A recent college graduate working out of her parents’ garage. A husband-and-wife team whose homemade soda was discovered at a farmers market. A Wall Street executive whose real passion is museums. And a future governor with $1000 and a computer.
No two American Dream stories are the same. But one truth they all have in common: Big dreams can be achieved even with small budgets.
That’s at the heart of NGA Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s Reigniting the American Dream initiative. A business leader himself, who turned his $1000 and a computer into a nationwide mortgage company operating in 42 states, Gov. Stitt wants to hear from entrepreneurs about how they achieved their American Dream, obstacles that stood in the way and policies government leaders can implement to open doors to more aspiring business founders.
During roundtable discussions in Austin, Texas, Gov. Stitt welcomed innovators in business, education and policy to share insights and success stories.
“We are a nation of entrepreneurs and builders. Entrepreneurship is integral to the American Dream,” he stated. “As leaders, we need to ensure there are more opportunities for the next generation of founders to unlock innovation, and I am eager to apply these ideas in Oklahoma.”
In a panel titled “The Entrepreneurial Spirit: A Discussion with Business Founders and Builders,” Gov. Stitt talked with:
- Manish Vora, Founder & CEO, Museum of Ice Cream
- Katie Fang, Founder & CEO, SchooLinks
- Stephen Ellsworth, Founder, Poppi
Below are highlights of their stories and their advice to policymakers.
Manish Vora, Founder & CEO, Museum of Ice Cream
The dream:
I can tell you this, my Indian immigrant parents never imagined that I would have Museum of Ice Cream on my business card. I was a Wall Street guy who had a dream to build something in the art world. And I was a failed entrepreneur. I spent 7 years, went nearly bankrupt, trying to democratize art, and had this insight that we could build a for-profit museum concept that really brought together culture — understanding that joy is the driver of connection, and ice cream as that unifier. The whole vision of Museum of Ice Cream, started in New York City as a pop-up. We sold out the first 30,000 tickets, and we were off to the races. We are now 550 employees, we have five museums globally… We are a nine-figure business, and we’ll employ over 1000 people next year.
The policy path:
Our infrastructure in this country is designed to support, in my belief, our tech businesses. Our public policy is not supporting physical building and development. For the last 10 years, I have struggled city by city, policy by policy. Permitting [delays] are killing businesses getting open. These Main Streets need us, but innovation is so stymied for the… for small guys. Because of how much time and cost it is to get through these processes, you’re only incentivizing large-scale businesses and chains… I’m a big believer that AI is going to transform a lot of industries, and we need to innovate in our physical Main Streets. We need to draw people back into physical spaces to be connecting in community. I think it’s the core of keeping our communities together… To me, location-based entertainment is going to be the new anchor, like movie theaters were in the 1920s and 30s, like Macy’s and the department stores are. It’s not food halls, it’s not restaurants; it’s going to be things that bring people together in community. I fundamentally believe if we fail on Main Street in America, this country is going to fail.
Katie Fang, Founder & CEO, SchooLinks
The dream:
I graduated from college and started a company right away despite my parents not really wanting me to do so. I only had the limited amount of money that I [earned] from part-time jobs and summer internships. I decided to take over my parents’ garage in California to start my little tech startup. In the beginning, it was very much based on a personal problem, which is: What am I going to do with my degree, and how do I ensure that the thing I want to pursue is the right path for me? And that question led me to creating SchooLink. … I realized that there are stakeholders in the ecosystem, the government, the school system [all] really trying to help the individual students succeed, and there’s no system of support to ensure that there’s cohesion and throughout their entire journey to help them achieve their dreams. So with a little bit of delusion, or maybe a lot of delusion, into thinking that I can change the world, I started SchooLink. And today, a decade later, we’re serving 10 million students across the country in 45 states and supporting amazing initiatives.
The policy path:
Students get such little and limited exposure to different pathways. Bringing work-based learning and internship opportunities to certain communities sooner, faster, and earlier is super critical. If we all could, as businesses in the community, open ourselves up, and create those smaller, easier-to-attain, and more accessible opportunities to students, I believe they can dream bigger, and that entrepreneurship can feel no longer that intimidating. [At the same time], when we think about internship or providing opportunities to younger generation, [we think] it has to be a big, robust and capital-intensive thing. To me, it’s [about small] moments of inspiration. Simply opening your door to host a career fair, to talk to a young kid for 5 minutes [can make an impact]. [We can make] interactions a lot more streamlined, lower barrier and lower friction. I think technology can truly enable that. It doesn’t need to be a super-structured, a year-long type of career development opportunity. Our younger kids, they just needed that simple spark and inspiration.
Stephen Ellsworth, Founder, Poppi
The dream:
My wife and I started Poppi in our kitchen. We were traveling on the road for oil and gas research, and my wife had some health issues. She started taking shots of apple cider vinegar every single day, and after 2 weeks, she felt amazing. But she hated the taste. So that was the inspiration. We went to the kitchen and started mixing fruit juices and different sweeteners. We took it to the farmer’s market, and we had this huge crowd around our booth. And this one person snuck around the side, tried the products and said “This is incredible. You guys have to be in Whole Foods… I’m actually the local forager at Whole Foods. I don’t typically do this, but here’s my card. I’d love to get you guys in Whole Foods.” That’s when we finally quit our jobs. We went all in, we built a manufacturing facility. I think we did everything completely the wrong way. But we kept on going. Poppi is now one of the fastest growing beverages. We passed $500 million in revenue in just 4 years of business. We grew it to 250 employees, we’re reaching close to $1 billion dollars of revenue, and we just sold it to PepsiCo for about $2 billion.
The policy path:
I think so much of what we experience in public schools is conformity. Conformity to a very strict curriculum. And I think that there’s a lot of benefit to teaching the fundamentals, but it comes back to giving people support and freedom, and allowing that student to feel trusted in their failures…feel secure in trying new things and failing. Giving these kids the opportunity, and teaching them to be curious, teaching them to challenge the status quo, and breaking the conformity mindset within our public schools [is important.]
Watch the full discussion:
The entrepreneur panel identified a host of obstacles – permitting delays, access to capital, government fees and red tape, supply chains, education access, workforce training – that cut across a range of government agencies at the local, state and national levels. While there may not be a silver bullet that can solve so many disparate barriers at once, a comprehensive approach is key. Gov. Stitt welcomed policy leaders from both the public and private sectors who are bringing it all together to foster entrepreneurship opportunities.
In a panel titled “Clearing the Path for the Next Generation of Founders,” Gov. Stitt talked with:
- Victor Hwang, Founder & CEO, Right to Start
- Ian O’Grady, Senior Advisor, Office of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs
- Noel Ginsburg, Founder, CareerWise
What is one policy (or two) these leaders recommend to make a difference? Here’s what they said:
Victor Hwang, Founder & CEO, Right to Start
Cut start-up fees: We think of ourselves as this great start-up nation. But it actually costs about $800 in terms of just fees alone for someone to start a business in America. In other countries we think of as more bureaucratic – like China, Switzerland, Brazil, Sweden – it is either free or costs less than $100. We have a lot more barriers in place. $800 is essentially de-investment; it’s like taking money out of a company from the very beginning. The more that we can reduce those barriers down to next to nothing, the better. Colorado, under Gov. Polis, reduced the fee down to $1 to start a business in Colorado, and they saw a 30% increase in the number of new businesses in just in a year.
Create an entrepreneurship office: Most states and cities actually don’t have anyone in charge of entrepreneurship. We’ve taken national polls on this, and we find every business has its own barriers, every business is unique. So we encourage states to put someone in charge of entrepreneurship, to create an office of entrepreneurship, or to create a director of entrepreneurship. No state in America has ever created a secretary of entrepreneurship. It’s not just capital or taxes or regulation; it’s also educational systems, healthcare, government contracting, workforce development, childcare systems – everything affects the entrepreneurial journey. Put someone in charge of entrepreneurship so they can help be the person who coordinates all the policies. They could be a one-stop reference when entrepreneurs are trying to navigate the system.
Ian O’Grady, Senior Advisor, Office of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs
Start-up capital: I think our tallest mountain to climb is capital in Arizona. We had a study that found that there was no lending capital under $50,000 in the Maricopa County area – our major metro area. It exists in the rural areas, but not in that area. We knew we wanted to address this problem, so we created a $5 million micro-business fund with a maximum loan of $50,000. It’s been really, really successful so far. We’ve just made our 100th loan and our average loan size is $15,000. When I think about the few thousand dollars that you need to get started, we’re trying to tackle that.
Noel Ginsburg, Founder, CareerWise
Promote youth apprenticeships: One of the biggest challenges in manufacturing is talent. You can spend millions on equipment, but if you don’t have the right people to run it, it sits idle. So I showed up at a local high school and said, ‘How can I help?’ I learned pretty quickly that there was a missing piece. Business viewed themselves as consumers only, of the education outcome. That began a relationship that continues to this day. My initial reason for CareerWise was to build that future workforce and to unlock what is the cement ceiling over the heads of many of our young people. CareerWise, in simple terms, is a youth apprenticeship model that starts typically in the 11th or 12th grade, where students will spend 2-3 days a week. The bottom line is: They graduate with skills into great jobs. And businesses use this as a talent solution. CareerWise is designed to break down barriers, provide opportunities and foster entrepreneurship. We have apprentices at JPMorgan Chase, at Accenture, at Pinnacle Assurance in Colorado, and all the non-traditional occupations.
Watch the full discussion:
Launched in July, the yearlong Reigniting the American Dream initiative focuses on three policy pillars:
- Unlocking Economic Opportunity: Advancing the American Dream through entrepreneurship, creating a good jobs economy and economic mobility
- Empowering Every Learner: Reimagining education and creating real on-the-job experiences for youth
- Energizing the Future: Powering America’s next chapter by powering our AI future
Learn more about the Reigniting the American Dream initiative on the NGA website.
