315: From Elaborate Events to a Major Ski Resort: How the Summit Brand Expanded Into A Global Empire

In 2008, Jeff Rosenthal and his co-founders Elliott Bisnow and Brett Leve convinced 19 people they admired to go on a ski trip with them to Park City, Utah. They wanted to spend one-on-one time with this small group of thought leaders to learn from them and glean some knowledge.

Little did they know that this was only the beginning of their long and successful entrepreneurial journey. What started off as a small event production company has morphed into a global behemoth that includes everything from nonprofits to funds to a major ski resort that all fall under the Summit brand.

While the company is still primarily known for its famous invitation-only events, its biggest impact is its tight-knit community of innovative, creative individuals from around the world.

In this podcast episode, Rosenthal talks about Summit’s explosive growth, what it takes to host a truly extraordinary event, and more entrepreneurial gold.

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Key Takeaways

• What inspired Rosenthal and his co-founders to start their event production company Summit in 2008
• How Summit expanded into a family of companies, nonprofits, and funds over the last 12 years
• What makes a spectacular event, according to Rosenthal
• Why Rosenthal believes “keep it real” is terrible advice when it comes to events, and what he recommends instead
• The importance of leadership when it comes to event planning
• The correlation between creativity and capital
• How Rosenthal manages to lead the multiple entities under Summit
• The best advice on delegation Rosenthal received from his mentor
• Why profitability isn’t the only measure of an event’s success
• What it takes to attract top-notch speakers (and how to set them up for success)
• The way Rosenthal approaches balancing quality of experience and scaling