I graduated from CSUF in June 2006 and, before I could enjoy some downtime, I quickly began working in the marketing department at Disney Consumer Products. After four years at Disney and then a couple more years jumping around at other entertainment companies, I finally took the plunge to start my own business and left the corporate world.

I credit much of my success to the CSUF Entrepreneurship Program, which instilled three valuable lessons into me, which I believe led me to where I am today.  I can still hear Professor John Bradley Jackson, JJ for short, now, “If you want to start your own business, keep your personal expenses as low as possible.” This proved to be very true; it would have been much harder if I had to worry about making that mortgage payment while trying to launch my business.

The second valuable lesson was the understanding that your network is a reflection of how strong you are. If you can keep a strong and healthy network, anything is possible. Your relationships will help you break through that wall.

The third lesson was to learn how to develop and present a business plan or investor proposal. I would have never been able to raise investor money without having to write business plans during my Entrepreneurship classes. All of these lessons were taught to me during my career at CSUF and I hold true to them today. Thanks to JJ and professors like him, I was well prepared to start and launch HERES2U.

Two years ago, while I was at work, I tried to call into a restaurant my friend was eating at to purchase them a bottle of wine. To my surprise it proved to be extremely difficult and sparked the idea of HERES2U.  After over a year of planning and speaking to countless restaurant owners I developed HERES2U to address this deficiency in the marketplace.

HERES2U is a mobile application that allows restaurant guests to receive drinks or meals from family or friends not physically present. Imagine, celebrating your birthday at your favorite watering hole and all of a sudden you get a phone notification that your brother, who couldn’t attend because he is traveling in Prague, just bought you a bottle of champagne that you can redeem with your server.

Well about 2 months ago, HERES2U went live and, although it is still very early in its life, I was able to sign up 15 LA-based restaurants in about one week and I am actively growing that number.  Restaurant owners are responding positively to this new revenue stream and marketing tool that makes HERES2U’s future bright.

Due to limited resources and manpower my strategy is to focus all my energy signing up restaurants in a small geographical area and then show some good success, which hopefully will result in raising more funds and expanding into more cities. In addition, my development team and myself are continuously working on enhancements to the iOS app, developing an android version and raising investor money; all of these skills I learned while a student in the CSUF Entrepreneurship Program. HERES2U has a very bright future and looks forward to helping everyone never miss a celebration.

Thank you CSUF Entrepreneurship Program!!!