was going on that night. And it was just me and Irma, like literally it was just me and her in the apartment. And we were just kind of like it was so emotional, so surreal. But it's crazy. Because people always ask, you know what, what came out of it? You know, what, what was the overall feeling?
And I think for me, I've been dreaming and fantasizing at that moment for so long, like it was what I existed for, like, it was my purpose. It was everything we ever wanted was put into this moment. Just you know, we didn't come from a lot and you know, financial, like, financial freedom is a huge motivator for us. So it was like, I thought about that moment, so many times. And I felt so confident that we were gonna get there that it wasn't like this big surprise. It wasn't like this, like, oh my god, like it was kind of almost just like, okay, you know, it's about time like,
Okay, well, we knew it was gonna happen. And now it's like, you know, we had this confidence, like we just kind of lived up to the expectation that we had set for ourselves. But what did come out of it. The thing that I found the most valuable was that even though going through true local, like we need any founder, you got to have a certain level of calm confidence, you know, there's different ways to showcase that and express that.
But at the end of the day, you feel like you can do it better than other people, you feel like you're the one you feel that you're able to rally a team, you feel that you're able to manage it, like you have a certain ego and you have a certain level of confidence. But no matter how confident you are deep down, though, you still are kind of like, Can we do it like deep, deep, deep down. And with true local, we were so against the grain, like we did direct consumer food with no VC funding, we were told that we were doing things wrong so many different times. But the things that we did, it always felt right. Like, to me, they always felt like, Okay, this is how we have to do it. You know, it's all about the team. And it sounds cheesy and cliche, but we're the ones who did it with that narrative. You know, a lot of businesses are like, well, we have the best customer service, or we have the best team.
And they either end up staying really, really small, or they're just giant corporations who say it but don't live it like we are in that sweet spot of, we built an amazing team, we took care of our customers, our customers took care of us, and we made it happen. So the part of it that I think the acquisition made was that it was a validation that we were right. And it was like so many times you look back, like I could have done this differently, I could have done that differently. But when you get that final, when you're like nothing could have been done differently. And nothing should have been done differently.
Like every single thing, even the mistakes you made along the way, they ended up leading you to exactly where you want it to go. And that gives you this like last little tick of confidence, you need to just trust your gut indefinitely for everything. And I think that's the power of chasing after like a giant goal, you know, the monies asked, you know, not to get it twisted, and the experiences are great. But now like you unlock a part of yourself that if you didn't achieve something so great, you probably would have unlocked and then then it's the interesting journey of who you become now with with that new, you know, that new personality trait or whatever it looks like.
So, yeah, it was a hell of an experience. I mean, there's so much that I could pick apart there. But a couple of things that really jumped out to me, I love you said something around the fact that like when the acquisition happened, you just felt like yeah, like I knew it was coming eventually.
And it almost reminds me of how professional athletes like visualize their gold medal game or people who have a big goal or dream, like they just like, embody and feel what they want so often that sometimes when it actually happens, it's like, of course, like I've been thinking about this moment, I've been writing about it, I've been dreaming about it, but it just feels right.
So I think there's something to be said for sitting in that energy, even if it seems like a big lofty goal of like, how am I going to sell a company for 10 million sit in that energy, think about it will happen like what that moment going to be like, so that was one thing I love that you shared. Another thing too is like, it's interesting hearing you say, All I ever wanted was to have my company acquired by the time I was 30. So did you feel any emptiness? Or like, what do I do now? Because you reached the pinnacle of what you wanted. But then I would imagine you're kind of left thinking, Well, I'm a driven person. What's this next chapter going to be? And like, How soon do I move on to the next thing?
For sure, like, I guess I'm the first point I've been the number one person to say that founders are the professional athletes of the business world. And I think that they don't get enough credit for that. When you look at an athlete, it's the exact same thing a professional athlete is that that pinnacle, they're not just playing the game.
They're they're they're not just playing the role, they're actually living that role. When you look at business, you know, the ones that are out there, building their businesses, the ones that have built revenue built profit built teams, what else do we call it, like, you're the professional at doing that. So you're the pro athletes of the of the business world, in my opinion. And, you know, even as far to take a stretch to say, look, it is physical, you know, like in, like, to me, when you're going after a challenge like this in business, you actually need to be mentally and physically stable and in a good place.
Otherwise, you just can't perform. So there's, you know, that part of it. And then the, I guess sort of looking at the second part is, yeah, you know, I'm a huge believer that look, you look at all these kids that go through these like quarterlife crisis is now Right. Like you used to be the midlife crisis. You go by a convertible Corvette, and you know, you're like,
Okay, you're reliving the days that you wanted to, but now you've got kids that graduate university and like they're absolutely distraught. Like they are, there's so much pressure, what am I supposed to be doing? Where am I supposed to be going? And part of it is just because for their entire lives, they've been told, what are you doing? What are you going to do? And then which is ridiculous, because how can you ask someone who's lived one quarter of their life what they want to do with their lives? And then on the flip side, you know, access to information, right, like now you see all of the different opportunities that exist in the world.
And before when it was Okay, you only have access to the opportunities in your town, or maybe your country or maybe your social circle, like you know, a bricklayer, so you know that business model exists. Or maybe you were lucky to find a magazine hanging around that showed you that oh my god, like management consulting, what's that? Now you go online, and people aren't even looking up industries, they're looking up how to make a million dollars, and then all of these different business models to choose from. So I struggled with that a lot.
And I talked about it actually in the book. And the whole thing is, in my opinion, it's about finding your purpose, right? So what is it that you want to exist for, but the thing is that it doesn't have to be your life's purpose, like you don't need a life's purpose. Like, you should have something that is long enough so that you can actually work up to it.
Because whatever your goal is, it's going to take longer than you think. So you know, to have a six month purpose is this more of a goal. But like, even two years, two to five years, to find something that you are willing to give everything to? That, to me is what builds character and going after it, whether you succeed or fail. But for me, that's what I realized early on, I was like, I don't know what I want to do at 40. I don't know what I want to do at 50. I don't know who I want to be.
But I do know more than anything in this world. I want to be a millionaire by the time I'm 30. Just it was It wasn't it just was what it was, you know, there are people that are going to want to be a doctor, there are people who are going to want to be the ultimate tennis player, there are people who are gonna want to be the ultimate father, brother, you know. So that is a long term vision you can chase after, but it doesn't have to be your entire life. So for me, I have always made the promise that okay, my goal right now is to, you know, do this by the time I'm 30. And once I reach 30, I'm going to take a blank slate, you know, not going to assume that I just want to continue on with this, you know, pursuit of business or anything like that, it probably will be the case. But I'm gonna go ahead and take it and reassess and say, Okay, I have no purpose.
Now, if I could choose today, what I want to do, do I have enough clarity in my life that I know what I want to do for the next 20 or 30 years, or who I want to become? If so I'm gonna go ahead and gun for that. If like the majority of the population, I don't know, the no problem, let's do like a five or 10 year goal, and channel all of our energy into that. So that that was kind of it.
And it definitely is another thing too. So for anybody who ever gets to this point, it's never the end, right? Like, have you ever watched Kanye West said it. And he's like, you know, not having money. Having money isn't everything, but not having it is like when you're chasing that check in any form, whether it's a career or a big windfall. Money is everything because you can't think a week or a month or a quarter ahead, because you got to put you know, pay the bills.
Once you get the money, you realize that it actually just opens up a new set of problems, the whole more money, more problems, but not in the way people think. I've been fortunate I've never had to deal with any of that, like drama, like my family is really close, my friend, I have a very small group of friends. So I never had to deal with that. But the question does come up, what do you do when you can do anything? And that's existential that that becomes like, oh, shit, like, what do I want to do?
Oh, my God could do anything, what do you do. And once again, circling back to the point of when you don't have when you do have to take the opportunities that are in front of you, really, you just got to kind of, you know, turn water into wine in the sense that, okay, I only have three options. So I gotta make one of these work. And that typically is what most people's career trajectory or entrepreneur journey looks like. They're like, there's an opportunity in front of me whether I love it, or don't, this is what I got. But the tables turn a lot when it's like, I'm going to anything with any people. And now you're like, oh, wow, it really forces you to think about what matters. And it forces you to think about forever. From a first principles perspective, what do you want over the next few years of your life?
Mm hmm. It's such an interesting like, that could be a journaling prompt that everybody just sits down and takes five minutes, like, what would I do if I could do anything and it helps to just tap into a part of your brain that we don't normally give ourselves permission to.
Because there's always a to do list in front of us. There's always these constraints, and they're usually imaginary. That's like, well, I just have to live in this house forever. Because I bought it. I just have to stay in my industry as an investment banker, because that's what I went to school for. But it's like, no, no, like, we put those constraints around. And I know, one of the things that you actually decided to embark on was writing a book and you've kind of mentioned it a couple of times, and I've read the first chapter, and there's so many like fun stories about your journey as a founder, and I love what you even said about needing to be physically strong as a founder and mentally strong. I talk about this a lot on the podcast. It's like, if I am strong in my mind and strong in my body, my business is usually very strong and performing.
And you even have this story where one ate in the middle of the night, you found that your freezers weren't working and you had to haul like, hundreds and hundreds of boxes of meat, it's like you didn't mean to be physically strong in that moment. So there's certainly some synergies between being strong physically, like running a successful ship.
For sure, like, you know, I think once again, if you look at the idea of being a successful founder, you're talking like five years, you know, once again, there's outliers, some people are very fortunate, or they just work really, really hard in a really, really smart way. And they get to where they want to go in one or two years. But most of the time, if you're not ready to strap in for five years, you're in trouble and the challenges that you deal with every single day that you can never forecast or never foresee, like you're just getting punched in the face every single day.
So kind of came to the point where you kind of needed, you need to be the best version of yourself to take these challenges on at the level in which you need to take them on because you never forget, it's not even like you're just dealing with the forces that are trying to take your business down, which are a lot like weather and all of those forces are pointed towards you as a business, even though they're all separate.
Because they're all standing in your way. They're all channeled towards you, then you've got the internal things to deal with, how do you manage the growth of the business, or the growth of the team with the growth of the business, and it forces you nonstop to kind of be on your toes and just be very, very, very mental. It's a it's a huge strain mentally. And what I've just found is that if I'm not feeling good physically, you know, I don't feel like I can perform mentally. So that's where that came from. And then yes, of course, like just literally, you know, we're a business that had warehousing. So we had to move all of these boxes. So that helped. That helped a lot of hurdles as well. But that yeah, that's a while. That was a crazy, crazy time.
And I know you recount a lot of these stories and the lessons learned in the book. So why don't you just tell us a little bit about why you decided to write a book and what true founder is all about?
Yeah, so super crazy story. I had no plans on ever writing a book, I never thought about it. It just wasn't something that was on my radar. I'm an avid note taker, I take a ridiculous amount of notes. And I actually have a funny story about the audiobook that actually Erma pointed out. But so long story short, after the company sold, I was going through my junk mail. And this is probably like February, and we sold the company in December. And there was like a message from Forbes. And of course, you know, if you're if you're doing things, you get all these like spammy Forbes messages all the time companies being like, we can get you listed in Forbes and this, this that that. So they just use Forbes as a tag tagline. But for whatever reason, whatever their subject was, I clicked on it, I saw that it actually came from a Forbes email.
And it was, you know, this, this person saying, Hey, listen, you know, I don't know if you know, but Forbes has a publishing division, we publish about 60 authors a year, you know, you've got an interesting story, why don't we have a conversation? So went through that whole process, and they convinced me Listen, this is a great opportunity. And after kind of thinking about it, I was like, Look, I've got two years that I'm under contract with true local to help oversee the transition, where I can't start something new. This could be the thing that I get to sort of pour my energy into nights and weekends, that is just something new, and the tides, you know, tied to the time sort of thing. So you know, wrote the book, and ironically took about a year and a year and a half, like to maybe like 14 months, 14 to 16 months, give or take. And most of that happened on the back half of it. Because the first part when it comes to writing a book is the most difficult of what is this book? What even is this? Yeah, what are we even doing? What are we writing and of course, it started off were on me, just tell him my story.
And let me just go ahead and explain, you know, my life. Like, at the end of the day, I was still like a 30 year old black founder who grew up with no money and somehow created this, you know, meat empire in Canada, right? So, okay, somewhat interesting. But it hit me really hard two ways. One, look, I'm 30. In my story is nowhere near being done. If anything true local was the kind of the beginning, it was sort of the training wheels for where I want to go and what I want to do. So what am I doing trying to recount my story when we're still in like chapter three of 10. So that happened. And then as I was writing, I really wanted to resonate with you know, the younger me. So someone that starting a business really has given it their all, they're in the trenches, they're working with their friends or their early employees. And so I wanted to tie learnings into the stories that I was giving. But the problem was that every single story and every single lesson and I think this happens with most people, I didn't realize the learnings at the time, I only realized why these things happened later on. And I just do not have the skills as a writer or a storyteller to somehow weave those in together. So I'll be like telling a story about you know how I was just like young fat kid in high school with no friends, but I found football and you know, at the time, it was the only thing I had and blah, blah, blah, but how do I tie that back now to how important it is to have a purpose. I didn't know that back then. So scrap that completely and then I was like, Look, I'm just gonna do a guide, like I want to do an actual tangible business book, I'm gonna take all the things that I've learned that they think someone looking to build a company sub $20 million might need. And that's what it's going to be. And then it was okay, I went back to my notes and was looking to see, okay, what are the interesting facts? Like, what are the things that I learned by doing that I think are contradictory to what you'll find on LinkedIn, or find from a business coach. And that immediately made everything so much simpler, because it all just became the chapters of the book. So all these different learnings became chapters of the book, and the book became, every chapter was this like insight, or this learning or this experience that helped me become a better founder, and a lot of it is counter to what is typically out there and what is being taught, you know, by MBAs or whatever it might be. So once that came together, it became very obvious that this book was for first time founders like that, that became so clear, and it was a struggle also, because as I was writing it initially, I was thinking about people I want to work with in the future. So people that I consider to be ahead of me. So whether that be private equity, whether that be venture capital, whether that be future founders, whether that be, you know, anything that that might be, then I was thinking about my peers, like the people that I'm like,
Okay, I'm in the trenches with these types of people, other founders. And then I was thinking about the people that were looking up to what I've done and saying, Okay, well, how did he do it, and you can't be everything to all those people. Because the things that I'm saying to these people that I aspire to be one day is very different and much more complicated and detailed than the things that I would say to someone who's just looking to incorporate their company or looking to hire their first employees, which is also very different than the conversations that we have. And like, bro, you're telling me about these new HR rules or whatever, to my peers? Right? So it became really clear early on, why am I talking to the people that I wanted to work with? I haven't experienced that yet. What am I I'm not trying to impress them. And in terms of my peers, people that are already there, it's like you know what, you're on your you're doing your thing. And we're at the same level, I can't really coach or advise people that are at the same level as me, I can just share experiences. But what I could do is younger mark, like 25 year old mark, given it all up to go chase this business, you know, that person, I know exactly what you're about to go through. I know exactly the things that you don't know exist yet. And here's how I dealt with them. So the book really became exclusive to first time founders.
And when I say first time founders, it really ends up being anybody who hasn't gone through their first major win. Like if you haven't gone through your first acquisition, I don't care if you've gone through four businesses. And now this is your you're still a first time founder in a good way. Like you're still you're chasing that you're hustling that dream, you're getting on the way to making it. And that's what ended up happening with the book. That's like all of it. And it's everything from the thing that I think once again, like what is the most important thing a founder can have? I've seen it so many times. And you know, if you read the first chapter, it's like, Well, I'm a CTO, and I do this role, or I'm a CEO and all this stuff. It's like, Man, listen, you're none of those, your your problem solver. That's the gear professional problem solver. That's what you got to focus on. When it comes to you know, hiring people, people struggle with this all the time. When do I hire who do I hire, I read in this book, I should hire for two years, you know where I want to be. And that's horrible advice, do not hire two years in advance, because you'll never get to that point,
if you hire people that are going to be operating at a level of where your business would be in two years, rather than what you need today. So should you have higher friends, everyone says not to hire friends, but we had an amazing experience with that. So it's kind of sharing things like that, you know, working with agencies, how to build a culture in an early stage startup. For me a personal one, you know how to stay organized as a person who thrives in chaos. I am chaotic. I'm like, the typical founder that will absolutely burn everything to the ground. And you know, it's I have, it's just my brain is a mess. And I had to bring in really talented people on the complete opposite spectrum, really organized individuals to help balance that out.
And it's like, all of these things that I thought were really important that I wish were being taught to me along the way, but I just had to learn the hard way. I'm like, yo, this is what it's for. So that's why you know, called a true founder, obviously, a play on true local. And that's where it came from. And even now, actually, you know, I appreciate it. But I think your listeners are probably like this, but we think about like how do you market the book? And for me, I was just telling you about this look like you go look me up on social, you'll see like I'm not big into I don't have a huge social media presence. I have no interest in spending a ton of time kind of posting content I'm not good at. It's not what I do. I'm a founder. I do. I love business. I love building. I love promoting the products of my business, but I've always struggled sort of promoting my own stuff. So when it came time to do the book, what do you like all you really have to sell is your face, right? So we were going through it and of course we tried to do the whole thing. We tried to do all of it, you know, cable, I'll post more on Instagram. It just it didn't absolutely like if I was telling them I mean you're just being ladies You get this and you're not and like, I accept it. Like, I'm just not doing it the way I'm supposed to. It's the opposite of what I want to do. And I'm just in a position right now, where if I, if I hate what I'm doing, why am I doing it? So we did the Tick Tock thing did 100 Tick Tock videos, hate I hated it hated, quality was good. Like, they were fine. But I'm just like, This is not me. So for me, like,
it doesn't let me up at all, it's actually even the opposite.
Because even with true local, like, I always say true local, the day to day doesn't like me up. But it was a purpose. And it was for the greater good from what I wanted to achieve. So I did it. This like took from me this was like, I'm taking parts of my soul. And so it's crazy. So of course, the book comes out in a month. And we're like, how are we promoting this book? So it's like, Well, look, why don't we do a giveaway? And I'm like, giveaways are cringy. But they work really well. And I'm like, why are giveaways? cringy? And it's because there's so transactional, and they're so cheap, like, they don't actually speak to, you know, what is it?
You give me these, this attention, and I will give you this random product. So it's like, kit, there's something there in the sense of giveaway, creating excitement, but how can we do it, where it's like, really, really specific, and it's just as good initiative. So we came up with one would do a big giveaway, like a real big grand prize. And we're like, Okay, so what's it going to be? And I'm like, Well, the book is, for first time founders, you know, I'm a founder. So what do I want, like, what would make me the happiest person in the world. And we went through all of it. We're like, oh, this, like tech package, AirPods MacBook Pro, maybe vacation. And I'm like, that's all great stuff. Don't get it twisted, I would love that.
But as a founder in the trenches, that's not helping me. And I was like, Well, what I would want is, I would want something that's actually going to help my business. And that's where the idea of the ultimate first time founder giveaway came from, which is pretty much we went and worked with some of the greatest agencies, everything from, you know, Facebook, Google ads, SEO, PR, video creation, and they've all put a credit together so that we could use that to promote the book. And it's a giveaway, where if you submit a two minute video, then you have the ability to win, like things like $65,000 worth of agency credits, to grow your business. So to me, it was like, That makes perfect sense. It's in line with the book. It's what the book is all about. And now if I was a founder, I'd be like, well, I can get almost $70,000 to help grow my business and agency credit. So that like, all all of that whole thing kind of just came together as this like unique experience of writing, and then creating and promoting a book. And that's pretty much what's been taking up most of my time for the past, you know, year and a bit.
Yeah, I can only imagine just the amount of labor that goes into writing, and then editing and now promoting, and I think what you say around the fact that, you know, Instagram and Tiktok, they just weren't your thing. It's so refreshing to hear that because people need to be reminded that marketing is energy. And if your energy is not there, when it comes to social media, your community probably feels that right. So it's like, okay, maybe I put a pause on those two platforms. But where can I create energy and for you, you're talking about this giveaway package you put together and it lit you up, you're like, this would be so epic, I wish I would have won that. And that is energy. And people would say, Oh, is that really enough to launch a book, of course, because if you put a shit ton of energy behind it, that could be your one and only launch strategy, and it could knock it out of the park. Right. So I think it's just an important reminder, it's like, you don't have to show up all the places, if that type of output is truly dreadful, you know,
totally. And I think like, look like, you know, the path of least resistance is real, like, it's amazing to be able to build audiences on Instagram and Twitter and Tiktok. It's there, it's real, it's way better that it exists than it doesn't. And if you can take advantage of it, you should, but you don't have to. Like there are other ways. And I think that that's a big thing that a lot of people force themselves to do it, which they should, at the end of the day, if it's an opportunity, you should at least try it. And if it's something that's bearable for you, and it's not taking your elegant, they'll take energy to actually do the work. But if it's not like crushing your soul, then yeah, do it as part of the discipline of you know, building your brand and getting to where you want to go.
But it's also there's other ways that you don't have to do that just because it's the easiest and most normal way nowadays. And it literally it took me Yeah, a year and a half to actually understand that. And that's after five years of building a company up to you know, 60 employees like we, I thought I'd like I know, marketing, don't stress about it. And even then, you know, you're still learning and it's just like, Okay, I know marketing. But you know, this is something that it just didn't work for me. So yeah, we'll see at the end at the end of it, how it turns out, but it's interesting now and there's so many crazy new things coming out and different ways to build these audiences. And I don't, I don't know, but I don't think that social media has the same power that it used to. Like I think that people are starting to realize that it probably is a bad thing that the single biggest social status symbol is you know, putting on you know, your grandma's underwear and eating a tide pod and going viral on Tiktok. Like that's almost like what everybody aspires to are like that, to me is kind of weird. Yeah. So I think it's good that people are finding other ways to either connect with their audience or promote their products or build businesses. Yeah. Yeah.
So interesting. The state of our world a little bit scary. It's crazy.
Yeah. So it is it really is, aside from
writing the book and now promoting it. What else is lighting you up now that you're officially finished at true local? Is there something that you are investing time or money or energy and upgrading skill sets? Is it more personal stuff that you're working on right now? What is creating energy in Marc's life?
Yeah, so like, if you want to talk about the like, business is wild, like the world right now is crazy. You know, I spent a year and a half going really deep down the web three rabbit hole. So yeah, no, forget, forget, forget speculative crypto and $500,000 NF T's like more like trying to actually understand the technology and the use cases of it. I always tell people like listen, the easiest way to understand it is that, you know, the same way that internet is not email, email is not the internet, you know, email is enabled by the Internet is very similar to when you look at NF T's in Bitcoin and then blockchain you know, so NF T's in Bitcoin are not blockchain, none of the cryptocurrencies are blockchain, they are just use cases that are enabled by the technology. And similarly, NF T's this idea of a non fungible token is not a $500,000 monkey image that is a use case for NF T's. But there is way more powerful uses for that technology. And I get really excited about that stuff. So I would say like, I've spent a lot of my time diving into there, like I literally am talking at at web three conferences. And that's something that I really hope that my next thing involves some sort of web three tooling. So that's exciting. Something I don't know a lot about, but obviously is mind boggling is chat. GPT. I use it daily. I feel like yeah, you know, luckily, once again, LinkedIn has been amazing. You could spend one day on LinkedIn and become a moderate chat. GBT user, just from all the carousels that are going out there super exciting. I don't know a lot about it, because I don't know anything about AI outside of using it. So I wouldn't consider myself being able to speak educated, but it's fundamentally changing everything, you know, like literally everything. And the whole idea is, you know, people are saying that it's going to replace jobs and this and that. Well, yeah, but at the same time, the same way social media, like when I grew up in the age of social media managers, right. So in 2015 2016, we were on social media, so we knew how to use it, but businesses still hadn't figured it out. Yeah, we were like these rock stars, like, you know, you can make a Facebook page, right? And they're like, Oh, my God, mind blowing. And what does that mean it did social media and paid advertising replace TV and replace all this? No, it did, but it definitely shifted the the allocation of resources. So to me, it's like yes, you know, if you're a copywriter, you're probably in trouble. Or you become the absolute best at using chat GPT to do copywriting. So instead of looking at it, where it's like, oh my God, all these copywriters and journalists and newsletters and social media managers and marketing, copywriters are gonna get replaced. I don't think that's the case. I think the idea is that the fact that you have one person writing four articles a day, being a full time job, I think you can probably keep your job if you're the person who now writes no articles, but you're the absolute best at chat GPT prompts, and now you're coming up with 30 articles a day. 50, you know, listicles and, you know, 100 tweets by using chat GBT in the same amount of time. You're laughing. So I think that's kind of what it is, is like, stop being scared of the tech. It's not going anywhere. You're screwed if you if you try to run from it, just get good at using it. So that's, you know, super exciting, and I wish I could dedicate more time to it on a personal level, like what's giving me energy like I'm driving race cars, you know, I'm a racecar driver now. So that's, like, God that that's just the happiest I've ever been. And I you know, it's all I use drag race cars.
Why did you do that? Because like in Ontario right now it is crappy weather. Like, are you traveling the globe to do this? Or does this happen somewhere locally?
Yeah, not the globe, but definitely North America. So I so crazy story. So I'll give you the quick quick background on how this all started. So I never had a car growing up my mom. We just didn't have a whole lot of money. My mom always worked her ass off to give us everything and we weren't like we weren't broke or anything but we didn't live in like a nice area town and my mom was always my biggest supporter and everything boys didn't have a car growing up. And I just Oh, between high school and university became upset I was well I was a car guy. Like I thought I knew everything about every car. I'd watch every car review. You know, I'd watch every car show Top Gear, whatever it might be. fell in love of cars. And then I think that naturally as you become obsessed over something, it just grows and grows and grows. So it was became more than just wanting to own one, it became, oh my god, like I want to I want to like race these things like I want to take this car that they claim to have all this all like everything from the horsepower to the to the traction control, all these all these different types of things. And I want to actually put them on on the track and see how these things operate. So I'd always said that as soon as I ever had the means I was going to make a real go at trying to drive race cars. So when the company sold, I made a promise to myself that that summer, I was gonna go buy a car, and I was gonna go spend as much time at the track as possible, like literally every possible opportunity, I have to get behind the wheel, I'm going to take it. And then at the end of my first summer driving, if I was progressing faster than other people in their first year, because I was 31 at the time, and these kids are driving since they're like nine. So like it's just such a huge curve, but I have someone coming in in their first year if I'm going to progress faster than than they normally would, then I'll go racing the next year. And so we did it. And the first year we were moving, moving quick and moving well. And I told it's funny because I have a post where I'm like, you know, it feels good to be an underdog again, but everyone at the track was like yeah, you know, you can you can race next year, but you should really do this, like local club racing. Like that's, that's your next level. And I was like, I don't think I'm gonna develop fast enough doing that. So I'm like, I want to jump into like, I'm gonna go into the deep end and go to the regional racing here in Ontario, which is, you know, a higher level racing. It's like, pretty much your semi pro kind of series. Anyway did that this past year, we actually won the whole Championship, which is like insane, super excited about that. We had an underpowered car too. And now this upcoming year, I'm actually gonna be racing in the Pro Series. So which is the FBl series. So we race in Ontario and Quebec. We raise at the Toronto indie, which anybody who loves racing loves the Toronto indie. Anybody who lives downtown Toronto hates the Toronto indie, because that's the that's the one where they shut down the streets. So I love it. It's awesome. Like I'm driving you know, this past year I drove 2004 BMW M three. Now I'm driving a factory built Mercedes AMG GT four race car like it's sick.
Like, it's like going right over my head, by the way, but I know right? openers are like, Yeah, I know that. That's always I'm always just like, I know that there are some people out there who are just like I get it long story short, are really cool race cars. And yes, I in the winter will go down to Florida to Texas to do testing, because we can't do a whole lot here. And yeah, it's it's really become a big part of my life. And I realized that once the company sold, I always thought that I was the type of guy that wanted to work on like, a million different projects. Because you have been so myopically focused on one thing, it was only true local, there was literally nothing else in my life. And I thought that coming out of it, it was Oh my God. Now I can spend Monday working on this project Tuesday working on this project third Wednesday working with those people. And actually, that ended up not working out for me at all. It made me appreciate how much I really love being focused on something. Yeah, I think though coming out, it's about taking the things that you've learned and making them a little bit better. So I don't want to ever go back to this thing where only one thing consumes my whole life. So what I did realize that I like 7015 and 15. So I like having a main thing, I like having something that's mine, that's my baby that I'm investing in. And that it really is priority number one. But I like to have two other things that are 15% way away in the back seat, but that you know, hone my skills in a certain way bring me happiness, whatever it might be. So example would have been like, let's just say if it was true local be like true local, racecar driving and the book. That's it, I'm done. Now those are that's where my energy is being used. And that split. So now I'm just happy that with racing, it's something that makes me happy. But it's also this, like there's a huge business behind racing and all this stuff. So yeah, it's yeah, it's definitely been it's been pretty interesting, for sure. So I don't know anything about cars. But I think about the one of the races and show you how the side lives. That's perfect.
Yeah, we want to talk bikes, I can talk all day like cycling, but cars, I'm like, Oh, I really need to brush up. But it's so cool to hear you talk about these new hobbies and projects that you're working on. And the fact that you know, it's not over when your company gets acquired, like there's still so much in you that is lit up and that you're excited for and congratulations on the book. I'm excited to read from start to finish. The first chapter was engaging. I got through it very quickly. I loved the stories you were telling. So if the listeners want to get a copy of true founder, tell us all the places that we can find it and also just where to connect with you as an individual and to follow along where you're going to be in the next few years.
For sure. Yeah. So in terms of the book, pre sales are on now so you can just go to market fleur.com ma RC La FL eur.com and you'll find it there. Pretty much like all of my weather It's on LinkedIn. Whether it's on Instagram like it's kind of book focused right now. So my Instagram is dark mark underscore. So dar que ma RC underscore. And yeah, like honestly, I'm super excited. We're really excited to be connecting with people in general. Obviously, the the community of exited Canadian founders is fairly small in the grand scheme of things. And when I was building true local, so many I reached out to so many people just to be like, Listen, man, like, I'm in the trenches, like just what what did you do in this scenario? Or what do you think? And I was surprising how many people responded. So I love to just let anybody know that if anybody's out there doing this type of thing, please reach out because I've probably been through what you're going through, and we'd be happy to share experiences. So yeah, you can hit me on LinkedIn, Instagram, my website, whatever works. But yeah,
you catch me, a very generous offer. Thank you so much Mark for your time. And we are so excited to read the book and wish you all the success as you continue on this new chapter. So thanks again for being here. And we hope you have the best rest of your week.
Hey, thanks for having me. Kelsey.