Career Pathway Video Series Interview: Mark Pecota
Entrepreneur Mark Pecota has a lot in common with his company’s customers. That’s because his company’s customers are entrepreneurs of small businesses like his own.
Pecota’s company, LaunchBoom, was founded in 2015 to provide startup organizations with assistance in securing funding through the use of digital technologies.
Pecota, who completed his management degree with a specialization in entrepreneurship from San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business in 2012, sat down for an interview with fellow Fowler management grad, Andy Esparza (’81), as part of the Career Pathways video series.
During the interview, Esparza asked Pecota about his company and his role as an entrepreneur.
Mark Pecota
CEO and Co-Founder, LaunchBoom
Management/Entrepreneurship, 2012
Esparza: Could you tell us what you’re doing today?
Pecota: LaunchBoom works with entrepreneurs and early-stage companies to help scale their brands using e-commerce. We help them take their product ideas, validate them in the market, then we launch them on crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Esparza: How did you decide you wanted to become an entrepreneur?
Pecota: There was always a piece of me that had entrepreneurial traits andI think it started with my father and my grandfather who started a company that still exists called Valley Services Electronics. So, growing up in an entrepreneurial environment definitely had an influence on me and I always knew I wanted to forge my own path.
Esparza: I understand your company’s been through some pretty rapid growth, could you share what it’s like to run a company? Day-to-day, what are the kinds of things you get involved with?
Pecota: What I’m doing day-to-day is a lot different now from one year ago. Just to put it into perspective, at the beginning of 2020, we had 27 people and today we have 57 and we’re hiring a few more.
There were a few factors that contributed to that. One factor is the massive boost e-commerce got from the COVID pandemic, so we definitely rode that wave.
A year ago, I was still setting the strategic vision of the company, but now we have a completely different management layer. That means I spend a lot of my time on a day-to-day basis working with the directors and managers of the different divisions making sure that we are on the right path with our long-term objectives and we’re pivoting when necessary. I’m in quite a few meetings right now with a lot of strategy vision work and I’m helping to support people by pointing things in the right direction.
Esparza: How did your education at San Diego State impact the way you lead today?
Pecota: San Diego State taught me the importance of networking and the quality of people in general. I got really involved in the Entrepreneur Society, the entrepreneurial community, the alumni, with other students and the faculty and it really showed me how important the people side of things are. The core principle is that people are the foundation of everything, and I’ve kept that in mind as I built my company. It’s really about people sharing the same values as you that are also very talented. It was during my senior year at San Diego State that I really started to experience that.
Esparza: What do you like best about being an entrepreneur?
Pecota: Entrepreneurship has the most impact on the world and the most ability to lead to change in the world, and I get to do that every day. I not only shape those people’s lives that are around me, but also the clients we work with. Our clients have these ideas for products and we get to see how their products come to life. I like to reflect on how we’ve changed their lives and those around them because of the ripple effect that happens and the value our company provided. And there’s just so many examples of that in our employees’ lives, our partners lives and my life.
Esparza: What advice would you give to current management majors?
Pecota: Be clear on what you want. That’s easy to say, but not easy to do. You need to do some vision work and try to reflect on where you want to be. That type of reflection is a good habit to have throughout your life. I didn’t do enough of that when I started my first company, so it took me three or four years to realize that I didn’t want to continue with that. After I did the vision work, we completely changed the company over to LaunchBoom which is way more fulfilling.
