[quote style=”boxed”]Instead, if I believe in an idea, I act fast, move that idea into action, support it with additional resources, look at its viability and improve where needed. [/quote]
John Amato is the Founder and CEO of MarketSharing – a premium US B2B deals provider for exceptional business products and services – an innovative media entrepreneur, and an advertising maven. Prior to starting MarketSharing, Amato was the President and Co-Founder of Show Media, a dominant taxi advertising and experiential marketing firm in New York City whose clientele included more than 300 Fortune 1,000 brands such as Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, Nike, Universal Pictures, the Walt Disney Co., Verizon and Louis Vuitton.
While at Show Media, Amato’s accomplishments include: achieving $0 – $15 MM in annual revenue in less than four years, a 13,000% 3-year growth rate while maintaining 35% to 43% cash flow margins, launching offices and products in four top DMA market cities, successfully identifying and leading multiple seven figure acquisitions, and master minding the complete redesign of the New York City taxi top. In the last instance, Amato worked hand-in-hand with designers, manufacturers and the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission to redesign and implement a more lightweight, eco-friendly taxi top billboard. This initiative delivered outstanding results and demonstrated that advertisers were drawn to the new High Impact taxi top and were willing to pay a premium for its use.
Amato is widely viewed as a successful entrepreneur and has been covered by media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Ad Age, BrandWeek, BBC Business, and he has also contributed to Inc. Magazine, Promo Magazine and Creativity Magazine on the topics of entrepreneurship, hiring and creative advertising methods.
What are you working on right now?
Currently, I am working on the launch of MarketSharing.com, the premium US B2B deals provider for exceptional business products and services.
What does your typical day look like?
My day splits up into quarters. I typically spend 25% of my looking for talented team members to hire, 25% helping my team, 25% analyzing MarketSharing’s future and 25% on whatever the most crucial current business initiative may be. Regarding that last quarter, an example of a crucial initiative could be if there is any sort of business or operations glitch, I will roll up my sleeves and solely focus on that particular issue until it is figured out and resolved.
3 trends that excite you?
Currently, I am immersed in e-commerce and have always been fascinated by both robotics and medicine.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I try not to think too much about whether an idea is possible or the potential market demand, because in a sense every would-be idea is impossible until someone proves otherwise. Instead, if I believe in an idea, I act fast, move that idea into action, support it with additional resources, look at its viability and improve where needed. For example, Groupon looked completely different from its inception to today, but it missed delivering its daily deals to a huge market – emerging businesses. That is where the idea for MarketSharing was born and in order to bring this idea to life it was crucial to not just talk about it, but also put action behind it.
What inspires you?
I am inspired by market opportunities that enable me to build businesses.
What is one mistake you’ve made, and what did you learn from it?
My personal mistakes aside, as an entrepreneur I can say that finding skillful service providers like lawyers, accountants, and tax attorneys is virtually priceless. These advisers are worth more than their weight in gold and entrepreneurs should find the ones that believe in them and see their business vision and future return on working with them.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to set up a business in China and find a way to provide a product or service there with mass appeal, good margins and costs less than $5.
What do you read every day, and why?
I read my Facebook newsfeed every day, because my friends and family are very important to me and this is a great way for me to keep up on what they are doing.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read, and why?
I think everyone should read Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big to Fail” because I do not think people realize how close we were to the abyss. I realize this is one of the book’s references, but your community should read it and learn more about it.
What is your favorite gadget, app or piece of software that helps you every day?
I have two that help me out every day. I’m a foodie and my girlfriend and I often go out for dinner dates, so we use Matchbook, matchbookit.com to keep track of restaurants we want to try. The other is Sonar.me, which is almost like LinkedIn on steroids. This app uncovers hidden, nearby connections and when users check into events and locations, this app lets them know who else of interest else is there.
Three people we should follow on Twitter, and why?
I follow Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) for humor and entertainment, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (@mikebloomberg) as a New York City resource, and Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) because he is a friend and a guru for all things wine and social media.
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
I would love to see more like-minded entrepreneurs such as myself with big ideas on IdeaMensch. It’s encouraging to read their stories and what motivates them.
When is the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?
The last time I laughed out loud was when I thought of a funny Yo Dawg and sent it to my team.
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.