Magnuson isn’t your typical startup guy.
When he started his company in 2002, he wasn’t a kid coming straight out of college looking to raise money for a tech idea. Nor was he an ultra-rich investor, painstakingly searching for the next Internet behemoth.
He was just a middle-aged man with a big idea, and a plan.
“We had two Macs and this business idea that we could start a hotel chain for independents,” Magnuson says. Back then, all he had for an office was his son’s bedroom.
He was in his mid-40s when he founded Magnuson Hotels with his wife Melissa. Now, it’s the largest of such independent groups in the US, and the top hotel company on the Inc. 5000 list.