Cornell students! I’m on campus right now for the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration. I’ll be here through Monday, so e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you like to meet up and pick my brain about careers or entrepreneurship.
So far I’m loving being back in Ithaca to connect with fellow Cornell entrepreneurs. I’ve met a ton of great people and learned about some really cool things that other alumni are working on. Yesterday I got to watch the finalists in the Cornell Venture Challenge pitch their businesses to investors and sit in on a panel about social entrepreneurship, but the best part was actually the keynote. I almost skipped it because I usually find those kind of talks boring, but I wanted to learn about Cornell’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Harris Rosen. He is the President & COO of Rosen Hotels, and he is a fascinating guy. He came from meager beginnings in New York City, and somehow made it to Cornell. After going through a few jobs, he bought “a bankrupt 256-room Quality Inn in Orlando in 1974.” His company now owns 7 successful hotels in Orlando, FL that combine for 6,300 rooms. It may not be a massive chain like Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, but the business that Harris Rosen has built is just as impressive, if not more so.
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