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During his long and winding entrepreneurial career, Marc Bell ’89 has often used a simple litmus test when deciding whether to pursue a potential venture or investment. Every possible attempt is, in short, judged by how interesting it is.
“Just do what you love at the end of the day. What’s fun,” says Bell. “If you do what you love, you will usually succeed at it.”
That instinct has led him to various ventures. Over the years, Bell’s work has involved everything from restaurants and real estate to movies and Broadway shows to technology and satellites. “I’m the only person in the aerospace industry to win his two Tony Awards,” said Boca, Florida, an investment firm in Boca, Fla. says.
Such a far-reaching career that has seen Bell launch five unicorns, or companies worth over $1 billion, has led a busy and fulfilling life. But serial entrepreneurs can’t imagine slowing down. “I don’t play tennis. I don’t play golf,” says Bell. “I will start a business.”
In February, Babson College will celebrate Bell’s lifelong entrepreneurship and welcome him to the institution’s prestigious Entrepreneurship Academy.® (ADE). Since 1978, the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame has honored the founders and leaders behind some of the world’s most famous and successful businesses, including McDonald’s Lake Rock, Motown’s Berry Gordy, and News his Corp’s Rupert Murdoch. I came. ADE’s induction ceremony will take place in Miami as part of Babson Connect Worldwide, the university’s global entrepreneurial leader summit.
As a Babson alumnus, Bell has long been impressed by ADE’s extensive list of outstanding Hall of Fame inductees. “I always thought it was the coolest,” says Bell. “Look at all the people in front of me. There are some amazing people that have come through over the years and I am very proud to be considered part of that group.”
his own way
Bell’s entrepreneurial journey began shortly after graduating from Babson. In 1989 he founded his Globix: The Global Internet Exchange. This is the internet infrastructure company that spent building the first unicorn companies in the 1990s. By 2000, Globix had built a 28,000-mile global fiber optic network, making him one of the world’s largest owners of Internet data center space.
But initially his plans weren’t to work in the tech industry. In high school, Bell was a self-described “computer geek”, but his father encouraged him to become a doctor, lawyer, and accountant. “My father used to say that computers had no future,” says Bell.
Come to Miami: Watch Mark Bell ’89 inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurship at Babson Connect Worldwide and hear him discuss his entrepreneurial career in a fireside chat. please. Register Today.
At Babson, Bell served as editor babson free press and majored in accounting. The business foundation that Babson gave him “has been very helpful in all my success,” says Bell. After Babson, he went to New York University and earned a master’s degree in real estate development and investment following the guidance of his father, a real estate attorney.
But soon after, the course of his life changed. Bell was looking for a job during the recession, but two of his companies on Wall Street closed shortly after he interviewed. Bell took it as a sign that he should get his way and founded Globix. I got to work.)
Many other business opportunities have followed over the years in countless other industries. At one point, Bell had invested in his over ten restaurants and nightclubs in New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. The reason Bell entered the hospitality industry was born out of frustration. He hates waiting for a table when he goes out. “Time is the most valuable commodity and the only one we all run out of, literally and figuratively,” he says.
Bell has since sold all of his restaurant investments, except for a pizzeria in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. “All my kids live around the corner,” he says. “They are ready to eat.”
In 2007, Bell went public with SPAC (a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of merging or acquiring another business) and merged with Armor Residential REIT. The real estate investment trust now holds more than $8 billion worth of his mortgage-backed securities in its portfolio.
Bell is also a successful Broadway producer, but doesn’t particularly like going to the theater. “I dared to do a Broadway production,” he says.when a friend of his suggested producing a musical jersey boys Together, Bell agreed to two terms: make money and win a Tony Award. Initially, these goals seemed out of reach. “I thought it would close in two weeks,” he says Bell. “There was virtually no pre-sale by the first night.”
So new york times We published a glowing article praising the show’s lead. “By now and then, it hit me hard,” she says Bell. That blockbuster has since done exactly what Bell wanted. It won a Tony Award for Best Musical, making it the eighth-highest-grossing show in Broadway history.
More shows followed, another won the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Desk August: Osage County, also wins Tony for best play. Ultimately, Bell ended up building her $2 billion Broadway business.
Bell says the key to a successful show is making sure every scene is full of emotion and resonance. “It’s not complicated,” he says. “go to jersey boysIt was like going to a concert. you wanted to go back “
the last frontier
Ask Bell what his main focus is as an entrepreneur these days, and he says it’s space. He is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Terran Orbital Corporation, a manufacturer of satellites primarily for the US Department of Defense and intelligence agencies.
“Our job is to create solutions from space to protect fighter jets,” says Bell. “We want to make sure that American soldiers get home.
“I always thought that was the coolest thing. Look at all the people in front of me. I am very proud to have been recognized.”
About Marc Bell ’89, Babson’s Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs
Ultimately, he wants Terran Orbital to mass-produce satellites. He likens Terran Orbital’s future plans to the glory days of the Big Three automakers and their once-formidable manufacturing capabilities. “They made everything in-house,” he says. “We are trying to do the same thing.”
Bell’s space ambitions are a good fit, considering he’s a lifelong Star Trek fan. His Boca Raton home has a home his theater similar to the bridge of Starship his Enterprise, and Terran his Orbital stock market abbreviation is his LLAP. This represents “Long live and prosper”, a famous Vulcan greeting on the show. “I’ve always been a space buff. I love space. I’ve been a Trekkie since I was 10,” says Bell. “As a kid, I watched movies. As an adult, I build things in space.”
Space is indeed the final frontier. Star Trek Declaring that, Bell continues to move forward boldly.
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