Founder. Storyteller. Professional Curiositor.

Before GigSalad, Mark fed film crews for a living. Then, he booked big bands like the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, and ran his own talent agency. Until one question wouldn’t leave him alone: what if performers didn’t need agents at all?

In 2004, he and co-founder Steve Tetrault turned that idea into GigSalad, built at a kitchen table with no business degree between them. Two decades later, it’s the marketplace event millions of planners across use to book talent directly.

Mark was adopted at birth and diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Those might seem like random factoids, but those are huge sources of reflection, introspection, and perspective shifting. These are two facts that shaped why and how he leads with more empathy than ego, believes business should feel meaningful rather than transactional, and holds onto the belief that when one person succeeds, they should help everyone around them rise too.

He’s candid about all of it, which is exactly why he’s a great guest. Founders usually talk numbers. Mark talks about the pain, the joy, the confusion, the hope, and all the existential nuances that have lead him to be a perpetually unfinished person, proudly.