Marcus Whitney: Crafting Your Own Narrative

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About the Episode

Marcus Whitney, venture capitalist, entrepreneur and author, demonstrates the importance of finding purpose in one’s work and how taking control of his narrative gave him the hopeful spirit that contributed to his success.

Own Your Story. Know Your Purpose. Strengthen Your Community.

Marcus Whitney, founding partner of Jumpstart Health Investors and Jumpstart Nova and author of Create and Orchestrate, joined Dr. Greg Jones to discuss his journey through entrepreneurship and how his mindset about owning his narrative helped him maintain hope through adversity and focus on his true purpose for helping others.

“At some point I realized how important narrative was and how important it was for me to control mine, and ever since I recognize that, it has been a daily focus and obsession for me,” Marcus shared. “It takes a lot of internal belief to fend off the narratives that don't serve you and only allow the ones that do.” 

This episode covers…

• How building a strong sense of self helps craft individual narratives and acts as a guide through personal and professional decisions
  
  
• The significance of identifying a purpose for helping others and maintaining a strong “why” in terms of career goals and personal endeavors
  
  
• The power of receiving love from others and how to convert that love into impacting your community 

Create Your Narrative

Discussing his decision to become an entrepreneur and reflecting on the educational challenges he faced, Marcus described how the professional and personal decisions he made were based on owning his narrative, and how trusting and knowing himself helped him maintain hope through uncertainty.

“I didn't finish college. And I think the truth about that is that when you don't have experience, when you don't have a track record and you also don't have a college degree, there are some doors that are simply closed, no question,” he explained. 

“Some people may obsess about the doors that are closed. I just had a mindset that those doors were just not my doors, and I started to look for the doors that were.”

Elaborating on creating his own opportunities and opening doors for himself, Marcus analogized his journey in jiu jitsu and athletics to embracing his own narrative, despite his fears and personal conflicts.

“A common theme for me is that I am very leery of narratives that become conventions that impose limitations on people,” he observed. “One of those narratives is that basically after whatever your academic athletic career was, if you are not a professional athlete, it doesn't really matter what you do in athletics.”

Continuing his discussion about the role of athletics in his narrative, Marcus outlined how embracing certain identities leads to personal growth and individual strength, both in identity and achievement.

“I'm trying to be a model for other people because I believe they would be happily surprised to see how much their bodies still have left for them if they would embrace that athletic identity.”

The Power of Purpose

When it comes to his career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Marcus explained how the impact of the 2020 “Black Lives Matter” protests inspired the creation of Jumpstart Nova and how his drive to help others led him to start the initiative.

“In moments like this, I asked myself, ‘How can I create a sustaining venture that will solve one aspect of a much bigger systemic problem?’” he said. “I can’t solve the whole problem, but I can focus on one piece of it, and I can create a sustainable venture that can actually address that issue. And that's what Jumpstart Nova was.”

Marcus created a platform where Black-owned companies and other marginalized groups could access the same resources as the majority of capital owners.

“The distribution of capital is unbelievably weighted toward White men. A very, very small percentage is split up amongst everyone else,” he said. “To me, it made sense that we could leverage what we already had on this platform to invest in founders that we'd already proven to be successful in generating returns, but do it with more dedication and intent, and bust a myth by making one of the best-performing funds of its era.”

While discussing his entrepreneurial journey and what it means to be exceptional, Marcus shared how utilizing purpose and maintaining a strong work ethic can make a long-lasting impact on others’ lives.

“I believe great entrepreneurs are exceptional people in our society,” he praised. “I think we have, unfortunately, asked people to limit themselves to being cogs in the machine as opposed to being superheroes in our society. You, as an individual, can really make an impact in society. And that impact might just be your purpose, and living your purpose might just make you exceptionally happy.” 

Paying it Forward

While reflecting on the work he has done and accomplishments he has fulfilled, Marcus emphasized his experience as a minority investor in Nashville SC, and how utilizing the skills he has received from others inspired him to give back to his community.

“I get the absolute honor and privilege of being a member of the ownership group of a major league sports franchise,” he said. “And that's really, really cool. It started as a community effort and I tried to utilize the skills that I have to help out in the way that made the most sense.”

When discussing where he finds hope and inspiration in his life, Marcus credited the development of his skills and character to loved ones and mentors throughout his life.

“I was molded to be the person that I am by my parents and my environment. They both put a lot of effort into making me a person who cares about their community and who, when they see something wrong, tries to make it right,” Marcus revealed. “I'm continuing to be who I was raised to be. I also had great coaches, teachers and other adults around me while I was growing up.”

Marcus shared the purpose for writing his book, Create and Orchestrate, is his belief that great creation requires a community, and it defines what it means to be human.

“When you look around, you see human creation everywhere. But sometimes we can take that for granted,” he observed. “Very few great things are done by one person. It's usually the collective. I was just trying to reground people in the fundamental aspect of what it means to be human.”