Stay Thirsty: A Serial Entrepreneur's Tale of Success & Failure

The business section of any bookstore is full of biographies that celebrate celebrity billionaires and superstar CEOs. While such stories can be motivational, they tend to gloss over the gritty details and therefore are not all that relatable or useful to the everyday businessperson. Mark Haertzen's memoir is different. Think of Mark as the serial entrepreneur next door - an ordinary guy who, by most standards, achieved extraordinary success - which is what makes his story so interesting, relevant, and practical.

Stay Thirsty chronicles Mark's 60-year entrepreneurial journey, which began at the age of 6, with refreshing honesty and humility. His most significant venture, Rocket Man, serves as the primary case study for his thoughts and reflections. He covers the company's 31-year lifecycle in vivid, sometimes painful detail - from a startup launched with a prototype he built in his garage to a global manufacturer and exporter of beverage dispensing equipment with sales in 65 countries.

Mark then recounts the company's bold, strategic pivot to become a leading provider of walking vendors for the stadium foodservice industry, hawking beer and other drinks at 75 venues from Delaware to California- including appearances at the NCAA Final Four, World Series and multiple Super Bowls, and Kentucky Derbies.

Few memoirs give such a raw, unfiltered account of the risks and struggles involved in building businesses and the impact they have on one's life and family. Mark describes not only his biggest wins, but also the gut-wrenching failures and insecurities he overcame to achieve them in a decades-long transformation from an impulsive and instinct-driven "born" entrepreneur into a logical, data-driven business leader. He also explores the important role mentors and partners played in his accomplishments, reinforcing his belief that entrepreneurship is a team sport. Full of instructive insights, Stay Thirsty is both a celebration of entrepreneurial ambition and a call to accept the risk, take the plunge, and write your own story.