Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

On March 16th, after 48 hours of travel on plane, train, and automobile (or something like that), the team finally arrived in California! We were welcomed with open arms to sunshine and beautiful rolling mountains. Our first stop on the Spring 2011 California tour was Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the locals call it). As if the scenery wasn’t fantastic enough, our host was even more fantastic! This was our 3rd year working with Israel Dominguez, Director of the Business and Entrepreneurship Center at Cuesta College. Israel is dedicated to helping both his students and members of the community transform SLO’s economy and he views entrepreneurship as vital to doing this. Having hosted the Tour twice before and knowing what a great opportunity it would be for his students, Israel funded the tour at 2 other California locations. Now that is awesome!

The turnout for EET Cuesta College was phenomenal. 173+ students, faculty, and community members filled the Student Conference Center on campus. Arel Moodie kicked off the day with his usual high energy. Max Durovic, accompanied by his business partner Mike Kenney, delivered an engaging keynote. Owners of Aarrow Advertising, the world’s largest guerrilla marketing service, Max and Mike are the gruesome-twosome of global sign spinning advertising. Encouraging students to “take the jump”, Max and Mike spoke of their own entrepreneurial journey from 2 kids from California to two of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the country.

Perhaps one of the best additions to this year’s Cuesta College EET event was Aaron Steed of Meathead Movers, a locally owned company utilizing professionally trained student athlete movers. The panel, consisting of Aaron, Max, and Mike answered a slew of questions from the audience, including questions about how to formulate business plans and how to locate funding. Following the event, many of the attendees lined up to talk to Aaron, Max, and Mike about their experiences as entrepreneurs.

So, let’s recap. Beautiful venue: check. Wonderful host: check. Amazing speakers and panelists: double check. Another super awesome Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour event at Cuesta College: CHECK!

Now it is off to Santa Barbara City College…