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Want to Rebuild from COVID-19? Invest in the People Behind the Entrepreneurs, says Mark Horoszowski of MovingWorlds

Published

4 years ago

09/24/2020

Kokou Adzo

Table of Contents

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Mark Horoszowski: Thanks for asking! It really is a trying time, but my loved ones and I are so far very fortunate, staying healthy and managing to still invest our time and energy into creating a better planet.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded MovingWorlds

Mark Horoszowski: More on my story is here and here. In essence, I spent a concentrated amount of time volunteering my skills with social enterprises until I discovered a need in the market.

How does MovingWorlds innovate?

Mark Horoszowski: By really understanding to our intended beneficiaries. Not just listening to what they say or observing how they act, but rather by using a human-centered design process to identify the true long-terms needs, pains, and desires of our audience, and then testing and iterating on solutions to ensure that we find a self-sustainable business model that truly makes a positive social and environmental impact.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Mark Horoszowski: Strangely, we have been growing during this time. Our focus on real systems change and meaningful impact has built a lot of trust with various stakeholders. In this era, when there is much talk about creating a “new normal” and #buildingbackbetter, I believe MovingWorlds is seen as an entity to is building the skills and abilities of people to do just that.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Mark Horoszowski: So many 🙂 The one that keeps coming back to me is this… every time we have tried a product, program, or business model innovation without going through a full design-thinking process, we have failed. Lesson learned: listen to your end customers and never stop!

The other related lesson is to just keep learning. One way that helps me think about this is with probabilities rather than in absolutes. For example, when we launched a new program with a new price point, instead of thinking that it would either work or not work, we thought about what the percent chance was that it would work, and what factors increase or decrease the probability of success. This way, when it didn’t work, we were able to review our assumptions that went into our model and use those to inform our next experiments.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and MovingWorlds in the future?

Mark Horoszowski: Personal well-being is vital. This means maintaining physical health (i.e., exercise and healthy eating), mental health (i.e., mindfulness), and social health (i.e., friends and family). I have never regretted eating a healthy meal, seeing friends, or meditating… investing time for this is critical to ensure you have the stamina to continue on the entrepreneurship journey.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Mark Horoszowski: Don’t worry about your competitors. If you do, you’ll be out-innovated. Worry about your end customers and focus on delivering them the best possible value.