What can five ocean-rowing world records and a childhood nickname like “Town’s Busted” teach us about resilience? Today’s guest turned early rejection into an extraordinary athletic and professional career. Introducing Andrew Towne, founder and CEO of Gregory Point, a fund building retail concepts across the country. Andrew partners with host Gregory McDonough to share how his endurance mindset, shaped by collegiate rowing, mountaineering, and ocean rowing world records, has taught him to focus only on what he can control. He also delves into how preparing for worst-case scenarios, on the water, on a mountain, and in business, has shaped his approach to leadership and decision-making.
Takeaways:
Andrew credits his endurance mindset to three lessons: the direct correlation between effort and results in sport, confidence built through consistent showing up, and resilience learned from picking himself back up after setbacks.
As a teenager, Andrew was bullied and nicknamed “Town’s Busted” after being teased for his weight. He found rowing in college with no prior athletic experience, and by senior year, helped his team win a national championship.
Andrew describes focusing only on the “bullseyes,” the wins and successes, rather than dwelling on the much larger number of near-misses, as a mental framework that has carried him through both sport and business setbacks.
In 2015, Andrew was at Mount Everest Base Camp when an earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed dozens of people nearby. His expedition camp became a makeshift hospital for 48 hours, an experience that taught him the value of preparing for the unexpected.
A near-miss on Denali, where two teammates suffered altitude sickness and the group wasted critical time deciding how to respond, led Andrew to build a 35-point safety checklist before a later ocean row from South America to Antarctica, testing every safety system in advance.
Andrew is now founder and CEO of Gregory Point, a fund building and operating retail concepts in the garment care industry, starting in Colorado. He’s drawn to the real estate and community aspects of the business, as well as the opportunity to help workers without formal credentials grow into skilled professionals.
Before founding Gregory Point, Andrew spent six years at BCG advising energy, tech, and government clients, then helped scale the Tommy Express car wash platform from one location to 29 across 10 states in just 36 months.
Quote of the Show:
“I can’t necessarily control the outcome, but I can control how I respond, how I get back up, and even if I’m not happy with my result, how I prepare for the next race.” - Andrew Towne
Links:
Andrew’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-towne-88632067/
Gregory Point’s Website: www.gregorypoint.com
Email address: andrew@gregorypoint.com
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