The Entrepreneurial Journey: High-Impact Lessons to Equip Your Teen | Dan Bauer

#066.  In this inspiring episode, I sit down with Dan Bauer—entrepreneur, mentor, and founder of the MBA Exchange and Young Entrepreneurs Initiative. Dan brings decades of experience from the corporate world, higher education, and startup mentoring to the table.

We dive into Dan’s unique journey from working in advertising and finance to founding and scaling his own company, eventually selling it and launching an entrepreneurship program for high school students in partnership with Inc. Magazine. Along the way, he shares what it really takes to make the leap from corporate to entrepreneurship, the importance of building a strong team, and how to raise and mentor the next generation of entrepreneurial thinkers.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Dan transitioned from a corporate executive to a successful entrepreneur
• Lessons learned from scaling and exiting a business
• How to mentor teens into becoming resilient, business-minded leaders
• Why passion, purpose, and pivoting are essential for entrepreneurs
• How parents can help their kids think like entrepreneurs—even if they don’t become one

Dan’s story is full of wisdom for anyone navigating the shift into entrepreneurship or looking to inspire the next generation.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session066

Transcript

Dan Bauer

Justin: [00:00:00] Today's guest, Dan Bauer, is a veteran mentor and powerhouse in youth entrepreneurship education. As a senior mentor with the NSLC Business and Entrepreneurship Program, Dan is partnered with Inc. Magazine and recruited top CEOs to inspire and guide young innovators at leading universities across the us.

He founded the Young Entrepreneurs Initiative. He's also advised thousands of high school college students and young professionals through his career and education firm, the MBA Exchange. He's also the president of Bauer and Associates serving hundreds of clients, ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-size companies, to fresh startups worldwide.

He's a father of two and based in Chicago and Nashville. Dan, welcome to the My Dad Podcast. 

Dan: Thanks so much, Justin. I appreciate it and looking forward to it. 

Justin: I'm looking forward to this conversation. I love bringing on guests who have such a wealth of experience and you have a, certainly a wealth that both in the corporate world and as an entrepreneur.

So I'm excited to have this conversation with you today so that we can uncover [00:01:00] insights that parents, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs alike, will find invaluable. I'd love to first start off with your origin story and how you kind of got to where you are today. Talk to us a little bit about your childhood and what it was like as it related to your understanding of money and finances and perhaps what were some of the lessons that you learned in your childhood that you continue to carry over with you today?

Dan: I was fortunate enough to be raised as a third generation entrepreneur. Um, My grandfather was in home construction in Ohio where I was, where I grew up. My dad started and ran and HVAC heating, ventilation, air conditioning business. Oh, okay. 

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: He operated it out of our home. My mother was the office manager and the admin.

And so, , like it or not, I was immersed in business and entrepreneurship before I could walk. Um, And uh, you know, valuable lessons learned just by osmosis. There were two phones [00:02:00] on the desk. One was the family phone, the other was the business phone. 

Justin: The 

Dan: business phone would get picked up on one ring, maybe two.

The per the personal mind, let it ring a little bit. So the sense of urgency and responsiveness. To customers and prospects was something that I saw played out for me every day. , You know, my Dad, it was a tough business that he ran and uh, you know, having this, having it happen around me right in the house again, immersed me in this, you know, out in the garage were walls of air conditioners 

Justin: Yeah.

Dan: That he would rent out in the summer. And guess who was after dinner was able to, selected to go out and help him carry the air conditioner to the truck. That was me. 

Justin: Voluntold. 

Dan: Yeah, exactly. Voluntold. Yep. That gave me a great appreciation for literally for hard work. I saw what my dad did, I saw what my mom did.

Their work ethic was phenomenal. They certainly had work life balance, but it was [00:03:00] more, I. I'm gonna say integration rather than balance. And that's a model that I followed when I started my business. The ability to turn off, to turn it off, turn off work, and turn on family and then reverse that.

It just doesn't fly if one is gonna be good at both of those. And I found that integrating it it made for shorter night's sleep. Uh, But uh, that's the, you know, the, the, the act that I, not, I won't call it balancing act, it was more of a magic act, but I was able to uh, pull that off for uh, decades. 

Justin: I, you know, I remember when, I guess my, you know, my parents, my dad in particular was, he, , he was a business owner.

Like, , He hustled. That's the way he yeah. As an immigrant into Canada. He didn't have a lot of formal education, and so that's what he did. Like he, you know, he, he brought me along and my brother along on a number of different businesses that he was trying to run.

He had an accounting, bookkeeping service business that he had, he had me help him out with. He, but he would take us to go, grab I. Client information from Yep. [00:04:00] You know, Different autobody shops and different places, businesses around. I would do personal tax returns.

So he had a ta, you know, he had an income tax background and I would do personal income tax returns for him while he would be chatting with the clients. I remember sitting in, clients' homes and doing that when we used to do it by hand. He, in real estate, he would certainly, you know, have me help him along as well.

And so that immersiveness, that you just talked about, I think really helps. Get that exposure into business and entrepreneurship from a young age and certainly plants those seeds early on. You certainly have had a an interesting career path and journey, and in particular, I think it resonates strongly with those, you know, listening right now who are in corporate worlds, but perhaps looking to make a leap into entrepreneurship.

Before you broke out as an entrepreneur, you're a corporate guy really, for the first 20 or so years of your career. You worked in the ad agency business, you were an executive led marketing for a number of banks or financial institutions, and then started your own company, the MBA exchange which you founded in the sold [00:05:00] afterward.

First, can you start off by talking to us about what, how did you decide to make that pivot from being a corporate guy into ENT entrepreneurship? What was that transition like and what, what made you decide to take that leap 

Dan: so early on? Out of college. My passion was the ad agency business.

I, I was attracted to that. I was excited about it. It just seemed like the natural fit for me. I was not quantitatively inclined. But I was strategic and creative and I was exposed to the ad agency world uh, by the uncle of, of my best friend. We went down to visit him at his ad agency and I was about 16 and I saw this, blur of activity and cool people laughing and having fun and he gave me a stack of advertising, age magazines to take home.

Yeah. I spent my summer reading those and I said, this is it for me. And so, , uh, that was not something I could start entrepreneurially. I needed to learn about it. And so that started me on the [00:06:00] corporate track. I wanted the learning, I wanted the credentials of a brand name. I. And I wanted to build a network.

And so that's, what I invested the first chapter of my career in doing again, in the ad agency world with DDB Needham in the banking world. I was fortunate enough to be recruited to Hawaii to work for uh, an ad agency and spent 13 great years there. Yeah. And did learn a lot.

So the transition from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial world was fueled by probably two things. One was the politics and the egos and the uh, extracurricular aspects of corporate life eventually became a distraction and a frustration to me. I'm very much a get along guy, a team player, and all that.

But I started to feel constrained by that. You know, When you work for somebody, work for a boss that doesn't seem to get it [00:07:00] and you get it. 

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: That's a tough, that's a tough Sunday night sleep before you go in for the next week. And so, um, that was one uh, sort of, uh, terminus in the corporate experience that said, maybe it's time for entrepreneurship.

The other was going to business school. At the midpoint of my career coming out of bank of Hawaii, I decided that I wanted to confront that quantitative side of life that I had not confronted. And it was time to do that. And so, um, at that point, at age 38 with two little kids and a great job in Hawaii, my wife had a great job.

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: We were living, in paradise, literally. Yeah. There was only one place that could justify that move, and that was Harvard Business School. So I roll the dice and I get in wonder of wonders, and that was incredible. That exposed me to, the nth degree of of business as an art and a science, the case study [00:08:00] method, which Harvard uses immersed me in real world scenarios, which really attracted me and engaged me.

And so, um, armed with that, frustration with corporate America and the appeal of learning and doing and, shooting from the hip sometimes with incomplete information, having to make a decision, having to live with it, having to pivot. If that doesn't go well, that really excited me.

And so it was at that point that I decided to become an entrepreneur and start a business. I've wanted something that would draw from my education and my past experience in marketing and and higher ed, frankly from the MBA program. I had been an interviewer, an alumni interviewer for Harvard Business School after I graduated.

Okay. This gave me entree to the admissions process and to candidates and what's their mindset and what's their demeanor, and so on and so forth. And I said, okay, here's the conversion of my passions and my skills [00:09:00] and my interests. And that's when I started the business called the MBA Exchange, which. Was and is an education and career advisory business that primarily focuses on college seniors and young professionals.

I added an undergraduate guidance program for high school kids in the later years. So that gave me the full spectrum of exposure to young people at the high school, the co collegiate, and the early career stage. So that was my pivot to entrepreneurship. 

Justin: You spoke about the, you know, sort of the politics of the being in a corporate world and being, dis dissatisfied with that and, and really being able to go back and obviously go to Harvard and go to the business school there and really expose yourself to that.

How did you find that transition really? Was it tough initially or was it something that felt natural to you given where you are, you know, in terms of, in your career and, and, and where you were at? 

Dan: I think it was, I think it was the combination of. I'll call it in a way, [00:10:00] negative motivation of having a enough of the corporate tumult and distraction.

So I would never look back on that and say, oh, with regret I should have stayed with it 'cause I disliked it enough. And then the, the carrot as opposed to the stick was I create my own day now I count on myself, I assess the market. I, represent, create, and represent the brand. That was the positive motivation.

So candidly, it was not difficult. I probably had about six months of of is this gonna really work? But I knew, I burned the boats, right? I was gonna do this and no matter what. And so when you have that philosophy and that mindset, failure is not an option. It wasn't a business school and it wasn't when I started the business.

It was just if I need to. Tweak it and move, 10 degrees this way or that way, that's fine. Try things, make mistakes. When you get a victory, [00:11:00] build it out, leverage it, expand it. That was that journey was incredible for me. And so it was so empowering and so satisfying and so gratifying that it was not a difficult time.

And fortunately, I had a very SI have and had a very supportive wife who uh, you know, encouraged me and ultimately became the CFO for my business. Oh, okay. She's a cpa, so that was a wonderful that was a wonderful component that could free me to do the things I liked, the things I was good at, and not have to be distracted by things that I'm not as good at and don't enjoy.

Justin: That's great. I love that there where, you burn the boats and this is really your only option and you're gonna make it work, come hell or high water you grew the business and then you sold it off and you spoke about, being able to be leading the business and doing it your way, how hard was that to let go of something that you'd, been a part of, started, been a part of, led for 20 or so years, and what was that process like in terms of exiting and, and you know, so the 

Dan: [00:12:00] first the first tough moment was going from a solo entrepreneur to a business leader, 

Justin: right?

Dan: That was the moment of truth that came probably at about the five year mark, four, four or five year mark when my very gratifying and enjoyable contact with clients, with the young folks seeking guidance and support. When I wanted to leverage myself, which meant bringing in other people to do that work and I would be the strategy and marketing engine feeding clients in a sense to them.

That was the biggest pivot. Definitely some trepidation there. I was giving up something, an aspect of the business that I loved and I was taking a risk by bringing in other people who I would hope would love and represent the brand and have the quality and level of service that I did.

So that was really the first river to cross, and that went so well. I found that the same gratification I got [00:13:00] from serving and guiding and molding clients, I could now do that with my colleagues and infuse my model and my thinking into them and have them add their own style and their own, personality and strengths to it.

That became as much fun and as gratifying as starting the business. So, that having, I. Encountered and crossed over that bridge. So now 15 years later, um, starting to think about how do I perpetuate this? Do I just let it run and harvest it? And just, frankly raise the price until nobody comes anymore.

And then I'm done with it. Or do I hire a team to actually do everything or do I sell it and move on to something else? So I had an opportunity to sell it. One of the colleagues I had brought in who was actually a client, and then I hired him as a consultant, yeah. Approached me to buy the [00:14:00] business.

And although it might have been a little bit early, I felt that would be the smoothest transaction and transition that I could come up with. We knew each other, we liked each other, we trusted each other. He knew the business. I felt that this. My baby, the brand would be in the hands of someone that Yeah.

Honored it and could advance it. And so I went ahead with that transaction. It was not as hard, frankly as that earlier challenge. Because, I heard the clock ticking and the calendar page is flipping and it's, if you can do a good exit and feel good about it while you're healthy and have time and energy to do other things, then it just feels right.

And so that's, that's what I did. I stayed on for a while as an advisor and as chairman, but eventually left it behind and just like with corporate America and never looked back and said, I should have stayed with it. Why did I leave? There's nothing better than that. The, I found other avenues that give me satisfaction at this point.

Justin: [00:15:00] Going back to your earlier point on that first challenge, really going from solar entrepr solopreneur to a business leader. 'cause you mentioned that you found the same joy in, in kind of training and mentoring the, I guess it would be the consultants Yes. That would be speaking to the clients as you did for when you were the consultant speaking to clients.

And that's certainly not always the case, right? Like a lot of times entrepreneurs, when it's them in the business and something that really they're passionate about, once they become a little bit more removed from it, it and, and you have to bring in other people to help run and operate things.

You lose a little bit, you lose that because you're not as close to the action and maybe the reason why you started the business in the first place. Can you tell us, so to help you with that transition, and again, it sounds like. You enjoyed it. So maybe that wasn't so tough, or maybe it was, but tell me about some of those challenges in the early days and that mindset to, to go from solopreneur [00:16:00] to, being a business leader and hiring on people.

Talk to us about that journey and how you went about that. 

Dan: Sure. First of all, I was very fortunate after I hired the first few, their experience was so positive, and I'm not exaggerating. This was so positive. They invited their friends to approach me, so I didn't really have to do much recruiting after the first few.

So that was great, so the lesson I learned there was treat the people right, who take they take the risk and join you before there's any role models for them. And be square with them and trust them and , you know. be watchful, but trustful, I guess is the way I put it. So that was, that made it easier for me.

I also initiated just, organically a process by which I would do a warm handoff. When I had a new consultant, I would do an engagement with them for starters. I was hands on with them. Then the next time I would [00:17:00] just let them do it and I would listen and just observe without being involved.

And if they passed that test. And if they did well, if the client was happy with the third client, I was hands off and good luck to them. So that was a great way to sort of wean myself out of the process and show them that I was supportive of them. I was there if they had questions or problems, but it was their engagement to manage and to own.

So that was. That's the technique that I used. , Uh, I Would always in any service business, there's gonna be flareups and a disappointed client. Now and then it may be with, cause it may be just a chemistry issue, but my inclination was always support my co my consultant, my person first, get the facts, try to learn from the client what the issue was, share that with the consultant, see if they can adjust and a, and adapt to recognize it.

And [00:18:00] then, kumbaya, everybody's happy again. But if that moment of truth did not go well, I had to make a decision that person, wasn't, they wouldn't be able to adjust to problems or self-manage. So if I was gonna be sucked back into running the engagement, that's not the purpose of leveraging myself.

So, you know, We would part company. It happened very rarely, but I felt like my onboarding process of this warm handoff and then, checking in occasionally with the client to see how things are going. Yeah. Without intruding was a good model. And that, that helped me build my team up to, I think we had 85 consultants around the world by the time that I sold the company.

And that happened one consultant at a time , and uh, and generally was a joy and very gratifying. 

Justin: , a lot of times entrepreneurs get they're in the business. They're working in their business as opposed [00:19:00] to working on their business. Did you find that. Challenging at all to be able to make sure that you're not, you know, it sounds like you have to hire a good, strong team of consultants.

You do that warm handoffs to clients, but did you find yourself wanting to work, , on the business as opposed to in the business? And was that challenging at all? 

Dan: Yeah, so I, I, I definitely understand what you're saying. So I definitely evolved into more of an on the business. But I did keep those few things that I love doing, and I was, I felt better at, than someone I could hire.

Website content blog, yeah. New service, introduction. Those are things that I was good at, enjoyed and kept. But I would say it was probably in 80 20 on the business versus in the business. 

Justin: Okay. 

Dan: And, it was only possible because I was careful in who I brought on board.

I was trusting of them and stepped back at the at a moment when [00:20:00] they would've wanted me to step back and step out of the way. So that was not a problem for me. I realized that, that's why I'm sharing the revenue is to avoid having to be in the business. And there are people that do things, many things far better than me and they enjoy them.

And that became my mantra is, take a beat and don't step in and fix it. Yeah. Find out who can fix it better and let them own it. Yeah. 

Justin: And let them run with it and be accountable for it. Yep. Certainly. Great advice there. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?

And obviously there's entrepreneurs that either are just starting out their business today versus those that are maybe, they've built a business and they're five, 10 years into it. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs that would help them sort of navigate as they build their business?

Dan: Sure. So a few things. One is again, this will vary by, by industry and by market and so on. But I'm a believer in bootstrapping. I avoided debt. I avoided inve [00:21:00] investors and I avoided avoided partners. For the first stage of my company I realized that may have slowed growth, but it also avoided distraction.

There's enough pressure of needing to succeed to. Versus the market and versus competitors without a nervous investor, partner or lender breathing down your neck. Mm-hmm. And so, um, you know, if the business idea is viable enough and competitive enough slowing down the pace a bit is not gonna make or break the business.

So that was one. Another lesson that I learned early on was, I used the word pivot quite a bit, but this was a, I did a major pivot. The business I started is not the business that I ran and owned. I started a version of my business, which had a different model. It was a mini MBA program.

Justin: Okay. 

Dan: It was this was the mid nineties and so the internet was just emerging [00:22:00] then. And so I had a face-to-face, brick and mortar business model that would use business school case studies. Business school graduates to teach a, an accelerated intensive MBA program. Everything was great.

I had the content, I had the instructors, I had the facility, but I didn't have enough customers, 

Justin: right? And 

Dan: so I re I realized that, what am I missing here? I was missing the market. Didn't want that. The market wanted the real thing. And so if I could use my same experience and skills to help people attain what they really wanted as opposed to offering an alternative that was not resonating with them, that's what I would do.

So don't be so wedded to your idea that you go down, the tubes with it. It's not worth it. Be willing to admit that you guessed wrong, or your research was inadequate, or , you know, , you could , implode if you stay with this. Have the courage and the guts to say, Nope, this didn't work, but there's, there [00:23:00] are adjacencies to this that could work, and I'm gonna try those.

And I learned that from the customers in the marketplace. So I guess that's a second lesson. The third would be, make sure it's a passion. To really, grow this thing and make it fly. You basically need to be thinking about it, dreaming about it, pretty much 24 7. And I'm not exaggerating.

It's only a passion that you can do that about fall in love with, or be in love with the product or the service or the benefit that it delivers. Be, um, emotionally competitive. When you see someone else doing something that you wanna do, it should upset you a little bit.

Or a lot. Yeah. And you, and channel that energy and that, darn it, I could have done that. I should have done that. I'm gonna show them, that's again, a passion or an emotional aspect that can be harnessed and it can take this thing over the moon as opposed to just something that, you know, from a dollars and cents standpoint [00:24:00] looks like an opportunity because you'll either get bored with it or you'll be distracted by something else.

And it just doesn't have the longevity and the sustainability of a true passion. So I'd say those are kind of the core lessons. 

Justin: Those are some great great lessons and advice there and, and certainly I think, yeah. Bootstrapping. Making sure you pivot and not just fall in love with your first idea, but being able to take what the market's telling you and being able to work at different avenues or use that information in a different way to come up with something else Yes.

That the market's telling you, and then making sure that it's passion. I think, you need that passion to be able to carry you through the tr trials and tribulations and the challenges that are certainly gonna be thrown your way in trying to get this product or service to market.

If you don't have that, I think, that's the first thing. And one 

Dan: related note. Yeah. It's very easy to sell something that you're passionate about. Yeah. It's extremely difficult to face objections and be resilient and rise above [00:25:00] ambivalence if you're not passionate about it.

One, one more reason to do what you're passionate about because it will sell itself. Yeah. The sparkle in your eyes the buzz in your voice. Prospects pick up on that, and why would they be excited about it if you aren't? Yep. 

Justin: And the energy that you're giving off for that Yes. That they will people pick up on that for sure.

It's a, it's 

Dan: authentic. Yeah. And it's contagious. It is. 

Justin: It is. And I guess I, one parallel draw to just even my own experience where, you know you mentioned passion. For me it was purpose. So I remember even for myself as I was building my real estate portfolio, for me it came down to what am I doing this for?

Why am I doing this for and what's my purpose in doing it? And so that helped fuel and sustain me as I was dealing with certain challenges in building up my portfolio. So certainly, passion and purpose definitely go hand in hand. I wanted to talk to you about , you know, your Young Entrepreneurs Initiative with Inc.

Magazine in 2019. You founded it. This Young Entrepreneurs Initiative, which is a program for [00:26:00] high school students, can you tell us about that experience, why you decided to do that at that point in time, what the initiative is about and really what type of impact this program has had on teens youth?

Sure. 

Dan: So this mentoring and coaching and development aspect of my experience and my passions and my emotions I couldn't turn that off when I sold the MBA exchange. I still needed an outlet for that. , Uh, I Have two sons, one of whom is extremely successful entrepreneur, the other one who operates in a corporate environment like an entrepreneur.

And that, that was another one outlet for my coaching and mentoring. And they've, their careers are just off to the moon right now and they're doing great. But I wanted a more formal. Offering to do that with. I'd already, I found that the greatest impact I could have would be to do it earlier in the lives of young people.

And I [00:27:00] looked at the marketplace and looked at the offerings for entrepreneurship camps for teens. I found them sort of in two buckets. One was somewhat static, archaic programs offered by universities that used their own faculty during the summer. Um, arguably it was a recruiting tool to attract high school kids to apply to that school, but it had a, a lecture and textbook modality to it that seemed dry.

Yeah. The other bucket was more of a tech oriented. Apps and cool software and Silicon Valley feel, which was great and exciting, but it left a big space in the middle for those young people who were not necessarily attracted to that industry in that marketplace, but maybe had a more traditional product or service or business in [00:28:00] mind, or they weren't sure if entrepreneurship was for them and they wanted a more of a basic business understanding.

So I found this gap in the middle. 

And I said, okay, what would it take to develop an offering that would serve that market and attract that market? From my competitive assessment, I saw that there were not any sponsored programs with a meaningful business brand behind it. There were created brands that didn't have much gravitas or relevance.

And so I knew I needed a brand behind it. The other thing that I wanted was a curriculum that would combine academics and real world practical content. And so I looked for, I knew that I needed to have that as a component of my program. The next one was having teachers, not sort of board assistant professors from colleges that were looking for, summer work, right?

But [00:29:00] rather high school teachers that were certified in entrepreneurship who did this during the school year. Not only did they know the subject matter, but more importantly, they knew the students. Engaging and satisfying and retaining the mind of a high school student is far different than a college freshman or sophomore.

And so I wanted instructors in the classroom who were really skilled at this. So that was the third component. The last one was bringing in real world gurus and mentors and coaches that could be role models and give candid advice and feedback and share their war stories, good, bad, and ugly to inspire and motivate the high school students.

So those were the components of this vision that I had. 

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: Now where do I find it? So I go out and my research and due diligence identified Inc. Magazine as the [00:30:00] Bible of entrepreneurship. Yeah. With the NB exchange, I was fortunate enough to make what's called the Inc 5,000, which is the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America.

So I had exposure to Inc. Yeah. And what they, their mission and so on. And so I approached them with my vision for the camp and with having them as the title sponsor and my, partner, my thought partner in, in content and in sourcing speakers. So that was one. Next I wanted to find a curriculum that was geared to high school level.

And so I found an outstanding nonprofit organization called The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and connected with them, told them about Inc. Told them about my background with the MBA exchange, and asked them if they would like to participate on two levels. One is with a customized curriculum, and second is sourcing teachers from their pool of entrepreneurship teachers.

So that was that [00:31:00] piece. Then I found a camp partner, which is, which was truly outstanding, and that's the National Student Leadership Conference that has decades of ex success and experience with a wide variety of programs aimed at college students. They had a business and entrepreneurship program that they had been running, but it didn't have the components that I brought, which was the title sponsor and the active involvement of entrepreneurs and teachers from the high school setting.

So I basically aggregated these subject matter experts. Brought them together and saw if the chemistry would fit. And it has. And it is. And now we'll be in our in our second year of working with all those partners. It'll be my third year with NFTE and my third year with in. And so we've got a great.

Formula now that's working very well. Last year we [00:32:00] had 900 students from around the world that came to our program at prestigious college campuses. Yeah. Yale, Columbia, duke, Michigan, and Cal Berkeley. This year we expect a thousand students and we're adding UCLA as a sixth school. It's an incredible nine day immersion.

I come as entrepreneur in residence and get to interact and engage with the students. I also, whenever I'm there, I can sit in on the pitch competition. 

Justin: Yeah. Which 

Dan: is the culmination of the program. We're a panel of these shark Tank and Inc. 5,000 CEOs. I've recruited 60 of them for last year, and we'll need more this year who come in and seem to love it as much as I do.

The chance to engage with these bright. Young people that are gonna be ruling the world here in another 10 years. And giving them feedback and guidance. So that's the long story short of what it is and how I put it together. [00:33:00] 

Justin: It seems like such a fan, such a fantastic program that you've put together.

It really combines everything from branding to curriculum to teachers who understand and get, how to reach high school kids and, understand their mindset and what they, what they're thinking and what their motivations are. So it sounds like a brilliant program.

I know that well, the, and the, 

Dan: the cha the chance for these young people to network. Yep. The first thing I do on day one is say who has a LinkedIn page? And if there's 50 kids in the classroom. Four of them will raise their hand. I go by tomorrow. I'd like the 50 of you to have a LinkedIn page and to have 50 connections there.

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: Because if you look around this room, these are folks that could be in your network when you need them the most and when they need you the most. And if you start now, you have this common ground, you're gonna have a head start that's gonna blow away those that don't start this until college or later.

So that's another aspect is network, networking and team building at an early [00:34:00] stage. 

Justin: Yeah, networking. That's such a power. It's so powerful, right? I mean, you are, You are your network. And being, having the ability to have that shared experience together and then be able to, go off and do your own things and then be able to reach out and connect down the road is invaluable.

So that, it certainly gives them a headstart in order to do so before they've even started college. So that, that certainly amazing. I know, if I. I guess if I had that early on when I was going through high school, I would've loved that. What observations about this generation of youth have you noticed, that makes you feel good and confident about the future?

You mentioned obviously when they're 10 years now, but what is it about them that you've noticed as you've gone through, you know, the first 900 and, and hopefully it'll be more now a thousand and plus. What have you noticed about this generation of youth? 

Dan: That's a great question. So one is their organic comfort with technology.

They have grown up with so many of the tools and platforms [00:35:00] as part of their everyday life that, was not the case 15, 20 years ago. And so this is quite an enabler. The scaling aspect of a business, the testing the. Ability to get traction quickly. These are all givens now that high school students now who are business-minded take for granted, and they're really good at it.

And so that's really impressive. On a related note, they're exposure to and familiarity with trends and and new innovations and so on. It's instantaneous. It's, and it's push. They don't have to go to the library, ride their bike down to the library to look at the encyclopedia.

Yeah. They've got it coming through the, walls literally of what's new, what's different, what's trendy. Social media is an incredible impact on them. It can be a distraction sometimes, but those that [00:36:00] harness it and use it, and get comfortable with it are again, accelerated in their journey.

And that's what a lot of these young people who come to our program they arrive that way. I see it already. 

And the sparkle in their eyes. When I'm mentoring them, they're not just sitting there listening and taking notes. They're coming back at me with, what do you think about this?

Or Would that work, this new innovation or new app or software? So I'm learning from them at the same time, because they've already been exposed to this world. They're choosing between alternatives many times, as opposed to having to as invent or search for the needle in a haystack. It's, which is better?

Not what do I do to solve this problem. It's which solution that's available is better for me. They're pretty decisive, they're confident and they're worldly. I love to see the diversity of this classroom and the students engaging with each other. When English is not always the first language it's a beautiful thing to see. And so, [00:37:00] you know, they're kind of making the world their oyster without any discomfort or any reluctance. And they're ready for that. Even if they haven't traveled internationally, they seem to have this aptitude and appetite to engage with somebody from a different, different culture.

And so that's, they're ahead of the game on that as well. So I'm a huge fan of these, the current high school students. 

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: I really believe in them. I love the go-getter attitude. I can tell by the number of them that reach out to me after the program. My LinkedIn connections have have been a multiple of what they were because they, they get it, they understand the value of connection and, seeking mentoring and putting themselves out there they're resilient. They're able to cope with a cold shoulder here and there. Yeah. And they'll find a source and a resource to solve their question, their needs, and answer their questions. 

Justin: That's a comforting thing to hear.

'cause you sometimes hear, oh, today's youth, they're, they're not as [00:38:00] resilient, they're less gritty. They're looking for easier answers. And so to hear, you know, from someone who's I. Mentored these kids and seen firsthand, their energy, their thought process it is comforting to know that they've, that they're decisive, confident that they've that they have a worldly view even though they haven't traveled.

It's, that's very encouraging to hear. On 

Dan: a related note, there's kind of one cloud on the horizon. It could be the, it could be the North star or it could be a thunderstorm, and that's artificial intelligence. 

Justin: Yes. I wanted to get your, I wanted to get respectable on that. 

Dan: Yeah, so it's just coming on the, on the scene really even for the young people when I was one of the features that we have in our program is called Office Hours.

I will listen to the business idea or concept that the team has come up with, that they're getting ready to pitch to the panel and I'll give them feedback and critique it for them. I would say probably. 70% of those ideas did not have an AI component. So it was [00:39:00] intriguing that 30% did, but my, one of my immediate responses was find the AI component and plug it into your model.

It's out there. You need to think about it because investors will expect it, competitors will do it. And and your marketplace, you'll get to them with more accuracy and more focus if you do this is the real world. This is almost I'm old enough to know what the impact of the.com world was in the nineties, and I'm seeing that again.

Yeah. So the cloud that I talked about could be, it looks like an easy out, in some cases, it looks like I don't have to do the thinking. I don't have to do the hard work. I don't have to do the analysis, the comparison, the vetting. I'll just take what AI gives me. Yep. That can happen. And part of the council that I give them and that our teachers and mentors give them is it's not the easy road.

It's not the way to [00:40:00] circumvent doing the homework, doing the hard work, trusting your gut, getting multiple sources, vetting them, testing, if you do those things and ai, it will accelerate your speed. But if you just fall for the, the siren song of ai, solving the problem with a, poorly worded prompt, right?

And thinking that's good enough, that's gonna be disastrous. So that's the, again, the North star or the thunderstorm on the horizon, that these teams are gonna have to evaluate and use intelligently. 

Justin: Yeah, I mean it's certainly, it's it's AI's both. A risk and an opportunity. It depends on really the way you look at it and the way you embrace it.

I was gonna ask you about something that, that you said when so you mentioned, so all the positive things that makes you feel good about these kids these days and confident about our future. I wanted to get your perspective on, you know, you mentioned, you know, your two sons, one's an entrepreneur, the [00:41:00] other one is in a corporate world, but things like an entrepreneur.

Yes. So, you know, Recognizing that every kid is not gonna be an entrepreneur, what advice would you give to parents to help them guide their own kids to either think like an entrepreneur because maybe, they're gonna go down that route, or even if they're not gonna be an entrepreneur and have their own business to gain entrepreneurial skills that are gonna be useful to 'em.

Whether it's in a corporate environment or, or even just, in other environments as they enter their adulthood. Any, yes. Anything that you would recommend that they do say or experience to help guide 

Dan: them. Yes, absolutely. So the first, to answer the first question, I think it's starting a small business.

It could be a trading card exchange. The I won't go as, I won't go as basic as the old classical lemonade stand. But uh, you know, sort of the equivalent of that even if a parent is not an entrepreneur and maybe not even a business person it's so easy with [00:42:00] the internet to find a small little business, doesn't have to be profitable that a child can start.

It doesn't even need to be a teen. It could be middle school, it could be even elementary school. And so that's a great way to start. Them on the path and encourage them and in, in many cases, do it with them. It's a lot of fun. It's a good bonding exercise with a child and who knows, maybe the parent will, have a career change because of it too.

But I've engaged with enough young entrepreneurs, especially from Shark Tank. One of the speakers that has become a friend, and I've involved him in my programs, is a young man who his name Ian Kamat, and he's been on Shark Tank. He was on there, I think when he was 14 years old with his dad.

He had started, he had built a little device to treat plantar fascitis the foot ailment for his mom. And it was a roller. And so Ian started that business. He was on Shark Tank [00:43:00] and. I've now watched what he's become. He went to Cal Berkeley. He's now in the wine business traveling between France and California.

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: And doing great at it. And he is been a speaker and mentor for my program. I've seen the capacity of a young entrepreneur by starting something. So that's really key to the second part of your question about the value and the, the path to injecting entrepreneurship into the life of a young person who may or may, may not be an entrepreneur or a business person.

The point that we make with our program today is no matter what a student majors in college or what they ultimately do, at some point in their life they may want to turn that into a business. If you're a music major. You may wanna start a music studio someday, as opposed to just performing or just teaching, right?

So you may wanna create your own studio. That's just, one example. So [00:44:00] by building in the basic business skills and entrepreneurial skills early on, those are gonna be 100% applicable to virtually any discipline, any major, any industry, any, art that a young person ultimately goes into because it will keep that option available to them to start a business.

Now, back to my comment about my younger son the employee who thinks and acts and behaves like an entrepreneur is gonna be a successful corporate. Employee. 

Justin: Absolutely. 'cause 

Dan: they're not waiting to be told what to do. They're not pulling out their job description and looking for what they're not required to do or what they're authorized to do.

They're gonna grow that business and grow relationships and achieve tangible outcomes that would make any boss, any supervisor, any business proud and happy. And that will accelerate that young person's career. So that's the [00:45:00] other benefit of this. This is not about only business majors and people that are gonna launch businesses.

It's about anyone who wants to do something productive that may change over the, the 50, 60 years of their life after college. Why not prepare them now? Inject the learning that will, you know, it's like learning a language. The sooner you learn it, the second language, the more natural it becomes and the less onerous learning it becomes.

This is very much the same. 

Justin: Yeah, it's definitely exposing them at an early age to those types of skills and experiences, and then having that, take root, that take seed in them. It only provides unlimited potential and opportunities down the road, even if they're don't start their own business.

And I love what you said about even if you are in the corporate world and you are, you think like an entrepreneur, you are essentially creating value for the company. You're creating, you're looking and solving problems that are there. And so that will make [00:46:00] you invaluable to your boss and to your company.

And so absolutely you will, you should be rewarded for that even in a corporate environment. 

Dan: And if you're not rewarded for it, guess what? You can leave and start your own thing. Exactly. 

Justin: Exactly. I love that. My kids, you know, I mentioned, so they're young still five and 10, and so they're still a long way off from, high school and post secondary education.

I'm curious to hear your views on you went to Harvard to get your MBA, you're in the corporate world for many years. You started solely your own company. You're now involved with all these being a mentor and to, high school kids and being an entrepreneur mentor for those kids.

Is there the same value today as there was previously in getting a college education and degree and why or why not? I'm just curious to hear your views on that. 

Dan: Sure. So I'm a big believer in formal higher ed. It not just for the knowledge content because that can be gained other ways and cheaper but.

[00:47:00] Learning how to work in teams, learning how to be cur, learning to be curious, intellectually curious networking and building relationships for the future. But also I'm a big believer in the brand. I don't mean this to sound elitist but it's a practical reality that the more prestigious, the more recognized and understood the brand is the more value accrues to the person with the brand.

Justin: And 

Dan: so, , Not for snob appeal or anything like that, but the practicality of the marketplace says that if you can not just get the degree, but get the degree from a school that people would recognize and hopefully respect and be, attracted to that accrues extra value. So I'm a big believer in that also as I prove to myself the entrepreneurial.

Phase of a career may not, may never kick in, or it may kick in in later life. And so that corporate chapter that comes right after [00:48:00] college, if that's the route that someone chooses, um, the recruiting for those who are in a quality institution, educational institution will be higher. The opportunities will be greater, the rewards will be greater.

And so, , you know, entry into the marketplace with a college degree or a graduate degree especially from a recognized, respected institution, that's a great investment. So I'm a big believer in that. Okay. Also I referred back to my own quantitative versus qualitative side of the brain before forcing.

Yourself to come to, come to grips with what you don't know, what you don't like as much, what comes harder to you is a valuable step. And again, the sooner that you do that, the better. I waited and avoided it and realized at some point that I still needed that. And so, right. , that's what, that's what a, a good structured education would give [00:49:00] you.

It rounds you out and doesn't allow you to, ignore the side of your brain that could make you a superstar as opposed to just get by. 

Justin: And it shores up your whether it's perceived or actual weakness. And it gives you, it basically takes off those blind spots for you so that you can Yes.

You can see all around. Okay. It 

Dan: one more thing, it also gives you an alumni network. Alumni network that is, can be invaluable. Yeah. In terms of customers, partners. Sounding boards, confidants, 

Justin: investors. 

Dan: Investors. Yes, exactly. And and the better the school the tighter that alumni group is, the more invested they are in helping each other.

And I cannot exaggerate that. It's a fact. And to this very day, at every stage of my career in my life, the Alumni Network has been an incredible resource for me, for, from helping my sons get summer jobs, to helping me test business ideas that I had. 

Justin: [00:50:00] Yeah. 

Dan: You name it. And so that's, one more I'll call it a longer term benefit of that college and grad school education.

Justin: The, yeah, the power of the network is, yep. In full effect right there. I'd love to now transition to our rapid fire round. So I'll fire off a bunch of questions to you and if, answer these as you will. , what's one important belief about money that you had previously but has changed over the years or over time?

Dan: This is a very personal, more than professional point of view. But the balance between money and time was like this and narrows and then goes like that. And so the ability to accept that change, at least for me is monumental. I. And I'm now at that point I am at that point when I sold my business 

When my sons graduated from college and have started their careers, [00:51:00] now I've got four wonderful grandkids under the age of 10. My wife and I love to travel and the clock is ticking, yeah. And so I would say that has been not so much a change as a transition of money, time, not time.

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: If I hadn't done that, this would've been harder, frankly. Yeah. 

Justin: Yeah. Money provides that 

Dan: ab absolutely. It allows decisions that are personally gratifying now as opposed to. I gotta do that or I can't do that. Yeah. Okay. Fantastic. I don't know, I don't wanna slow down your rapid fire.

Justin: No. That's just, that's perfect. , what's the best piece of advice that you've ever been given?

Dan: Best piece of advice I've ever been given.

I'll tell you the worst piece of advice I've ever been given if I could. Okay. I take that unless I'm anticipating your question, which was I had a boss that in my performance review back in the corporate world, said, you're too nice. You're too nice to your subordinates. [00:52:00] And I was shocked by that because it's not a weakness to be gracious, to be supportive to be positive to be constructively critical.

If someone equates that to too nice, then you're in the wrong organization. 

Justin: Yeah. 

Dan: And ultimately that's what I decided. Rather than change my style, I changed my employer. So that's probably the, probably the worst advice. In terms of best advice, boy I've been blessed by having so many mentors that it's really hard to sort them out.

I guess I'll take pieces of that advice and just say that trusting others and wait until they disappoint you to stop trusting them is a pretty good mantra. It will create opportunities that you would've avoided or ignored and it will allow you to walk away from those that.

Don't merit your trust anymore without thinking it was you that judged them too [00:53:00] quickly. So the default of trust as opposed to distrust is a pretty good, rule of thumb, at least from my standpoint. And I had mentors that modeled that. Even if they didn't whisper it in my ear, I learned that from how they treated me and and thus how I treated others.

Justin: So trusting, first, giving people the benefit of the doubt first working together and then once, or if they ever break that trust, and obviously it's the end of it but providing that you start you're starting point is, we trust each other, which I trust 

Dan: you. Yes, 

Justin: yes. Wonderful.

Love it. Pretend you have a time machine. If you could go back in time and talk to your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give yourself? 

Dan: If you can. , confront what you don't like and don't know earlier, like now at 16. Yeah, 

Justin: yeah. 

Dan: A more rigorous high school curriculum would've done well for me or maybe a tougher college.

So that's [00:54:00] one. Two would be start something entrepreneurial as a side hustle or a hobby sooner rather than later. Because you'll have it there, you'll have the skills and it'll be ready to go when you need it. So those two things, I guess. Yeah, I'd say that's really it. The path that I took has worked for me.

I would not undo any piece of it. But had it happened at a faster pace, that would've been just fine as well. So that's probably what I would undo. Again, I've gotta dig pretty hard to change the, the good fortune of how things worked. Every time I hit a wall or had a disappointment, it was crushing for about six weeks, seven weeks.

And then something better would emerge and I would go after that with more zeal and more commitment because of the frustration. So no disappointment was enduring or irreversible, and why that happened? I have no idea, but it, [00:55:00] but that's my experience. 

Justin: Well, And it's probably, certainly your attitude around picking yourself back up after that disappointment.

It's not, the end all be all. It's the end of the world. It's okay. It's time to move on. 

Dan: But see, draw the learning from it. Yeah. There's a reason why that happened. Whether it's you, whether it's them, whatever. Get something out of it of value. It's there. Don't let the pain of the wound, move you away too quickly.

Get something from it, assess it, have it has value. Although it's not sweet, it's sour, but take it Yep. And use it. Yep. 

Justin: And I think that even goes back to like, so, , the way I, I mean, the way I personally view six failure is that there's, you can't fail at something unless you don't learn something from it.

So. Totally. You know, I, I'm, I'm okay with trying something. It doesn't work. It's fine. And just learn something from it, you know, hopefully. Totally agree. Repeat that again but just keep on trucking, keep on moving. 

Dan: Yes. Keep moving. Yep. 

Justin: Then finally, what's one conversation that you recommend parents have with their kids about money [00:56:00] or entrepreneurship,

Dan: whether it's explicit or implicit? I think talking to a child or probably a teen. Even a college student, that there's such a thing as mortality and a parent is not gonna be around forever. If all is, if all nature continues its path here. Typically a young person is not exposed to loss until perhaps a grandparent passes away.

And many times they're too young to realize the ramifications of that. But the conversation about the mortality of a parent is not a pleasant topic. It's not an easy topic. But helping that child understand how the parent has prepared for that how they've saved, how they've worked, how it's impacted decisions they've made, how it's impacted their planning for themselves and for their family.

I think that's a real gift. It does not need to be a morbid, negative, overly [00:57:00] emotional conversation. It's a real world conversation. I think that if you can plant that in the mind of a teen or college student it's gonna be a valuable gift that you give them that helps them make decisions, make choices with a little more traction and responsibility.

So again, not a joyful, 

Justin: but it's real 

Dan: conversation, but it's real, 

Justin: but it's real. And 

uh, 

Dan: the, The parent that pretends that their immortal and that this will never happen is diluting and doing a disservice to their child. And I think that's important. Having said that, that's probably a conversation I did not have until my sons were just out of college.

But it is a conversation. 

Justin: As we wrap up here, Dan, where can my community follow what you're doing or get in touch with you? 

Dan: Sure. So two places. One is my own consulting practice website, which is Bauer, B-A-U-E-R dash inc IN [00:58:00] c.com, bauer-inc.com. The other one is the landing page for the summer program, the NSLC Business and Entrepreneurship Program sponsored by Inc.

Magazine. That URL is N as in Nancy, S as in Sam, L as in Lima, C as in Charles, NSLC leaders, L-E-A-D-E-R s.org. Nslc leaders.org/inc. INC, business, B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. So nslc leaders.org/inc. Business. As one word. 

Justin: Perfect. And we will have all of that in the show notes as well for everyone to reference.

, So certainly Dan thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. Same. I love the energy that you brought. Love the fact that you're out there mentoring young entrepreneurs who are, looking to plant their flag in the world and start something and really [00:59:00] advance us as a society.

And thank you for sharing all your insights into, , from your corporate life to starting up in selling the NB exchange and, , all the learnings that you you took away from that and shared with the audience. Appreciate the time so much here today.

Dan: My pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity. And I welcome any feedback from your audience parents, teens entrepreneurs, what have you. But thank you very much for this. 

.