Having the opportunity to join the Extreme Entrepreneurship team in San Francisco to participate in another Extreme Entrepreneurship event was yet another unforgettable experience.
As I stepped out into the warm summer heat of the Bay Area I was greeted with a smart car of sorts with Laura and EJ eagerly awaiting to see if I could even fit in the back seat of this vehicle.
We squeezed into the “mouse car” as we called it and were off. This was my first time in San Francisco and I was very excited to be in the rolling hills, vineyards, and technology scene.
Having the opportunity to meet EJ Cariron, Ahmed Khattak, and Benji Rabhan was absolutely incredible. To have each of them spend time away from their families, businesses, and friends to be on tour with us is a great testament to their generosity and overall character. I even received an hour and a half informal consulting session with Benji and we both benefitted equally from the conversation.
We arrived at Las Positas College in Livermore, California and were greeted with an incredible campus, welcoming faculty, and unbelievable volunteers. Being my second event I was very excited to see how EJ, the moderator conducted the event. Like myself, EJ Cariron is a youth speaker, and the co-founder of Student Success Academy. EJ kicked off the event with an enticing story about his experience skydiving and challenged all attendees to jump into the day’s activities, to actively participate and ask tons of questions.
Ahmed Khattak, the Co-founder of GSM Nation, a company that is disrupting the US wireless industry provides wireless retail and phone services. Ahmed talked about his personal story and how GSM Nation started from his inability to purchase a cell-phone when he first came to the US from Pakistan and how he has built the company to over $100 million dollars in revenue since starting the company from his dorm room at Yale University.
Benji Rabhan, a successful consultant, serial entrepreneur and overall helper, spoke on how we never have to fail again, and how to test before we test. Benji spoke about his failures early on, and how he built four successful companies and sold one company for over one million dollars. Benji had a powerful presentation that inspired the students in attendance to just start testing, to get out there and test.
As the event concluded with an incredible seven-person panel, many students stuck around to ask Ahmed, Benji and EJ questions about entrepreneurship, business, and overall success tips. Having the opportunity for these students pick the entrepreneurs minds and have a casual conversation is one of the most helpful and practical aspects of the tour. I felt terrible because I was supposed to be helping with getting everything together and got caught up in talking with multiple entrepreneurs.
Talk about an incredible event! The students were engaged, the entrepreneurs did a great job with their presentations, EJ kept the crowd engaged, motivated, entertained and I know many of the students left with a better understanding of how to take the first steps towards launching a business.
Marc M. Busko
Assistant Tour Manager
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
E- [email protected]
P- (920)- 284-9216
