Australia’s leading creative entrepreneurs, CEOs, and CMOs gathered on Wednesday 11 September for the latest event in the Compadres Campfire series, featuring Steven Marks, founder and co-chief executive of Guzman y Gomez.
Hosted by Compadres founder, Clive Burcham, at the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) offices, guests at the event united for a fireside chat and Q&A session with Marks, delving into his personal and entrepreneurial journey.
Marks, who co-founded Guzman y Gomez in 2005 and has led the company to a $3 billion valuation, shared the challenges and triumphs he has experienced while building GYG into the success story it is today.
“When you build a business, you need to figure out where your greatest contribution is and mine is in hunger, humility, and curiosity. You learn early on that your values must mean something and you can’t let people in that don’t share yours. I never compromise on my values. My team doesn’t have to ask me anything because the answers to their questions are always found in the values,” said Marks.
“As a brand you also have to stand for something, you have to have a vision. I have a very clear vision for GYG to be the go-to fast food option for this generation but I can’t just direct people to my vision, I have to influence them and help them understand why it is significant and it then becomes a part of their mission to make it happen,” added Marks.
Beyond business, Marks opened up about his personal life, sharing insights into balancing the demands of running a billion-dollar enterprise with being a dedicated father, friend, and community member. His reflections offered a holistic perspective on achieving success without compromising personal values and relationships.
“When I started building GYG I referred to it as a big family because I am obsessed with my people and I hold a huge accountability to them and their families. I believe in deep trust and great people. My team signed up because they believe in me and I am determined to not let them down but a health scare made me re-evaluate,” he said.
“It was there that I realised I was putting so much energy into my business, my team, my community, and my own family and spread so thin I was perhaps becoming less productive. I want people to feel inspired when they are done with me, so from the top down I instilled some changes around interactions so that everyone feels inspired”.
Compadres founder Clive Burcham, known and respected for his holistic business advisory approach that intertwines personal life and business success, led the discussion. It was a nudge from Steven Marks himself that saw Clive return to the business world with a renewed purpose, founding Compadres and inspiring him to make a difference to others: “Clive, you’ve got too much effing fuel left in the tank”.
“The thing that keeps me close to people like Steven is his business principles, his community principles but even more than that, his family principles. I am a firm believer that it is possible to have the best of both worlds by knowing where to focus your energy and when. People in business succeed because of the decisions they make at their peaks and the good things that happen in their lives, but as Steven shared, success often comes more from the pain, challenges, breakdowns, loss, and discomfort. This is life’s greatest gift; the wisdom of our scars,” said Burcham.
This event marked the third in the Compadres Campfire series, with previous events featuring growth leader and non-executive director John Batistich’s FY25 predictions, and the second in May, a delve into the rise of the creator-verse.
