How to Turn a Side Hustle into a Multibillion-Dollar Marketing Platform In the next episode of our Leadership Lessons series, host Jason Nazar of Comparably will speak with self-made billionaire Ben Chestnut, co-founder/CEO of Mailchimp -- the world's leading marketing platform for small businesses.

In the next episode of our Leadership Lessons series, host Jason Nazar of Comparably will speak with self-made billionaire Ben Chestnut, co-founder/CEO of Mailchimp -- the world's leading marketing platform for small businesses. Known for its signature chimpanzee mascot, more than 14 million people use Mailchimp to power their e-marketing and e-commerce efforts. With $700 million in revenue in 2019, it recently expanded into social media, search engine advertising, postal mail, and text messaging to meet consumer needs. Chestnut originally co-founded the company as a side hustle after being laid off from his web design job in the dot com bubble burst of 2001, and it has since grown into an enterprise with an estimated value of more than $4.2 billion and a staggering 60 percent market share. A unicorn feat in and of itself: Chestnut and his co-founder turned down a billion dollars from outside investors, each still retaining 50 percent ownership of the company. 

In addition to sharing Mailchimp's incredible growth story over the past 20 years, other topics include:

- How to turn a side hustle into a billion-dollar business
- Ben's "listen hard, change fast" philosophy
- The value of great branding for small businesses
- The keys to inspiring creativity and innovation 

Ben Chestnut is co-founder/CEO of Mailchimp, the leading marketing platform for small businesses. Headquartered in his hometown of Atlanta since 2001, Mailchimp is privately held and profitable, with nearly 1,000 employees and millions of global users. In 2017, Mailchimp was named Company of the Year by Inc. Magazine and recognized as one of the world’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Georgia Tech and was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2016.