E312: Mark Rampolla - Success starts and ends with Freedom
What does freedom really mean for an entrepreneur? In this episode of Back to Basics, Mark Rampolla—founder of ZICO Coconut Water and Co-Managing Partner at GroundForce Capital—shares hard-earned insights from building mission-driven companies and investing in brands like Beyond Meat, Liquid Death, and Thrive Market. We dive into his journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship, the mindset behind meaningful success, and how loss reshaped his priorities. Mark also opens up about his newest book, An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Freedom, a bold invitation to redefine success on your own terms—mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. This is a raw, inspiring conversation about alignment, impact, and the pursuit of real freedom.
Learn more about Mark at:
https://markrampolla.co
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksrampolla/
Show Notes with Adjusted Timestamps
(0:00) 🌟 Childhood lessons: empathy and resilience from family experiences.
(3:15) 👩💼 Early career in fragrance at Elizabeth Arden & Tiffany.
(6:45) 🌸 Fragrance as memory, identity, and storytelling.
(9:30) 🧘♀️ Embracing uniqueness: the myth of the signature scent.
(12:05) 💡 Facing challenges and the hard things about hard things.
(15:20) 📓 Journaling, reflection, curiosity, and messy action as tools for growth.
(20:30) 🛠️ Leadership strategies and why initiatives fail.
(23:15) 🔑 The Six Ps of success: Passion, Perseverance, Patience, Personality, Presentation, Payoff.
(26:40) 🚀 Entrepreneurship: building Zico, evaluating ideas, aligning personal & business values.
(30:15) 🧠 Mindset & manifestation: neuroscience, belief + action, and non-attachment.
(34:10) 🔥 Coping with loss: rebuilding life after the Pacific Palisades fires.
(38:00) 🌍 Intentional living: freedom, resilience, and defining personal success.
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Mark
Rampolla
Mark Rampolla is a visionary entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and writer known for inspiring mission-driven leaders to build businesses that matter—and lives of real freedom.
As Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of GroundForce Capital, he helps bold founders scale purpose-driven companies that generate massive impact including Liquid Death, Bobbie Baby Formula, Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, Vive Organics, and OWYN. Previously, Mark founded ZICO Coconut Water, pioneering the multibillion-dollar coconut water category before selling to The Coca-Cola Company—and later, buying it back.
Over his career, Mark has invested in more than 100 companies, served on over 20 boards, raised over $1 billion in capital, and helped generate more than $5 billion in enterprise value and tens of thousands of jobs. A former Peace Corps volunteer and corporate executive, Mark blends Wall Street savvy with street-level soul.
He is the author of two books: High-Hanging Fruit, a memoir and manifesto on building mission-aligned businesses and An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Freedom, a radical call to wake up from the myth of entrepreneurial freedom and discover what it truly means to be free—mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually.
Since losing his home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires, Mark has been wandering—but not every wanderer is lost.
