John Connors is the co-founder and CEO of Boathouse Group, a Boston based full-service marketing and technology agency focused on how marketing can drive company performance. He has built the business over 18 years purely on referrals and a great reputation, as well as a simple idea that if you make a promise, you keep a promise. This mindset has rewarded John and his company with large success along with a high retention rate among clients. After starting his career at the largest agency in New England (Hill, Holliday) and the largest agency in the world (McCann), he launched his own firm in 2001. John has a strong belief that agencies and marketing departments have lost the respect of C-Suites and boards over the past few decades, while possessing an equally strong conviction that now is the best time in a generation to rebuild that respect based on the ability to connect strategy, data, creativity and technology.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
None specific
When business started difficulties overcame:
“When I met with people to tell them I was starting my own firm a lot of folks thought I was somewhere between crazy and insane because it had not been a storybook career up to this point. Again, you know the mindset, you are determined, you believe you can run it, you know you have the chops and you know you have the work ethic… But I think that was biggest hurdle early… And then other than having no clients and no money. But those two combined… But I think the bad PR was the biggest issue”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events Book by Robert J. ShillerFavourite Quote:
“He did not plan, he merely let himself go in the overall courage in him did the rest . It is not until youth is gone and experience has given us cheap courage that most of us realise how cheap such things are” F. Scott Fitzgerald
Recommended Online Resources:
Investor presentations
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Get started… Stop thinking about it and get started”…[Listen for More]
More About John Connors:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy
Other Quotes From the Chat with John Connors:
- “I think the benefit of having no been in the business now for a number of years is you increasingly know the difference between right and wrong and you know whether you are behaving selfishly or you are behaving in the best interests of the client. And I think again part of the benefit of being the entrepreneur is that you know what the right change is…”
- “The CEOs job is change and the management team is predictability for the staff”
- “Best entrepreneurs see the change much better than the rest of the team. And I think even the greatest entrepreneurs can teach their teams to see that change and to operationalise that ”
- “Can you see round the corner and how often do you get it right? You could even picture writing it down and predicting whether you get it right or not just to test your own instincts”
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