Venture Description: Extreme Entrepreneurship Education, LLC (www.extremee.org) is a media and education company dedicated to helping college students plan, prioritize, and pursue their own vision in life by utilizing the entrepreneurial mindset. We accomplish our mission through our events and speaking, books, and online goal support system (www.journeypage.com).

Our vision is a generation of young adults from all backgrounds who reach their potential by empowering themselves to pursue their own definition of success in each moment.

Venture Origin: While entirely paying my own way though NYU, I met Michael Simmons, who was making $40,000 a year in a company he had started at the age of 16. We knew that we could make our dreams happen by planning, prioritizing and pursuing them. Together, we set out to give others the tools and inspiration to do the same.

Innovation: We help students take ownership over their lives regardless of their career path. Our largest project is the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (www.extremetour.org), which brings top young entrepreneurs to college campuses to spread the entrepreneurial mindset. Hearing peer success stories allows students to move beyond their fears and limiting beliefs to start taking action on their dreams TODAY.

Impact

Impact: Over 3,600 copies of The Student Success Manifesto: How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose and Prosperity are in circulation. We've reached over 10,000 individuals through our events and speaking. Each month, more than 25,000 people visit our website to download free educational and inspirational content. The quantitative results, however, are less indicative of our impact than the students who have written saying we've changed their lives!

Engagement with the community: Thirteen young entrepreneurs were recognized and able to share their stories through the Tour. We've engaged three interns, two of which have gone on to pursue their own ventures. Further, we've provided a venue for student ambassadors and entrepreneurship professors and program directors alike to increase exposure for entrepreneurship on their campuses, and recognize entrepreneurial students.

Impact and engagement progress since launch: We originally planned to achieve our mission through a series of books targeted at students who didn't fit into traditional systems and needed to take a more entrepreneurial approach toward their dreams. We've since expanded that to personal speaking on the topic and then to bringing in other speakers and creating a nationally recognized program in youth entrepreneurship education.

Impact and engagement strategy: We've been featured in USA Today, on AOL's homepage, and as the top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25 in BusinessWeek. By gaining credibility like this, we are able to reach more students at more college campuses. We have been recruiting team members to can run simultaneous events, which would allow ourselves to hold more events throughout the year. We will also engage more students through JourneyPage.

Awards: BusinessWeek Best Entrepreneurs Under 25; NFTE, Fleet and National Coalition for Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur of the Year (Michael)

Budget

Amount of Youth Venture seed grant: $1,000

Money raised: $157,343 - revenues from sales; $21,500 - loans; $25,000 - personal investment; $10,000 - grants & gifts; TOTAL = $213,843

Creative ways of raising resources: We have developed a sustainable business model, by which we provide equal value to schools and sponsors as we provide to students thereby securing revenue through these means for our events while serving students free of charge. Benefits include media and cross-campus program exposure.

Strategy

Expansion plan for next 6 months: We will focus on school outreach for the 2007-2008 school year, team recruitment (tour manager, education outreach specialist, and additional youth entrepreneur speakers), and continually improving our material and program effectiveness.

Plans for sustaining the project: We have done a great deal of work refining our business model over the past year, increasing our price so we can cover all of our expenses and seeking sponsorship funding. In regards to team, we are diligently searching for passionate and talented members to help us grow and remain sustainable.

Vision for three years from now: There are many possibilities! Much will depend on our progress over the next year – whether we continue to increase the number of events we have, focus on the online support community, or move toward a university model. One way or another, we are determined to achieve our mission while increasing the number of students we reach and developing the quality of our programs through research.

Project impact: There are many, many possibilities for the future of our venture and we've documented them all though not decided on one. Much will depend on our progress over the next year – whether we continue to increase the number of events we have, focus on the online support community, or move toward a university model. One way or another, we are determined to achieve our mission while increasing the number of students we reach while retaining and increasing the quality of our programs through research.

Youth Venture movement - what it means and how you can contribute: Youth Venture was one of the first programs to support and believe in us. It has allowed us to reach tens of thousands of people with our message of courage - the courage to be different, the courage to take risks, the courage to dream, and the courage to do it all despite the challenges you currently face or that come up along the way. We've shown people who don't fit in to mainstream systems that they can still be successful, by defining success on different terms. Many of the young people we reach are future venturers themselves and we always refer them to Youth Venture as a way of getting started on their social ventures. Our mission is so much aligned with YV's and we want to give back! If there are any other ways we can be involved, we want to know.

Author:
Sheena
United States
Website: www.extremee.org