There is a reason we choose to pay $5 for a cup of coffee. The customers aren't paying for the coffee, they are paying for the experience of being at Starbucks. Danny Meyer the famed restauranteur was doing this before the term "experience economy" was even coined back in the 1990's. He opened his first restaurant in New York City called Union Square Cafe back in 1985 and one thing he has always done better than anyone else in the business is offer an incredible experience.

Starting a business at any time can be scary but how about dropping out of school to start a business during the greatest recession in the history of the world? To make a move like that can be downright frightening. Alexa Von Tobel literally left Harvard Business School before graduating to pursue her mission to educate everyday Americans on how to manage their own finances.

Jarrod Moses went from being a college intern at Grey Advertising to becoming its youngest president ever. He was a 30-year-old boss of a major publicly traded company, and regularly faced age discrimination because of it. But it didn’t stop him. He went on to found the United Entertainment Group—a joint venture with Hollywood powerhouse Untied Talent Agency, that would produce branded entertainment for General Mills, AT&T, Starbucks, and more of the world’s largest brands.

Jake Schwartz started a company called General Assembly that just sold to the big human resource company Adecco Group for a reported 413 million dollars. After graduating from Yale and thinking he learned all he needed to to succeed in business, Schwartz got smacked in the face with reality. He realized education and the way people were learning was changing. GA started with relevant classes that people were willing to pay for because they were making investments in themselves.

Lesley Eccles is the co-founder and former head of marketing of FanDuel, the billion-dollar fantasy sports company. She started it with her husband Nigel in a tiny office in Scotland, and it went on to help change the law about sports betting across America. But despite the company’s success, Lesley and Nigel didn’t get to enjoy the spoils. Their relationship with their investors fell apart, and they left the business in 2017 having made almost no money on the deal and retaining no interest in the business.

Randi Zuckerberg was one of the first employees at Facebook. She contributed on many fronts in those early days of Facebook, and was responsible for creating the Facebook Live tool that today is used by billions of people. But something nagged at her. She would often look around while on meetings and realize she was the only woman there. And she felt called to fix that—not just in Silicon Valley, but everywhere.

How do you deal with the feeling of not being able to make a difference in a changing industry? David Kanbar is a serial entrepreneur who started a mortgage business which he later sold because  he realized he could never make a difference in a business that had become commoditized. He changed industries and eventually founded the brand Skinnygirl Margarita with Bethenny Frankel. Now Kanbar is at it again having just launched King Street Vodka with actress Kate Hudson.

Amber Venz Box is the founder of rewardStyle a business driving over one billion dollars in retail sales by uniting brands, influencers, and consumers. Despite never having any previous connections, contacts or easy ways into the Fashion industry she ended up becoming one of its most successful entrepreneurs. Amber simply forced her way in through will power and maximizing any and all opportunities.