Yesterday I went to the SpotHero Celebration Party, and I left with a lot on my mind.
Uber acquired SpotHero — probably one of the biggest tech acquisitions Chicago has seen in years. They took over the Adler Planetarium and brought together employees, investors, and friends to celebrate the moment.
Mark Lawrence was one of my very first angel investors, and today he's a board member and one of my most important mentors. Eddie Lou introduced us back in 2017. I still remember walking into his office for the first time feeling like I was meeting a celebrity — he was Chicago's startup star, the one who had fought his way out of 100+ parking apps to become the clear #1 in North America. If you drove in a major U.S. city, you were probably his customer.
I was nervous that first meeting. But Mark turned out to be warm, funny, and genuine. He decided to invest after that first conversation — simply because he wanted to support a young founder in Chicago, and believed his marketplace experience could help us as we were building our delivery business.
And he did. Mark and Eddie taught me, hands-on, how to build a company: how to read the unit economics and other metrics that matter, how to pitch, how to negotiate a term sheet. After every investor meeting, they'd back-channel for the honest feedback and then coach me on how to do better next time. They walked me into the U.S. investing world and taught me how to run a VC-backed company. And every time I ran into a problem, Mark would pick up my call, break down the situation with a calm, clear mind, and guide me to the solution step by step. He's my go-to sounding board for my toughest challenges.
Every stage of his journey brought a different challenge — hundreds of competitors early on, the Uber era when everyone questioned whether people would even own cars or need parking, and the pandemic, when revenue dropped 90% and the company had to go through painful rounds of layoffs just to survive. But every single time I saw Mark, he faced it with the same optimism, energy, and sense of humor. I genuinely admire that.
After the pandemic, the business didn't just recover — it came back stronger than ever. Last night, he said to someone, "Linxin and I shouldn't have been here today." Only people who've lived through the darkest moments and come back from them really understand how hard-won a night like this is. Fifteen years. He never gave up. And now, this.
I couldn't be happier for him.
What Mark taught me goes far beyond how to run a company or raise money. The bigger lesson is this: sometimes one generous act toward a young person can change the entire trajectory of their life.
To the moon, Mark. 🎉
