Entrepreneur
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- CEO at BreakThrough
- Columnist at VentureBeat
- Past
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- Co-Founder and Project Manager at Stanford Bazaar
- Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Woosh
- Education
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- Stanford University
- Recommended
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15 people have recommended Mark - Connections
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454
connections
- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Mark Goldenson’s Summary
I love creating value through new ventures!
I have co-founded four internet companies and two Stanford clubs, researched the brain imaging of dreams, and worked with several non-profits.
I am now CEO of BreakThrough, which enables mental health providers to treat clients through video, phone, and web. Potential developers, investors, and partners can contact me at mark@breakthrough.com.
I have some technical competence but prefer the business and product side of ventures.
Most of all, I love meeting smart, curious, and positive people.
Personal web sites: www.goldenson.com, www.wyattpup.com.
Email: mark@breakthrough.com
Mark Goldenson’s Specialties:
Entrepreneurship, brainstorming, market validation, product management, marketing, strategy, company formation, rainmaking, enjoying life
Mark Goldenson’s Experience
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CEO
BreakThrough
(Privately Held; Mental Health Care industry)
May 2009 — Present (7 months)
We connect mental health providers with clients for treatment via video, phone, and web.
We recently launched at TechCrunch50 to a great response:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/15/tc50-have-you-considered-tele-psychiatry-schedule-a-session-with-breakthrough/
Potential investors, engineers, and product managers can reach me at mark@breakthrough.com! -
Columnist
VentureBeat
(Internet industry)
May 2009 — Present (7 months)
Publish a column evaluating new startup ideas, syndicated to the New York Times. A piece on the lessons of PlayCafe was VentureBeat's most popular article of the year.
http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/ -
Founder and CEO
PlayCafe
(Privately Held; Internet industry)
December 2007 — March 2009 (1 year 4 months)
PlayCafe was the first internet TV network for games. We ran live, mass participation game shows where everyone watching via the web could be a contestant. Users could:
-Watch our hosts deliver questions
-Play a variety of games
-Win prizes
-Form teams and chat with other players
-Submit questions
-Call and chat with our hosts
The site saw great engagement - users played an average of 87 minutes per session and returned 40% of the time within a week - but we were unable to reach enough users. The site is on hold and may be brought back in the future through distribution partners or an acquiring company.
We raised $930,000 from leading investment firm First Round Capital and a group of top-tier angel investors. -
Product Manager
PayPal
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; eBay; Internet industry)
August 2002 — March 2004 (1 year 8 months)
- Wrote 20+ detailed MRDs for features in all areas: auctions, anti-fraud, authentication, finance, international, and legal, with a focus on customer service and operations
- Oversaw site sign-up, password recovery, and admin tools used by company’s 1,300 CSRs
- Project managed UK/DE localization of customer service features
- Led integration of five vendor applications
- Earned two patents (pending) -
Founder and President
Stanford Squash Team
(Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Sports industry)
June 1998 — June 2001 (3 years 1 month)
- Led practices, coached novices, solicited donors, scheduled meets, wrote newsletters, negotiated sponsorships, and counseled recruits
- Recruited world champion Mark Talbott to become head coach
- Lobbied Stanford successfully for $375,000 renovation of campus squash courts
- Competed as captain at #2 (of 15) position; helped team earn two national division titles, Barnaby Trophy for nation’s most improved team, and top-20 intercollegiate ranking
- Team is now home to women's collegiate national champion (Lily Lorentzen) -
Co-Founder and Project Manager
Stanford Bazaar
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
2000 — 2000 (less than a year)
- Projected managed an online marketplace for Stanford
- Performed research on campus trading; found most traded and lucrative categories
- Stanford University acquired the Bazaar in 2000 to create an official trading site -
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Woosh
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
December 1998 — September 1999 (10 months)
- Coordinated operations of twelve employees
- Co-wrote award-winning business plan
- Created technical documentation package for patent
- Teamed with four engineers to co-program alpha technology
- Directly helped raise $300,000 of seed capital; Hewlett-Packard committed $20,000,000
Mark Goldenson’s Education
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Stanford University
B.A. (coursework completed; thesis pending) , Human Biology and Symbolic Systems , 1997 — 2001
Enjoy bowling, chess, politics, writing, dance, and almost everything else.
- Activities and Societies:
- Squash team, Psychophysiology lab (lucid dreaming research), Build.org (teaching entrepreneurship to high schoolers), Teaching Assistant for Bioethics and Neuroscience classes
Additional Information
Mark Goldenson’s Websites:
Mark Goldenson’s Groups:
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PayPal Corporate Alumni (worked there previously) -
PlayCafe players
Mark Goldenson’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
