CEO Stories: A Serial Entrepreneur’s Drive for Success

Father’s Wisdom

What prompts a journalism student to become a serial entrepreneur? In the case of Marc Gorlin it was Dad’s advice. His father, a biotech entrepreneur, told him that instead of working for companies Gorlin should build them. In 1996 Gorlin co-founded his first startup, the cybersecurity company PGP, which he followed up with another tech firm called VerticalOne then the small business lender Kabbage. His newest enterprise, Roadie, arose by accident.

Road Revelation

Gorlin, who lives in Atlanta, needed to fix a bathroom shower in a condo he also owned on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It was February 2014 and he was in the middle of driving down when his repairman told him the proper shipment of tiles would take days to arrive. Watching vehicles speed by gave him a jarring insight. Roads are filled with drivers who could get paid to transport packages on their way to wherever they were already headed. From that moment, Gorlin knew he ought to create a firm in the mold of Uber and Airbnb.

Communal Heart

Roadie began in January 2015 with $10 million in series A funding. Gorlin says his education as a journalist came in handy with telling the new firm’s story to investors. Although powered by technology and data science, its heart is people helping people. Gorlin recognizes early-stage investors are at least as concerned with management’s story. He’s been a good enough storyteller to persuade UPS to invest in Roadie, which now has 40,000 drivers across all 50 states.