Introduction

In 1971, as a 17-year-old university student, Greig Clark founded College Pro Painters, which he grew to 600 franchises throughout North America before selling the business at age 37. In addition to financial freedom, Greig’s early success age brought accolades – he was named one of the Top Ten Entrepreneurs of the Decade by Profit Magazine in 1992 – and gave him a blank slate on which to write his next chapters. In this episode, we chat with Grieg about the emotional struggles of selling his company, his subsequent gig as venture capitalist and how lessons from that experience prepared him for his current work as a venture philanthropist – which he is says is the most rewarding work of his life.