Startup Spotlight: Local, Young Entrepreneur Sells A Vision
USC’s latest up and coming entrepreneur has a vision for the future – in his words, he’s “going places.” First year management science student Ethan Trekas is starting a business that he hopes will “change the world.”
“It’s not really about the product or what I sell,” said Trekas when asked how his business was doing. “I guess if I had to describe it, I sell the idea of a future where there’s no more poverty, and everyone can coexist together in harmony. If you want to learn more about my business, you can check out my website http://ethantrekas.wixsite.com/ mybusiness, and enroll in my 5 week webinars for only $7000.”
Trekas explained his business model further. “If I have a vision, and I give it to three people, and then those three people each give it to three more people, and that cycle keeps going? That’s a legacy right there. That’s what success is.”
But not everyone believes in Trekas’s plan. His roommate, exercise science major Robert Lancaster, said that “Ethan does work harder than some people that I know. But whenever I see him talking about this business, he’s always saying things like ‘I’m not stopping at good when I could be great‘ and ‘nothing is going to stop me from gettin’ that ca$h money.’ I even once heard him say ‘I’m going to be a multimillionaire at the end of this year.’ But I still don’t know what he’s selling.”
Third Spur also reached out to one of his professors in the business school, Dr. Brianna Davis, to learn more. “He tried to walk out of my class within the first ten minutes because he said he had to talk to a client. But when he picked up the phone, I heard him begging his dad to let him use the credit card for ‘business reasons.'”
When asked if he had any advice for other college students, Trekas explained, “Look, I used to be ‘lowkey’ like you. I used to want to have a good time and party and have a college experience. I used to have auto-capitalize off on my phone because I wanted people to think I was ‘cool’. But these college experiences, these friends, they’re only 4 years. A solid business model lasts forever. It’s bread szn, and the only place I’m going is up.”