Our Featured Entrepreneur Video Profiles
We believe the best way to learn about entrepreneurship is to study the practices of successful business builders. Thus, we are constantly searching for role models from a wide variety of industries who are willing to share their stories. These videos will teach you how thriving entrepreneurs discover business opportunities, create products and services, build powerful teams, work with zealous tenacity, create more with less, provide phenomenal customer service, and grow their companies over time. We will add new videos every month.
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David Neeleman
David is the most successful entrepreneur in the history of commercial aviation. He is the founder and former CEO of JetBlue Airways and also founder of Azul Airways in Brazil. David co-founded Morris Air with June Morris, which they sold to Southwest Airlines for $130 million in 1993. He is also the founder of Open Skies, a touch screen airline reservation check-in systems company, and WestJet Airlines in Canada. David is dominating commercial aviation in Brazil with Azul Airlines and is on track to do $1 billion in sales in 2011.
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Nicole DeBoom
Nicole's passion for fitness started at an early age when qualified for the 1988 Olympic Swimming Trials. She went on to swim for Yale University and made her professional triathlete debut in 1999. She has made a 12th place finish at the Hawaii Ironman World Championship and won Ironman Wisconsin in 2004. Nicole’s leadership has grown Skirt Sports into a women’s fitness powerhouse with a full collection of styles including dresses, outerwear, accessories and more. Skirt Sports is now sold in over 400 specialty retail stores throughout the U.S.
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William Child
Bill is the Chairman of RC Willey Home Furnishings. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a single employee in a 600 square foot store to more than 3,000 employees and 14 locations. The business generates annual sales in excess of $800 million. Such extraordinary success caught the attention of the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett, who added RC Willey to Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings in 1995.
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Justin Gold
Justin is the CEO and founder of Justin’s Nut Butter. Justin’s is the premier nut butter company on the planet manufacturing organic and natural nut butters.
Justin began by selling his products to local farmer’s markets. His products are
now available nationally at fine retailers including Whole Foods Markets, REI and
Safeway.
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Gary Hammerslag
Gary created the idea for the Boa Lacing System in 1998 when he took up snowboarding and found that traditional bootlaces were awkward and provided an imprecise fit. Today, nearly six million pairs of footwear, in dozens of different sports, are equipped with the Boa Lacing System. Boa is used by some of the most accomplished and elite professional athlete throughout the world.
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Amilya Antonetti
Amilya is an entrepreneur, prominent guest speaker, best-selling author, and TV personality. She is the founder of Soapworks and other successful companies. She has appeared on Oprah, CBS News, Time magazine, People magazine, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, and Strategy Room with Eric Bolling.
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Jim Pittenger
Jim Pittenger, founder of Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs
, repoed cars for a living before he turned to serving gourmet artisan sausages from a spotless, stainless steel cart on the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver. Some of Jim’s menu items include reindeer and wild boar brats, rattlesnake and pheasant, elk and antelope, and yak and buffalo. He has since expanded to multiple carts and restaurants. Jim has received national recognition and has most notably been featured on the travel channel on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.
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Kate Maloney
Kate started Costume Craze in 2001 to test a search-engine optimization technology her brother Matthew developed. Today, the company is one of the largest costumer retailers in the world. The business uses internal and external data and complex algorithms to determine what products will sell and how many to order. Costume Craze also operates a network of related websites to optimize search-engine hits, and sells its products on eBay and Amazon.com.
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Jason & Jon Araghi
Jason & Jon Araghi are the founders of Green Beans Coffee. Green Beans got its start when Jason & Jon were invited by US Army personnel to open a coffee café on a US Army Base in the Middle East. Today, Green Beans serves military personnel in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Djibouti, Africa and domestically at military bases across North America. The company has a long-standing mission to support the men and women of the United States military through various programs, including their Cup of Joe for a Joe program.
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Entrepreneurs of Fisherman's Wharf
We hit the streets of San Francisco to show you the many ways people can earn a living. These street entrepreneurs have developed unique concepts and are entertaining thousands of customers every week. All of them are earning part-time or full-time income from their business.
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The Bushman of San Francisco
Gregory Jacobs is the most successful street entrepreneur in San Francisco. He has found a way to make a comfortable living scaring people on the streets of Fisherman's Wharf. He makes approxximately $70,000 a year working part time.
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Becky Anderson
Becky is the founder of For Every Body, one of the largest and fastest growing soy candle companies in the United States. Her products are sold in 90 retail chains and 6,500 independent stores around the world. Becky is also the founder of For Every Home, a company that helps women create their own home-based business.
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Mike Glauser
Mike is an entrepreneur, business consultant, author, and university professor. He is the founder of successful companies in the food service, consulting, and real estate industries. He has written numerous articles and books on entrepreneurial success.
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Alyssa Wasko
When her father's life was taken as a result of an accident, Alyssa created Donni Charm as a creative outlet to help her deal with the tragedy. Together with her mother, they began making designer scarves. While still in college at the University of Arizona, Alyssa’s scarves quickly became a fashion trend and thrived in sorority trunk shows and philanthropic endeavors. Donni Charm is now found in stores and boutiques all across the country, has received tremendouspress, and is worn by dozens of big-name celebrities.
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Mark Rukavina
As the founder and Chief Executive Officer of iMemories, Mark is an 18-year veteran entrepreneur with a knack for figuring out what customers want and how to give it to them. With iMemories, Mark is helping reinvent how memories are experienced in today’s digital lifestyle by providing a social entertainment platform where images and videos from any generation can be digitized and shared via the web. Mark has been acknowledged and decorated as an industry leader receiving numerous awards including the Ernst & Young Arizona Entrepreneur of the Year of e-business.
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Jeff Pedersen
As the President and CEO of Del Sol, Jeff has taken the company to become the largest color-change retailer in the world and the largest clothing retailer in the Caribbean. With more than 830 employees and 110 Del Sol stores worldwide, Jeff has grown the company into a worldwide brand with stores in the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, Alaska, Europe, and Canada. Jeff has been recognized nationally for his achievements as an entrepreneur and is a winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.
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Allen Kuehn
As the founder of the San Francisco Fish Company, Allen is a staple in the seafood community around the bay area. For seventeen years, he owned and operated Rockridge Fish in the Market Hall in Oakland before moving into San Francisco’s historic Ferry Building in 2004. Allen and his staff treat customers to a dazzling array of seafood products and work hard to educate them about the joys of cooking and eating fish.
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