Like many who have found themselves working in the Land of Enchantment, Kevin McDonald's journey didn't start here. But he quickly realized the state has loads of potential for more innovation and startups — if only the people with the ideas and the money could start connecting with one another.
McDonald grew up outside of Detroit and earned degrees from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and Chicago's Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business. He also spent time studying in East Asia through an international fellowship program.
But his professional career took McDonald even farther, across the Atlantic to Eastern Europe in the former Soviet Union. There, he served as a senior advisor in the U.S. State Department, assisting European governments with their post-Soviet restructuring efforts.
He'd go on to found his own advisory firm, McDonald-Lehner, alongside Michael Lehner, an investor in high technology. The firm specializes in mergers and acquisitions of privately-owned companies in the Americas, according to its website.
McDonald wound up in Albuquerque after following his daughter, who had already settled here, to New Mexico in 2014. He saw lots of potential in the state, but not much connection between different folks with innovative ideas.
So, he got a few people together and started an entrepreneurship club. The club quickly expanded to include dozens of founders, venture capitalists and interested students.
It's what McDonald described as an informal gathering, but one that he viewed as much needed. Albuquerque Business First recently sat down with McDonald to hear his thoughts on New Mexico and the state's startup ecosystem.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Albuquerque Business First: What makes New Mexico, in your experience, different from other places where you've worked?
Kevin McDonald: It's isolated. I have found that elsewhere, it's not the only isolated place and there are degrees of isolation. But for one of only 50 states in the union, how did [New Mexico] manage to be isolated this long and by this amount? It's geography and infrastructure. It's family ties and commercial ties. They can all be overcome, they can all be set up better and I believe they will be.
What industries are you most excited about in the state? I'm excited about life sciences, biotech and medical devices because there's a lot of creativity here in those areas. I've seen it, it's not just theory that I believe it could work. It is working. And I think it can be self-perpetuating.
I'm excited about renewable energy as well. It's a very dynamic and complicated field. And in two years, you know, if we have nuclear fusion everything I say will be out to lunch. But we have solar, we have wind, we have entrepreneurs and we have good policies here. I do believe there's a chance to build on what we have here and do more both in-state and out-of-state in renewable energy.
What kind of stories do you like to read? I love to read about startup companies. What are they doing, what's the innovation, what are they trying to do, what are they trying to improve upon? What are they doing better and how are they going to fend off competitors? Who are the customers and why are they going to buy? What's the business model, what's the exit? Where's this going, is it a small local business or is it a scalable big hit?
I love to read about those startups and the people who are making them go. What's their backstory, why are they doing this? What are they doing here? I think those kinds of stories make all this interesting — other human beings. You want to know, 'Hey, can my neighbor or can my kid or my friend just get out there and start doing it?'
