GL’s parents didn’t love him enough to give him a whole name, he says. It wasn't until he learned his alphabet on the Kansas farm where he was raised that he realized his name wasn't Get Wood! "In college, my friends called me 'Snack Bar,' so I have answered pretty much to everything and anything."
His first entrepreneurial opportunity came when a banker friend asked if he was interested in buying a bankrupt motorcycle shop. He bought the inventory of crated up dirt bikes, promptly hired a friend to put them together, and sold them all for his first profitable venture. He then bought a Corvette.
He moved to Minneapolis, and co founded a lettering machine company. “I was the one who said that small labeling devices would never sell.” Still, Varitronics did alright, selling its lettering machines to architects and engineers, even going public. With his winnings, he started another company that also went public, Insignia Systems.
“I had a goal to retire at 50, but soon realized that what I love is starting companies, “ he says. Soon, a venture capitalist brought him JobDig, which now has a broad range of products in the employment space, including
LinkUp.com, "the best job search engine available today." “I am excited about what the team is building,” he says. “LinkUp is a job searching tool that helps job seekers find jobs, but only off company websites.
GL likes to mentor young entrepreneurs and is almost always incubating new ideas.
He does not take himself too seriously.