We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Mac Mahon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The story of Expert DOJO started approximately 6 years ago on the principle that a 96% failure rate within early-stage entrepreneurs is not acceptable. We wanted to see if we could find out why so many technology entrepreneurs were failing so we opened up a laboratory for early-stage startups on the top of the Santa Monica shopping mall. We brought in 100 companies over a one-year period and we studied everything they did and did not do. We wanted to understand the reasons why they were failing, simple as that.  Over the following 12 months we listed our observations. Our first company killing observation was the loss of brand building in American companies. America has forever been the nation of storytelling where phenomenal brands were built by small companies looking to dominate the world but early stage startups dont see this as a priority anymore.  In addition to this we observed that there was an overrelience on raising investment, not enough focus on driving sales and a lack of any knowlwdge on how to build a fast scaling company infrastructure.

What should our readers know about your business?

Our knowledge base is built as much on the mistakes of the past as our successes. One of the first technology companies that I built had a terrible user experience and brand because I did not place enough importance on having the right technology cofounder in my team. That mistake and subsequent lesson taught me that we need to stay in our lane and make sure we have the necessary skills in our team to be the best version of us, as we bootstrap and then scale our business.

These days we invest in companies and we use all the lessons we have learnt over the years to really support our companies at every level.  The secret sauce of Expert DOJO is not the $100,000 investment we make or the follow-on investment of 1 million USD, or even the other investors we introduce startups to. What makes this accelerator truly remarkable is that we focus on building inspirational storytelling within our companies.  On top of this we have the greatest growth program in the United States. We want our companies to scale at unimaginable levels. No other accelerator has this focus that is entirely centered on aggressive growth besides Expert Dojo.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

When things are safer, I would suggest that people go check out some of the local museums. The Broad in DTLA is one of my favorites for contemporary art exhibitions of some of the best artists in the world. I would also recommend people to visit The Getty Villa, The Arboretum, and Griffith Observatory – these are landmarks that every tourist should visit. There are also the usual places like The Grove, Hollywood, The Original Farmers Market in Hollywood and Malibu.

In terms of food, LA is known for being a true melting pot and, therefore, you can be sure to find any type of cuisine here. I would recommend new visitors to try Ramen (Japanese soup), Boba tea, Tacos, Chinese Hotpot and Salt & Straw ice cream. If people are in LA during the weekend, they should definitely check the farmers market closest to them on a Sunday morning. They usually have many stands that sell very special foods that you can’t find in restaurants.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I met many great mentors throughout my journey. Most likely the largest influence that I have had on my entrepreneurial journey so far is with my current partner, Richard Nathan. Richard and I became partners 4 years ago and his belief in doing things in a much larger level has enabled Expert DOJO to become not only the fastest-growing accelerator in Southern California, but the largest accelerator by deal number anywhere in the Southern half of America.

Website: https://expertdojo.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/expertdojo/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmacmahon2/detail/recent-activity/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Expert_Dojo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExpertDOJO

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCG-rpcNV7yEItIii2Uz2DA?view_as=subscriber

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