Happy Holidays All… Hope to see you December 11 for the Festivities! (November Blog)

I don’t want to jinx anything, but the Holiday membership mixer is really fun… don’t know how or why… must be the amazing mix of people among the membership. Hope you and yours can make it. RSVP to Nick.

There is always a lot to talk about at year end… how “this and that” came together... I usually try to avoid that kind of happy talk, but this year, please indulge me, because 2018 was a different year for SDSI.

The pulse of any Not for Profit is the renewal rate: the higher the rate, the more valuable the organization. We have a high renewal rate, but we know that we have to re-invent ourselves and stay contemporary to make sure we bring you the services you need, and to honor the investment you make in our business community.

So… 2019 marks a few high points in our quest to create commerce, new companies and jobs:

• Gateway Development Series: for pre-revenue entrepreneurs or companies. The goal is to coach very new entities up to the Start line for the Accelerator. Our initial meeting at the awesome CBRE offices went well. We will proceed with these on a quarterly basis… details to follow.

• SDSI Accelerator: new name same Springboard function. The metrics speak for themselves: 82 Graduates. $84M raised. 87% success rate over the 9 years. 46% women founded or lead. 1600 gratis mentoring hours rendered. Amazing!!

• Masters: a new high level consultancy for companies looking to scale or pivot. This new effort makes our senior C level executives available to guide companies to their new objective. We have our first Company partnership underway now.

• CEO Forum: modeled after several high level CEO forums nationally, the SDSI CEO forum provides an amazing peer group opportunity in a confidential setting. Our first cohort has launched. If you have an interest in participating in the second group, please contact us.

• Breakfast Collabs: these are really fun and interactive breakfasts limited to 10 members. We meet locally and plunge into all kinds of topics. By now I hope we have reached every member at least once… if not, let me know!

• Sport and Active Lifestyle Industry Economic Impact Report is nearing completion. It amazes me that our San Diego Lifestyle now constitutes $2 Billion in economic impact. We will share the full report in the next few board meetings.

That's it. Hope to see you December 11!

View the full November SDSI Newsletter HERE