The Atlanta Story podcast features meaningful stories of Atlanta’s builders, creators, and entrepreneurs. In this episode Jon Birdsong sits down Founder and CEO of The Illuminarium, Alan Greenberg. 

Alan is a serial entrepreneur who has started companies in media, healthcare, education, travel, and technology. The Illuminarium is all about democratizing human experiences and just opened the first of several locations last month right off the Beltline. Before this latest venture, Alan co-Founded Avenues: The World School, sold a healthcare media company to WebMD, and was Publisher of Esquire Magazine. In today’s episode, Alan shares principles around starting successful businesses, what it was like being a publisher in the Mad Men era of advertising, sales strategies, and much more. 

The Atlanta Story is put together by the folks at Atlanta Ventures -- and we can’t wait to share some of the personalities behind the brand. Atlanta Ventures invests in entrepreneurs through community, content, and capital -- most notably through our Studio with companies like Greenzie and Intown Golf Club. We believe the best entrepreneurs learn from other great artists in different fields.

In this episode, we discuss…

1. How Alan became publisher of Esquire Magazine in his early 30’s. (1:43)
2. If Alan would become a publisher in traditional print magazine today. (3:08)
3. The lessons Alan learned as a publisher that he brought to the rest of his career. (3:48)
4. How a University of Tennessee graduate gels with the ivy elites in New York. (5:48)
5. How he changed the culture and belief for the community of New York writers. (7:28)
6. Post Esquire, how did Alan make the transition to the healthcare space. (9:39)
7. What frameworks were used to decide on the healthcare market, and who was involved in the decision to chase that market. (11:15)
8. Things today that Alan does to stay relevant in terms of technology and seeing what’s ahead. (12:55)
9. How Alan made the transition from healthcare to travel. (14:51)
10. How Alan has been able to wear hats of operating and building business while also investing in deals outside his daily workflow. (17:39)
11. How Alan got the opportunity to work in education, and how he created a global network of schools in Brazil, China, and the US. (19:16)
12. What opened last month on the Beltline, and the thought process on Alan starting Illuminarium. (22:14)
13. The process Alan went through behind building Illuminarium. (24:44)
14. The key user flows and the different experiences that Illuminarium provides for its users. (27:36)
15. How Alan is getting feedback from users and pivoting appropriately. (28:22)
16. Some of the spectacles on the roadmap for Illuminarium. (29:55)
17. How long each experience will be at Illuminarium. (31:15)
18. Illumarium’s future expansions that are in the works. (32:04)
19. How many employees are needed to run Illuminarium. (32:44)
20. Alan’s tips for entrepreneurs on raising money. (35:00)
21. Alan’s tips for sales. (37:27)
22. How Alan has networked throughout his career. (39:10)
23. Why Atlanta, and what has Atlanta done for him. (42:01)

Resources discussed in this episode:

Illuminarium: 

https://www.illuminarium.com/

https://saportareport.com/illuminariums-alan-greenberg-democratizing-extraordinary-experiences/columnists/maria_saporta/

https://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/greenberg-launches-flagship-illuminarium/

Avenues: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/nyregion/the-best-school-75-million-can-buy.html

WebMD Acquisition / Medcast: 

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/01/business/healtheon-and-webmd-plan-to-buy-news-service.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB930832927560385683

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/1999/03/22/story6.html

Esquire: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/20/business/advertising-esquire-s-revivifier-moves-on.html

How you can get involved: 

Visit atlantaventures.com/studio if you’re interested in learning more about Atlanta Ventures and the Studio. 

Where you can find us:

Website: www.atlstory.com

Twitter: @theatlantastory

Instagram: @theatlantastory

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