So, I'm really excited to bring Mark McClain up here. You know, to do one IPO in your lifetime is a big deal. Mark has actually taken the same company public twice and recently took it public for $1.38 billion. And so, not only is Mark a great guy, he's a big supporter of this ministry. And we appreciate you, Mark. Thank you for doing that and thank you for being here.
Mark, pleasure. Very happy to be here with you today, man.
Carl also forgot to mention that you sold your first company for $150 million. So, you are absolutely a business inspiration to so many. I think I interviewed you. I interviewed you a couple years ago and you've become quite a bigger deal. Me, I'm just kind of doing this IPO thing. It's like I'm still learning a lot from you. Um, I wanted to ask you, I think I asked you in that previous interview, what did it feel like to take a company public? You know, that's every entrepreneur's dream to one day kind of ring that bell on NASDAQ. Like you said, you took the company public, it went private, and then you went public again. What does that feeling feel like to somebody who may not know?
I think surreal is the only really good word, that it's very surreal. And I'm weird. I wasn't the guy who always thought that was going to happen. I was not thinking that was the outcome. We sold our first company and we started this one thinking that was the most likely outcome. Again, venture-backed, you know, I would say I'm not even close to as brave as the guys that do it like they've done it, like credit cards and sleepless nights. I was happy to try to waste other people's money. Um, but in this case it worked out, but I think there's just this like, well, we'll never get there. We'll probably sell the business and then that happened. And to your point, Carl's point, I distinctly remember thinking in 2017, well, this is awesome. I'll certainly never do this again. Um, and then we did it again. It's a very long complicated story, but um, all that to say, there is a sense of you're kind of in the center of raw capitalism, I like to call it, in New York, and that's what it is. It's raw. It's kind of good and bad. You see some of the amazing impact you're having on people's lives. There's a lot of financial reward for people that have helped you get to that journey. And then there's a lot of negativity in the world of raw capitalism. So, as a believer, I think you have to kind of navigate the positive aspects of what you can do to help people and create an environment that loves and honors people and kind of navigate the money-hungry world of Wall Street. So, it's just an interesting challenge.
So, you know, as a believer, like you said, how do you kind of balance, you know, your pursuit and quest for the immense success that you've had in the business world financially with that balance of faith and family as well? How do you kind of, I mean, is it a strategy? Have you thought about that? I mean, what is your thought process like when you're separating those two?
Yeah, I always start with one word here, which is intentionality. You don't accidentally get to a work-life balance when you do this. Um, it's like, hey, I just lucked into a perfect work-life balance. Um, that doesn't happen. The word I've used, which is so non-marketable, and I actually had a marketing background, so I apologize for this as I say it, but the game I have learned is to achieve what I call temporary healthy imbalance. Temporary healthy imbalances, because what you're doing all the time is navigating, oh gosh, work is really intense right now. My family is gonna pay the price a little bit. That if you think you're going to go into starting or running a business and there will be zero sacrifice for your family, you should keep your corporate job. Like, that's not real. On the other hand, lots of entrepreneurs and business leaders sacrifice their family on the altar of success. And I have spoken to MBA programs, for instance, and I have intentionally kind of scared the crap out of younger MBA students, said, 'Look, here's what you don't want to be. You don't want to be my age in a 20,000-foot house by yourself after your third divorce with your kids in rehab.' And I have a lot of friends like that. That's not a successful life. They may have built a successful business. That is not a successful life. And so to achieve a successful life, you're going to have to have intentionality about this. And this silly phrase, which I probably should try to come up with a better one. We might market it, who knows? But temporary healthy imbalance says you're going to be constantly adjusting in and out of various temporary levels of engagement in various parts of your life. The trick is to keep it as healthy as you can and know that it's never going to be perfectly balanced. And that's the game. You're like the tightrope guy. You're never just standing there going, 'Got it. I've got 37.9% of my life in my family, 29.8% in my church, 14.12% of my health.' I mean, it's like stupid. You're never going to get that, right? So, you're constantly rebalancing. But the trick is to rebalance toward a healthy balance that honors God, you know, takes care of your family and tries to grow your business. And it is possible, but it's hard and it takes intentionality.
Yeah. Now, you know, you've raised hundreds of millions of dollars. You kind of brought up earlier about how a lack of capital is a big thing that people struggle with in business. Do you have any advice for somebody who they're trying to find those investors, they're trying to get capital to start and grow their businesses? What are you seeing in today's world? Obviously, you're in software, but maybe regardless of the industry that somebody's in, a good way to go about getting capital in today's world or what you see is the most effective way.
