Mike is the Regional Director of the Orange County and Inland Empire Small Business Development Center Network, which assists aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners throughout Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Before this role he was the director of an SBDC office in Long Beach for 5 years.
He has been and is a business owner and entrepreneur himself. He started with a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in LA, and then opened a second location in Long Beach, eventually employing 20 people including managers at both locations. He eventually sold the LA store and took minority position in several other locations. He has the retail bug, though, as he has another store in Long Beach now called Sugar Daddies Sweet Shoppe. We had a good discussion about starting as a franchisee and then developing his own brand.
Mike is an entrepreneur, working with other entrepreneurs, and managing a critical support system that our government provides to small businesses here. He sees so much activity that I was excited to hear his important perspective and input. I learned a lot about trends in small businesses in Orange County.
Reynolds Bish - CEO of Kofax
Charles Antis - Founder & CEO of Antis Roofing & Waterproofing
Ike Kavas - Founder & CEO of Ephesoft
Peter Polydor - Founder of Eureka Building & Eureka Hub; President of Ergo Holdings
Neel Grover - Founder & CEO of Indi
Lori Torres - Founder & CEO of Parcel Pending
Dan Heinfeld - President of LPA
Kurt Johnson - Founder / CEO of FreightPop
Scott Duffy - CEO, SD Media Holdings; Top 10 Speaker
Dawn Reese - CEO, The Wooden Floor
Lawrence Greaves - Co-founder & CEO of OPKIX
Don DiCostanzo - Founder & CEO of Pedego Electric Bikes
Nick Kovacevich - Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of KushCo Holdings
Peter Nguyen - founder, CEO of Ad Exchange Group
Lori Seal - CEO, Blytheco
Cary Breese - co-founder, CEO at NowRx
Grant Van Cleve - CEO Buy It Installed; Chairman Tech Coast Angels
Beckham Thomas - Founder / CEO of Dealer Credit Resources
Fauad Hasan - CEO of Ornovi, former CEO of Bonti
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