Gary Goodman

Gary Goodman is the founder and Managing Director of start up, MediaEquals, an online trading platform for media advertising space. He is responsible for all UK operations including business development, sales and marketing and overall web strategy.

A trained lawyer, Gary's first role was as a media planning buyer for leading global advertising agency, McCann-Erickson. He then moved across to the client side holding various senior FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) marketing roles in leading blue chips such as The Wrigley Company and Colgate Palmolive, developing and launching new products from concept to market on a UK, EU and Global perspective.

Gary left Colgate in 2000 to set up his own dot com start up, MemoriseThis, which grew to become the UK's most popular e-commerce gift site.

More recently, Gary was European Marketing Director for ValueClick Inc, a top 10 NASDAQ listed leading global provider of digital media solutions. In this role, Gary had responsibility for all marketing, brand development and product innovation across Europe, as well as a significant business development focus. In his time at ValueClick Inc, he spearheaded a number of strategic initiatives across the mobile, media and ecommerce sectors. 

Gary has exceptional insider knowledge of the media industry, the world of ecommerce and making money across the digital landscape, both from a start up perspective and within a large corporate global business.

Starter for Five

What's been your business high? Establishing MediaEquals from concept to market has been a tremendous high. 

What's been your business low? It was Christmas 2003 and I was running the UK's largest online gift company at the time. We had outsourced our web hosting that year and despite having service level agreements in place, our website crashed due to peaks in demand. As a result, we were not able to take orders between 11am and 3pm for the crucial first two weeks of pre-Christmas trade. The knock on effect to the business was pretty devastating.

What is your best business advice one-liner? "If people tell me they skied all day and never fell down, I tell them to try a different mountain." (Michael Bloomberg)

Who is your business idol? It is Richard Branson, for his ability to successfully move the essence of the Virgin brand into so many disparate businesses.

What is your favourite pastime? Being a dad.