Going from idea to execution isn’t easy. Part of the difficulty is that often there is no playbook to follow and while we can’t offer a playbook either, we wanted to create a space where aspiring entrepreneurs could read the stories of how some very smart, very thoughtful entrepreneurs form the community got started.

Juan Casimiro | FOUNDER / CEO

Early in my educational carreer I noted tht the public students I taught in NYC lacked motivation, self esteem and basic skills needed to be sustainable in life. When I started teaching entrepreneurship in 1987 I immeditely knew that within most schools in low-income community existed several voids that I knew could fill and in many cases social and economic problems that were holding inner city back. I was clear with the voids and the challenges. It took me a series of steps to come up viable solutions to achieve my goal to empwer, teach and create young entrepreneurs in at-risk communities. Read more>>

Boss Lady Stacey Grondahl | Owner, Operator, & Creative Director of We Do Men – A Male Concept Spa

“Being a business owner is like looking into the abyss, while eating glass.” – Elon Musk, That statement alone, is exactly how I would describe it. I had no idea, and no plans to ever create a business, or own a spa… It just sort of happened. I think that’s how it goes, for the most part. The universe says, “Here! Walk into this brick wall, and then figure out how to scale it.” I used to be a representative for Rhonda Allison (aka, Red Method) Skincare. While I was in the midst of all that, it was all the men I worked on, worked with, met, interacted with, and so on and so forth, who said, “Where do you work… I want to hire you… What should I get…” etc. This factor alone, created a spark. Read more>>

Andre Wright | Founder & CEO

Well, having worked for a Google-affiliated firm for many years focusing on helping small businesses grow with digital marketing, I was in love with the process, and got so excited when strategising with clients, when they gain competitive advantage or close a big sale because of our efforts. Further, I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and always dreamt of owning my own company. Then the opportunity came up in 2015 when my family and I decided to move to Atlanta. With my vast experience leading digital marketing teams, it was the perfect next step to start TWC. Read more>>

Carlos Galan | Restaurant Owner

Generally, ideas come to my mind when I’m awake or even in my dreams. I tend to reflect each one of the them and write them down as soon as I get them. I believe that an idea that is not written down, is an idea that goes away! I later present and consult the team about the idea, if I get a surprised or scary face from them or even a “Are you crazy???”, I know that I am on track and I’m doing things correctly. I always look for ways to do things differently, out of the ordinary, something nobody expects. After considering the ideas we evaluate and plan how to execute them in a successful way. Read more>>

Heidi Rasmussen | Co-Founder & COO of Freshbenies

Healthcare in the US is expensive and hard to navigate. After years in the industry, Reid knew it would get worse. He was learning about some cool new services that could really help Americans control their costs and confusion, but had never used them. We thought it could be a great business opportunity, so here’s what we did… We planned ahead. We lived well below our means for years, so we were in a position to boot strap our business. We were told: to build a business, you’ll spend twice as much money as you think and it’ll take twice as long as you think. We wrote a business plan. It was a simple Powerpoint that covered all basics of owning a business. Read more>>

Sam Tejada | President and Founder

Ideas take research. Once you have completed a sufficient amount of research on your idea, then you need to make it into reality. The focus should be on execution. Utilize all of your resources to bring those ideas into reality. Regardless what roadblocks you hit, you can still make it happen. One thing I learned is that you can never do it by yourself. Utilize everyone that you surround yourself with to get to the next. Read more>>

Angela Zancanaro | Jewelry Designer & Metalsmith

Growing up I have always been drawn to art and creating. My mom was an entrepreneur and my dad was mostly retired. They were both very supportive of me in anything I wanted to do and be when I grew up. I think seeing my mom always having new ideas and small businesses would excite me to think outside the box of what kind of business I would create. Never seeing either of my parents in a 9-5 job it almost seemed more normal to own my own business than to go work for someone else. I went through many ideas through highschool and college trying to figure out what my business would be. From architectural drawing classes to neon sign building, I was able to get my hands on a lot of different mediums. Read more>>

Bayley Ramos | Marketing Consultant

I always wanted to open a consulting company specializing in Marketing. After graduating college I worked as a business manager and in sales, taking any opportunity that came my way. I assumed it would take years to reach my dream of owning my own company. After a few months and working hard in jobs that were not rewarding financially or with much room to grow I started to question the direction I was going. In the end of 2009, I applied for a marketing position and was blessed to have an opportunity to work as a contractor for the company. This allowed me to do what I love with the freedom to pursue other opportunities. Read more>>

Brian Sullivan | Director of User Research and Design Strategy, Conference Founder, Author, & Community Organizer

The hardest part of any idea is executing it. For the Big Design Conference, I had a dream of setting up the kind of conference that I would like to attend. I wanted the conference to be a blend of research, design, usability, creative, gaming, and more. The first step was to gauge the interest of the design and creative communities in Dallas. I sent out surveys, talked with design leaders, asked college professors, and interviewed creative talent. I found out the about the type of content they wanted to learn about a conference. Next, I assembled a team of organizers and volunteers. I took immediate action, too. I set up a confernece call with 10 trusted people. We talked about the vision. Read more>>

Gregory Guido | The RV Marketplace

Almost everyday our inner speech dreams up creative imaginations. Some of these ideas make it to a collaborative conversation with friends, family or colleagues. As these ideas come to light a more in-depth research comes to light as you gather more information and insight. I’d like to call these phases. First phase: cognitive inner speech “dreaming up your business idea”. Second phase: A collaboration of your ideas presented to your family. Third phase: collaboration with your friends. Fourth phase: collaboration with your colleagues. Read more>>

Shanea Rakowski | Food enthusiast, Restaurant Reviewer, World Traveler and Art lover

I can’t believe it has already been over 6 years of writing Shanea Savours. I’ve always been a food enthusiast, enjoyed traveling and cultural experiences. I started writing lists and suggestions for friends about where to eat, shop, and visit on their travels. A dear friend said I should write a blog since I love to share my experiences. I had no idea how to even set up a blog so she recommended a lovely lady who helped set everything up for me and ShaneaSavours was born. It also helps that I have had lots of encouragement and supporters. Read more>>

Lilly Benitez | Director of Blade Craft Barber Academy & Barber

I started Blade Craft Barber Academy officially around 2012. The idea came about after traveling and understanding that the level of education needed to create a luxury barber wasn’t readily available. I realized I was going to have to create it myself. Being a barber full-time and being a massage therapist never really led me to having formal education on business. Therefore, I had to ask friends,utilize the resources at hand and research as much as I could. The first thing I had to tackle was writing a business plan. After that, I had to get creative on fundraising, all the while supporting myself throughout the process. Read more>>

Eric Siversen | Online E-commerce Sales

My most recent company is Viral Blockers and it was born from the pandemic. I was at home with my kids who were all of the sudden home schooled overnight. I had just moved my main e-commerce fulfillment business up to North Carolina. So I had no office to go to, and was looking for ideas to make money. I had a friend who showed me a plexiglass panel that people were using to block germs for covid, and asked if it’s something we could sell. I immediately started researching what the items were selling for in the market, and started looking into getting acrylic and manufacturing Sneeze guards. Read more>>

Brittani Martin | Motivational Influencer, Author & Philanthropist

The process of going from idea to execution is the very reason I created Build Yourself Up! I had an idea but I also had EXCUSES, which we all know are like assholes. Everyone has one and they are all full of shit, lol So it was at that moment, in 2016, sitting in my college apartment at UWG, that I decided to stop making excuses once and for all. I decided that if there was something that I was passionate about doing and I couldn’t stop thinking about making it happen, well then I MUST make it happen and ELIMINATE any and all excuses! It was kind of like having a pep talk with yourself. Read more>>

Aneesah Perkins | Fashion Designer

From Idea to Execution The idea of creating a fashion chamber and incubator came from different chamber of commerce around the world “Aneesah Perkins”, says that she was apart of and or visited. Aneesah Perkins, Designer and CEO /Founder of the Dallas Chamber of Fashion Designers created many fashion chambers and incubator chapters around the United States. Her next goal for 2022 will be to bring her amazing idea to other countries. Read more>>

Yukon Palmer | President of FieldLogix

I conceptualized the business in 2002 while earning my MBA at SDSU. I was in a business plan development class taught by professor Alex DeNoble and he placed us into groups to create a business idea. I happened to work in sales at Teletrac (one of the original telematics companies) at that time and I was pared up with someone who was an engineer at Nokia. We both had working knowledge of the telematics industry and figured that it would be good to write a plan to start a telematics company. About 6 months after turning in the project, professor DeNoble invited us to pitch our business plan at several national business plan competitions. We then travelled the country representing SDSU at several schools. Along the way we received a lot of great feedback from the judges and other participants. Read more>>

Mo Assi | Restaurateur

Executing an idea is the hardest part, coming up with the concept is easy but putting in the work to execute your idea can be difficult and prove to be very challenging. We founded Crush Taco back in 2016 here in Frisco, TX, the goal was never to open a restaurant but to start a brand. My restaurant background comes from working for some of the largest restaurant groups in the country. After spending 15 years in the industry it was time to venture out and create my own brand. The idea was to create a fast casual restaurant, focusing on quality and design. Read more>>

Collin Mai | Nail Salon

I have been in the industry for years in different aspects of the business. From my past experiences, I have learned what I envisioned the ideal nail salon experience should be. At Cosmo Nail Bar, our focus is our customers. We want everyone to have the best experience possible. We are always making sure the customer comes first. By putting your trust into Cosmo, you can rest assured that we will take every measurement to make sure your visits are perfect. Our mission is to uphold the highest standards of nail care and client care. To do so, we have our team of professionals committed to offering only the best of quality services and products. Read more>>

Brooke Orist | Bakery Owner

While working at my non-profit job, I experimented with cookie recipes for a year, as baking in high altitude is different from normal baking. Once I finally found one that I liked, and received positive feedback from friends and family, I asked four friends if they wanted to start a business with me and to my surprise they all said yes. We met and I proposed the business idea and name to them and we began working to make the idea come to life. I purchased the domain name and registering the business with the state while we also began sourcing a logo from various resources. We also worked at developing other cookie recipes so we would have more than one cookie to offer. Read more>>