"Anyone, including myself, can be an entrepreneur."

Eve Freed and the author ventured to one of San Francisco's incredible public spaces.

Julia Pardee '21 | Freehold, NJ Major | Marketing & Business Information Systems

Minor | Real Estate

Before LSV, most of my entrepreneurship knowledge came from episodes of Shark Tank and How I Built This with Guy Raz. But true entrepreneurship is nothing like reality TV.

This program has opened my eyes to the inspiring culture of Silicon Valley and the incredible Lehigh network on the West Coast. Several speakers noted the range of opportunities and high level of talent in the Valley. The entrepreneurs’ backgrounds ranged from Stanford MBAs to punk rockers. Previous Tesla Executive Dave Lyons from ReSharp said, “I was on jets with Elon Musk” before founding his company. Once a Director of Engineering, Dave decided to dabble in the knife sharpening business a few years down the line. This is the quintessential Silicon Valley story because of its uniqueness. Dropping a comfortable job to start a business in an industry you know nothing about takes guts, intelligence, and a little bit of insanity.

I found the program insightful, inspiring, and motivating. I had never imagined myself as an entrepreneur or living in San Francisco, but this program taught me that the West Coast is less intimidating than I imagined. The laid-back atmosphere definitely comes through as much as expected, and the similarities between the East and West Coast surprised me. I felt much more at home here than I expected, and I am so grateful for the incredible community of LSV-ers and guest speakers. This experience inspired me that anyone, including myself, can be an entrepreneur.