Andy Sparks's Linkedin Analytics

Right now, I coach 15 startup founders and executives and write a monthly newsletter. I became a coach on accident after a decade building software companies. After my last company, I was doing some soul searching when a friend asked me if I’d ever considered being a coach. I hadn’t. I had always been frustrated when I asked people what I was good at and they told me I was a great listener. I never put two and two together that being a great listener could be a career. But I’m thankful that I did, because I love working with my clients to help them navigate the challenges of being a founder with a bit more help than I had. On top of the listening part of coaching, though, I’m also a teacher (when asked to be). Just like Richard Feynman redeveloped his own physics from the ground up to better understand how the world works, I’m studying psychology, management, leadership, human motivation, and more to better understand—and teach—how these things work. I’ve been starting businesses since I was a kid, although my judgment has hopefully gotten better over time. My first business was a neighborhood lawn mowing operation called “All American Mow and Blow.” My Mom was gasping for air laughing when she found the flyers with the name all over the street. In college, I began homebrewing beer and selling it to my friends, but the ATF wasn’t hot on a nineteen year old brewery CEO. Since then, I’ve spent my entire career making it easier for people to find the knowledge they need to do good work. Most recently, I founded Holloway, a digital book publishing platform where we hoped to build the best reading experience on the web and help authors widen the reach of their books. Before Holloway, I co-founded Mattermark, a business analytics and database company where we enabled VCs to take a data-driven approach to sourcing investments. Writing has also been a big part of my career. In 2016, I published The Holloway Guide to Raising Venture Capital, a 310 page book that helps founders both decide whether venture capital is the right path for them and demystifies how to raise money from VCs. I’ve also written several newsletters, most notably The Mattermark Daily (100K+ subscribers at peak). So, if you've made it this far, you're not just trolling for sales leads, and you're interested in chatting for whatever reason, get in touch.