The inspirational Andrew Medal is an ex-convict entrepreneur and angel investor, who likes to build, buy, scale and sell internet companies. He is the host of his own video show and podcast, Action & Ambition, and is the bestselling author of Don’t Drop the Soap: The Wildest $#*! About Prison You Can’t Learn on Netflix.

Born and raised in Southern California, Medal had a troubled childhood and was in and out of prison from the age of 14. After a final fight in a Las Vegas nightclub when he was 22 he vowed to turn his life around. He threw himself into forging a career in business and started working for free for an angel investment team. He quickly became full time and helped one of their portfolio companies raise $2.3 million. By the time he was 25, he had become a founding partner, and the co-founder of his first multi-million dollar business. However, all of that came tumbling down when a Nevada judge decided to send him to State prison for the fight. He had been fighting the case for five years, but ultimately was sentenced to 2-5 years. He was 27. After a year in maximum security, he was transferred to a minimum-security prison and began to better himself and continually build his entrepreneurial grit. He taught himself how to code, and wrote hundreds of articles for outlets such as Forbes and The Wall Street Journal in the hope that they would publish his work.

Upon his release, and with only $200 to his name, Medal founded the company Agent Beta, a web development and design agency. He decided to use his prison experience as a “branding technique” and be open and transparent about his past, aiming to creatively disrupt the system, and to support innovative businesses and the people behind them. It worked and his client list eventually included such big brands as IBM, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and the California Department of Education.

Medal regularly connects with his legions of followers and fans through Instagram, and Twitter, posting pictures and videos about his life around investing. He is also available for that personalised shout-out via the Cameo platform.