Mark Heckmann
Business Growth Advisor
Mark is a capable entrepreneur who has a knack for finding opportunities and building companies off the beaten path. Working with fellow entrepreneurs through his company, Crooked Ventures, Mark supports businesses ranging from startups to scale ups in a few capacities: as an embedded resource in sales/finance/operations roles, as a Chief of Staff handling special projects as an executive proxy, and as an investor solving capital needs for owners with an established record of revenue focus and delivery.Â
Mark has recently launched or worked with companies in the manual trades (handyman services and a household insulation franchise), cloud computing, sports psychology and wearable machines. The common thread among all of Mark’s ventures is that early in those entrepreneurial histories, a courageous decision was made by a founder to take a risk and start something new. That’s the caliber of human he wants to work with, as captured in this quotation:
"Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned."
While earning his Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College, Mark spent much of his academic time exploring innovation and the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development. He earned his BA from Denison University in Sociology/Anthropology and Communication, where he later served as a member on the Board of Trustees. Mark’s subsequent degrees have been earned by the schools of hard knocks, tough love, and life in general.Â