Lorene Cowan founded the annual National Student Entrepreneur Summit as a forum for networking and mentorship. Now, with her father and late mother top of mind, she's raising the stakes.
Many mastermind groups today are run like expensive, exclusive clubs that you have to be well-connected to access or pay to join, but it doesn't have to be that way. Entrepreneurs, too, can benefit from a mastermind by setting one up themselves -and it doesn't cost a dime.
It's rare that entrepreneurs succeed on their own. Most successful entrepreneurs have benefitted from a network of peers and change-makers who have helped others learn from their successes and failures.
Candice Crane watched a video of Steaz tea founder Eric Schnell giving a talk and knew he could help her grow her business. She reached out, and now he's one of her partners.
70 percent of small businesses in one survey that received mentoring survived their first five years, compared to 35 percent of businesses with no mentoring.
As Emma Grede builds inclusive denim brand Good American (alongside co-founder Khloe Kardashian) she leans on Massenet for emotional and professional support.