Sisters students get entrepreneur training

Beginning March 12, a new course in entrepreneurship will be offered to Sisters High School juniors and seniors. The name of the course is "Pursue Your Passion."

The course will probe the soul of entrepreneurship by exploring the elements key to the development of a "sellable" business plan. The final test will be the students' formal presentation of their business plan to a panel of business experts in a competition for "seed money."

The guiding mission of the presenters is to light a fire in the belly of Sisters High School students; to convince them that they really can start their own business in pursuit of their passion. The course is designed to provide the students with the academic tools to make their pursuit a success, and more importantly, to make life-long business-community connections that can help them turn their dreams into reality.

This course offering has been developed by Sisters Country business people who have been directly involved with entrepreneurial ventures - start-ups from scratch.

Most have met and missed payrolls, worried over cash flow and market exposure, fretted about hiring and firing, and invested substantial time, money and personal soul capital into these ventures.

Far from a focus on just high-tech start-ups, the inspiration will also come from business start-ups in biomass, airports, steel forges and quilts.

This class began as the brainchild of Bill Willitts and Eric Wagner over a year ago.

Willitts is a local entrepreneur best known for the development of the FivePine business complex. A Sisters resident, Wagner is long-time writer for Forbes magazine on the subject of entrepreneurship. Wagner also has done seven startups, three acquisitions, and five successful exits. The teacher of record is Jon Renner.

The dozen or so core teachers will include Ann Richardson (Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show), Gary Wehrle (retired CEO, Pacific Crest Capital), Julie and Benny Benson (ENERGYneering and Sisters Airport), Jeff Wester (Ponderosa Forge), Bill Willitts (FivePine) and Brian Witt (attorney with Farley Wada Witt, who coordinated formation of 80 to 90 businesses in the last eight years).

A cadre of 30-some local guest speakers from Sisters Country have also been assembled.

The class will be limited to 14 students, and early indications are that the class will fill quickly.