When the word’Ferrari’ is mentioned- too often is it associated with Prada, Gucci, Champagne, and extravagant living. This iconic brand was named “World’s most valuable Brand” by ‘Brand Finance Global 500’.Ferrari started as Scuderia Ferrari in a garage in 1929. This racing company neither made their own cars nor entertained high-end lifestlyes. But, thanks to the relentless pursuit of passion and motor-works from a young gentleman Mr. Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari’s climb to success as an entrepreneur is often overlooked, in my opinion. The aforementioned company, Scuderia Ferrari, literally means ‘Ferrari Stable.’ This company built and maintained Alfa Romeo racing cars for wealthy racing drivers competing in the European circuit. The irony, that a brand now associated with pinnacle aspects of luxury started with two men fixing racing cars with a wooden box full of wrenches. Enzo Ferrari was an engineer and businessman. As his Scuderia Ferrari company grew, Enzo worked for Alfa Romeo in the racing division until 1939, when Enzo left to start Ferrari N.V., the Ferrari we all know and love. Enzo worked tirelessly to build to business. Initially the brand used frames, chassis, and various other components to assemble racing cars, only building their own engines- which became the hallmark of the brand. Enzo and his ‘Ferrari’ company would not make their first car from the ground-up until 1947. This 1947 model was the first ‘Gentlman’s sports car’ intended for spirited driving in the Italian countryside. Enzo was the first to admit that the consumer cars Ferrari built, that is anything that is not exclusively a race car, were sold to fund Ferrari’s racing program. This lead to Ferrari’s dominance in the LeMans into the iconic conflict between Ford and Ferrari. Enzo passed away in 1988, at 90 Years of age. While Enzo’s ventures were some time ago- the lesson holds true- that the relentless pursuit of passion can yield something great.

As a side note- Ferrari designed and engineered a car he called the 250 GTO in the mid1960’s- One of these cars, which is one of 36, sold for $70 Million dollars a few years ago. This makes the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO the most expensive car ever sold.

Ed Bolian is a 34-year old serial Entrepreneur. Bolian works to combine his passion for business and exotic cars. As a founding member of VinWiki Bolian created a car community that logs and track the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) of sport an exotic cars. This service creates a page for a specific car that will follow it over the course of the Cars life. But, this wasn’t the fist venture for Ed. Bolian began his entrepreneurial pursuit in college with an exotic car rental business. As a Junior at Georgia Tech, Ed managed to negotiate with a bank to finance just shy of a quarter-million dollars of sports cars, in this case a  Ferrari 360 Spider and Lamborghini. Bolian set out on this venture without enough capital to make the first payment due one month from signing. In interview Bolian reflects on this time as nerve-racking, but he believe that if he could finance the venture he would find a way to make it work- all while being a college student. Ed worked to grow the business to the point where he sold. After this, Bolian worked for Lamborghini USA before leaving to start his current pursuit- VinWiki. This social automotive social media platform and successful YouTube venture. This year the company makes $1700 a day in Ad revenue alone from Youtube. The success of this brand comes from branding itself- Ed has one several cross-country road-rallies and is the current record hold for the ‘Canonball Run’. Bolian drove a mercedes from downtown New York City to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles in 28 Hours and 50 Minutes- non-stop. This achievement gave Bolian’s name popularity amongst the automotive community. Bolian continues to combine his passion for exotic cars, including his personal collection, to grow the Youtube Channel and business.

Brian Liston is the Co-Founder and acting President of SEED Cx. Liston, originally from Ireland, holds a degree in from the College of Dublin and a Master’s Degree in Business from MIT. Liston and Co-Founder Edward Woodford, started SEED Cx as a Market Securities Exchange and Trading Venue. Liston was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 after starting the firm. SEED Cx aims to create a trading platform where any and all securities and commodities, including the FOREX market can be traded on one platform. Such a platform will create a market of higher transnational velocity and, in theory, revolutionize the way individuals and entities exchange securities, aka “invest-able assets”. Liston’s startup has raised $25 Million Dollars in financing after only the first round. This startup has a promising future, but has to overcome regulatory challenges in the U.S. and international bodies.

When people speak about this South-African born entrepreneur, it is usually in a context of a financially failing electric car company, grandiose ideas of the future, or a trip to Mars. But, the individual in charge of all of these ventures earned his own financing (with the exception of bond-raising for Tesla). Elon Musk began his successful career as an entrepreneur in his late-teens. Musk started coding as a child and always had ‘side-hustles’ growing up. Musk dropped out of UPenn graduate school to pursue his entrepreneurial ideas full time. At the age of 23, Musk sold X.com to Compaq for $340 Million USD. Just a year later, in 2000, Musk sold the secure buying service- Paypal- to ebay for $1.5 Billion USD. This early success served as seed capital for the rest of Musk’s ventures. Although he now touts a prowess similar to that of a bond villain- young Elon Musk was much different. In interviews, Elon attributes his success to his early entrepreneurial years- where we monitored his sites and platforms during the day then coded and improved until the sun came up the next day- all the while living in a rented office space. In short, young Musk is an example that will relentless dedication to ideas, persistence, and a bit of luck, an idea can grow into a success.