Books

Five books. 45+ years of building, distilled.

Field notes from inside the work, written for founders, investors, partners, and the stewards of capital who are trying to build something that actually matters.

01 · A Book by Mark Falzon

MAD.

What the World Needs Now Is a Little Madness: Why the Next Twenty Years Will Determine the Future of Humanity

Mark Falzon

Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

01Published · 2025

MAD.

What the World Needs Now Is a Little Madness: Why the Next Twenty Years Will Determine the Future of Humanity

"What kind of world could we build if capital behaved as if the future mattered?"

Born from 45+ years inside companies and a deeper belief that the world does not lack talent or innovation; it lacks a philosophy of capital that honours the interconnected nature of life, purpose, community, and meaning.

Three acts: The Descent into the realities of the world as it is. The Bridge: the architecture of integrated capital MAD created. The Return: the Possible Planet, now earned. An invitation, not a conclusion.

Foreword by

Mac Christopherson

Co-Founder, MAD Ventures Australia

"What the world needs now is not more caution. It needs more courage. Not more spectators, but more stewards."

Mac Christopherson, from the foreword

Buy on Amazon Download Chapter One Discussion guide for your investment committee

ISBN 978-0-6457675-3-7 · Published by Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

02 · A Book by Mark Falzon

The Venture Compass.

Closing the Gap Between Where You Are and Where You Want To Be

Mark Falzon & Mac Christopherson

MAD Ventures Australia

02Published · 2025

The Venture Compass.

Closing the Gap Between Where You Are and Where You Want To Be

"For the founders who step into the unknown. May this Compass help you find your way forward."

An assessment framework distilled from decades inside ventures: building, scaling, advising, failing, and returning with sharper insight. The Compass reveals the nine interconnected forces that shape every venture's trajectory.

Twenty-three chapters across four parts: Orientation, The Compass, Applying the Compass, and Beyond the Book. A map that is both accurate and humane, for founders just beginning, in the midst of scaling, or navigating a complex period of change.

Foreword by

Michelle Duval

Founder, Marlee (formerly Fingerprint for Success)

"Founders are not short on ambition, creativity or drive: they are short on clarity."

Michelle Duval, from the foreword

Buy on Amazon Download Chapter One Discussion guide for your investment committee

ISBN 978-0-6457675-5-1 · Published by MAD Ventures Australia

03 · A Book by Mark Falzon

Philanthropy as Amplifier.

How Catalytic Capital Can Transform the Next Century

Mark Falzon

Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

03Forthcoming · 2026

Philanthropy as Amplifier.

How Catalytic Capital Can Transform the Next Century

"Because the first dollar that moves can change everything."

We are entering one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in human history. Trillions will move into foundations, family offices, and donor-advised funds over the coming decades. The question is not whether capital exists. The question is whether it will move.

A practical framework for how philanthropy can act not only as generosity but as signal capital, absorbing early uncertainty, mobilising public and private investment, and unlocking the systems our future depends on.

Foreword by

Hector D. Mujica

Former Head of Economic Opportunity for the Americas, Google.org. Architect of the Google Career Certificates Fund.

"A relatively small amount of well-placed capital can unlock far larger pools of public, private and institutional investment. This is the amplifier effect."

Hector D. Mujica, from the foreword

Buy on Amazon Download Chapter One Discussion guide for your investment committee

ISBN 978-0-6457675-6-8 · Published by Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

04 · A Book by Mark Falzon

Co-Founders.

How Business Partnerships Rise, Break, and Transform: A Developmental Roadmap for Founders, Leaders, and Business Partners

Mark Falzon

Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

04Published · 2026

Co-Founders.

How Business Partnerships Rise, Break, and Transform: A Developmental Roadmap for Founders, Leaders, and Business Partners

"Safe enough for truth. Strong enough for difference. Mature enough to turn conflict into alignment."

The first business book to bring the developmentally informed rigour of 40+ years of couples therapy research to the founding partnership. Built on Bader and Pearson's Developmental Model, the same framework used to train therapists in seventy countries.

Five parts mapping the arc every founding partnership actually travels: from the magnetic beginning, through the descent and the silent collapse of trust, to a developmental map for the five stages every partnership must navigate, and finally the tools for repair and scale.

Foreword by

Dr Peter Pearson

Co-founder, The Couples Institute. Co-developer of the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy.

"Partnerships don't collapse overnight. Partnerships drift before they fracture."

Dr Peter Pearson, from the foreword

Buy on Amazon Download Chapter One Discussion guide for your investment committee

ISBN 978-0-6457675-8-2 · Published by Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

05 · A Book by Mark Falzon

The Hero's Journey.

The Entrepreneur's Map for the Inner and Outer Terrain

Mark Falzon

Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd

05In Development

The Hero's Journey.

The Entrepreneur's Map for the Inner and Outer Terrain

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too."

Ten years in the making. The book opens at eighteen thousand feet on the Tibetan plateau in a whiteout, in a broken-down truck, with darkness closing in. The night that became the seed of everything that followed.

Built on Joseph Campbell's monomyth and 45+ years of building, The Hero's Journey gives the entrepreneur a map of the interior: the forces that drive you, the fears that hold you back, and the beliefs running your decisions before you even know you're making them.

Foreword by

To be announced.

"The entrepreneur's journey is the Hero's Journey. Not as a metaphor. As a structural fact."

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The MAD Reading Room

For investment committees, founder teams, and serious readers.

Chapter One downloads

First chapter of each published book, sent direct to your inbox. The fastest way to read the work before deciding whether to keep going.

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Investment committee guides

Discussion guides built for IC and family-office reading groups. Frameworks, prompts, and the questions worth taking into the room.

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Bulk orders & speaking

Bulk copies for boards, founder programs, and offsites. Speaking and keynote enquiries handled by the same channel.

Bulk orders & speaking

About the imprint

Self-published. On purpose.

The Venture Compass is published by MAD Ventures Australia, the imprint that backs the founders, funds, and communities the work is written for. The other four books are published by Paradigm Communications Pty Ltd, Mark's long-running independent imprint.

Self-publishing is a deliberate choice. It keeps the work honest, the timing in our hands, and the proceeds flowing back into the ecosystem the books exist to serve.

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